Posts from — July 2004

Want to learn how to build a wind turbine? Here are a few tips

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If you’re planning to go off-grid, spending some time in a community can be a good way to learn the basics. Here’s where to find communities online.

We encourage comments, advice and questions, via the comments section at the end of this story (you will have to register first – takes 5 seconds).

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Organic Week 4th to 12th September all across the UK. Events include the Organic fair in Bristol on 4th and 5th Sept, discounts on organic products in most shops, organic farm tours and open days, walks and worshops.
For a list of events see the Organic week website

Tree houses are not just for children. A tree house can be a great summer house, studio or reading room

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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 (IDEA).

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Party tents are not just for parties. As well as accommodating 10 people standing, they are a great as shelters for camping or on the beach. We had a look at some for you.

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Brazil’s coast-line is for sale and Argentina, still reeling from the economic collapse, also has land deals. Westerners with cash to spare are heading out there to buy land. Better in our hands than some faceless multinational.

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It looks like a big metallic mushroom, a futuristic tent or a spaceship. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion was the first modern house specifically designed to be off -grid, autonomous, energy self-sufficient and environment friendly. That was almost a century ago. Best known for the invention of the geodesic dome, Buckminster Fuller is also one of the founders of the environmental design movement.

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Electric cars are eco-friendly, cheap and widely available but not in Europe. Loyal-to-oil car manufacturers tend not to market them and most of us still think electric cars exist only on golf courses.

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