isuru

Water

Water Coma Is a Real Thing

Also known as water poisoning, water coma results from intoxication due to a disruption of brain function caused by drinking too much water.
Doing so increases the amount of water in the blood. This can dilute the electrolytes, especially sodium, in the blood.
If sodium levels fall below 135 millimoles per liter (mmol/l), doctors refer to the issue as hyponatremia, and may be fatal.
Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte disorder — research suggests that approximately 1.7% of people in the United States have the condition. It is more prevalent among people with.
As the condition worsens, individuals may experience symptoms, such as:
• vomiting
• muscle twitches
• seizures

Sodium helps maintain the balance of fluids inside and outside of cells. When sodium levels drop due to excessive water consumption, fluids travel from the outside to the inside of cells, causing them to swell.
When this happens to brain cells, it can be dangerous and even life threatening.
Bottom line: Water intoxication results from drinking too much water. Recovery from overhydration is typically quick, with the symptoms usually subsiding within a few hours of reducing fluid intake. Recovery time from overhydration does vary depending on the person’s height, weight, underlying health conditions, and amount of water consumed.

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Land

Perfect little fixer-upper – $13,000

It’s an historic cottage in Wales, a listed building, that will make an ideal, tiny off-grid home for someone who is very handy with DIY.  The fixer-upper £10,000 UK pounds, about $13,000 at today’s rates, and despite its downtown location it truly has no Utility power or water. This is very rare in the UK, because the European Union has done its best to bring Utility power to every nook and cranny.

The one room building in Menai Bridge, with a view of the local Suspension Bridge, is about the size of three king-size beds. But that is plenty of room if you are clever – put your bed on a platform, and underneath it could be your well, either fed from a spring if you are lucky , or else from the roof into an underground tank you could dig easily,

Menai Bridge is a small town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north-west Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, just over the water from Bangor.  Guess the average price for a home in this delightful part of Wales?…..Over £230,000 ($300,000).

The white walled house actually has an electricity supply at the moment – a cable from a next door property – but that will be cut off upon sale.

No matter. You can run a few solar panels from the roof, feeding into a small car battery. A ground source heat pump will warm your cockles.  The listed building status might cause a few headaches however as the panels will have to be cunningly disguised, or placed temporarily each day.

 

 

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Food

Vegetable factory in a box

The world’s first portable, containerised vegetable garden is set to be delivered in April. The scientifically developed  “vegetable factory”, from Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. is an insulated 40-ft shipping container, equipped with water-circulation system and LED lighting.

Reacting to a scandal caused by the importation of pesticide-tainted dumplings from China, Japan is seeing a number of designs emerge for small vegetable factories in which crops are grown artificially. Many are cultivated hydroponically in tiers of shelves under energy-saving LED  lighting.

Some are so small that they can be installed in a floor space equivalent to a “tatami” mat (2 metres square).

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Energy

$35,000 gets free energy for life

By investing $80,000, and getting back $45,000 in subsidies and tax credits, a Massachusetts family has reduced its energy bill by $3500 a year. That means they will payback the investment within ten years (less if energy prices rise).

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Fresh bubble threatens financial system

Unctad report makes clear that we are heading for fresh disaster

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Land

Prefabs sprout

List of the best off-grid prefab cabins

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People

Sign of The Times

Find where to get work as an intern on an organic farm….everybody’s doing it

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Spirit

Earth night, once a week

We need to bring darkness back into our lives

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Off-Grid 101

Pisim in the wind

Kids can be green too

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People

Eco Innocence

We are living through a massive extinction of species on Earth The true innocents are the planet’s endangered species.

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In New Hampshire: the only lights in town

An off-grid home in power-starved New Hampshire is the only building for miles with heat and light. Now lets feel smug about being off-grid

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Urban

Simple ways of saving energy


Its easy if you try
If you live on the grid and want to reduce your energy consumption, there are plenty of simple ways of helping prevent the building of any more power stations.  Here are some tips.

But first, if you want advice about the very best renewable energy set-up for your home, whether you are off-grid or connected to the grid, then we offer impartial advice in our home consultancy service (email: consult@off-grid.net).

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