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Nick Rosen explains why living off-grid in the US has never been so comfortable

What does it mean to live off-grid?

The literal meaning is that you are not dependent upon utility companies for your power, water, phone, internet or sewage and waste disposal. The metaphorical meaning is to be set out of the system, semi-independent of all the normal support structures.

You travelled across the US meeting people who live off-grid. Why do they do it?

Some are responding to the recent problems we have faced: the banking crisis and home foreclosures, and the US government鈥檚 lack of response to things like the oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and hurricane Katrina. These have destroyed trust in the government鈥檚 ability to look after us, leaving people to think that they better look after themselves. It can also be much cheaper to live this way.

Is living off-grid today very different to how it used to be?

In the 1970s we had the 鈥渂ack to the land鈥� movement and in the 1980s and 1990s, the survivalists. In the last five years a much more sophisticated and multilayered off-grid population has emerged. These days, technology makes it quite comfortable, thanks to wireless communication, low-energy appliances and, of course, renewable energy, which has come a long way since the 1970s.

How many people are living off-grid in the US today?

Off-grid people, by their nature, are very hard to count; I would really like to work with academics to conduct a proper survey. I鈥檝e estimated that there are between 750,000 and 1 million off-grid households in the US at the moment, which means there are between 1 and 2 million Americans living off the grid.

Do you live off-grid?

I鈥檝e been doing it part-time since 1995, sometimes for months at a time. I go with my wife, 5-year-old daughter and dog to a beautiful mountainous place on the Spanish island of Majorca. It鈥檚 a place I could never have otherwise afforded.

I bought a shepherd鈥檚 hut in 1995 for $7000. I gather rainwater in a huge tank and that feeds into a shower, which is heated by burning propane, and two flush toilets. Most of our heating is wood cut from the olive and pine trees nearby. We also have a couple of solar panels and a wind turbine, but we have to worry about those being stolen. So instead I tend to use the rental car as the main source of energy for charging the phone, laptop and radio.

Did meeting the American off-gridders give you hope for a more environmentally sustainable future?

Absolutely. I am not saying that people ought to go and live off the grid, but they should be aware that it is an option. I suspect that there will be tens of millions of people living off-grid in the US before 2015.

鈥淚 suspect that there will be tens of millions of people living off-grid in the US before 2015鈥�

Why did you pursue off-grid life in the US instead of in the UK?

In the UK, where I had written a book on the subject, the obstacles to going off-grid are much more intense. American culture is much more favourable to off-grid living. It goes back to Henry David Thoreau and Walden. The pioneering spirit still exists in the US.

Do you feel a kinship with Thoreau?

I rather like Thoreau because he was also a part-timer. He walked back to have his mother do his washing on Fridays. For him, it wasn鈥檛 a religion- it was a beautiful philosophical experience. It wasn鈥檛 a competition to see who could wear the hairiest hair shirt.