Pioneers generate their own juice

Most of us have little choice but to grudgingly absorb higher energy costs. Then there are the plucky few who have decided to reduce their dependence on the electric company.

Mark Marcoplos lives in a 3,100-square-foot house that runs on solar energy. Most days, the custom home builder's system generates all of his family's electricity, but he stays connected to Duke Energy for supplemental electricity.

Larry Bohs and his family are served by a rural electric cooperative. But the university professor runs a solar power unit on his organic farm and nets a small profit selling electricity back to the co-op.

Chris Carter has achieved the ultimate in energy independence: He's off the grid, with no power hookup, no utility meter, no monthly electricity bills. Carter generates all the electricity he and his wife use from solar energy and wind power. For the days when it neither shines nor blows, Carter, who installs solar-power systems, has a gasoline generator as a backup.

These hobbyists live in custom-designed homes or on farms, and have invested tens of thousands of dollars in renewable energy technology. They see themselves as energy pioneers who have embraced a back-to-nature ethos to simplify their lives. They home-schood their children, live off unpaved roads and make do without central air conditioning.

But they haven't given up hot showers, the Internet, microwaves or washing machines.

"This is a movement happening under the radar much faster than people understand," Marcoplos said. "People need to be made to feel that it's cool to have your own [power] system."

Many of their energy-saving techniques can be applied in a standard house: switching to fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, efficient appliances and solar thermal water heaters; sealing leaky ducts; disconnecting televisions and computers that continue sucking a "phantom load" of electricity when turned off. A typical homeowner could save 25 percent to 50 percent on annual home energy costs by taking those steps.

With subdivisions sprouting everywhere, the strategies are looking more and more sensible.

The state's electric utilities are talking of licensing new nuclear reactors to sate the area's growing appetite for electricity.

Utility officials say that new homes are being built with more square footage, and the expanding dwellings require more electricity to power multiple computers and computerized appliances, home entertainment systems with wide-screen TV sets and other electronic equipment.

Progress Energy says that a typical home uses 46 percent more power than a home used 30 years ago. The number of households that the company serves in the Carolinas has jumped from 660,000 to 1.4 million in three decades.

"To put it in perspective, we have about 300,000 customers -- homes and businesses -- in Wake County today," said Progress Energy spokesman Mike Hughes. "In the next 10 years, we expect to add the equivalent of another Wake County.

"Energy efficiency will continue to be very important, but efficiency alone won't be nearly enough to meet our customers' needs."

Interest in energy savings rises in proportion to energy prices.

Utilities are passing higher energy costs on to consumers. Progress Energy raised its prices Oct. 1 -- boosting bills for the typical household by about $60 a year -- to cover the rising cost of fuel used to run its power plants. That increase is the first installment in a three-year price increase. If fuel prices continue to rise, there might be more price increases in the offing.

And if Progress Energy and Duke Energy build new nuclear reactors, the utilities are almost certain to finance the multibillion-dollar expense by raising rates.

The Carter household is insulated from those energy uncertainties. They're not the only ones. Carter, who installs solar photovoltaic systems and wind turbines, estimates that there are about two dozen households within a 100-mile radius of Raleigh that are living completely off the grid.

In addition to the off-the-gridders out there, households such as Marcoplos' and Bohs' are experimenting with alternatives to total energy independence. Duke Energy has about 10 customers who, like Marcoplos, generate their own solar power but remain connected to the energy grid in North Carolina.

The utility companies say that they are all for conservation and renewable energy, but it would take legions of off-the-gridders and solar energy enthusiasts to reverse the current energy trend sweeping the state. North Carolina utility officials forecast that the current home construction boom will drive a growing demand for electricity.

"We encourage energy conservation," said Duke Energy spokesman Tom Williams. "If it happened on a large scale, we would see our demand drop. We would adjust our forecast accordingly. And that forecast would potentially change our plans to build new power plants."