It's a matter of degrees
I see a lot of people talking about getting off the grid and how bad it is to be dependent on electric, natural gas, propane, etc. but can you really say because you have a propane tank filled on stand by that you are still on the grid? If burning propane puts you ON the grid, then so does buying gas for your car and chain saw.
For instance, we are partially. We get most of our food ourselves, we grow it. Not all, but a lot of it and in a pinch, heck ya, all of it. All the heat now, the propane is left over from the last winter we used it and it got filled back up. The tank is paid for, the propane is paid for..so might as well keep it, yes? I can do a bare minimum to get by with the electric with our solar. Not everything, but enough to get by long term, to at least keep some batts charged, run a light at night, etc. Now last place we lived, ya, whole house array, that was spiffy as all get out...the well is electric of course, but I also own a bore bucket and can have the bore opened up in one hour tops.
Solar isn't either/or, I have seen any number of guys kvetching about it, how much it costs..yet they never stop to think you *don't* have to do it ALL AT ONCE or even ever. No law says you have to have either all solar or all just grid tied central delivery, you can blend to taste. You can do one or two primary real important circuits, and keep it at that. To run the heater blower, maybe the home office, maybe the freezer is more important, maybe you want to be able to run window fans if the grid goes down in the heat of summer and no way to run the aircondo.. whatever floats yer boat. This is real common to stay both grid tied and just do some circuits in a sub panel. That is by far and away the most common way most people do solar PV.
Transportation..I only go into town once a week, I could drop that to once a month, meaning a full tank on my four banger diesel truck (it gets such great mileage one gallon does me a round trip) would last a year. Add a few five gallon cans stored, two years. Ya, still tied, but that is long enough to get things sorted out better, and yes, I eventually do want an electric truck. Unlike most people who insist they need a three hundred mile range, if I had a thirty mile range..good enough. then free fuel forever. that's on my for real I want to do it list. S10 or Ranger kits are out there now, for not that bad in price, I know I won't be waiting for the brand new electric sportscars to get cheap or practical or turn into trucks.
Same with my garden tractor, when that ancient kohler finally croaks, it is going electric, I already have a donor vehicle for the parts, an old electric ride on floor scrubber/sweeper.
I thought about going veggie diesel but I simply do not have the space in arable land to grow enough whatever, soybeans or such like.
And push really comes to shove, we got a donkey...or I can keep out one bull calf and make him a steer and have transpo and farm muscle that way. Horses are OK, but are high maintenance compared to donkeys/mules or oxen. Not totally opposed, I like them OK, but don't own any but have taken care of them in the past, I worked on a ranch, and also once in a commercial stables. High maintenance.
The whole concept of getting independent is taken from the opposite track,,,normal life you are dependent on circumstances outside your control, meaning you can get screwed constantly, and your life can change literally overnight for the worse, and you will have no *credible* fall back position..
I mean really, you are dependent on the goodwill of corrupt and now proven without any doubt completely bankrupt government and kleptomaniac international corporations to have your best interest at heart..and I just don't think that is reasonable to assume that they do. It's the opposite there. Ask the millions, literally millions, of dudes who have been job jacked and hung out to dry so some billionaire could make some more on his "investments". They don't care one bit if you live or die or be able to pay the bills or nuthin, all they care about is their yacht payments. And they tell their government lackeys what to do. If screwing you one day makes them more money and power, they'll do it in less than a heartbeat, then argue it is all for your own good.
Getting more independent is akin to tangible insurance, as opposed to some vague promise on a piece of paper in the drawer, or even worse, some government promise.
Boy sprout motto just taken into adult life, "be prepared". Lots mo bettah than "be not prepared"..it's just common sense and way more like successful humans lived forever, until the latter half of the twentieth century when "be not prepared" became "normal".
