Introducing urban off grid

The purpose of this site is to provide a kind of 'how-to' for taking your urban home fully or partially off-grid, with the caveat that I am no expert in this field (the downside of this is that I will make many mistakes along the way; the upside is that by sharing these mistakes, you can avoid them).

By off-grid, I mean disconnecting from water and electricity utilities. I don't currently intend to disconnect from the mobile network, broadband, or cable television. I will also continue to make use of my local bin-collection services, but aim to reduce my reliance on this service as much as possible.

My main motivation for taking my home off-grid is to reduce its impact on the environment. This means that I will only be looking into off-grid technologies with a low carbon footprint. In particular, I will prioritise options with a lower carbon footprint which require some degree of connection to the grid (I'm calling this semi-off-grid), over options which have a higher carbon footprint but which would enable me to go fully off-grid.

Around 20% of the UK's annual emissions come from heating homes. This figure does not take into account the energy required by all other household appliances including air-conditioning units, which have become increasingly popular as we experience more frequent and hotter heatwaves in the summer. Meanwhile, the UK's water treatment companies have made headlines several times in the last year for pouring untreated sewage directly into our water bodies. Thames Water, a water company serving a portion of the south of England, is reported to have released 72 billion litres of raw sewage into the river Thames in 2021/2022. In 2024, Thames Water reported a whopping 50% increase in raw sewage discharges compared to 2023.

My home is a terraced house in Cardiff, Wales, so some of the information I share will apply onto to folks living in a similar home the UK. However, I aim to cover off-grid options and restrictions relevant to other regions and home-types as much as is possible. I will also include alternatives for folks who are renting private or social housing where they exist.

Thanks for reading, that's all from me for now.

Jess