Charging on the roof in the snow

The temperature was well below freezing (in the low 20s F or -5C), but today was sunny, the next few days will be overcast, and my batteries were low.

So up to the roof I went. In fact, today works out to be a rare three-climb day, meaning close to fifty flights for my over-fifty-year-old bones, and a torn meniscus. But someone has to show it’s possible so we can make living without an electric grid easier. If people did it for 250,000 years, why should we let technology make us less resilient and more dependent?

By the way, the stone on the right is holding the panels down because it was windy, which is also why I lay the panels flat instead of angled toward the sun. They’re like sails in the wind.

I recognize below freezing isn’t a big deal in many places, nor is climbing a lot of stairs. I agree. Today isn’t a big deal, but people seem to think anything harder than plugging anything they want into an outlet any time they want is harder than going to Mars and mining asteroids.

I submit life disconnected from the electric grid isn’t so bad. To clarify: I don’t propose what I’m doing as a long-term solution. I’m exploring a frontier. Once we see it’s possible, entrepreneurs and innovators can make it simple.

Here are more pictures of my rooftop slightly dusted with snow yesterday.