When the lights went out in California in January, Richard Perez let loose a victory cry. "I knew it!" Perez shouted. "For years I said the grid out here is stretching awfully thin. You wait and see, there's not going to be enough to go around ... And, by golly, it's shredding to pieces!"
But the lights never went out on Perez - nor will they. Deep in a pine glade on the California-Oregon border, Richard and his wife Karen have been living off the electricity grid in a self-sufficient compound for 30 years. The meadow in front of their house glitters with a patchwork of solar panels that pan back and forth on sun-tracking motors. A 3.3-kilowatt renewable-energy system that uses wind and solar energy powers all their creature comforts - TV, stereo, air conditioning - and, most important, a state-of-the-art publishing center complete with three Macs and a radio-frequency phone line.
From this backwoods complex, the Perezes publish Home Power, a profitable niche magazine that instructs small businesses and home owners on how to install and maintain renewable-power systems. As a result of the current energy crisis in California and other states, "business is booming," says Richard Perez. "We're deluged with Californians who don't want anything to do with their flailing utilities."
Since its first issue in 1986, Home Power has grown from a readership of 4,000 to more than 100,000. It now exists as both a print magazine and a Web site and has a staff of 13. Last year Home Power took in close to $1 million in revenue. And since the energy crisis made news in mid-January, ad sales have jumped 20 percent and subscription requests have doubled.
In articles like "The Ultimate Pulse Width Modulator" and "Exotic Electric Vehicle Batteries," Home Power tracks advancements in solar, wind, hydroelectric, fuel-cell and microturbine technologies. And of these technologies, the solar industry - the Home Power darling - has seen the most dramatic growth: U.S. sales of solar equipment are estimated to be $2.5 billion this year, six times what they were in 1995. And the grassroots renewable-energy movement is propelling the market's fastest-growing segment: Sales of generators designed to power homes and small businesses are growing at 30 percent a year.
West Coast renewable-energy equipment dealers such as Solar Depot and Real Energy say they have been flooded with orders during the past couple of months. "California dealers are all booked out several months in advance," says Mike Landry, president of Horizon Industries, a solar contractor based in Escondido, Calif. This growth represents a triumph of legitimacy for off-the-gridders like the Perezes; once dismissed as escapist hippies, they now appear to be cutting-edge pragmatists.
The couple met in 1967 in San Francisco. Karen was a Haight Street party girl and Richard was a communist computer nerd writing science textbooks. In 1970, the couple split town with other back-to-the-landers and bought a 40-acre plot of land in southern Oregon for $7,000. From his days as a physicist, Richard knew that solar panels were used in the telecommunications industry to power satellites and remote radio signals. Tipped off by neighboring hippies, he ordered one through an industry catalog.
