The technical bit...

Last month we went through to Cali to meet an expert in alternative energy solutions. We found their website when we were researching how to get our hands on all the kit we´ll need for off the grid living as despite having the perfect conditions for self sufficiency here in Popayan (no need for heating/cooling, 12 hours of daylight year round, relatively high rainfall), there are very few places that can provide you with the equipment or the expertise needed to get things up and running. APROTEC seemed to know what they were talking about.

Here in Popayan we spotted a solar water heater for sale in an electrics shop for around a million pesos with a capacity of 120 litres. They had it out the front of the shop so that you could open the tap and feel the teperature of the water, it wasn´t that warm but aparently it normally produces between 40 and 90´C. It was one of those ones with glass tubes on the front and a water tank at the top and as the water heats up in the glass tubes, the hot water rises and the cold water sinks meaning that the water coming out of the tank should always be hot. The guy in the shop didnt seem able to answer many of our questions though and didnt have access to information about any other solar based products so we thought we´d be best heading into the city to ask the experts at Aprotec.

After punching our electricity consumption details into a spreadsheet, the green expert in Cali suggested that we´d need a solar panel system of about three panels and a couple of large batteries, convertors etc. But that we´d have to find a way of living without a fridge or washing machine. The washing machine´s not such a big deal because up until recently we were doing our washing at the hostel anyway. The fridge is tricky though. Having tried living without a fridge before, I´m not really interested in doing it again!

It seems that the fridge alone would consume more energy than the whole rest of the house, by a long way. The solution offered by Aprotec was a tiny chest fridge which costs a whopping 4,000,000 Pesos. Eight months minimum salary in Colombia, to put it in perspective. We´re still trying to figure out a solution to this issue as we´ve heard about gas fridges but we´re reluctant to rely to heavily on gas as we´ll already need canisters for cooking. In Miami, thanks to the RV travelling snowbirds, there seems to be a few different solar and off the grid solutions and as we´ll be there in May, we might check out the options. Saying that, with 20% import tax, it´s probably not worth it.

Meanwhile we´re trying to adjust out living habits to get ready for the day when we´ll really need to be careful of how much energy and water we use...but cold showers and living with out a fridge? We´ll have to figure something out!