AA> I envy people who can live off-grid. But the cost of entry
AA> seems high.

MH>So do I.  I have watched videos of people that have done it, and still are do
  > it.  Lots of work to get there and I would imagine is well worth it in the e

If you build from scratch to be off the grid it's not so bad if you make
certain allowances. A friend of mine built a big ($1 million?) cottage on a
lake with no road access. He was told by the power company that it would cost
him $100,000 to have a line run to his place, even though he was within 500
feet of power lines on the ground, but they insisted on feeding him power
under water instead of burying lines or putting in a couple of poles..

It was more the principle of the thing than that he couldn't afford it but he
decided to tell them to stuff it stay off of the grid instead.

He has some solar cells and he should have a wind generator up by now and he's
doing pretty well. Lighting is by combination gas and 12v electric, lots of
LED stuff, and the fridge and stove, are propane rather than electric.
He has a bank of 20 acid batteries which cost him about $2000 to store some
power and a small gas powered generator when he really needs 'normal' power
for things, but I was there a whole weekend and the only time the generator
was used was when his wife vacuumed the place. His water system is gravity
feed from a large storage tank on a hill behind the cottage which is filled
from the lake using a gasoline powered water pump a couple of times a day.
Heating is mostly burning wood but there's also some propane heat.
It's primarily a summer place so heating is less of an issue, although they
have stayed weekends there in winter as well.

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 * SLMR Rob  * They made us eat porridge...it was a grueling experience.
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