Self Reliance

[Bob Thompson]

That has also been a concern of my wife and I. Especially when feeding my young daughter. We're also suspicious of meat products we buy. Free range only for my daughter.

We too are very conscious of the food we eat. I'm told that happens alot with cancer patients. We grow a pretty good variety here in SoCal.
We plan to continue when we make our move to Nevada. I might add a steer and a few chickens .
The place we've bought has a geo heat pump that provides both heating and cooling, courtesy of the previous owner. Although the house is equipped with forced air heat and A/C, it is used very rarely. Since we bought the place directly from the owner he was able to prove his claims by showing me the utility bills. There is also a solar array but it is thirty years old and at the end of its usefulness. It still kicks out enough to run the well pump and the heat pump. We will replace it with new more efficient panels once we move.
Here's where I'm having a bit of trouble. We haven't bought a hybrid or an EV because of my concerns over both the lithium and the cobalt both of which are pretty nasty characters toxicity-wise. My concerns are with China and their track record for their handling of heavy metals. Research indicates that they process the lithium and manufacture a large share of the L/ion batteries in use now. If I've read this stuff right the Leaf uses Nickel/hydrides with a large chunk of cobalt tossed in for good measure. Either way if you add the copper and aluminum into the mix the batteries are like robbing peter to pay paul. Even if you have acompletely electric vehicle you have to charge it . Either by plugging in to a utility who may be using coal or solar panels which have a footprint of their own.
So you see , I'm in a bit of a quandry vis-a-vis EV's.
I did electrify an old Renault Dauphine with sixteen 250a/h gels and a converted fork lift motor controller. All the materials were used and it didn't run badly for a first effort. Eventually the structure of the front end gave up and I gave the car to another crack-pot experimentor.