🏙️ A retrofitted, off-grid house, where to escape the Civil War… and Climate Change?
We went to follow the adventure of a city guy buying a stable to retrofit it with some of the most affordable climate technologies available. Can countryside retrofitting, really be a thing?
A staggering 70% of Gen Z and 63% of Millennials cannot afford to buy a home in 2024, according to a recent report by Urban Institute.
The number of people experiencing depression and relying on mental health medication in large cities has surged by 20% in the past five years.
What is a positive solution for this phenomenon?
In this episode, we visited a guy who chose to go off-grid to the most climate-safe area in the world. Retrofitted 0$ abandoned farmhouse into a green home
In our journey to uncover questions like how much did it cost? Did they achieve energy, food, and water security? We found 8 key takeaways from this house that we put into this video. We hope you will like this clickbait thumbnail and subscribe /comment to support us:
🏙️ The City Life
Inequalities, segregation, drugs, crime, pollution, and Low buying power: these 6 symptoms seem to curse our once comfortable modern megacities.
Crushed by impossible costs of living and property prices as high as ever, our generation reclaims Good housing for all its citizens.
Studies show that food prices in city stores increase an average of 5% every year.
A staggering 70% of Gen Z and 63% of Millennials cannot afford to buy a home in 2024, according to a recent report by Urban Institute.
The number of people experiencing depression and relying on mental health medication in large cities has surged by 20% in the past five years.
This trend echoes the disturbing results of the Universe 25 experiment,
The Universe 25 experiment, conducted by American ethologist John B. Calhoun in the 1960s and 70s, aimed to study the effects of overpopulation on social behavior in mice. Calhoun created a "utopia" for the mice, with unlimited food, water, and nesting material, but limited space. Initially, the mouse population grew rapidly. However, as the population density increased, social behaviors deteriorated, leading to aggression, social withdrawal, and a breakdown of social structures. Eventually, the population declined to extinction, even though resources remained abundant.
—are we on the verge of witnessing this in our megacities?
In the meantime, pollution kills more than 88,000 people per year in the United States alone.
Meanwhile, climate change is putting the existing buildings of our cities at risk.
According to the UN-Habitat Report, cities consume 78% of the global energy and create 60% of the CO2 pollution.
In the US alone, nearly half of homes face the threat of extreme weather events as a result of a 1.5-degree climate change, putting $22 trillion worth of real estate assets at risk (CBS).
Amidst this urban turmoil, more people are considering escaping the congested city centers for the tranquility of the countryside.
The idea of more space, lower costs, and a healthier lifestyle is becoming increasingly appealing as a remedy to our urban housing crisis.
🌱 An Off-Grid Alternative?
According to the US Sensor Bureau, the price of land in rural areas is significantly cheaper—30% on average— compared to urban centers.
In France, in many rural regions, an exodus crisis — called the empty diagonal — is creating a new opportunity for affordable housing. Over the past decade, the rural population in France has decreased by 5%, leaving many homes vacant and prices low (source: DATAR).
Moreover, energy prices have fluctuated wildly in recent years, with electricity prices in the EU increasing by 20% in 2022 alone (source: Eurostat). This volatility is driven by socio-political instability and significantly impacts food prices, making urban living increasingly unaffordable.
Fortunately, low-cost technological solutions for energy production, energy storage, water collection, and recycling are now available, enabling anyone to build their off-grid home. Solar panel costs have dropped by 70% over the past decade, and home battery storage prices have fallen by 50% in the last five years. These innovations offer a viable alternative for those seeking to escape the chaos of city life.
The Shared Green Home Solution
→The recent US movie "Civil War" paints quite a bleak picture of America's future, the world's leading nation. Meanwhile, the political landscape in the US seems quite unstable with the divisive Trump/Biden elections and the ultra-conservative Project 2025 looming large.
→In Europe, we are witnessing the rise of far-right parties in several countries, as evidenced by the latest French elections, where Marine Le Pen's party secured 41.5% of the vote in the last presidential runoff.
→In Asia, escalating tensions between China, Taiwan, and Japan hint at an impending conflict, with Japan increasing its defense budget by 10% annually over the past decade, reaching $51 billion in 2023. It seems like the world is teetering on the brink of chaos.
→In this episode, our journey to find positive solutions for climate change brought us to the idea of living outside of big cities, in an offered farm.
→ Could the climate technologies of today enable us to live comfortably in the countryside, much like we once did, but now with all the modern comfort that civilization can offer?
Perhaps the best way to enjoy the benefits of both worlds is to co-own a shared with friends, an off-grid second home in the countryside. A new trend is emerging: urban city people are pooling their resources to own shared homes in rural areas, providing them with more space and a healthier lifestyle. According to a recent survey, 25% of urban residents are considering purchasing a second home in the countryside within the next five years.
The Sunflyers believe that 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 our homes and cities are 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 some 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵ies 𝘰𝘧 this 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦.
With Love.
Djoann Fal.