Fear of frying: Draper & colleaguesHealth dangers from the power grid have been further underlined after UK Government experts hinted yesterday that homes should not be built near overhead power lines because of possible links with childhood leukaemia.

They are likely to recommend a change in planning guidelines so that new homes cannot be built either within 230ft of power lines or in a location that exposes inhabitants to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of a certain strength.

Off-Grid reported on this issue last September when another UK government office acknowledged that adults can suffer health effects from power lines (http://www.off-grid.net/index.php?p=468).
>>Keep reading “Link between power lines and leukaemia”

Business fat cats ignore off-gridWith oil breaking through $75 per barrel, top business bosses say Britain’s energy is at risk because the UK’s cumbersome planning system is blocking the building of vital new gas storage facilities. But they say nothing about the role microgeneration has to play, and the way the planning laws are blocking the development of off-grid homes and businesses. The same is true of United States zoning laws, and elsewhere.

The UK government hopes to meet 10% of the country’s electricity needs with renewable energy by 2010 and 20% by 2020. Currently less than 4% of Britain’s energy is from renewable sources.

The Confederation of British Industry raised the alarm as part of its submission to the UK Government Energy Review.
>>Keep reading “Soaring oil fuels power shortage”

Little RV on the prairie New movie RV is about a man who tries to get closer to his family by taking them on a road trip across America in a recrational vehicle. Its a comedy about the camper van community and the woes and pitfalls of life on the road.

During a thoughtful moment in the flick,released next week in the US, Robin Williams observes that if you really want to find out about yourself, put your family in a recreation vehicle and drive.

In fact its not Robin Williams we are finding out about here, but Director Barry Sonnenfeld.
>>Keep reading “RV starring Robin Williams”

Two wheels good, four wheels bad
As if you needed reminding! Its World Naked Bike Ride day – a spectacular event highlighting oil dependency and road dangers faced by cyclists – Saturday 10 June, 2006.

Over 40 cities worldwide will take part with people riding bikes naked to celebrate cycling and the human body. A surreal sight for sore eyes, the WNBR – (http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/ ) is baring all to demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and as a protest against oil dependency. Cyclists and skaters are
>>Keep reading “World Naked Cycle Day”

Jadoo fuel cell assembly By 2010 Americans will require 10 kilowatts-hours of “personal power,” compared to the 10 watt-hours averaged in 1980 (Motorola estimates). But while the power of computer chips has doubled every couple years, battery power has advanced little in that time. Now a small US company leading the way in Fuel Cell production may be providing some answers. With only 32 employees, Jadoo Power is responsible for 11% of all shipments of Fuel Cells, according to the company. That it has real live Fuel Cells on sale now is impressive in an industry which is more mouth than trousers. We bring you an exclusive interview further down.

Fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction involving hydrogen – a component of water, and abundant and nonpolluting. Much of the recent publicity over fuel cells has been lavished on big ideas like hydrogen-powered vehicles or electrical generating plants. Jadoo (the name means “miracle” in Hindi) has different aspirations.
>>Keep reading “Fuel Cell future is here”

by Dave Eriqat, who moved from Manhattan to Rednecksville, Kentucky…better get a gun, Dave…

Eriqat: Free YourselfAwakening as the first rays of sunlight brighten my bedroom, I dress hurriedly and run downstairs. Even though it’s a Saturday, I’m eager to get to “work.” Passing through the kitchen on my way to the back door, I notice that my wife, Anna, has already made some coffee. Pouring myself a cup, I take it with me as I head out the back door on my way to my workshop. My workshop is where I work. I’ve been self employed as a furniture maker for a couple of years now, and presently I’m finishing a fine dresser for my neighbor, Sam. As I cross the yard, I see Anna tending our garden. Our young son William is feeding a small flock of chickens and other animals, next to the tomato plants.

We’ve had so many tomatoes this year, we’ve been trading them to the neighbors for their surplus produce. It’s been great to enjoy such a variety of fresh, organic produce in this abundant year. I recall the tasteless, wax-like produce we used to buy in the grocery stores, thinking that was normal. I’d never shop in another grocery store for produce after tasting what I and my neighbors can produce.
I used to work in Manhattan as an accountant for a large firm, where I was paid an even larger salary.
>>Keep reading “Scale it down and live it up”

MiniHome is where the heart is A home off the grid has never been so small, and so cheap (at least compared to its full size cousins in city centers).

Eco-architects Andy Thompson (pictured at the table) and Dan Hall of Sustain Design have unveiled their stripped down living quarters, and it is a bit like the TARDIS, Dr. Who’s time machine — much larger inside than it looks from outside. They call it miniHome — and it looks just like a middle class apartment, but much, much smaller. They chose the Canada National Home Show to launch their product which is the right place to aim at the mass market…. The 350-square foot, fully self-sustainable house allows the environmentally conscious to live year-round with all the luxuries in a space the size of a motorhome.
The idea sprouted from Hall and Thompson’s realization that contemporary construction and building codes make it difficult to build a completely self-sufficient structure.

>>Keep reading “Small – but perfectly formed”

Smallholdings “21st Century Smallholder” is a little book with a big agenda – as much as we yearn to be free, most are pinned down by lives, jobs, families, fears, inside our urban or suburban homes. So what can we do instead? How do we turn a negative into a positive? This book tells you what to do if you have a small flat and want to grow food in window boxes, as well as a giving you a month by month guide to running a full-size garden or an allotment as a bio-diverse, organic fresh food resource.

Click here to buy book

Food writer Paul Waddington has turned his own urban back yard into a mini market garden, and this brand new book starts with a good rant against the mega food corporations – supermarkets and agribusiness. But as Waddington reminds us, we have become de-skilled in this specialised, industrialised and commercialised world, and we don’t know how to the things which came naturally to our parents and grand-parents – growing and preserving vegetables and fruits, perhaps keeping a couple of chickens (enough for an egg a day, if not more) or a larger creature.

As a result we not only lack skills, but also implements, and even the little bits of land we own are not set up to produce food. So there are start-up costs, and sacrifices. But the rewards are a sense of pride and the taste of your own food, picked a few seconds before it goes on the table. And there is an element of survivalism if you are lucky enough to have half an acre of land at your disposal – because some time in the next few years the food supply could be disrupted by anything from an energy crisis to Bird flu pandemic to a terrorist alert to weird weather. Even the average garden is big enough to produce a phenomenal amount of food if you manage it right.
>>Keep reading “Go back to the land without leaving home”

Dick (right) with Ivan from Navitron Its official – the very best value 200 watt wind turbine is from Navitron in Monmouth. At £299 it adds up to low power at a low price, and we aren’t being paid a penny to say this.

The authority is Dick Strawbridge, genial host of “Its not easy being Green” the new eco-home show on BBC2, which raised 3.4 million viewers on its launch. Dick talked exclusively to Off-Grid about the kit installed at his old farm house in Cornwall with three acres of land, a leaky roof and (when the Strawbridge family first moved in) no plumbing, electricity or home comforts.
>>Keep reading ““Its not easy being green””