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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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$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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Cool camping coolers

Keep cool this summer. Here are the best camping coolers online. 200W Portable Power Station, Powkey 120Wh/33,000mAh Power Bank with AC Outlet, 110V 6 Outputs

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Welcome to Off-Grid

200W Portable Power Station, Powkey 120Wh/33,000mAh Power Bank with AC Outlet, 110V 6 Outputs Solar Generator External Battery Pack with LED Light for Home Use

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