WhisperGen
Not cheap, and not pretty Here’s another idea for disconnecting from the mains electricity grid – not cheap to buy, but cheap to run on
Fight for local energy
KR sells off-grid to Arnie In a feature on companies that will disrupt existing businesses, Business 2.0 cites power company Bloom Energy THE DISRUPTION: Energy
Mel Gibson goes off-grid
Mel’s Costa Rica welcome Mel Gibson is about to head off-grid on a remote $12m, 400 acre ranch in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, 300 miles from
Great Yarmouth van dwellers targeted
Burgh Castle 1818 Self-employed Richard Thorne amd his family live a simple lifestyle near Burgh Castle, Great Yarmouth — they recycle everything, grow their own
Off-Grid Launches YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/offgridnick contains videos of people living off-grid in the Uk. We are building a library of off-grid video from around the world. Please send us yours.
Eco child’s play
Eco-upbringing and still cute East Coast home-maker Jennifer Lance told web site Eco-child’s play about her family life with renewable energy. “One nice thing that
Greening the second home
When weekenders arrive from the city it can often spell doom for the local rural community and the local environment A group of cottages in Canada provide a model for future off-grid second homes.
Wild style
Live In The Wild In Style! The Do It Green site has a fine roundup of recent articles about living off the grid, full of
Life without a phone
Unexpectedly cut off from phone, fax and Internet, this writer discovers he rather liked it.
Two billion live off the grid
For those not yet grid connected, they can access power, water and phone without ever connecting to the national grid and repeating the mistakes of developed countries in the 20th Century.
Architecture for eco-towns
Feature Factory’s off-grid designs would be ideal for the new eco-towns being planned by Gordon Brown
Orlando Bloom’s Epiphany
Orlando Bloom is taking time out from acting to study Buddhism, and he is building a nearly off-grid home in London at the same time. Orlando says he needs time to reflect on what�s going on in his life. He embraced Buddhism after a break-up, and says it helped ease the pain after the four-year relationship ended.
Going grey — water that is
This article discusses some basic aspects of a greywater system that could be used off-grid.
Greywater is the used water at a particular site, except for water coming from the toilet, which is known as blackwater. When building a greywater system you first separate the greywater from the blackwater and send the greywater through a separate treatment system. Ideally, after the greywater passes through the purification process it can then be reused. Greywater systems are an appropriate use of technology for many reasons, particularly for off-grid locations. They reduce the use of fresh water, there is less stress on existing more conventional septic tanks, it is a highly effective purification process, and there is less chemical and energy use.
$500 home
Its easy to think that off-grid living is expensive and out of reach – but that’s just not so! Using off the shelf materials and an open source design , the hexayurt – pictured – is an affordable off-grid shelter — an “autonomous building” which includes drinking water purification, composting toilets, fuel-efficient stoves and solar electric lighting.
Branson’s New Toy
Richard Branson�s got himself another island to do with as he pleases. Branson wants his latest purchase to serve as an eco-friendly example to the rest of the resorts out there. Conventional cars will be banned although there may be small electric buggies to ferry visitors around. Homes will be built Balinese-style from sustainable materials. Branson is already installing wind and wave turbines and solar panels on Necker, which is used as a hideaway by celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Annie Lennox.
High-tech sustainable house
A house being built at Florida State University incorporates hydrogen, solar and fuel cell technology and is set to be wholly off-grid.
Ssstay connected
Imagine the scene � you�ve finally gone off-grid, your cosy hut is nestled somewhere rural and beautiful, and you feel really cut off from everything, in a good way. But you can still have a phone, right? �Wireless Local Loop� (WLL) systems provide radio interconnection between telephone central office equipment and customer homes and businesses. These systems are particularly popular in developing countries where telephone service can be provided without installing thousands of yards of wire. We reccomend a sophisticated upgrade ofd WLL called Spread Spectrum (SS) signalling.
WC=Waterless Closet
On our homestead, we have greatly reduced our water usage by eliminating the flush toilet. The idea of polluting fresh drinking water with humanure is an odd concept, but widely held as the only solution.
A sawdust toilet is ONE of three components. The system will NOT work without all components, which are:
Gore is a bore
Al Gore, Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals, Live Earth,
By-product Bargain
Ta-da! The idea of combined heat and power – or cogeneration – has been around for a while, but harnessing it for domestic use is
Magic water harvesting machine
Sher: secret science Amazing. A gizmo which sucks the air in, then sucks the water out of the air, and then spews out clean fresh
How I learned to love greywater
Art Ludwig, Oasis Design, Greywater treatment, waste water,
Monbiot on renewable industry shysters
George Monbiot, solar panel output, what power from wind turbine,
Families wanted for tiny islands
remote real estate, island home, island dwelling, cheap home,
Off-Grid closer to God — USA Today
covering, christian women, modest clothing, wearing the veil,
How many scientists does it take to change a lightbulb?
LED light, LED flashlight, light bulb,
Energy Corps fiddle the price of propane
propane, price of propane, cheap propane, Stifel Nicolas,
How to build a wood fired bread oven
Tom Jaine, bread oven, baking, build an oven, wood oven,
Cool camping books
cool camping, camping and caravanning club, camping club, alan rogers camping, cade’s camping
Go back to the land without leaving home
21st century smallholder, paul waddington, allotment, permaculture,
Top architect answers your questions
“Follow your heart” Here’s some answers to the questions you the readers asked architect Dave Pearson, author of some seminal books on the design of
Australia’s best eco-resorts and luxury spas
Cradle Mountain, ABORIGINAL TOURS, ALPINE GUIDED WALKS, Novotel, ningaloo, HEALTH RETREAT, spa,
A Year in the Kalahari
Kalaharis, meerkat, South Africa, desert, zoologist, Kuruman River, Lion King,
Pamela Stephenson joins Boomer rush to sea
Pamela Stephenson, Billy Connolly, Mintel, Sea travel, early retirement, baby boomers,
Ditchmonkey joins the team
Hugh Sawyer, Ditchmonkey, Sotheby’s, Observer, Woodland Trust,
Make money and save the planet
Energy investment, Solarworld, Conergy, Vestas, ErSol Solar Energy, Crystalox Solar, Renewable Energy Corp, ILEX,
The Woodland House
Ben LAw, Woodland Way, Ecohouse, Woodland House, permaculture, living in the woods,
Irrigation secrets of the ancients
Irrigation, American Indians, Water Harvesting, conserving water, gardening, mulch,
Tree-house Magic
tree-house, trees, Winston Churchill, John Lennon, Mohammad Al Fayed, David Beckha, Duchess of Northumberland, Jonathan Ross, David Attenborough, John Terry, Eamonn Holmes, TreeHouse,
The Woodland Way – Book review
The Woodland Way is one of those rare books that bridges the gap between the theory of conservation and its practice, and does it well.
Better off? The Brende family John Locke, whose philosophy influenced the US Constitution, introduced the notion of individual rights and individual property to its pre-eminent
Have you seen one of these?
Real people live in these This is a REAL HOUSE! If you know the locations of any like it, please email us (news@off-grid.net) They are
Off-grid hotel – 10% discount
You can see for miles and miles The Alpujarra with a Difference is a truly off-grid multi-activity rural retreat based at a secluded farm 5,403ft
Wild Camping
Wild Camping is free Wild Camping puts the free into freedom. From Chicago to the Lake District, from the Rockies to Rouen, whether you want
4×4 car rental in the UK
Let’s go off-road Want to explore the British countryside by car this weekend? Why not make it as adventurous as possible, and more fun, go
PENNEY POYZER — Eco-dominatrix
Presenter of new BBC2 eco-series gives us a sneak preview
DARYL HANNAH ON BEING OFF-GRID
Daryl Hannah has a massive commitment to the environment, and unusually amongst the Hollywood A-list, she puts in real time and effort to forward her
Green Home Loans
Ecology Building Society eco-offices The Triodos Bank is one of few UK lenders to look kindly on loans for off-grid properties. Borrowing on unusual properties
Women for a Clean and Healthy America
Keely Shaye Smith The Environment 2004 kickoff in LA drew a strong slate of celebrity environmental activists including Pierce Brosnan, Melissa Fitzgerald of “West Wing”
Back to the Land by Charris Ford
Charris Ford (aka the Granola Ayatollah of Canola) My passion for all things Eco started when I was 18 in the hills of Tennessee, where
GREEN ECONOMICS
Dennis Weaver GREEN ECONOMICS Ecolonomics is the word expressing the understanding that ecology and economics are two sides of the same coin. Ecolonomics is a
Woody Harrelson: Getting off the grid
Harrelson is an all-organic vegan, and he and his family spend time well off the grid in the Hawaiian forest with 40 other families in
DARYL HANNAH: Eco Friendly Cars
Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah insists millions of people could follow her example and drive a car fueled by vegetable oil; they just need a diesel
Looking to nature creates a second chance for Welsh Farmers
Faced with a dramatic 75% decline in farming through disasters as diverse as Chernobyl and BSE, many Welsh hill farmers decided to pack up and
Necessity is the Mother of Invention in India
By C.R.Bhattacharjee, 21/10/04 What happens when being off-grid is a necessity and not an option? India has nearly 25000 villages, located in islands or remote
Campaign to change Planning permission
At the BBC they call him the Jamie Oliver of Architecture, but we think of him as the Corbusier of TV presenters: Architect Charlie Luxton
Free electricity, from fryer grease
Green Trust, a renewable energy research center, powers their facilities with waste vegetable oil. Their 12.5 kw Detroit Diesel 2-71 generator (the VeggieGen) happily slurps
Cycle in the city
The International Cycle Show 2004, London, is taking place right now, until the 26th Sept, at the Business Design Centre in Angel. Your chance to
On the ropes and off the grid
How a couple lost everything they owned and still found happiness — off-grid
BBC TV series on unusual places to live
Finding and buying your first home has never been harder, we are told, so it should come as no surprise that people are looking for
Biofuel conversion kits
Running your car on vegetable oil will save money and reduce your impact on the environment. It is possible to convert diesel cars to vegetable
Inspiration comes first
The Eco- marathon we previewed last week was a close contest between ‘Inspiration’ and ‘Team Green’ on Sunday at the Grampian Transport Museum in Scotland.
Scotland hosts eco-car race
The lightest, smallest cars in the world will be competing this weekend in a strange car race in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Hydrogen car Gh2ost and its
Techno rickshaws in India
Bicycle rickshaws with a difference are a feature of the roads of Uttar Pradesh, India, this year. The rickshaws are part of a project called
Mobile solar panel offer
LOW PRICE SOLAR PANEL Coleman’s Exponent Flex 5 solar energy pack recharge your mobile phone and other small items on the move – at a
Easy off-grid wireless living
Wireless technology is making easier to live and work off-grid. Wireless internet relies on satellites and small satellite dishes barely 30 cm in diameter. With
Buying a generator
Generators these days are silent, fuel- efficient and environment-friendly. To get the best value from a generator figure out whether its for stand-by — backup
4WD rental in the UK
Want to explore the British countryside? Go off the beaten track with a four-wheel drive, but drive responsibly. There are all sorts of high-sided four-wheel
Cool camping coolers
Keep cool this summer. Here are the best camping coolers online. Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
Portable AC power
Who said being off-grid was uncomfortable? Well not if you get yourself one of those: a power inverter will allow you to plug into a
Camping Water Filters
No matter how beautiful and unspoilt the scenery, how clear and pure it might seem, water taken from streams or springs can contain bacteria our
Hi-tech Tents
New technology and new materials are making pop up tents lighter, stronger and easier to set up. Here’s an overview of the best expedition tents.
Please Make This!
If any manufacturers are reading this here are three products we would order if they existed. All are winners of 2004 Industrial Design Excellence Awards
Take me everywhere
We haven’t tried the new bicycles from Strida, but we’d like to. If they are half as good as the promo material, you can take
30-somethings going off-grid
A report by the Future Laboratory in London, estimates that 90% of 30-somethings are determined to do something to change lifestyle. Over 65 % of
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