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veg-head

by veg-head on March 17, 2010 · 0 comments

in ENERGY

Mayfield - doing the right thing

One of the UK’s most successful retailers ,The John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose supermarkets and John Lewis department stores, is to open its first ‘off grid’ (his words) retail store, this year.

It will be located in Norfolk. Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership Charlie Mayfield, said in private talks at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in London today The store will be large —  between 15,000 and 20,000 sq ft. and powered by a mix of technologies, including combined heat and power.

Mayfield said the new off grid store would deliver carbon savings of 60 per cent compared to one opened “two or three years ago”.

»Keep reading 'Waitrose to open first ‘off grid’ store'

Better Off

March 16, 2010
Better Off If you cannot wait until Earth Hour on 27 March to switch off power in your house, try making this weekend your  Power Off Weekend.  That is what a group in the UK are doing.  The Power Off movement  chooses random weekends to switch off all power (yes, including the freezer), and play games by candlelight. “Power Off is all about having time to have fun, play games, talk to people, have friends and neighbours round, spend time with your children,” says Malcolm, who has started the Touchwood project in the Orkneys to popularise the idea.  Of course if you turn off the power in the Orkneys at night, then it gets really dark, unlike London. But the freezer wont melt in a single weekend because its normally too cold.

»Keep reading 'Better Off'

Off the grid living a “top ten” idea

March 13, 2010
Off the grid living a “top ten” ideaSupport from Reihan Salam Time Magazine has called living off the grid "one of the most important ideas of the next ten years." Time  Managing Editor Richard Stengel, says of the article “this isn't a matter of just scaling back but also of reconceiving how we live. “   Reihan Salam writes about how in the 2010s, more and more people will live off the grid, working in a new underground economy that will fill in the gaps of the old one. In a separate article in the special issue,  Christopher Hayes writes passionately that “it's not just the market that has changed. The entire edifice of trust in authority that supported American life has been shaken.

»Keep reading 'Off the grid living a “top ten” idea'

US Prepper movement explodes

February 13, 2010
US Prepper movement explodesThere are now over four million active preppers in the US - meaning that this middle-class "survivalism lite" movement far outnumbers the Tea-Party protesters, estimated at about one million members.  Self-doctoring, laying down food supplies, and a "bug-out" location where friends can meet if things go bad, are the main preparations being made by preppers. Both preppers and tea-partyists are disillusioned, alienated or just plain angry at the way society is run,and both are dominated by middle class families which have the most to lose in the event of a major calamity - whether economic or physical.  But it is the prepper movement, repeatedly covered in previous articles on Off-Grid.net, which is growing fastest. Prepper Web sites advise readers on such matters as the best chickens to rear and other aspects of survivalism.

»Keep reading 'US Prepper movement explodes'

Lori Ryker speaks

January 24, 2010
Lori Ryker speaks Lori Ryker, architecture professor and author of two books about Off The Grid living, will speak at Louisiana state University college of art & design, Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 103 of the Art & Design Building. The lecture is free and open to the public. Lori is researching the relationship between communities and the larger environment relative to design and building practices.

»Keep reading 'Lori Ryker speaks'

Off-Grid HQ in UK

January 18, 2010
Off-Grid HQ in UK If you want to go off the grid in the UK, Pembrokeshire is where its at. It now has recognised over 50 off-grid homes. Officials around the country are doing everything to discourage individuals and groups from living simple, low-carbon, off-grid lives - in other words, despite all the talk about going green, anybody who actually wants to live a truly green life has to overcome many obstacles. But Pembrokeshire may become the exception. A low-impact dwelling near Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire, Wales, has just  received retropective planning permission. This is the third such project in the county to be officially recognised. A small settlement on land at Brithdir Mawr, and the Lammas project, which intends to build at eco-village on the outskirts of the village of Glandwr have already been rubber stamped.

»Keep reading 'Off-Grid HQ in UK'

Living for free

January 12, 2010
Living for free 27-year-old Katharine Hibbert is a nice middle class girl. She writes book reviews for the Times Literary Supplement, and volunteers for the Food not Bombs group which finds food in dumpsters and turns it into free meals in London. For the last two years she has freed herself by living for free,and writtten a book about it (we hope she got an advance from Ebury Press). Free: Adventures on the Margins of a Wasteful Society (click to buy) describes how she walked away from all her possessions (books, music and other treasures stored in mum's garage), found a squat, and lived on food discarded by cafes and supermarkets.

»Keep reading 'Living for free'

Blueprint for sustainable living

December 29, 2009
Blueprint for sustainable livingAn off-grid Community in the UK has been awarded £350,000 of central government money to help it spread its low-carbon lifestyle to families across the country. The Lammas project in the Welsh hills involving nine "ordinary" families living in eco smallholdings in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire, has been named by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change as one of 10 low-carbon communities. Lammas (named after a Pagan harvest festival)  will spend the moneyon a "community hub" building. It is seen "a blueprint for sustainable living" and the money is intended to facilitate educational visits. The local government in the area has pioneered one of the most favorable regimes to enable planning permission for off-grid developments and Lammas owes its existence to this planning framework. The new building will help launch its low-impact housing initiative and pioneering farming and land-use technologies, as well as promoting carbon-positive food and fuel.

»Keep reading 'Blueprint for sustainable living'

Eco-villages now in 70 countries

December 18, 2009
Eco-villages now in 70 countries In 1991, Robert and Diane Gilman co-authored a seminal study called "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities" for Gaia Trust. Today, there are ecovillages in over 70 countries on six continents. Ecovillages (only some of which are off-grid) can be located in urban or rural areas.  They are formed and populated by people who share the environmental and social values of sustainability and low-impact living. According to the Global Ecovillages Network, residents of ecovillages live out these ideals by integrating "aspects of ecological design, permaculture, ecological building, green production, alternative energy, community building practices...."

»Keep reading 'Eco-villages now in 70 countries'

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