live off the grid

This goal kind of runs hand in glove with another desire of building a house. I am not yet in a position to achieve that goal, but it is becoming less desirable. Here’s the problem: next to everyone with the money to make it happen wants to live in an unspoiled wilderness. Only, they don’t really want to live there. They want to have some personal vaction house there. And this is exactly how unspoiled wilderness gets spoiled. I wouldn’t mind living in an urban core, if I could avoid taxation and dependance on others. I’m interested in the prospect of living off the grid, but I wonder if it is an energy investment that is never returned. That is, do you need so many supplies based in fossil fuels to set up that you never produce enough energy to equal the initial investment? At the very least, no one could shut down your power. And that, coupled with a underground steel-reinforced concrete bunker, is pretty cool.