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February 9, 2016
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This huge floating fortress of sustainable living, off the coast of Vancouver Island British Columbia has inspired many to follow a sustainable life. Wayne Adams, 66, and Catherine King, 59, built their home together in 1992, and have been growing and fishing for their own food ever since.
The home, named “Freedom Cove,” consists of 12 floating platforms that include a dance floor, an art gallery, a guest lighthouse, a studio for Adams and King, and 5 greenhouses. The settlement is next to half an acre of land for growing edible crops. The couple gets water from a nearby waterfall during the summer and from rainwater during the winter. The settlement had been powered by an array of 14 solar panels, but recently switched to a generator after these broke down.
Perhaps inspired by the Floating Cove – a new design is being proposed in Germany, although still in the planning stages.The Lusation Autartec prototype will be built on Lake Geierswalde in the Lusatian Lake District.
The two-story floating home will be built on a steel pontoon measuring 43 x 43 ft (13 x 13 m). The ground floor is planned 807 sq ft (75 sq m), and the first floor just 365 sq ft (34 sq m). There will also be a deck running around the perimeter of the building.
Heating via a fireplace, will feature a supersaturated solution of salt hydrates to soak up heat from the flames. The designers claim that after this solution is heated in a special tub, which is placed over the fire, and liquefies, it is capable of holding in the heat practically indefinitely. The system works similarly to a chemical hand warmer, since the solution can be made to crystallize via a radio-based technology, which releases the heat on command. There is also a back up zeolith thermal storage unit, which is located inside the pontoon. During the summer, the zeolith minerals dry out, while in winter, by circulating moist air through the pontoons an exothermic reaction occurs which releases further heat.
The home will also feature a so-called adiabatic cooling system, which doesn’t require any energy and is based on the principle of evaporative cooling. Basically, moistening a side of the house will work to draw heat out as this moisture evaporates. All the needed power will be provided by solar panels built into the actual structure of the home. The energy produced will be stored in lithium polymer batteries hidden away inside the stairs.
The home will also be off-the-grid in terms of water needs. This will be achieved by means of a closed loop system. The biological reprocessing system will be based on ceramics, photocatalysis, electrochemistry, and filtration. The entire system will be small enough to fit into the pontoon, but robust enough to handle all the water purifying needs.
When they aren’t working on their sustainable lifestyle, they …
I’m sure I’m not the only person who ever wondered how it would be to build a greenhouse around your house, these folk in Stockholm Sweden did just that. It looks quite ingenious, and even pretty. I love the plants they have growing, the fig tree for example, there is no way they could grow that without it being inside a greenhouse, and the tomatoes look fabulous! Most people don’t know this, but tomatoes can be an perennial plant if the weather is mild enough in the winter.
The area where they live is normally just a summer getaway for most, but with the greenhouse around their home, they can stay there year round in comfort. I imagine it was not a cheap venture, but the money they save on heating in the winter will eventually pay for itself, and the fact that they are more self sufficient with growing food (plants) year round, it must all add up.
Here is a video showing this home, enjoy!
https://youtu.be/30ghnDOFbNQ
https://faircompanies.com/videos/view/family-wraps-home-in-greenhouse-to-warm-up-stockholm-weather/
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As I watched this video, listening to Karen and Bob describing their life in the home they built themselves, the one phrase that really jumped out at me was “no debt”. That was their main motivation. I know (from personal experience building our own place) that they did most if not all of the work themselves, which is one of the biggest money eating parts of building, you would have to buy the materials anyhow, but doing the work yourself means YOU know what is in your place, no one else has cut corners unknown to you, I think it’s great!
I love the look and style of their home, it is warm and inviting. Watch and enjoy.
(ADDED Jan 21, 2016)
I received a message from Karen, it’s in the comments below, but I thought it best to add it here:
How cool our video got shared to this great channel! feel free to share our email and phone number if people want some more info. karenk@usa.com 520-366-1984 We are also open to visitors. There is a off-grid,alternative building get together the first sunday of every month from about 10:30 am to1pm at a friend of ours who did and earthbag dome. for directions email m_m_gibbons@yahoo.com all are welcome!!!!
https://youtu.be/EBN4R2XhU6c
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Ampy’s Move harnesses your own body energy and pumps it back into your cellphone or any other device.
Checking the expected battery life of any new mobile gadgetry has become a key consideration. We all know that feeling of peering anxiously at the last sliver of charge just when it’s needed most. Ampy has introduced an alternative to solar or wind-up for off-grid power by tapping one’s own kinetic energy to recharge. Buy Ampy’s Move for $129+ shipping a pair of inductors convert your body’s movements to energy. There are optional accessories to strap it on a limb for cycling or running for maximum effect.
An hour’s exercise promises an hour of smartphone charge or 24 hours of smart watch use. There’s an app too, of course, with fitness tracking and so on. The more vigorous the movement the better: so plenty of imaginative ways to harness your kinetic potential.
Torchscope
As portmanteau names go Torchscope doesn’t quite do what it says on the can as it’s actually a flashlight with a built-in camera rather than a “scope” of any sort. It combines a powerful LED 1,000 lumen torch with an HD video camera which can time-stamp footage. The casing is military-grade aluminium, and the Torchscope is 1m drop-proof and waterproof to 10m. There’s an integrated mic for audio and an SD card slot to store your productions. $299 from borescopestore.com…
A battle is developing in Florida between the solar power movement, and some of the most venal and vindictive utility companies in America.
At stake is the economic viability of Solar power in the state. Florida is one of four states — along with North Carolina, Kentucky and Oklahoma — that prevents citizens from purchasing electricity from sellers other than utility companies.
Both sides are proposing constitutional amendments for the 2016 ballot, either to allow solar panel owners to sell on their surplus energy, or (from the Utility companies) to force solar panel owners to keep paying towards the costs of the Grid even if they no longer use it. And the Utilities, with a $6m war-chest, are winning hands down with only a few weeks left to garner the vital signatures that will place the proposed amendments on the ballot paper.
Initiatives need 683,149 signatures — roughly 10 percent of voters in the last general election — by Feb. 1 to qualify for the ballot and allow a public vote on a proposed statute or constitutional amendment.
And once they’re on the ballot, at least 60 percent of voters must approve constitutional amendments.
It’s an expensive and complicated feat, and even some of the stronger contenders for a spot on next year’s ballot appear to be faltering.
One of the most popular proposals came from Floridians for Solar Choice Inc., a group of Tea Party supporters and environmentalists working to allow individuals and businesses, not just Florida’s utility companies, to sell solar electricity.
This group collected 273,280 verified signatures as of Dec. 22 to get its proposed amendment on the ballot. It has another 212,000 signatures awaiting verification by the Florida Department of Elections, which has 30 days from the date of receipt to complete the process.
But it seems unlikely Solar Choice Inc. will collect the nearly 198,000 verified signatures still needed by Feb. 1 to get its initiative on the November ballot. In light of the shortfall, group leaders told The Associated Press they were exploring options to get on the 2018 ballot, instead of November’s.
Opponents, meanwhile, say the proposal would shift millions of dollars in costs to consumers who remain with utility companies.
The James Madison Institute, a nonpartisan economic think-tank based in Tallahassee, published a policy brief arguing against providing a constitutional carveout for solar energy.
It said Florida law requires traditional utility companies to maintain a network that provides for all households with their operating area, regardless of whether or not these households are connected to their grid. As households increasingly move off the grid and switch to solar energy, it would be up to the remaining consumers to cover fixed maintenance costs, which could pass $1 billion within three years, the institute argues.
“We felt very strongly that the issue at hand is a public policy question, not an issue for …
State-owned energy companies in Australia are gouging their captive market – farmers and companies that depend on energy to make their profits – and employ tens of thousands of taxpayers..
Three long concrete strips in a Bundaberg cane field mark a personal blow by Queensland farmers in retaliation against State Government-owned utility Ergon Energy’s excessive power prices.
The three strips, which have cost around AUS$20,000 to lay, will provide the hard standing for a solar power system which will take the Griffin family’s 200-acre Bundaberg sugarcane property completely off the Queensland electricity grid.
“This is a direct response to the soaring power prices which have been crippling farmers like us for years now,” said Kelvin Griffin, who runs the farm with his wife Helen and adult children.
“If we used Ergon’s power for irrigation, if we could afford it, we would be putting at least $40,000 to $50,000 a year into this power giant’s pocket. We won’t, and can’t, do that. But we can take our custom away completely and go off-grid. From now on, our power money goes to pay off our solar system, and make us independent of this government-run giant which obviously does not want to listen to farmers and ordinary families who simply cannot afford their huge electricity costs.”
For the Griffins, it means that after battling flood, drought and now low sugar prices, they have to take on a $100,000 debt to pay for the system.
“This decision to take on this debt has been forced on the Griffin operation due to economic negligence by the Queensland Government. Why should people have to buy their own power infrastructure when our gold-plated network has already been funded by their taxpayer dollars”? said Dale Holliss of the Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group (BRIG).
“The State Government has had the chance to reverse the impossibly high power prices imposed by its 100 per cent government-owned electricity utility, Ergon – rip-off prices which have soared for irrigators by 96pc since 2009,” he said.
In late October, State Energy Minister Mark Bailey said electricity price “surges” were over and praised the Government and Australian Electricity Regulator (AER) as offering “stable” power costs. But he did not accede to Queensland growers” demands to wind back prices.
“Extensive research has shown that reducing irrigators” power prices by 33pc would prove revenue-neutral to the State-owned Ergon operation simply because farmers could then start using its power to irrigate again,” Mr Hollis said.
CANEGROWERS Queensland delivered data and supporting information around the proposed 33pc cut to Ergon CEO Ian McLeod and the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) in April 2014. No action was taken by the power giant and its regulator.
“By the Government agreeing to leave the prices at so-called stable levels, it is pushing the irrigators to tipping point over whether or not to install their own solar.
“Current power prices are ridiculous and
A new form of recycling is about to hit Silicon Valley. The eco-friendly technology uses urine to power a computer. The technology is the next best thing to water power – it creates enough energy to send a wireless signal to a PC.
A team led by Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, created a self-sufficient system powered by a wearable energy generator based on microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology.
Ieropoulos is also popularising a “smart toilet”, which aims to help bring sanitation to off-grid areas.
He says the toilet that can power and recharge small electrical devices using urine as the power source and at the same time remove pathogens and clean the urine for sanitation purposes. The team is working towards a prototype that will be installed in Durban, South Africa for a bigger research trial. Eventually it is hoped that a smart toilet capable of generating power and removing pathogens from urine will go into manufacture.
their latest application of Pee power was achieved by embedding socks with MFCs that produced enough energy through the wearer’s footsteps to power a wireless transmitter that sends a signal to a PC.
Essentially, the gizmo uses the foot as a manual pump to drive wee (the fuel) around the system and, in turn, create a small current.
Ieropoulos explains why a device like this could be used for all manner of portable and wearable electronics.
Q: What is the Microbial Fuel Cell?
– It is a bio-electrochemical system, that has a capability to convert organic waste directly into useful electricity, and can therefore have a wider impact in terms of resource recovery in every day life.
Q: And you’ve created a wearable generator with this?
– Yes, we did it to demonstrate the potential of the technology in emergency situations, where a low-cost piece of kit, which forms part of an outfit or some outdoor gear, can start transmitting a distress signal with the survivor’s coordinates, after the user simply urinates inside the wearable system.
Q: How does it work?
– Inside MFCs exist microbial communities, which are electro-active and which ‘excrete’ electrons as part of their natural metabolism, when they are fed with organic waste ‘fuel’ such as urine. These microbes live on the surface of electrode materials and allow the excreted electrons form current.
Q: Using urine to make energy sounds a bit unpleasant…
– The use of any form of human by-product (solid excreta, saliva, perspiration) is naturally associated with unpleasantness and discomfort, and urine is no different. Using urine as the carbon-energy source for the microbial communities inside MFCs, implies collecting and handling urine, which is, of course, unpleasant. But this is precisely the work that needs to be done in the lab, in order to develop the technology to the point where the user can still utilize urine to generate useful electricity, but …
A few years before we moved off-grid, I had discovered an energy drink that I liked and worked, it was 5 Hour Energy, I didn’t use it often, but when I needed it, it worked very well for me. It hadn’t been out on the market very long and wasn’t available like it is now, the only place I could find it was in a Vitamin Shoppe store, and they only got in a very few each week. I would go in and buy out all they had, there was another person who did the same thing, it got to the point where the manager at the store would tell me if I had gotten there first or the other person. :) As a result that store eventually began carrying a larger stock, but it was still hard to find.
I wanted to buy it direct from the company but they didn’t sell to the end user yet, I talked a local stop and grab store near us into carrying it shortly after that, I assured him that once people tried it, they would buy it. I am happy to see that now it’s available everywhere. What I didn’t know until yesterday is the founder and CEO of 5 Hour Energy is even more brilliant and wonderful than I could have guessed. I feel even better about buying 5 Hour Energy knowing I am helping to contribute to such a great cause.
Manoj Bhargava is using his financial success to give back to the world, one building in his compound where they make 5 Hour Energy is an experimental test lab, they play and create many interesting and useful items, the three they discuss in the following video are a free energy bike, a water purifier, and a medical device that seems to work on many problems. Of course the thing that caught my eye was the free energy bike. While not a new concept, Bhargava’s team put together a simple system using a reclining/recumbent bike, a flywheel, a generator and a battery. They claim that you can pedal for one hour and have power for 24 hours, I’m not sure how much it can power, I’m sure it’s probably for a small system, a few lights, a cell phone, a tablet, a fan… I suspect it could be enlarged, add more batteries. Well I’m just dreaming now.
Watch the video and learn about Manoj Bhargava and his wonderful inventions.
https://youtu.be/YY7f1t9y9a0
Image source
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manoj_Bhargava.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manoj_Bhargava
https://billionsinchange.com/
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(MENAFN – Gulf Times – Wash DC, Dec 3) IKn a development which will give hope to the Climate Change talks in Paris, the stench of clogged toilets fills the air at a Washington DC wastewater treatment facility.
Its all about decarbonisation – as one of the world’s largest projects to transform human waste into electricity gets under way.
“They make green energy,” said engineer Chris Peot of Washington’s toilet-goers during a tour of the sprawling space in the southeast of the city.
DC Water’s Blue Plains plant treats 370mn gallons (1,400mn litres) of dirty water from more than 2mn households on a daily basis, purging it with micro-organisms that first ingest carbon and then transform nitrates into nitrogen gas.
Once that’s done, the water is clean enough to flow into the nearby Potomac River or Chesapeake Bay without disrupting the fragile ecosystems.
As for the excrement, it is either recycled as compost or, in a new step implemented six months ago, used to produce 10MW of electricity.
The “poop power” generated is theoretically enough to supply some 8,000 households, although in practice the energy is ploughed straight back into powering the plant.
To do so, plant workers collect the solid matter that slips to the bottom of the treatment pools and subject it to a Norwegian hydrolysis technique that is being used in North America for the first time.
According to Peot, DC Water’s director of resource recovery, the process allows the plant to extract organic material and convert it to methane.
When burned, the methane generates power that is used to help run the plant.
“This project embodies a shift from treating used water as waste to leveraging it as a resource,” said DC Water’s chief executive George Hawkins as he inaugurated the $470mn facility on October 5, financed by water bills.
The methane is produced through the decomposition of organic waste by bacteria in huge vats that stand 80 feet (25m) tall, with each capable of “digesting” 3.8mn gallons of solid matter.
The biogas is then used to operate three turbines, each the size of a jet engine, to produce 13MW of electricity, three of which are immediately used for the hydrolysis.
The remaining 10MW are used by the water treatment plant the biggest energy consumer in Washington reducing its carbon footprint by a third and cutting operating costs by millions of dollars a year, according to Peot.
“It saves us money, avoids us having to buy power off the grid, which largely comes from coal,” he said.
According to Todd Foley, chief strategy officer at the American Council on Renewable Energy, it’s a “way to diversify the energy mix and control our energy costs”.
“There will be an increased role for that kind of activity,” he predicted.
Wind, solar and biomass combined accounted for just 6% of the world’s electricity supply in 2014, according to the …
BERLIN, Nov 25 (Reuters) – German battery maker Sonnenbatterie has launched a scheme to connect households with solar panels together with their neighbours, and other consumers. the aim is to better distribute surpluses of renewable energy and help members to become more independent of conventional suppliers.
The start-up company hopes the scheme, called “sonnenCommunity”, will boost demand for its batteries which store solar power, allowing owners to use the clean energy even when weather conditions are not favourable.
“SonnenCommunity allows all households that want to determine their energy futures themselves the access to affordable and clean electricity,” said chief executive Christoph Ostermann at the project’s launch on Wednesday.
The initiative comes at a time when battery technology, long seen as expensive, is approaching a point where ordinary householders can afford it.
By storing solar power and releasing it on demand, households can avoid having to buy more expensive power off the grid to supplement their production. The batteries could also help solar power households cope with a phasing out of subsidies currently paid when surplus power is sold to public grids.
Sonnenbatterie has sold 8,500 lithium battery units, saying this makes it the European market leader.
Germany has around 25,000 batteries in operation that can store solar power – still a small number given there are around 1.5 million solar production units, mostly located on roofs of family homes – but year-on-year sales are growing rapidly.
U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla is also looking to enter the market. It plans to start delivering wall-mounted batteries that can store solar power to Germany in early 2016.
SonnenCommunity takes the storage idea a step further, allowing solar power to be shared among its members.
Sonnenbatterie said the scheme would initially target the 1.5 million solar power producers who, if they sign up to the community, will receive a battery storage system with a starting price of 3,599 euros ($3,812). But eventually, the offer will also be open to non-producers, it added.
If the idea of battery-powered buildings takes off, it could pose a challenge to traditional utilities such as RWE and E.ON, which still derive the bulk of their power from big centralised power stations running on fossil fuels.
($1 = 0.9442 euros)…
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