All you need to go off-grid

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UK brown-outs looming

The head of Britain’s National Grid has admitted the company cannot guarantee an uninterrupted energy supply, and blamed the government for this failure. But he has not explained why private power companies or The National Grid are not investing more, especially since its profits were up to GBP 1 billion.

When huge new wind farms are built, it can sometimes take years to connect them to the grid, even if massive pylons are only a few yards away.…

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December 19, 2008 No Comments
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Off-Grid – On The Cheap

It seems that the “green” (or brown) movement is growing faster and faster. It used to be the realm of unwashed hippies, tree huggers and other so called “degenerates” who lived off the grid, in the wild, on the fringes of society.

Lately, I keep reading about how more mainstream people are jumping in, purchasing solar panels, adding passive solar rooms, collecting rain water. I read about people who build $300,000+ green homes, that price doesn’t include the price of the land it sits upon! It’s all fine and dandy for those who have lots of readily available cash sitting around, or worse, they get loans to bankroll their ubergreen homes.…

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December 15, 2008 10 Comments
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Pictures…

…are worth a thousand words, or so they say, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of myself, I know that when I have been following someone else’s blog for a while, any time I can see a picture of the blog author, it’s a treat, so here’s my treat for you. Some of you have been following my ramblings for a year, some for not as long, either way, here I am, now you have a face to go with the words.…

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December 10, 2008 6 Comments
Community

Got Hot H2O


Tankless Water HeaterLiving off the grid, and on the cheap, requires sacrifices, you do give up some conveniences. Some of the things I didn’t have when I first moved to my off-grid home were running water, unlimited electricity, heating, much in the way of furniture, refrigerator, internet, phone, solid walls (grin)… and hot water.…

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December 7, 2008 11 Comments
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Stocking Up On Spam

I’m not talking about those unrequested emails that seem to always clog your inbox. It seems that Hormel is having to work overtime to make enough Spam, lately there has been a big run on Spam. The different news sources say it’s because of hard times, but I have to wonder how many preppers  and others are seeing the writing on the wall. …

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December 3, 2008 4 Comments
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Diary of a Greenwash coup


We hope she was well paidThis week saw Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford continuing to plug lighting products from Osram Sylvania with the switching on of their CFL-lit tree in a tacky New York office (pictured). What is going on behind the scenes in the PR department to make an event like this happen?

In recent years, the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) has become associated with all things environmentally conscious. This generalization can also be a curse because concerns that plagued early versions of the bulb become associated with the new product.

When it came time for lighting supplier Osram Sylvania to launch its new micro-mini Twist, the world’s smallest CFL, it enlisted the help of Weber Shandwick’s global strategic media group to make sure it got its greenie points across.…

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December 3, 2008 No Comments
Community

Our First Thanksgiving…

…in our off-grid home. As far as I’m concerned, this was the best Thanksgiving I have ever had. we have been here for nearly a year now, a few days before Christmas will be one year, it’s been a challenging time, but we have done it, and with style!…

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November 28, 2008 No Comments
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3 of 100 things…

Closet Geek

…that you may not know about me. … This is a continuation of a list 100 things that you might not know about me. Well, let me start out by saying, YEAH I finally got my memory installed! I have waited a long time to get this memory, and I must say, it’s nice to have. …

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November 23, 2008 1 Comment