Modern Off Grid Energy Efficient Prefab House Compares Snow Storms In Different Homes

Modern off grid prefab house net zero cozy with winter snow.

It's all fun and games until an unexpected snow blankets the region.
Did Y'ALL know this storm was coming? I didn't. A few flakes, sure. But INCHES of SNOW?
It was a wet snow. A heavy snow. A cold to your bones snow.

For thousands, the power went out... it's still out!
And where were we?
Caught in the city for doctors' appointments and holiday events.

All was canceled. If I had KNOWN this storm was coming, we would have rescheduled doctors' visits and stayed at the off grid prefab house!!!! Instead of being relaxed and cozy in our energy efficient off grid prefab home, we were in the city in a 1920s foursquare with single glass panes and drafts... and the power... was... out.

Thankfully not for long.
Many of our country friends have had power out since Friday, and still are without.

In the middle of the night in the drafty city foursquare, I gained consciousness thinking, "Wow, the air, it's SO COLD thank goodness we have down comforters that are REAL and work, I wonder if the power went out!" Thankfully by morning the power was back on, and had time to warm the house with delicious radiator heat. But I wondered what temperatures would have greeted us, indoors, if it had NOT come back on...

Handsome Husband reflected: "Wow, when I went in to the off grid house Friday and you had already been gone for days so no heat... it was 65 inside." With no heat. No heat for days.

Another note: In this city house, it is programmed to turn on like most people these days- a thermostat set according to your schedule. The thermostat was set to "away" Saturday as people weren't supposed to be there this weekend. Pip 1 came downstairs Saturday morning and remarked that in the hour since he woke, he saw the setting had dropped from 68 to 60. Within the hour the indoor temperature in that city house dropped SIX DEGREES.

In winter temperatures in our off grid prefab house, when the tiny firebox in the cook stove goes out as we go to bed and hence there is no heat until I get the fire started ohhhhh nine or ten hours later... our average indoor temperature drops six degrees TOTAL.

Looking at pictures this week I reflect on how we often just used the cook stove last for meals vs. running constantly during the day, and how one day, Pip 2 decided to work on the concrete floor- imagine being on a concrete floor in winter but feeling comfortable enough to be in BARE FEET.

And no, the radiant heat was NOT ON.

I had nothing to do with this. She wanted the concrete non-red-clay-stained.
GOOD LUCK, CINDERELLA!
I don't think you'll ever get paw prints and dragged in dirt
out of our lifestyle. It's easier to embrace the patina, honeychile!

As you read this I will be arriving back at the off grid prefab house, and am curious as to what temperatures I will find indoors. On one hand, it's sunny so the passive solar will be at work. On the other, it's cold- highs of 40, lows of 20. I'm guessing that no matter the temperature I find in the energy efficient off grid prefab, it will be fine, vs. if the 1920s house had no heat for days...

I always love adventures in the city.
But it'll be great to be back at the off grid prefab house.