"Now more people are starting to understand how quickly we are driving toward the edge of our ecological capacity on the planet,” said Katrina Morgan, principal architect for Fermata Consulting, a green building consulting firm. “They are not just fringe types anymore.”

 

Many of those disconnected from the electrical grid are living in homes powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. Some eschew other public utilities, like municipal water and sewage systems. Others forage for building materials. Many live communally. Here are a few of their stories.

 

Little did Keith Callahan* know when he and his wife started building a shed on their 5-acre property, they were building their house.

 

Keith and his wife live in a 320-square-foot home (photo above) on a tiny island in the Puget Sound. They originally built their shed-turned-house to store belongings while they traveled in South America.