Speaking of building regulations and solar, I stayed in a house that was completely powered by solar and wired with DC for lights and electronics. You can't just add an AC outlet in the kitchen for a coffee grinder, though. If you have even one AC outlet, you have to wire the entire house to code -- useless and unused AC outlets every few feet along the hallways, AC outlet in the bathroom even though the inverter can't handle most of the things (e.g. hair dryers) that would be plugged in in a bathroom.
Coffee grinders are ten bucks and beans last longer if they're not ground.
Also, everyone has the things that they choose to splurge on, even a poor person. When I was dirt broke in college I still bought 2 ply tp because dammit life is too short to deal with anything less. I don't regret it.
Huh? Whole bean coffee doesn't cost any more and some grinders are quite cheap? The vast majority of poor people have smartphones, and those are much more expensive.
