Living Off-Grid

Low-Footprint Living, High-Impact Life (With Isle of Eigg Mini-Case)

Image courtesy of Maike at Pixabay.

Being able to live off-grid opens up all sorts of opportunities. I first really began to understand the opportunities when I used to travel a lot with work to southern Africa.

I was spending a lot of time there from around 20 years ago. I’d been before, but the trips became more frequent. I used to visit construction sites, impressive, fascinating places. I’d work with people who were converting coal to oil, building one of the world’s largest coal-fired power stations at Medupi in the Limpopo province of South Africa, and possibly the world’s largest coal mine, Moatize near Tete in northwestern Mozambique.

My perspective started to change when I began consulting with a construction company with a business line in off-grid power installation that was growing. I had a contract to develop their leadership team, and we had an action learning approach which engaged with the live challenges and opportunities for the organization. I loved the work and learned so much. The off-grid power work was transforming rural living across a large part of Africa, making many things possible, like light to study at night, refrigeration to keep food fresh, a world online of education and entertainment. Sometimes action learning projects just absorb you, fascinate you and, in a way, change your perspective on life.