I agree 100% with part of the sentiment (reducing demand is part of the math) but not the other part (changing lifestyle).
Part of my energy project was doing things to make our home operate way more efficiently (sealed cracks, replaced old gaskets around doors, added insulation, installed a variable speed heat pump, hybrid water heater and directing the cold air byproduct from the water heater to my HVAC during the warm half of the year). Since it was time to replace my wife's ICE crossover anyway I replaced it with an EV crossover, choosing one that has a good miles/kWh throughput. And I set up two charging circuits (one constantly powered and one intermittently powered) to optimize charging the EV with mostly homemade power. About the only thing left to make the home more efficient would be to take down the sheetrock on all the walls so I could put real insulation in the walls. But that's cost prohibitive now that my power bills average $80/month in my all-electric, 2,300 sq ft home and charging the EV to drive 1,300 miles per month (with homemade power charged miles, not counting if we take it on road trips).
Rule #1 before I began this project engineering task was that mine and my wife's lifestyle wouldn't be limited. We'd still get in the hot tub as much as we want. We'd still keep the home temperature set to what we want. We'd still drive as much as we want (now that we do most of the driving in the EV, our driving habits are related to our solar throughput). So our lifestyles aren't changed.
What's changed is that the Dims' stupid energy polices and their warmageddon cult impact our monthly budget only about 20% as much as they used to. My small power bill + loan payment I took out to do the solar and other upgrades is equal in my budget to what my year 2019 budget was paying in power + natural gas + gasoline. In other words, I've removed the past 5 years' worth of dumb energy price inflation from my budget. As the loan balance is paid down the monthly payment amount goes down too -- but I still pay the same amount to pay it down early (again, freezing the energy cost portion of my budget like it's forever year 2019).
When the loan is paid off I'll probably still "pay" the same amount to an investment account to build up for repairs to the solar system or appliances. (What I'll probably do instead is just withdraw that much less from our Roth IRA's but designate that portion to being for the home energy project. That way a higher percentage of our wealth stays in our Roth IRAs growing tax free.)
I think this is all very good information for personal use. But what are we going to do about industry?
I saw someone say that people used to live with no electricity at all and managed just fine.
Are we going to go back to outhouses too? And are we going to have to grow all of our own food, instead of having it grown somewhere else (with no petroleum-based fertilizers of course)
And no money to buy products ranging from nails to fasten a board to a wristwatch to keep track of time, never cars. We don’t need cars, right? Horse and buggy?
And when you get sick, old, or infirm, you are on your own?
Do we really want to go back to those times? I think this is great for individuals. Are we really advocating for a return to pre-industrial times?
What I meant was exactly the opposite of what you are striving to do. You will find that it will be a full time job just to try and keep up with this lifestyle you want from a self sustainable system. The more money you throw at it, the bigger it gets, the more maintenance it will need. Been there... It ends up being like trying to maintain six cars instead of just two when your true needs are satisfied just fine with only two.
To be practical and sustainable it first takes a lifestyle adjustment in the mind. Beginning with impractical ideology and expectations from the system. Beginning with size of dwelling you need to heat and cool and luxury toys. I am approaching the concept from a general perspective that not everyone has a half million dollars to set up a system just to try and satisfy an impractical and exuberant lifestyle.
I mean really... Is a 4000 square foot home for one person or even a couple actually practical? Or is it just a status symbol to show off wealth? How many rooms can one occupy at one time? Same with luxury toys... Are they really a hill to die on that one cannot live without? Or just status symbols that put an unnecessary demand on the system? Or just conveniences to satisfy laziness?
Anyone can become self sustainable and do it affordably if they adopt and practice a little minimalism, effort, and practicality rather than try to maintain status symbols and laziness.