Posts by — isuru

Its easy if you try If you live on the grid and want to reduce your energy consumption, there are plenty of simple ways of helping prevent the building of any more power stations.  Here are some tips.

But first, if you want advice about the very best renewable energy set-up for your home, whether you are off-grid or connected to the grid, then we offer impartial advice in our home consultancy service (email: consult@off-grid.net). (more…)

Freeconomist without a cent Today is ‘Buy Nothing Day’, a chance for the wealthy to ease the pressure on their conscience – but pretty galling for anyone in genuine poverty.

We are all encouraged to take a “global holiday from consumerism” and have a 24-hour break from any kind of shopping. It certainly has an added resonance in the credit crunch.

It’s quite another thing to go without spending any money for a whole year.

That’s what Mark Boyle (29) says he planning to do. Starting today Boyle, (more…)

Hoyle with his “unecological” log fire An historic 18th century house on the edge of a National park in north-west England, has been refused classification as a dwelling after tens of thousands were spent installing an off-grid system.

Although people have lived there off and on for 300 years, the eco-home’s owner has been told he must demolish the improvements and move out. The local council planning department in Mallerstang, Cumbria deny that the owner Adam Hoyle, has created an eco-dwelling there – because he drives 3.5 miles to work. (more…)

A new book by award-winning science writer and Daily Planet host Jay Ingram explores the efforts of everyday individuals — extreme and otherwise — to reduce their carbon footprint and work toward addressing the warming of the world. (more…)

What good are solar panels and recycled woods tacked on to a McMansion? Fact is, the sustainable homes of the future look a lot like those of the past.

Carter’s so called sweaterIN THE LATE 1970s, heating oil and electricity prices were shooting sky-high, Jimmy Carter was donning that cool cardigan (falsely characterised as an ugly sweater). Thirty years later, the buzzword is “green.”

Like homeowners in the ’70s, you care about keeping heating and cooling costs down. But the bar has been raised since then. You also want to shrink your overall footprint on the environment, chopping down less rain forest and pumping fewer tons of greenhouse gases into the air. All good. But simply buying every building material labeled earth-friendly and installing high-tech green gizmos isn’t the best way to accomplish this. (more…)

Gerald: an example to us all Matt Gerald’s business is growing – flowers, that is. This semi-hippie capitalist/sort of back-to the-lander/child of the ’70s likes watching his gardens grow. And boy, does he have gardens. He also grows vegetables in abundance.

“There’s nothing like wading through a snowdrift to collect your own fresh vegetables.” says Gerald. (more…)

Wanted: solar cooker

A new report will say simple and affordable off-grid energy is a significant part of the solution to world poverty. Two billion people worldwide have no access to electricity and 1.6 billion still rely on fuel wood and open fires for cooking. This is a critical issue for health, education and poverty reduction � escalating energy prices and growing demand mean that centralised energy systems are unlikely to fill this gap.

A total of 51 programmes were reviewed, with ten investigated in more detail through surveys with project leaders. They have all received prizes from the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy since its inception in 2003.

One solar programme in Bangladesh has installed more than 150,000 solar home systems – compared to a total of 2,300 domestic solar panel installations in the UK. (more…)

Going up: Nick is part of global trend

The Independent Newspaper carried a double page spread today, featuring Off-Grid Editor Nick Rosen and his book How to Live Off-grid

The article, reproduced below, ran under the headline “Off-grid: Meet the pioneers living without mains power or water”:

You won’t find the phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary, yet, but living off-grid, outside or in between, the criss-crossing lines of power, water, gas and phone that delineate the civilised world, is a skill that everyone may soon need. (more…)

The light that cannot shine

The Treehugger web site has fallen for an obvious bit of hype in featuring a gravity powered light yesterday.

The light won second prize in a green gadgets competition in New York. But much as off-gridders would welcome the product, unfortunately the design is flawed — as anyone with a little scientific knowledge would recognise.

Treehugger featured the”Gravia” LED floor lamp from designer Clay Moulton which claims to that combine human power and gravity to create a lighting source that will work for 200 years with no external power. The design, part of his master�s thesis at the College of Architecture and Urban Studies should never have been passed by his academic minders. (more…)