Its really, really dark here A new Astronomical Observatory in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, gets all its power and water from local sources. Kielder is the country’s largest forest, and has the lowest light pollution in Britain.

The world class Observatory is up a 2km farm track and the building’s silhouette shuns the archetypal observatory dome for an angular, constructivist look.

The building’s electricity needs are met by a wind generator and rooftop photovoltaics. Likewise, the plumbing is ‘off-grid’, with no running water. Heating is fuelled with wood from the forest. (more…)

A house fit for an elephant

- It seems everyone is celebrating trees, says Virginia A. Smith in PHILADELPHIA

Three public gardens in the Philadelphia area are launching exhibits featuring tree houses and “canopy walks” - Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill, and Tyler Arboretum in Media.

Longwood went first. Its “Nature’s Castles” exhibit opened April 26 with three handsome tree houses: a rustic Adirondack-style Lookout Loft, The Birdhouse in the woods, and a two-story Canopy Cathedral that looks like a basilica for Tarzan. (more…)

Reynolds - recognised at last

It’s one of those clever management sayings that if you feed rubbish into the system, then you inevitably get rubbish out at the other end.

But its not true.

The new documentary Garbage Warrior is about a man who has proved its not true. All Michael Reynolds does is build houses out of what other people would call garbage. Its what he has done for the past 35 years. Old tyres are very important, and so are tin cans. And bottles. The documentary reports his fight to win back his architects license after it was removed a decade ago because he had these weird ideas about building eco homes. (more…)

Simple, clean, nice

The Travelgood.com web site praises the absence of “essentials” like a television or a kettle,at Slack House Farm, County Durham in the UK.

At 400 metres up on the north Pennines, in one of most spectacular areas of outstanding natural beauty, you can find one of the country’s few - perhaps only - “off-grid” B&Bs. (more…)

Grants pay half the cost

Massachusetts is one of 10 states in the nation with specific financial incentives and regulatory policies for solar panel installation.

the full list is California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. (more…)

Delft University library roof

If you are building off-grid, or simply changing the roof on your existing home, consider a sedum roof or “green roof”. It transforms the feeling of a building as well as the appearance. You suddenly remember how closely we are connected to the world around us. (more…)

You can take it anywhere

Remote mountaintop? Private island? Ancient woodland? Not a problem.

Today’s prefab structures allow you to commune with nature in high style with a minimal environmental footprint. Here are a few examples from an article in the National Post:

Pavilion House modular home from Toronto’s Mafco (www.mafcohouse.com)

Where and why: Developed for Ontario’s lakeshore properties (more…)

No moving parts

In its zeal to become more energy efficient and independent, the U.S. Air Force has announced it wants to build miniature nuclear power plants at bases worldwide. And in doing so, it might just be pointing the way to the future of off-grid energy everywhere.
This web site predicted rising interest in mini nuclear plants last December, citing the Westinghouse division of Toshiba as a possible player in the “personal nuclear reactor” market.

The current model of a very small number of very large nuclear reactors is flawed for several reasons, not least because it presents a tempting terrorist target, and the results of a human error could be catastrophic. But a very large number of very small nuclear reactors would reduce the risks of a big bang disaster - either by accident or design. The makers of the only mini nuclear plant in existence, Hyperion Power, say that although it would produce 27 megawatts worth of thermal energy, Hyperion doesn’t like to think of its product as a “reactor.” “It’s self-contained, involves no moving parts and, therefore, doesn’t require a human operator. ” (more…)