Staying “unplugged,” the Amish harness free sun

We could all use a little Amish influence in our lives. I’ve often toyed with the idea of sending my two sons to live in an Amish community to learn what hard work feels like. I don’t think they’d last a week. I can hear them now, “what do you mean no ipods or cell phones, are you nuts? Plus the fact they’d have to wake up before noon…well, it just wouldn’t fly. Of course, I probably wouldn’t last long either, “what do you mean you don’t use boxed cake mix?”

Lately there’s been a lot of buzz in the air about the Amish and it has nothing to do with their 19th century style of living. Though they’d prefer to lead quiet and private lives, we can’t help but give them kudos for leading the way in solar energy usage.

Using solar energy does not deviate from their traditional practices, beliefs, and self-sufficient way of life, which includes the rejection of our public power grid and anything else related to the outside world that they could become dependent upon. When considering the use of a certain technology, Amish communities consider the impact to their community, values, and their separation from the world, and then make a communal decision whether or not to adopt the technology into their lives. Solar energy got the thumbs-up approval and, over the last fifteen years, it’s taken off like wild fire throughout the Amish communities. Not only do the Amish use solar energy, they also build solar energy panel systems.

The Amish still drive their horse drawn buggies, but their tail lights have been powered by the sun. Common uses from solar energy include lighting, running machinery, charging batteries for the use of water pumps and washing machines, electric fences, sewing machines, and refrigerators at the home front, and calculators, cash registers, copy machines, and most anything else that would normally run on electricity, on the business front.

With unstable gas prices and the economy on shaky ground, solar energy is rubbing off onto the non-Amish as well. Some business owners of solar energy have stated that their non-Amish customer base has increased from 20% in previous years to 40-50% this year (and growing.)

Remember the Y2K scare? People were frantically stocking up on canned beans, water, and batteries. What do you think the Amish communities were doing? They were probably relaxing with their families. We can learn a lot from the Amish as they seem to be ahead of their time. The Amish have proven that energy independence works. If more of us chose the Amish way of living, we’d have more rope swings, less ipods, and free sun to run our washing machines.

Posted on November 14th in Going Solar by Beth.