Those formus were a bane of my existence, because their "technical explanations" were equally batshit crazy. (And of course none of those people was an actual engineer with knowledge in that field).
I think offgriders belong in the same crazy camp like healing crystals chicks, and antivaxxers.
I actually used to work in a solar & heat pump company.
YES it does attract a huge amount of scummy people on both sides.
Some comments have already answered on the side of sales, but it also attracts a lot of shitty clients.
How? A lot of people get greedy with free energy and/or homesteading/offgird wackos. Usually they're unable to pay the "normal" price so they chase down such scammy companies because the number they have offered fits their budget.
I have always been considered "eccentric" or a bit "odd". I made my peace with it and lived my life knowing that I'm not mentally ok.
After I emigrated to Germany and befriended new people, I realized that I have always been normal, I just didn't have hillbilly interests like everyone else around me.
Cheap bikes just don't ride nowhere as nicely nor do they last as expensive bikes do.
BUT! The worst thing about owning an expensive bike is owning an expensive bike.
It's a thief magnet and source of envy of other riders.
You really need to find a sweet spot between a quality bike and being able to leave it locked in the city without having pangs of anxiety of it being stolen.
I grew up in eastern europe and things work differently there.
Oftentimes the cops would fish for bribes. Cops would pick you up on the street/stop you in traffic and search you/your car/whatever in hopes of finding something to hook onto and escalate the situation further and put you in a legally difficult situation.
Then they would generously offer that they can make it all go away if somebody from your family comes and brings X amount of money.
This didn't happen just to me, in most countries of the former eastern block that's just a fact of life.
I just stopped believing in existence of deities and the existence of inherent meaning of life (not to mistake it with value of life).
The world is just a mess beyond our comprehension and we tend to attribute random events beyond our comprehension to the grand plan of things.
I do think that life is much more beautiful with the acceptance of atheism, mortality (no afterlife), personal and sexual freedom. I tend to just enjoy the moment and the life I have while I still have it knowing that this is it, this isn't a preparation for what comes next. This is it.
I'm still against mocking religion because I find it to be in poor taste, in the same vein like mocking someones gender, nationality, sexual orientation.
I'm actually having a shower, just being too tired/unmotivated to do it at "normal" speed.