Posts by — Charles

1.  Rain
Without water, life is impossible.  Always buy land with a water source, if you can afford it.  If not, make sure you catch the rainwater.
There’s a reason you can buy land in the west Texas desert for next to nothing.  The reason is that it doesn’t have a water source.  A water source doesn’t have to be a river or stream.  It doesn’t even have to be groundwater.  It can be rainwater, provided that the rainwater source is steady and reliable. (more…)

home cooking on tap

This site does not talk enough about the great new gadgets and technologies which make off-grid living ever more comfortable.  Here are two – your favorite suggestions please, readers,  in comments at end of this story.:-

The impact of the microwave oven on human grazing habits has been extreme. It can reheat frozen food or cook raw food in a fraction of the time required of a conventional oven and has brought the convenience of preparing food to new levels. The WaveBox Microwave Oven is a (more…)

Become an Activist

Don

Should you retrofit your home with solar power? The short answers are: probably (for your hot-water); definitely (for your pool); and likely not (for your household electrical needs).

Solar – bettar watar heatar

Water Heating
Your hot-water heater is an energy hog, accounting for up to one-quarter of your household’s energy consumption. Add greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional hot water heating – between 600 and 760 kilograms a year – and endlessly renewable, non-polluting sunshine seems a no-brainer.

Quallium, an Ottawa-based startup company, (more…)

Homegrown, organic hearthrob

Actor Colin Firth, whose wet shirt clad Mr. D’Arcy made him one of Britain’s hottest male heart throbs, is now an unlikely shop keeper.

Due to open next week in a prime West London location, Eco will be Britain

Not only is this Zero House by architect Scott Specht completely green, automatic and self-sufficient, but it looks like it could

When the wood runs out

Mozambique University has launched a local program to encourage renewable energy self sufficiency that may become a model across the continent.

The Fa

Don’t shake her hand

Rocker Sheryl Crow whose inconvenient truth is that she wants to limit the use of toilet paper to one sheet per visit to save the environment, has notched another first in her crusade against global warming.

Whilst promoting her Stop Global Warming College Tour, an 11-date tour explaining the perils of global warming to Americans, Ms Crow has just thrown an eco-baby shower for her son Wyatt.

Yup. An eco-baby shower.

The green gala is featured in the November issue of InStyle magazine, although the magazine has not stated how much was paid for the exclusive photos.

The barf-inducing event was planned (more…)

Developing nations go solar

UK-based solar company G24 Innovations this month started production of a low-cost, non silicon-based solar panel, which it says it will make available to developing countries from next year.

The sun supplies only a tiny fraction — less than one tenth of 1 percent — of mankind’s energy needs, yet the growing need to move away from traditional fossil fuels, because of rising oil prices and environmental concerns, has sparked a surge of investment in solar power.

This trend is bringing down the costs of the alternative energy source, but affordability problems still dog hopes for the 1.6 billion people, globally, without electricity and the further two to three billion people with access only to primitive energy sources

This is particularly apparent in India, where 60 percent of households, particularly in rural areas, are off grid. (more…)