OUTONOMIA: How to Build a Modern Off Grid House with On Grid Comfort
OUTONOMIA is a unique, award-winning, self-sufficient, fully solar-powered off grid home — a real template for anyone pursuing modern, year-round abundant off grid living without relying on a backup generator. Anywhere in the world.
Whether you're starting from scratch or upgrading an existing off-grid setup — whether you're building a family house, homestead, cabin, survival shelter, glamping site, or tiny house — our book provides hard-earned insights and firsthand, practical, field-tested experience for all modern-day off-gridders.
OUTONOMIA: where back to the roots meets the modern age.
Our family built OUTONOMIA with our own hands and then carefully crafted this book as a realistic off grid blueprint for all fellow off grid enthusiasts. Discover our universally adaptable and replicable approach to modern off grid living, developed through years of trial and error, so you don’t have to repeat the same painful process and mistakes.
1. Detailed and practical chapters
to help you plan, design & build
your dream off grid project:
off grid architecture,
site prep, ideal orientation,
off grid solar systems,
off grid water treatment,
off grid heating solutions,
construction materials,
and much more.
2. The final selection of technologies in OUTONOMIA
How to achieve a 100% solar powered, year-round comfortable household
without relying on a backup generator.
3. Hard-earned lessons, hands-on insights, and practical tips
directly from the creators of OUTONOMIA.
4. A tested roadmap to modern off grid living with on grid comfort
Universally applicable, replicable, or adjustable for any off grid project.
5. No greenwashing, no gatekeeping, just real and honest experience
including the errors and missteps along the way to OUTONOMIA.
6. Optional access to complete technical PDF blueprints for OUTONOMIA
A detailed package of diagrams and plans, available as an add-on to the book.
Recommended for those seeking an even deeper technical dive.
Check out the add-on contents here
Even if OUTONOMIA doesn’t match your visual or architectural style, we’re confident that the technical principles and systems we’ve developed can be adapted and scaled to suit any modern off-grid project. Our book’s detailed contents were carefully assembled to be universally applicable to off-grid realists and dreamers across the U.S., Canada, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Asia, and beyond.
OUTONOMIA’s concept is suitable for any off grid location and project size.
We built OUTONOMIA in a secluded location with no connection to public utility networks, set in a temperate continental climate zone (exact location here). Despite experiencing harsh, snowy winters and mild summers, the house generates 100% of its electricity from the sun and stores it in batteries and a thermal water tank. While we do own a backup generator, our energy system was intentionally designed to operate year-round without needing to use it — all while maintaining virtually the same level of comfort as an on grid household.
A scalable off-grid solar system: the heart and soul of OUTONOMIA.
Moreover, OUTONOMIA collects and purifies as much rainwater as possible, which is then used for flushing, showering, laundry, and many other everyday needs. In contrast, the precious drinking water from our well is consumed sparingly and with care. All used water is then carefully cleaned and fully purified before being returned back to the natural cycle.
OUTONOMIA’s off-grid water management.
Heating is also provided by solar energy, combined with a pellet boiler and a wood stove as backup. Thanks to its insulation and thermal design, OUTONOMIA retains valuable heat exceptionally well — while still offering a healthy indoor environment.
The automatic pellet boiler and thermal tank inside OUTONOMIA.
All of our off-grid systems and solutions were developed and thoroughly tested over several years in less-than-ideal weather conditions for off-grid living. The good news? You can replicate them — fully or partially — in your own off-grid project, no matter the size, location, or climate.
This place was once just a dream — now it’s a real off grid home.
In total, around 70 professionals and volunteers from various fields helped bring OUTONOMIA to life. They all contributed free of charge, purely for the challenge and the shared vision behind it. In the end, OUTONOMIA is a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, and crowd-built house — a true collective effort.
Off-grid living without the hum of a backup generator — in any weather.
In OUTONOMIA: How to Build a Modern Off Grid House with On Grid Comfort you will learn exactly how we built our own sleek, affordable, and functional off grid house — one that doesn’t rely on a backup generator, even in bad weather. Inside the book, you’ll find real pros, cons, and hard-earned lessons we gained while designing, building, and living in the modern off grid home we call OUTONOMIA.
Beyond the detailed book chapters — filled with OUTONOMIA's practical takeaways on off grid architecture, site prep, power systems, water treatment, heating solutions, construction materials, and more — we’ve gone even deeper.
We’ve even published a complete package of technical documentation, blueprints, detailed diagrams, and construction plans for OUTONOMIA. These downloadable PDF files are primarily designed as a recommended (but not necessary) add-on to the in-depth book.
OUTONOMIA — the house — came to life in a truly unique way: through the incredible collaboration of dozens of volunteer experts and hundreds of supporters from the general public. When we first shared the idea of a book about OUTONOMIA, we were once again met with an overwhelming wave of encouragement and generous offers to help. Every word in the book was written by Pavel Podruh — the founder and builder of OUTONOMIA — with the love and support of his wife, Kristyna, and their two sons, Adam and Robin, to whom the book is dedicated.
This is us — the family behind OUTONOMIA.
