Posts by — Antonia Woodruff

Antonia: Solar stars in her eyes

I grew up a city girl, and I believe I shall always be one. I enjoy the comfort and convenience. I’ve gone on camping trips, otherwise known as “roughing it,” and that’s just not me. So the idea of living off the land in a secluded, unpopulated part of the Earth carries no appeal for me.

I like fresh, potable running water that comes out of a beautifully designed faucet, and air conditioning and heat at the flip of a switch. I like it that my street gets swept every other Friday and the trash gets picked up weekly. (more…)

Talks are afoot in Hamilton County about building what could be the first subdivision in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky that is completely off the grid.

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune is leading talks about a creating a subdivision that would showcase the latest, greatest in green-building technology. Features could include solar panels, permeable pavement, rooftop gardens and homes so efficient their owners will never pay an energy bill. (more…)

Now that’s what I call a Hedge

Woodland is booming and the value of commercial holdings surged by up to 40 per cent in the past year.

The value of some woodland areas has doubled in four years and average prices last year were $8,500 (£4,250) a hectare, 80 per cent up on sales agreed during 2006, according to the latest forestry market audit by UPM Tilhill and Savills, the property consultancy.

And planting trees reduces one’s carbon footprint, by increasing carbon absorption. Purchasing existing timber and then not harvesting the wood can also help offset an individual or group’s carbon generation. (more…)

The world is their bathroom

Discarded human waste has become a mounting problem in Scotland’s national parks since new land access laws, combined with last summer’s glorious weather, encouraged a minority of dumb assholes to spoil it all for the rest of us who want to camp overnight in beauty spots.
Now the authorities are planning a trial of “human poop-scoops” involving supplying plastic trowels and bags to the thoughtless minority of campers so they can either bury the waste before they go home or take it with them for later disposal. (more…)

Little RV on the prairie

New movie RV is about a man who tries to get closer to his family by taking them on a road trip across America in a recrational vehicle. Its a comedy about the camper van community and the woes and pitfalls of life on the road.

During a thoughtful moment in the flick,released next week in the US, Robin Williams observes that if you really want to find out about yourself, put your family in a recreation vehicle and drive.

In fact its not Robin Williams we are finding out about here, but Director Barry Sonnenfeld. (more…)

Sarah & Guillaume volunteer builders

No, this isn’t an Earthship in the making, but it uses the same principles. Its part of an off-grid farm and eco-travelodge near Granada, Spain. Aspen and David Edge inherited a dilapidated reservoir, where the subsidence caused annual tears in the plastic liner.
“We decided to use what we had got … dirt, and an environmental problem … used tyres to build a stabilising wall of several thousand tyres. It also meant that we were not having to use water to mix cement, not to mention the cement itself. We are on the home run and have only 113 more tyres to fill. Then we will used mud and water, with a little lime to render the tyres. Finally we are going to use a liner which has a 10 year guarantee (unlike the previous one which had to be replaced each year). (more…)

A new factory in North Wales could give the solar energy market in the UK the impetus it needs. The Sharp Corporation, the worlds major producer of photovoltaic (PV) products, initially expected that the new Wrexham plant would turn out PV panels for residential and commercial installations at a rate of 20 MW worth per year. But orders quickly exceeded output and the company announced that it would be doubling it’s capacity. (more…)

Faced with a dramatic 75% decline in farming through disasters as diverse as Chernobyl and BSE, many Welsh hill farmers decided to pack up and try a new line in work. Not the three families that make up the Cwmni Gwynt Teg (‘fair wind’ in Welsh) cooperative. When faced with disaster in 1997, this ingenious group looked to the the mountains for inspiration and harnessed the wind, on their own land. They now run the Moel Moelogan Wind farm, a profitable and growing business. (more…)

Shake off your prejudice and start looking for your tow bar; the chicest (and easiest) way to be independent comes in the form of the good, old-fashioned caravan.

Cool Caravans for sale or hire

Always strong on the conceptual front, (a house on wheels that you can take anywhere? Keep changing the view? Genius.) it was let down badly by unchic design. Now, finally, the cool caravan has arrived. And you can hire it for a weekend.
(more…)