In 1977, a young, shaggy and idealistic Loose Cannon hitchhiked across the United States to the leafy Appalachian backwater of Louisa, Virginia.
There he found the 'intentional community' of Twin Oaks, a commune peopled by dissident academics, feminists and assorted ex-hippies experimenting with alternative energy, 'bio-regionalist' economics and zero-impact industry.
After showing Loose Cannon the water-free composting toilet under her hand-hewn cabin, a former physics professor and Twin Oaks elder told him:
'Western civilisation has become a society of squanderers, addicted to fossil fuels. We'll burn them till they run out, the Earth's atmosphere boils away, or both. I want no part of this.'
On the roof of her humble structure were four six-by-three foot photovoltaic panels. Each was rated to produce a maximum of 40 watts of direct current at 24 volts. In the rainy foothills to the Blue Ridge Mountains, the real output was closer to 10 watts, a meagre meal for the bank of lead-acid car batteries rigged in the loft.
All told, on a good day, the good professor could reliably operate a handful of light bulbs and a weak fan.
