The Amish are often thought to object to the use of electricity, but actually they only have a problem with the grid due to being interconnected with the outside world. They use solar, wind, generators (fossil fuel based), and various other clever hacks.
IIUC, there’s a self-reliance value going on. The grid makes it quite unclear who provides the energy from where, and being reliant on unknown entities outside the village is a non-starter for the Amish.
But what about within the village? I get the impression the Amish are quite okay with transactions and interconnectedness within a village. So my question is - do they ever have a village-wide micro grid? Or even shared power between a couple households? Or are each of them always off-grid on a per-household basis?
The Amish community I am familiar with is hypocritical with its interaction with modern technology. They won’t have a phone or electric lights in the house but will in their workshop. They won’t drive a car but will gladly get rides from their neighbors. They use battery powered lights instead of lanterns and also put them on their buggy. They have a fit about people putting solar arrays on their adjacent property. They use gas powered engines to power their washing machines.
I understand that each community governs themselves and decide what they will and won’t accept, so the community I’m familiar with may be less “orthodox” than some.
It’s perhaps fair enough to say some Amish communities have some hypocrisy, but I think as outsiders we perceive hypocrisy largely out of misunderstanding their goals. We tend to think they are anti-tech but IIUC that’s not their end game, it just turns out that their real goals incidentally appear to manifest into anti-tech ends. They are increasingly forced to compromise in some situations.
Amish w/phones
They won’t have a phone or electric lights in the house but will in their workshop.
W.r.t the phone, the Amish oppose phones for the same reason as the electric grid: having a phone line creates a permanent dependency and connection to the outside world which undermines self-reliance. Some Amish workers need to sell their goods to customers outside their community. Having no phone can reduce or kill their sales especially if they produce the kind of product that someone orders to spec in advance. So some make an exception and use a mobile phone for work. A mobile phone is less ethically problematic to them than a landline… which sounds bizarre. But I suspect what’s happening there is you can get a prepaid plan and turn off the phone when not working, thus limiting outside contact/dependency to worktime, whereas a landline is always connected to that “sinful city”. And since each call is billed individually, I get the impression that transactional nature of it is more conducive to their way of thinking. They pay X amount to carrier Y to facilitate transaction Z. Whereas with an unlimited service there is that idea that you are costing the service provider more with each call but results in no particular compensation and perhaps a feeling of taking advantage of the phone carrier, or owing them in some way.
I’m guessing on some of this. Part of my understanding comes from this article.
Amish in cars
They won’t drive a car but will gladly get rides from their neighbors.
I haven’t pinned down why that is but consider that car ownership requires insurance and registration, which must be renewed annually and ultimately creates an outside world dependency with continuous interaction. I wonder if a car rental service were to drop off a car to use for a day, perhaps that would be within their moral code to use?
They have no problem with bicycles, but what about e-bikes? It would be interesting to see if e-bikes are accepted because it would involve a motor but no reg or insurance needed. I guess since they would need to charge the batteries off-grid, it would somewhat defeat the point. I suppose a bicycle with a tiny gas-fueled engine would be classed as a moped and all the paperwork would be a show stopper.
EDIT: This article confirms that insurance is a problem in general (they have no health insurance), but the problem with car ownership is more about income inequality & status symbols. Not everyone can afford a car. When robo-taxis take hold, we’ll need to setup a system where they can request one using a carrier pidgin.
Amish banking
Note as well the Amish oppose the idea of being tagged with numbers. So banking is a problem for them after the US Patriot Act was pushed down everyone’s throat because they can no longer have a bank account without establishing a social security number. Perhaps the opposition to being numbered carries over to car registration. IDK. W.r.t. banking, if you kick the Amish out of the banks that greatly harms their livelihood. So some of them have been forced to compromise and get an SSN. Their arms were twisted. I wonder if being forced perhaps makes it acceptable because maybe they would see that as God’s will being forced on them. I can only guess.
batteries
They use battery powered lights instead of lanterns and also put them on their buggy.
I see no contradiction there. They cannot charge those batteries from the grid but they can use a hand crank to charge them. Perhaps some prefer oil lanterns because they don’t like having to get up and turn a hand crank when the battery hits 0%.
EDIT: Buggy lights are a legal obligation. The Amish also hold safety in high regard (use a text browser for that link).
solar
They have a fit about people putting solar arrays on their adjacent property.
Not sure why that would be. Maybe it’s not about moral code but a matter of unsightliness. Solar energy from the sun is fine to them… it’s power given to them by god, AFAICT.
fossil fuel → electricity
They use gas powered engines to power their washing machines.
AFAIK, fossil fuels are not a problem. Nor is grid-free electricity.
At least in the communities around me there is no hypocrisy. Amish bishops are clear that their rules attempt maintain their strict hierarchy, “God” first, then your local bishop, then your father, and below that is non-owning castes of women, farm, animals, and children. Attempts at escape or any deviation from that hierarchy is met with punishment and abuse.
Amish w/phones
Around us every Amish household has an “outhouse” by the road with a landline connection that is billed in the name of an English neighbor. The family then uses that phone just like any other household landline, but because it’s out of the house and not billed to any member of the family it’s not “worldy”. The head of the household then pays the English neighbor the monthly phone bill for their service.
Amish in cars
They are fine with any vehicle that doesn’t involve a license or registration to drive. Amish men drive non-cab tractors, skid steers, bicycles, and e-bikes on local highways. They draw the line at anything that will allow their kids or wives to be able to escape their cult and the reach of their morality police. E.G. cars that require licenses to drive.
Amish banking
This is outside of the technical scope of things but Amish have co-op banks with account numbers and everything just run by their church deacons/bishop. They have no problem with being given numbers or W-2’s as long as it increases the Church’s control over their lives.
When we had problems with a neighbor not paying his freezer bill, which is similar to the phone bill arrangement I mentioned earlier, we went to his Bishop and his Bishop informed us that this man has no control over any of his finances. All of his paychecks are deposited to a church account and he is provided an allowance from that
batteries
RE: Your edit, the Amish around us fought tooth and nail against signal lights on their buggies even after their community experiences dozens of deaths and injuries per year because they choose to drive wooden buggies controlled by skittish horses on state highways at night.
I laugh at your statement about safety being a priority for the Amish community. My county has 3 times the average farm worker debilitating injury rate for our state, when you dig into the numbers 85% of those farm injuries are within the local Amish community, including children as young as 3.
Amish practices often sound like a joke to me. Makes me wonder if it started as a joke and self-perpetuated from there.
I think it became one over time.
I don’t know much about the Amish, but if you look for models of village-scale offgrid systems maybe check out some non-Western countries. I vaguely remember some kid in Africa building some hydro power for his village … I do know of some Indian ashram cooking for thousands of people with direct thermal solar … but don’t remember names unfortunately.
The Amish are not a monolith. You’d have to look into the various groups to get your answer,and it won’t apply to all of them. And some do use power on the grid, while others like the Old Order Amish don’t use it apart from maybe some battery operated lights for night work or portable fans. I doubt an internal grid is used in most if not all places considering that, while many do not mind use of electricity, it’s still used in relative moderation.
Each Amish community makes its own rules on technology. And there’s a process to meet and update the rules every few years. There is no central committee, and specific rules or items of technology are not core religious doctrine.
So there’s a wide variety practices out there. And this is why different people have different experiences with the Amish.
