Why We Do This

There are many factors that motivated the creation of 1 Block Off the Grid. The need to take immediate action to stop global warming, getting us closer to carbon neutrality. Certainly, the nation’s collective movement towards renewable energy and sustainable lifestyle. The overwhelming cry of many saying “we are ready” for clean energy. And we wanted to add to that, two more reasons:

reason #1: Energy prices will increase overtime. Every year your electric bill goes up. Over the past 30 years, electricity rates have increasd 4-7% annually, and it’s only going to get worse.  With the rapidly increasing prices  of oil and natural gas, “dirty electricity” is becoming very expensive. The cleaner options (wind, solar, geothermal and tidal) are getting more attractive, but developing the technology is still costly and requires large capital investments from the utility companies. Eventually those costs are passed on to us, the consumers. So by getting your very own solar system you are guaranteed access to a ‘flat rate’ on your energy, regardless of how much the market fluctuates - or how long it takes the industry to reach acceptable carbon emission standards.

reason #2: Our individual electrical energy needs will increase over time. This will happen mostly through a shift in demand from fossil (oil) and natural (gas) fuel to electrical and thermal with plug in hybrid cars, electrical scooters, stoves, thermal heating, etc. It makes sense to think of energy generation in terms of a “built-in function” of a house like it’s the case for a chimney, plumbing or sewage. An independent energy generation capability (whether it is electrical or thermal) that is clean and sustainable. Solar energy is a good place to start.

Many people shy away from the initial cost of solar, but let’s put this in perspective. We’ll happily spend $20K, $30K or even $40K+ on a car that we’ll keep for 4-5 years and will depreciate 50-75% over that period. But if we were to put that same money (or a fraction of it) into a solar system on our roofs, which will last 25 to 35 years, we’ll get most of our electricity for free. But here’s the best part: we get closer to energy independence, we get to have a true impact on the health of our earth, and quite possibly change our whole way of life.

Bring 1BOG to your city
Don’t see your city on the list? If you can get enough people to sign up with us, we’ll launch a campaign there.  Send an email to campaign@1bog.org if you’d like to become an ambassador for your city.

Ways you can support 1BOG
You can help us spread the word by linking to our site or our facebook badge on your webspace, emailing your friends and neighbors, and posting in your community forum.

* Fine print - We don’t mean literally off-the-grid, nor do we mean literally a city block. Even homes with solar power remain connected to the grid. We want to help enough of our neighbors move to solar to add up to the electricity demands of a typical city block. We estimate an average block to require a total of 200 KW of solar energy production - so that’s our goal! If that group of houses happen to be on the same block, even better!