From the monthly archives:

August 2007

How to get free broadband

by Nick Rosen on August 28, 2007

in ON THE MOVE

Kismac
Kismac: comical little feller

Although wireless thieves say it is a victimless crime, the number of arrests for dishonestly obtaining free access under the UK Communications Act 2003 are rising. This practice is known as war surfing or piggybacking, and while hedge fund managers are allowed to trade insolvently, and kids wander around with guns and knives, it is reassuring that the police still find time to prosecute, or is that persecute downloaders. It’s the 21st century equivalent of being sent to Australia for picking an apple from the ground in an orchard.

In order to assist Inspector Plod in their mission of persecuting off-grid internet users, we are compiling a list of all known piggybacking hot-spots on the Internet. All readers are invited to add to the list by going as quickly as possible to the off-grid forum, here.

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Landmark off-grid housing victory

August 26, 2007
Landmark off-grid housing victory

An off-grid community in Devon – has won temporary planning (zoning) permission after a long battle against wealthy local residents.

The group of 16 people, featured in Nick Rosen’s book, How to Live Off-grid, paid just £60,000 for their glorious smallholding. The ruling explicitly endorsed the off-grid aspect of the project, which is a planning (zoning) precedent for the UK. The inspector granted planning permission for a permaculture holding, integrating agriculture, forestry, education, ancillary rural enterprises and residential use subject to the ‘low-impact’ criteria set out in their planning application. It marks a further important benchmark for recognition of off-grid development in the countryside within UK planning policy, following the example of communities such as Kings Hill and Tinkers Bubble in Somerset and Fivepenny Farm in West Dorset

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Cave dwellers of Oz

August 25, 2007
Cave dwellers of Oz

Visitors at underground Motel

The tiny outback town of White Cliffs in far north-west New South Wales can now claim a place in Australia’s engineering history, alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Snowy Hydro scheme.
The opal mining town, where most of the 200 residents live in underground homes, was the first in Australia to be powered entirely by solar [...]

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Fight for local energy

August 25, 2007
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 generators in homes and businesses
THE DISRUPTED: Electric utilities
Making electricity in central power plants is so 20th century,says the report. K.R. Sridhar has a better idea: Create energy on the spot, right where it’s consumed. His [...]

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Arson campaign torches eco-homes

August 25, 2007
Arson campaign torches eco-homes

A third eco-home in central Somerset went up in flames this week, following an arson attack at a prototype round house in Moorlinch and a fire that destroyed Glastonbury town councillor Caroline Barry’s well-known straw bale home at Butleigh in January.

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Laurie David and other Econazzis

August 24, 2007
Laurie David and other Econazzis

Hype, all hype

Of today’s fashionable causes, the environment is the most fashionable of them all. And no Hollywood activist is more dedicated than Laurie David, who used her ex-husband, Larry David’s wealth to finance Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore lavishes praise on her work: “Laurie David has done more than any one person I know to raise awareness [...]

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Utopia project update

August 23, 2007
Utopia project update

Trouble in Paradise

Its some time since we reported on Dr Dylan Evans, who resigned as a lecturer on evolutionary psychology from the University of the West of England in Bristol to become Director of the Utopia Project in Scotland. Dr Evans, 41, wanted to test the theory that by 2040, the warming of the Earth and ensuing climate disasters will [...]

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Eco-palace back on

August 23, 2007
Eco-palace back on

Plans are afoot to prepare a $10m eco-palace” as a wedding gift for Prince Charles son Prince William,and his fiancee Kate Middleton. As they holiday in a tiny island int he Seychelles, the palace in Wales is being fitted with a range of eco-features.

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Nick Rosen at Edinburgh book festival

August 21, 2007
Nick Rosen at Edinburgh book festival

Nick Rosen “free yourself”

Off-Grid Editor Nick Rosen will challenge the UK government to make clear exactly what its plans are on the five eco-towns it proposed building back when Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office in June.
Nick will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival at midday talk about his personal journey to a free-er, greener life and to [...]

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