Locals living ‘off the grid’

By Ian Vertel
Sun contributor
As our consciousness shifts toward developing more sustainable practices of living with the Earth, rather than simply on the Earth, local northern Michigan residents are answering the call. Jackie Ankerson and her husband Allan Fici on South Lime Lake Road live “off the grid.” They are “half a mile from the main road, and a quarter mile from grid power,” explains Jackie. “Consumers Energy quoted us a price of $10,000 to run electric lines and hook us up — we never actually considered being on the grid.

“Our whole system cost us about $17,000” to deliver independently produced power to our house that is approximately 1,500 square feet she continues. “We know about 15 people locally who live completely ‘off the grid’, happily and quite comfortably.”
Self-sufficient and independent, their home is able to produce its own power from a variety of sources, utilizing the abundance of renewable energy resources that northern Michigan has to offer. “We have a 1,000-watt African Wind Power (AWP) wind generator and 600 watts of photovoltaic panels,” drawing wind and sun energy without polluting,” Jackie continues. “We like the idea of having renewable power without pollution.” Their home also uses gas to run a refrigerator, hot water heater and a gas range. However, they do look forward to a time when “we have an alternative to the propane.” There are also heat pumps for the floor that are powered by electricity produced by renewable sources.
Following the same mentality of living off the local environment, Jackie and Allan found that the wealth of trees in northern Michigan were a renewable resource that could be harvested and used responsibly. “We have a wood stove on the main floor,” she says, and “our floors are maple and beech that we had milled from another piece of property where Consumers Energy was widening its path through the woods for bigger power lines,” after which the environmental couple “had the lumber milled and kiln-dried locally.” But Jackie and Allan also turned to recycled wood products to construct their “green” home. Jackie explains that “a lot of our framing for the house is recycled 4×6 lumber that we purchased through Odom’s [in Traverse City] and cleaned up to use; it had to be de-nailed and the rotten ends cut off. The post and beams are from the property where we built [and] we also have wood from a lumber company that was going out of business, which we used for wainscoting, cupboards, bathroom paneling and trim. Our white cedar siding and shakes are from a friend in Canada who has a small, one-person wood mill. He uses the excess from the logging operations.”
Even though their home could support the addition of a dishwasher, Jackie says that they chose not to include one. There is a clothes washer in their home, but no dryer. She said that “we may have a dryer someday, [but] it would have to be propane.”
Transforming her lifestyle into a more symbiotic relationship with the Earth was not a recent desire of Jackie’s. She explains, “this is something that I have wanted to do since I was in my late teens.” Living in a home like this “helps offset our carbon footprint,” Jackie says. The fact that “we’re responsible for our needs and maintenance of our system,” was another reason that living off the grid was attractive and desirable.
Both Jackie and Allan began the project with the desire to design and build a house from “local materials, when possible. We saw it as an opportunity to fulfill dreams that we have had for a long time. We did a lot of the work ourselves. Both Allan and I have experience with building and building systems. My brother is a licensed builder who worked with us throughout the process. We hired friends who have experience and we were very happy with the whole building experience,” she says. After the initial construction, “it took about two years to build and put in the renewable energy system.”
But the construction of their home required work and time. Jackie says that they began by “educating ourselves to what was available and what our needs were. Installation of the systems was a lot of work; we did not have the most ideal location for solar and putting a wind tower and generator up in the woods — [it] had its challenges.” However, Jackie says that “as far as adjustments to our lifestyle, we really did not have to make any. We ran our sales business out of the house for the first year, running two computers and printers. We really did not have any issues.”
However, their home did have its drawbacks. One such consequence, Jackie says, is that relying on batteries, “eventually someone will have to be responsible for disposing of them when their 70-year life cycle is complete.” Another negative aspect is, “we need to pay attention to our power intake and usage,” she admits, but in doing so, “it has made us more aware of our needs and the weather — when there is wind, when the sun is shining.” On the other hand, the advantages of living off the grid are many. “We have never had a power outage, we are independent, our system generates cleaner sine wave power than we would get being on the grid, with no up and down power spikes, [and] we are taking responsibility for our energy needs.” After the initial installation four years ago, there haven’t been any issues with the system.
In building their sustainable home, the kindness of others was an important factor. “Our close community of friends and family were very supportive. Some people in the community are pretty unaware that it is even possible to be independent and ‘off grid’. For a country as advanced as we portray it to be, it is unfortunate that more people are not educated on the possibilities of cleaner, renewable energy options,” laments Jackie. One concern that she and Allan share is of ordinances for wind generation. “Our township does not have any ordinances for wind generation, [but] it is getting close now,” she says.
Jackie and Allan also encourage others to begin transforming their lifestyles to include more sustainable, balanced practices. People need to simply start somewhere. These beginning, initial steps are crucial to sparking change. “A person could install a grid-inner tie inverter and install photovoltaic panels to start making power. With this type of installation one can enjoy the flexibility of staying with grid power and supplementing their power needs,” she explains.
Ripples begin small, and they grow. But first, the pebble must be cast.