LAKE BILLY CHINOOK, ORE. — Before power lines, homesteaders had no choice. They lighted their lanterns, stoked their fires and packed away winter ice against sizzling summers.
Owners of about 250 homes in the Three Rivers community near this central Oregon lake are far from homesteading or camping out. But they are among a growing number of Americans who shun power lines, choosing to live "off the grid," without commercial power.
People in Three Rivers get most of their power from dark solar panels on their rooftops or on nearby free-standing structures positioned to more efficiently capture the sun. Some supplement it with energy generated by windmills.
Solar power easily handles their computers, lights, big-screen TVs, microwave ovens, refrigerator-freezers and more.
"Ninety percent of the people here, if [outside] power were offered to them, they'd turn it down," said Gary Sweet, a semiretired insurance agent who moved to the high desert community in Central Oregon a couple of years ago.
Off-the-grid living is edging into the American mainstream. It isn't there yet, but about 180,000 homes, mostly in the West, operate on it.
National demand is soaring and the off-the-grid movement is yet to be felt in a significant way by the power industry, said Jim Owen of the Edison Energy Institute. In the short term at least, he said, "I can't imagine any appreciable impact on the system."
Nonetheless, the number of people going off the grid increases by about a third each year, said Richard Perez, who publishes Home Power magazine, dedicated to the topic, and Lori Ryker, who has written two books on the subject.
Much of the growth is in California. Off-the-grid living is also growing in Texas, New Jersey and Wisconsin.
"It pretty much tracks where the best rebates are" for the cost of the equipment, said Connie Said of Home Power. Eighty percent of the magazine's subscriptions are in California, she added.
It's occurring mostly in the West because of people moving into remote areas that are beyond the reach of commercial power, because of ample sun and environmental conscientiousness, and possibly because of Westerners' traditional independent streak.
Residents in the decidedly upscale, gated Three Rivers community could easily afford the $300,000 the power company said it would cost to extend its lines three miles or so to their property 10 years ago.
But they've decided to stay off the grid.
