Of the questions that get referred to me from our advice centres, one that has become a regular is: ‘Should (and how do I) go off grid?’. Sometimes this is because of a misunderstanding that microgeneration means you have to be off grid (it doesn’t). Mainly, though, the question is being asked by people who want to opt out totally from our fossil-fuelled energy infrastructure. For those of you out there who are dreaming of energy independence, here are some musings. The first thing I’d say is, what are your motives? In the backwoods of America, or the depths of rural India, off-grid might be your only energy option – since ‘on-grid’ means ‘no grid’ in some parts of the world. (This has led to these places leading the rest of us in microgeneration, it’s the only economic local energy option.) For the rest of us, though, if you have the grid and choose not to connect, your real result might not be quite what you intended. Yes, you will have opted out of a fossil-fue..