Posts from — February 2009

Want nothing – Be happy I didn’t start my off-grid life because I felt guilty about hurting the planet, I started it because I felt I was connected to a system that wasn’t nourishing me, and disconnected from an eco-system that was a real source of nourishment – physical, mental and spiritual.

In October 2005 I had a terrible headache. It turned out I had suffered a near-fatal brain haemorrhage. I was rushed to surgery, where they drilled a hole in my skull and attached a metal clip to the wall of an artery  which had burst in my brain. (more…)

If you are reviewing your carbon footprint, consider a data storage and retrieval system now being sold on the internet.

The product does not need a plug or a battery since it draws on power sources that are off the grid. (more…)

Lesley from Amazon Nails For the first time in a UK government funded project, Straw council houses (local government housing) are being built in Lincolnshire to cut costs and energy consumption.

The six three-bed semis in the village of Martin will each be made of 500 bales and cost GBP60,000 ($87,000).

‘It is the first time this has been tried in the UK,’ says North Kesteven District Council’s Tory leader, Marion Brighton. (more…)

Sheryl Crow at Green bash The Oscars ceremony has abandoned last year’s pretence of being “green” – whatever that meant at the time.  With the exception of last night’s Global Green Pre-Oscar Bash there is not the slightest bit of Academy Awards greenwash in sight.

The stars who put their name to the Global Green charade included: Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cheryl Crow, Penelope Cruz, Rosario Dawson, Marisa Tomei, Kate Bosworth, Sebastian Copeland, Esai Morales and Gavin Rossdale. (more…)

Getting the trailer up the hill and past the boulders and trees was more challenging than we thought it would be, but when you have to do something, then you figure out a way to do it. (more…)

This week, the X Prize Foundation announced a pair of California students won the $25,000 prize for their crazy green idea, an �ultra capacitor� to store energy. This is a new approach to the age-old problem of how to leap forwardin battery design.

The foundation applauded all participants for their innovative ideas including finalist Alan Silva who proposed an off-grid house.
The ideas generated by Silva and more than 130 other participants are being used to help shape a future prize in energy and environment.
A technology consultant and video producer, Silva didn�t have to cast far for an idea. He needed only to look at last summer�s gas- pump prices at $4 a gallon and his own home energy expenses to get his entrepreneurial juices going.
His proposal? Make affordable homes that can provide all of the energy its occupants use. �Being off the grid would save hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, promote energy independence and provide energy security,� says Silva.
The nonprofit X foundation fosters �revolution through competition� to benefit humanity and has awarded prizes up to $30 million in space travel, genomics and transportation.�We were all impressed by the sheer number of ideas submitted and their level of sophistication,� said Peter H. Diamandis, the foundation�s chairman and chief executive officer. �It truly demonstrates how important this issue is to the public at large.�

Women of Char Mantaz install solar A BRIGHT future for 18,000 people on the island of Char Mantaz — one of many off the coast of Bangladesh.  The main income for residents is fishing, but now they have added solar power to their skills.

Prokaushali Sangsand Limited (PSL), an engineering consulting group went to the island of Char Mantaz to train the female residents how to build and set up solar power panels for the whole island.  The effects have changed this off-grid island forever. The traditional role of men earning an income as fishermen has been supplemented by new skills the women have gained — making everyone’s future brighter.

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