All you need to go off-grid

OFG-HowToFreeYourself.svg
Search
Sign in / Sign up

Urban
Urban

Sydney discovers off-grid

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia has been telling its readers about the joys of living off the grid.

Life couldn’t be more different for Remy Sica now that her family has moved to the country.

In Sydney, the teenager would catch the train to and from school, and not arrive home until 5pm. In Armidale, her private girls’ school is 15 minutes from her family’s new farm, and Remy gets to ride her horse every afternoon instead of sitting on a packed train.

“I love riding horses, it’s fantastic,” says Remy, who now has her own 16-year-old warmblood named Lady, which she keeps on the family’s 40-hectare farm.

The Sicas moved to Armidale this year. Dad Remo, a school teacher, says his 14-year-old daughter was a big motivation for the tree change.…

Read More »
May 21, 2013 2 Comments
Communities

Sensible shoes makes sense

hhShoes, ladies I know you think about them a lot, and some of you guys too, but how many of you wear shoes that would let you down in an emergency situation? Ladies I talking about running around in high heels, or little flip flop sandals…

Now I’m not saying you can’t wear these kinds of shoes, but perhaps you should seriously consider stashing a more suitable pair of shoes that could be quickly accessed in an emergency. …

Read More »
May 8, 2013 2 Comments
Energy

First Algae-powered building goes up in Hamburg

Phys.org reports on a completely self-sufficient apartment building revealed at the International Housing Exhibition in Hamburg, which produces renewable energy by harvesting micro-algae.

The 15-apartment block has 129 algae filled tanks hanging over the exterior of the south-east and south-west sides of the building— powered exclusively by algae.

The fast-growing algae not only create biofuel, they also produce heat, shade the building, and abate street noise. The algae were retrieved from the nearby Elbe river, and put into large thin rectangular clear cases. Inside, the algae live in a water solution and are provided nutrients and carbon dioxide by an automated system. Each tank was then affixed to the outside walls of the building onto scaffolding that allows for turning the tanks towards the sun—similar to technology used for solar collectors.

In ten years, everyone will be doing it.…

Read More »
April 26, 2013 No Comments
Land

Fast-growing Urban forests

Bangalore, April 22nd — Planting miniature forests in cities sounds like a job for a government department rather than a small entrepreneur. Although these “forests” are on patches of land that lawns or landscaped gardens would otherwise have occupied.
Founded two years ago by industrial engineer Shubhendu Sharma, Afforestt has grown mini-forests for clients ranging from Cisco Systems and the GMR Group to an eco-conscious infotech professional living in an off-the-grid house in Bangalore.…

Read More »
April 23, 2013 3 Comments

Turn off your power for a week… what would you learn?

So, you are sitting in your climate controlled home, with lights, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heaters, fans, TVs, computers, home theater systems, running water, sanitary systems and all the other things that go along with modern life. Now, go into your garage, or whatever room where your power panel resides and shut off the main switch. Now walk through your home, look around at all the electronic appliances and gadgets that are now nothing more than lumps of worthless metal and electronics. Now imagine how you would live if none of these things came back on? What if this was not just your home but your neighborhood? City? Country? World? Sounds drastic doesn’t it? Could you live, could you survive without all of these electronics being powered from the grid?…

Read More »
November 11, 2012 8 Comments
Self-Sufficiency

Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid

Even as we own more and more gadgets, and spend increasing amounts of time using them, the average energy consumption in American homes has dropped steadily over the past 30 years thanks to factors like more efficient appliances, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But for some, a little efficiency isn’t enough. “Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid” by Sheri Koones ($15.95) profiles more than 30 prefabricated homes that use minimal energy. The name is a taken from a BC company that actually makes prefab eco-homes.

They have features like heavily insulated walls, wastewater-recovery systems and passive heating; one home has a wind turbine on the roof. Prefabrication minimizes waste…

Read More »
October 6, 2012 No Comments
Urban

Mitsubishi Smart House

Service promises to keep energy bills down and an eye on grandma

Is today’s smart home technology, which connects a household’s appliances to the Internet, ready for tomorrow? It’s getting there. Companies are now carrying out pilot projects to determine how much and what other kinds of utility these connections can offer consumers.

Mitsubishi is conducting an experiment to connect its HEMS with the Internet at its Ofuna Smart House, a white-and-gray detached house built near JR Ofuna Station in Kanagawa Prefecture.…

Read More »
September 25, 2012 1 Comment

Affordable Green Homes

China’s government just announced it will allow financial institutions to provide lower mortgage rates for buyers of environmentally friendly housing (see below for more detail).

Meanwhile in the USA there is a lack of incentives to encourage housebuilders to shoulder the extra cost of an eco-home. Developers pont to the absence of specific subsidies, tax breaks and supportive policies, it is difficult to add on the cost of making a sustainable structure.…

Read More »
June 1, 2012 No Comments
Food

Vancouver preppers get their own store

For Vancouver residents who want to eliminate the global industrial food complex from their diet, help is on the way. Rick Havlak’s Homesteader’s Emporium, is a new store set to open in June servicing aspiring beekeepers, permaculture growers, home brewers, cheesemakers, disaster survivalists, backyard egg farmers, and front porch food growers will find equipment, ingredients and tools as well as practical advice.
The 1,700-square-foot store-front will offer a range including beehives and honey extractors, chicken coops, cider presses, food dehydrators, vertical small-space growing systems and home cheesemaking supplies for what Havlak believes is a burgeoning market of organic food purists, sustainable lifestylers and post-apocalyptic preppers.…

Read More »
May 19, 2012 5 Comments
Food

Williams-Sonoma move into urban homestead market

Urban homesteading, growing or raising a portion of your own food, has become so fashionable that upscale cookware company Williams-Sonoma introduced the Agrarian collection, a line of tools and supplies for activities ranging from beekeeping to cheese making, delivered to 75 countries.

Photos of gardening beds thick with leafy greens, heirloom chickens strutting around picturesque coops and shiitake mushrooms growing on a log make the homesteading life look beautiful and delicious, while also playing down the hard-work aspect of these chores-turned-hobbies. Copper gardening tools are so shiny and pretty they seem more like rustic decorations for a farm-to-table restaurant than tools for working in the dirt.…

Read More »
May 10, 2012 No Comments