Off-Grid Options

Living off-grid has many options and possibilities.  Living off grid in a housing complex has many restraints and the design would need to be responsive to these off-grid options.

Water

Although much of Michigan's underground water supplies are high quality and purity, the opportunity to drill wells in urban Detroit may not be feasible or the best choice.  Many factors against well-drilling include sub-standard quality or industrial pollution of existing groundwater, existing underground infrastructure and electricity necessary to run pumps.   Below is a basic model for how a typical well works:

A second option is rainwater collection.  Many factors should be considered including site and installation choices.  First, does our location provide adequate rainwater to be collected?  The annual rainfall for Detroit is 33".  There are some calculations that can be done to devise whether or not rainwater collection is an option and is based off the square footage of the roof collection area. 

Below is a basic model for underground rainwater collection systems:  Basically, water is filtered while being collected and brought to a large tank (or bladder in some retrofit cases).  Stored there, an electric pump (or gravity fed if tank is stored above utilities) brings the water into the house where it is again filtered or treated based on it's use (basic filtration for toilets, UV treatment to kill bacteria for drinking and laundry).

Here is a fun, quick video on YouTube of two homeowners and their remodel project that now includes a bladder-style rainwater collection system:

How to recycle rainwater for use at home....

There is much legal debate about the collection of rainwater.  While some states are requiring rainwater collection systems, states like Colorado make it illegal claiming rainwater runoff is the right and property of those downstream as well as the "original owners"...and can be treated like theft.

Sunlight

Solar panels, solar heat-gain and natural lighting are all ways a design can harness the sun to create an off-grid design.

Traditional solar panels can be unattractive in most installations...unless you are in a solar decathlon and live in Germany...in which case you could use the sleek black panels as a curtain wall system.

However, advances in technology make using "solar panels" on roofs almost invisible:

Or like plant life like Ivy:

Regardless, the harnessing of solar power at the site no longer dictates a huge part of the home's design, but is dependent on the amount of sun your site receives and, if panels are on the roof, annual snowfalls.  Detroit is a snowy place with an average of 37 days of snow totaling an average of 43" per year.  Although panels will be installed at a pitch that can shed melting snow, not much snow there melts.  Perhaps a vertical, accessible location would be best so the homeowner can clear the snow?

Sunshine state?  Meh.  Southern states receive 150 - 200+ days of sunshine, prime for solar panels.  By comparison, Boston receives approximately 100 clear days of sunshine, Detroit averages 75 clear days of sunshine, Seattle, WA averages 58 clear days a year while Buffalo bottoms out around 54 clear days of sunshine.  Therefore, Detroit is not a prime location for harnessing the sun, but it can be done.  Maximum penalization should be considered in the design and surfaces.

Wind

The wind too can be harnessed for it's power.  Below is a wind rose for July 2012 for Detroit:

Detroit can be freezing cold just as much as sweltering hot.  In July, mostly gentle breezes entered the site from a variety of directions.  Ventilation within the collection of housing units should reflect this and allow for breezes from multiple directions.

Now one 5 months later, December 2012:

 Now, what's important to observe here is the steady winds from the south, south-west direction.  Warm air right?  Absolutely not.  This is for the month of December.  Let me explain:

Life around the Great Lakes is tricky: while western Lower Michigan gets lake effect snow (big fluffy snowflakes and milder temperatures, eastern Lower Michigan get the plains winds.  Winds blow across the Great Plains dropping temperatures to -30 degrees F.  This cold wind warms up over the lakes and snowfall is started, but some cold wind skirts around the bottom of Lake Michigan and charges straight for Detroit...something about low and high pressure.  I'm no meteorologist, but winter winds absolutely need to be addressed in by site design.

However, wind can also be an energy source.....

 

Yes, one giant wind turbine can power the entire site as well as provide the ability for the residents to sell excess energy back to the city.  If planned well, a wind turbine can almost pay for itself.  Maybe one wind turbine centrally located in the site can harness those bitter winter winds and provide a type of beacon, or landmark, for the site....instead of towns being built under the watchful face of a clocktower, they can be formed around a majestic symbol of hope, prosperity and green living.  Maybe you could see it from A-nah-bah....