Renewables still a tiny share of nation’s energy useThere are various US federal and state and sometimes utility company incentives for installing renewable energy. The benefit is you reduce energy consumption through conservation and the subsidies pay for things like energy efficient lighting, appliances, and insulation. DSIRE USA, a database of State incentives has a list of the net metering rules (grid back feeding — i.e. selling energy back to the grid)) and all the main incentives for each US state. Other countries also have various subsidies as well, and these will be covered in a separate post.
>>Keep reading “U.S. grants for renewable Energy”

Jamie Oliver set to go off-gridSuper-chef Jamie Oliver, whose new series about school dinners just launched on UK Channel 4, is preparing live off-grid for a few months. This is said to be his next project, but it is completely under wraps and his office have not confirmed the story. The detailed planning began some time ago. It is just one more example of the way the off-grid life is becoming mainstream.

After years of making TV series teaching other people how to cook, Jamie is now a national hero, as our picture shows. But he is frankly exhausted. So he has decided to take his family to Italy and tour the country in a camper van. He has set no time limit on this adventure.
>>Keep reading “Jamie Oliver to go off-grid”

Geodesic Quonset

Many folks are familiar with the concept of a Geodesic Dome, and the great advantages of strength and minimal materials,

Geodesic Dome

but most have not heard of a Geodesic Quonset, that also brings along many of the same advantages. It’s great for …
>>Keep reading “Geodesic Quonset: Inexpensive, Easy DIY Shelter”

Britain is wilder than you thinkOn this day hunting foxes is banned in Britain, and the wildest places in this beautiful land are more available than ever to the hiker and explorer. No longer will ramblers be startled by a phalanx of hunters on horseback as they enjoy the secrets revealed in “Wild Britain”. And maybe the hunters themselves will now have the time to appreciate the landscape rather than careering after small animals.

Paradoxically, many of Britain’s wildest and most beautiful places remain unspoilt because they have been “hunting grounds, royal chase, grouse moor and deer forest of the landed aristocracy,” says author Douglas Botting. The book is both a personal travelogue and guide to wilderness through the country – from tiny places such as the bird rock of Handa – one mile long by half a mile wide — to the Cairngorms, which cover 160 square miles of Scottish wilderness.
>>Keep reading “Wild Britain – book review”

PV panels only provide power when the sun is shining and wind generators only produce when there is sufficient wind, which can be less than 25% of the day. Typically we store power during times of generation in battery packs for use when no generation is possible. In order to keep those batteries at peak performance, and provide long service …
>>Keep reading “Battery Maintenance”

Exponent Flex 5Coleman’s Exponent Flex 5 solar energy pack – recharge your mobile phone and other small items on the move – at a better price than you will find anywhere else.

We have done a deal to get our readers the best possible price on a great little powerpack that will convert solar …
>>Keep reading “LOW PRICE SOLAR PANEL”

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” , and Blythe Danner, star of “Meet the Fockers.” Brosnan’s wife Keely Shaye Smith spent the evening talking to Danner, mother of Gwyneth Paltrow and a …
>>Keep reading “Women for a Clean and Healthy America”

A FUNDING body in the Lake District which helps businesses go off-grid, has £250,000 of grants to hand out before the summer.

The Energy for Enterprise grants scheme in the North-East is drawing to a close within the next few months, and any left-over money is returned to Brussels. Energy for Enterprise is aimed at installing renewable energy for rural and market town businesses .
>>Keep reading “£250,000 green grants goes begging in UK”

by Sarah Brown

Founder Meredith LittleFour days and nights alone in the California desert without food or shelter is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but for the vision questers of the School of Lost Borders, the gruelling ceremony is spirituality off-grid, an ancient rite for modern times, which generates a powerful experience of self and spirit, carried out far beyond the reach of organised religion.

The School of Lost Borders, based in the Eastern Californian Sierra in the “land of little rain” has offered rites of initiation for over 30 years to thousands of spiritual adventurers whose lives are in transition.
>>Keep reading “The Vision Quest ceremony”