Levon Barkhordarian, Author at Living Off the Grid: Free Yourself

Picture of the Volkner Mobil Performance S

Mobile

Luxury Volkner Motorhome

The Volkner mobil performance s is the future of road living. The 40ft luxury motorhome comes with all of the mod-cons you could possibly wish for. However

you may need deep pockets to purchase one. There is no doubt that this mobile home has the super wealthy in mind. With a price tag of $1.7million (£1.2million) it is out of reach for most people, but it never hurt to dream.

The Performance S also offers a fully-equipped kitchen, sleeping quarters, wooden and leather fittings, state-of-the-art entertainment, and a wall that slides out to provide extra space.
Stephanie Volkner, director of German firm Volkner Mobil, says one of the greatest features that shows off the home’s lavishness is a cooking island, something that cannot be found inside most of the motorhome’s competitors. Going on to say “It is a house on wheels”.

The made-to-order machines take around 12 months to build.

Customers can choose from a range of fixtures and fittings to customise their motor homes to their preferences. With high-quality leather seats to real wood units and stone tiles in the kitchen and bathroom on offer. It even includes a supercar garage fitted with a electrohydraulic lift. So, if you happen to own a Ferrari, Porsche, BMW or Mercedes, You can bring it with you on your travels.

Volkner also says ‘Our clients normally have big companies. They want to travel freely.

‘They want to decide when they start their journey, where they can go, not before. ‘They look at the weather and start. They want to live in their own, very personal area. Exclusive is for everybody very different. Some need a golden faucet to be exclusive.

‘For me, it’s exclusive that the interior has harmony and all the materials are of the highest quality and their processing is at the highest level.’

Would you buy one if you had the cash ?

Find more luxury mobile homes here: https://www.billionaire.com/luxury-mobile-homes/1659/the-best-luxury-mobile-homes-

Looking for a cheaper alternative? Read: https://off-grid.net/mobile-homesteading/…

November 3, 2017 No Comments

Map of range of Electro Magnetic Pulse bomb across america

Self-Sufficiency

Electro Magnetic Pulse weapon threat to USA

For years North Korea has sought to be a nuclear power. Now it is thought that the hermit nation has another weapon which could wreak havoc on our electricity, satellite and communications grids in North America – an Electro Magnetic Pulse bomb.

This weapon might be well known to some, however, it appears to be regularly overlooked by mainstream media services in the west.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon which has the potential to disable the complicated and intertwined grid we rely on every single day.

During a US Homeland Security hearing last week, experts told Congress that North Korea is capable of launching an EMP attack on the United States and warned government officials not to ignore the “doomsday scenario.”

Chairman Dr. William R. Graham and Chief of Staff Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, said that such a weapon could “shut down the electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans.”

Although some critics of the report have associated the 90 percent figure with a popular novel titled, “One Second After.”

According to the Congressional Electro Magnetic Pulse Commission, North Korea has been working on Electro Magnetic Pulse technology for a while and maintain that the rogue regime has probably been testing such weapons since 2006.

An EMP Weapon isn’t like the dreaded Hydrogen bombs which have recently been tested. It is instead designed to emit gamma rays which cause the EMP effect, and is a very small device in comparison to hydrogen bombs and doesn’t need a large explosion to detonate it.

However accurate the figures or statements are, the potential for such a weapon provides even more rationale to the Off-Grid argument.

…

October 30, 2017 No Comments

Firemen battle buringing cannabis planatons

Work

Cannabis farmers battle Emerald Triangle wildfires

Off-Grid cannabis farmers continue to struggle against engulfing wildfires which threaten to destroy their entire crop. More than 200,000 acres of fertile growing land in northern California’s Emerald Triangle has been decimated by the state’s latest string of fatal wildfires, just weeks before the main harvest time and just as they get ready to join the lawful, recreational market.

The fires have hit the Off-Grid cannabis community at a pivotal point in their calendar. October marks the end of the growing season in northern California so most crops have yet to be harvested, potentially resulting in huge financial losses for farmers.

According to ArcView, a cannabis research company, the estimated market value of California’s cannabis industry is thought to be worth around $7 billion and generates between $59 million and $109 million in estimated tax revenue from medical cannabis sales every year. With such large amounts of money potential lost after these most recent wildfires. It is not only the off-grid farmers will begin to feel the pinch. The decline in tax revenues will hurt every citizen in the Emerald Triangle.

One of the worst affected areas is Mendocino County which along with Humboldt County and neighbouring Trinity County form what is known as the emerald triangle. This is essentially the beating heart of the united states cannabis production with over 10,000 square miles dedicated to cannabis cultivation alone. Producing 60 percent of the nation’s cannabis, much of which is currently exported to other states on the black market.

On Thursday the executive director of the California Growers Association, Hezekiah Allen spoke of the disaster saying, “At least seven farms have been destroyed” and that this number is predicted to increase significantly as Off-Grid farmers and locals return to their homes to find their crops in disarray.

Because federal law still considers cannabis as an illegal crop, off-grid farmers find it impossible to cover their crops using traditional insurance. As a result, no bank or institution is willing to work with the industry and so farmers are forced into dealing entirely in cash.

From 2018 Californians will have the right to legally poses, sell and grow cannabis for recreational purposes. This might appear as beneficial to Off-Grid cannabis farmers however with this new wave of legalisation comes larger corporations who plan to capitalise from the relaxed laws. Out competing smaller Off-Grid operations in the Emerald Triangle. Off-Grid cannabis farmers will also be required to pay state or county taxes which is thought could impact the profitability of their businesses.

Medical Cannabis was legalized in California in 1996
A Mendocino County commissioned study estimates that two-thirds of the community’s economy comes from marijuana.
Voters in November 2016 approved the legal sale and possession of an ounce of marijuana for recreational use.
About 147 million people, 2.5% of the world population, consume cannabis

Recent wildfires …

October 15, 2017 1 Comment

Controlled CA blaze creates windbreak against wildfire

Land

Adapt your home to survive a wildfire

Devastation caused by the recent wildfire outbreak in California reminds those living off-grid to maintain awareness of fire safety. Especially those who live in rural or isolated areas of forestry, writes Levon Barkhordarian.

As it stands the wildfires have forced an estimated 90,000 people to move, destroying more than 5,700 business and homes as well as killing over 40 people. The death toll is expected to rise once the inferno comes to an end, allowing emergency crews to navigate the unpredictable terrain and recover victims.

“The emergency is not over, and we continue to work at it, but we are seeing some great progress,” said California emergency operations director, Mark Ghilarducci. More than 9,000 firefighters are currently fighting the blaze with helicopters, air tankers, and 1,000 fire engines. The director of the California Department of forestry and fire protection, Ken Pimlott described the spread of fires as “a serious, critical, catastrophic event”.

With this in mind, how can businesses, communities and off-grid inhabitants hope to limit the damage caused by the current wildfires and the inevitable fires of the foreseeable future?

There are relatively simple precautionary steps you and your neighbours can adopt to protect your family’s land and property.

Use these examples to protect your property.

If your property is located near other buildings or you have neighbours close to your land you should discuss plans for collectively tackling fire safety in your area. Creating contingency plans and working together as a team in remote areas can drastically increase your protection.
Small trees, dead trees and ground fuels such as pine needles and leaves should be cleared from around your property creating at least a 30 to a 100-meter radius of cleared space. Dry leaf litter and debris will significantly increase the chances of fire spreading. So, it is extremely important that you create a clearing around your property to minimise this effect.
Next, you should prune and cut large tree branches to a height of 10 feet. This inhibits a fires ability to crawl up the trunk of a tree to reach its canopy. If you have conifer trees on your property or other species which you don’t want to discard it is at least worthwhile thinning their branches and crowns to create a partition 10 feet or more apart. This stops the fire from migrating from tree to tree.
It is a misconception that grassy lawns increase the spread of wildfire, in fact as long as you keep your gardens well-watered and maintain a short length to your grass it should act as a fire breaker. However, it is imperative that you take the time to keep your grass lush and well hydrated.

Extra ways of keeping your property safe from wildfires.

A major reason so many houses burn down completely is that emergency services such as fire departments find it difficult

…

October 15, 2017 No Comments

Rows of processors in data center, Microsoft

Energy

Microsoft Opens First Underwater Server Farm

Rows of processors in data center

Microsoft has made bold moves to achieve their goal of having 50 percent of their power usage come from renewable, sources by 2018. Microsoft has steadily begun to increase their renewable energy portfolio by finalising a purchase agreement for 100 percent of General Electric’s Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland.The agreement states that Microsoft will buy all 37 megawatts of electricity produced by the Tullahennel wind farm for the next 15 years. This energy will go towards powering Microsoft’s Irish data centres which support its expanding cloud services. · This latest purchase puts Microsoft`s total global renewable energy procurements at almost 600 MW.

In recent years Microsoft has pledged ever more resources into the energy sustainability and Off-Grid capabilities of its data centres, moving beyond the purchase of renewable energy sources and into the realm of experimental Off-Grid technology.

The company has built a new data centre in Wyoming which operates Off-Grid and is powered solely by biogas. As well as alternative forms of power they are also exploring ways of cooling their data centres as huge amounts of energy are wasted on the cooling systems which keep their computers functioning.

To tackle this issue, they have tested a small data centre submerged underwater, which can be both cooled and powered by ocean water. The experiment acted as a proof of concept however Off-Grid underwater data centre could be implemented on a larger scale in the near future.

It Isn’t entirely certain how Microsoft power their underwater data centres using water however it may be wave power or a system of thermoelectric generators which work by converting temperature differences directly into electrical energy. The presence of a temperature gradient in a conducting material results in heat flow. This results in the diffusion of charge carriers. The flow of charge carriers between the hot and cold regions and in turn creates a voltage difference.

In 2014, data centers were responsible for 2 percent of all electricity consumed in the US, according to the recent government study.

Combined US data centers were responsible for the consumption of 626 billion liters of water. This Is expected to rise to 660 billion liters by 2020.

Microsoft has its sights set on more than just the green energy generated from the Tullahennel wind turbines but also sees the recent acquisition as a joint research project with General Electric, looking into the potential of turbines with integrated batteries for energy storage. This marks the first-time battery integrated wind farms have been used in Europe and so the data gathered will no doubt have importance for the improvement and application of wind turbine technology in years to come.

It is thought the reason Microsoft is so interested in turbine battery technology is that currently, wind farms without batteries provide inconsistent and irregular bursts …

October 1, 2017 No Comments

All you need to go off-grid

Levon Barkhordarian

Luxury Volkner Motorhome

Electro Magnetic Pulse weapon threat to USA

Cannabis farmers battle Emerald Triangle wildfires

Adapt your home to survive a wildfire

Microsoft Opens First Underwater Server Farm

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