Posts from — April 2011

New off-grid role model

As predicted here a year ago, the play Jerusalem was a smash hit when it opened on New York’s Broadway last week.

Tecoma Valley is in northeastern Nevada, in Elko County. It is 2 ½ hours from both Salt Lake City and Twin Falls Idaho, and hour and twenty minutes from Elko Nv, and 55 minutes from both the towns of Wells and Wendover. Montello is a small town in Tecoma Valley that has a grocery store, hotel, gas station, post office, small hardware store, a mechanic, and a place to buy firewood.

Land in Tecoma Valley is cheap, generally from $300 and acre to $500, but prices vary. The ground water in the area is good for drinking, and if you choose the right property you can have a water well dug under 200 feet. There is plenty of sunshine and wind. The climate is typical high desert, with some regional variation.

We are looking for people who want to be a part of a progressive yet sustainable community development project. For more information contact us via email: golds_borough@yahoo.com

Vodafone is set to announce it will build one of Africa’s greenest commercial buildings as a base for testing new ways of using renewable energy across its global network.

Based in Midrand, South Africa, the innovation centre will examine how the company can reduce carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy, as well as batteries. The centre will also look at how to reduce the running and deployment cost of base station sites. Findings will be shared across the Vodafone group. (more…)

A parallel life

The New Gypsies by Iain McKell is a stunning collection of photos taken over a decade, of NewAge Gypsies and other off-grid travellers.
The horse-drawn people are a loose-knit group of 800-1000 British, working class families living permanently in wagons spread across the country.  Their numbers swell to a further 3,000 or so part-timers who all converge on various festivals during the summer. They have no ID, because you do not need registration documents to drive a horse and cart. That is why they choose this way over buses and vans.  You can buy the UK Edition of The New Gypsies here. (more…)

My husband I are ready to escape. Want to live off the land with like-minded folks and families. Don’t have experience but eager and excited to learn. We want the best life for our son and we don’t think capitalism is what he needs. Anyone around here that has any land prospects or ideas. We are ready to go.

Ca na Bassera, pretty villa for sale, completely off-grid: solar power, industrial sized generator, water well, rainwater tank and black water tanks. 4 beds, 2 baths, pool, barbecue terrace. Top comfort, not far from Alcudia town. 470.000 €
Other properties on the island in portfolio too.

I’d like to contribute to technology for going off grid – and I would dearly like to do so myself. I can not be too far from North Vancouver, since my son alternates weeks with me. I am quite capable in innovation and prototyping (I made the electronics in the Race Rocks tide turbines) and have been a self employed prototyper for 25 years.

I like rocket stoves, these are usually small, usually portable, mini-cooking-heating devices that are very efficient. You can use twigs instead of larger pieces of wood, these tend to be safer since you aren’t using a lot of fuel (twigs) and it goes out if you aren’t there to feed the wood into the stove. I have seen a lot of different methods of building a rocket stove, from simple bricks without mortar to very elaborate and expensive rigs. (more…)