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Living off-the-grid does not require any radical lifestyle adjustments. The Allenfamily including Leonard, his wife Jolanda, their three year old son Weston, and dogDuke, live very comfortably in their large modern home. Like most families theyenjoy the modern conveniences of a dishwasher , and clothes washer and dryer.Their computers access the Internet through a high-speed satell ite link. Their largescreen television, stereo and electric guitar (Leonard plays in a band), all makeeverything appear quite remarkably the same as those living on -the-grid.Take a closer look, however, and there are some underlying differences that cr eatethe magic of freedom from utility bills. Out behind the house, mounted on a thirtyplus foot steel pole are an array of photovoltaic solar panels that generate electricity.This solar array is actually mounted on an automatic tracking system that directsthe panels as close to directly at the sun as possible all day. In the morning thepanels point east, by mid -day they are pointed almost straight up into the sky, andfinally by evening they end up facing west, constantly optimizing theirtransformation of sunlight into electricity.Beyond these solar panels you would never know that this family lives off-the-grid.There are no other unusual features of the actual home, garden, or windows thatwould indicate that this home works a little differently. To be sure the house iswonderfully bright with light because of the many windows. If you look closely thefridge, elegantly designed into the beautiful kitchen, is a SunFrost (reportedly themost efficient fridge in the world). If you look a little closer youll also notice thatthe lights are all compact florescent of a wide variety of shapes, sizes and types.170