solar

There's an old truism that says "if you can't measure something then you can't fix it." This applies especially well to an off-grid renewable energy installation not only because there are so many components that have to be working in order for the whole system to work, but because the fail-state for many key components may not be immediately obvious UNLESS you're keeping a record of their performance over time.

I happen to live off the grid. I don't mean this in a tinfoil-hat, leave-no-data-trail, They-are-going-to-get-me kind of way. I mean it in a "the-electrical-grid-owned-by-PG&E-ends-two-miles-away-from-my-house" kind of way. This means that I've had to learn a lot about electricity, and energy conservation, and renewable energy, and balance of system, and much more since I moved here five years ago.