Urban
Australian off-grid home design
Its not quite a McMansion, as its appearance is too distinctive, but is this $500,000 home a case of greenwash, or just naive?…
October 24, 2010
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Its not quite a McMansion, as its appearance is too distinctive, but is this $500,000 home a case of greenwash, or just naive?…
Make your own clothes – Book review of Through the Eye of a Needle by John-Paul Flintoff, about a middle class guy who makes his own Y-fronts to prove he has not been infantilised by consumer society…
Your Money or your Life – which would you choose – earning money or having fun?…
The Australian Men’s Shed Association (AMSA), has been beavering away for some years now, trying to help depressed, lonely males. They call themselves Shed Men and they aim to provide men with sheds, so they can become Shedders. I know, I know.
This year AMSA will benefit to the tune of $3million from Austraia (And the world’s) first ever National Male Health Policy.
Its success is based on the observation that “men find it much easier to talk to one another when they are shoulder to shoulder rather than face to face”, said a spokesman.
The stereotypical Australian male is a swaggeringly macho XXXX-drinker, which is fine until Bruce grows old or retires or is bereaved or otherwise vulnerable. The stereotype fails and they become isolated. So the Shed Men provide community sheds, where there are bits and bobs of tools and machinery lying about. There’s the wherewithal to make yourself a cuppa.…
Dear readers of Off-Grid.net,
My name is Krzysztof Lis, I live in Poland, and since 2005 I am interested in off-grid living. My off-grid journey started in 2006 when I bought my volkswagen T3 (vanagon) camper (RV) and equipped it with small flexible solar panel and solar charge controller.
Since January 2009 I am running a blog about off-grid living. Last month I was invited by Nick Rosen to write my articles here instead of running my own blog, and that’s how I ended up writing this. :)
During the following weeks I will be moving all my old articles to be published here, and when those articles are all moved, I will start posting new ones.…
A new book, How to predict the weather with a cup of coffee: And other techniques for surviving the 9-5 jungle
You’ll never look at a hotel trouser press in the same way again . .
COOK A MEAL IN YOUR DISHWASHER
If your oven is broken, you can cook a meal in your dishwasher. For a tasty dinner which will be ready in just over an hour, season four salmon steaks and wrap them with dill and lemon in a foil parcel with tightly crimped edges.
Place on the dishwasher’s top shelf and set it to its longest, highest setting. A 2-3cm thick steak will cook perfectly on a 70-minute hot cycle.
BE A HOTEL ROOM CHEF…
So, just what does that mean? I can tell you from personal experience and from the responses I have received from people over the years that it definitely has different meanings to different people. From living completely without any utilities, no electricity, water or gas (think hunter’s cabin, wood stove, candles or kerosene lamps, no running water…), to generating one or more of these items on site yourself (think solar panels, wind power, methane digester…), I even had one person say that for him, living “off the grid” meant living so remotely that the government couldn’t find you, essentially hiding from the world. For some people it brings up a picture of a hermit living in a shack on a remote location, others envision a state of the art home that independently takes care of the needs of all occupants from food and water to electricity.…
For decades the residents of elite Grosvenor Square in London’s Mayfair had to contend with overbearing security along the entire side of the square occupied by the American Embassy. Now, much to their relief, the Embassy is moving to the less rarified area of Wandsworth, and in environmental terms, the new building will be everything America aspires to but rarely achieves.
Architecturally, the dwellings run the gamut — railroad cars, travel trailers, plywood shacks, doublewides and two-story ranch-style homes.
Here in Rio Rancho outside Albuquerque, residents are beyond the reach of power lines and piped water. A few have solar panels or small wind turbines. For others, like a shanty built by Liz Owens, 57, the cost of renewable power sources and drilling a water well is prohibitive. Generators and plastic water tanks are common yard features.
The local County is concerned about the proliferation of informal development. Sandoval County’s long-term planner said home styles in the area range from railroad cars to travel trailers, plywood shacks and ranch-type homes.…
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