Posts by — Nick Rosen

Off the Grid and On the Cloud

Give yourself net access everywhere for Christmas – these little gizmos fit in your handbag and provide four or five wireless internet access points out in the middle of the boonies

While most like having a data plan on their iPhone and iPad so they don’t have to have one tethered to the other to get a 3G connection, the bills add up quickly.

In North America Novatel or Sierra Wireless’s little hot spots (buy it here for UK and Europe) can provide a connection that covers all with a single monthly payment (more…)

Naomi Wolf - should try roughing it, but probably too scared

Writer Naomi Wolf’s latest article describes the off-grid lifestyle and says it has taken off in America because of a loss of trust in the system.  Our sentiments exactly.

But she is clearly unhappy about this new development, calling it a “narrative fantasy,” rather than simply accepting it as a choice that many are making – those who are lucky enough to  set themselves up with some land, or have the skills to make it work for them.  You get the impression she knows its inevitable, but probably can’t stand the idea of living that way herself.

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You can even use your cellphone while filling up

Nissan’s electric car, The Leaf is being repositioned as a mobile charger for off-grid homes in Japan.  Even grid-tied homes will be able to reduce their energy dependence via Nissan’s new Home Charging Unit will go on sale in Japan by mid-2012 the company forecast today at a car show in Tokyo.

There is a fair amount of greenwash in Nissan’s claim, but it is significant nevertheless because it is offering a way to import energy in your car, rather than have a standalone energy supply to each house with the additional infrastructure that requires.  If anyone has driven in a Leaf please post your experiences in a comment.

Nissan says the average daily energy consumption in a Japanese home is around 10-12kw, (more…)

Keep talking, texting tweeting in the boonies

The much-maligned Blackberry has emerged as the best phone for off-grid users.

Although Blackberry customers were left without a service for days earlier this year, the phone is way ahead of current competitors when it comes to battery life, the key factor for those generating their own power.

The longer battery life comes about because the phone draws less power than Android or iPhone models. Although that does not solve the problem of getting a signal in remote locations. (more…)

Time to lose the suit

While news emerges that the top bosses in Western economies are earning FIFTY times more than they did in the eighties, in many US cities, the youth unemployment rate is reaching 50%.  The same is true in European cities, especially in Spain, Greece and Portugal. Italy will be next.

Its only the beginning.  (more…)

USF prof. making the off-grid world a better place

University of San Francisco professor Sami Rollins thinks better tools could be developed to help people living in off-grid homes — and she’s on a course to create those tools.

It’s one thing for a homeowner to be interested in knowing how much power their solar panels are producing when their home is tied to the grid — because whenever the solar power runs out, there’s electricity for the grid to pick up the slack. But if solar panels are the only means a homeowner has of turning on lamps or a television or running a dishwasher, knowing how much power is being produced is imperative. (more…)

Ready for anything

The London Occupation has just decided to invest in solar panels, to guarantee themselves at least a few kilowatt hours of electricity a day.  Two large panels and a battery are all they need to keep a laptop powered indefinitely.

Across the world, tent cities have sprung up in downtown centers.  They do not just happen, but require hours of daily planning.  Skilled chefs, IT consultants, lawyers, Bushcraft experts and others have kept the show on the road. (more…)

Less is more

A call for more “microgrids” in America from Amory Lovins, one of the country’s leading thinkers on renewable energy.

Lovins issued a plea for a cellular approach to energy  – and so do we – where mini-grids around the country make it impossible for a vast outage like the ones in the NorthEast last month or the mega-outage in 2003.

In Time Magazine this week, Lovins calls this idea (proposed last year in my book OFF THE GRID) a way of saving the US Grid.  I prefer to see it as a way of superceding the grid, and the whole business model that goes with it.

Lovins does not get into who would own the tiny microgrids that we and many others think should be built.  (more…)

I'll even include a free signed copy of the first edition

Nick Rosen, author of HOW TO LIVE OFF GRID, is selling the Camper van featured on the front cover of the book.

Its a Renault Master Long Wheel Base – diesel with power steering. The price, £2500

In Chapter 2 of the book he tells how he chose the vehicle: (more…)