From the category archives:

OFF-GRID 101

by elnav on February 25, 2010 · 7 comments

in OFF-GRID 101

when it breaks down....

Living off the grid,  generators have a place. There comes a time  when some backup power is needed.  In most cases  this means using an engine to turn some form of generator.

People living  in Vans, camping trailers or small cabins tend to view  a seperate engine driven  generator as a nuisance  to be tolerated  and  usually do  not wish to spend much money. Various alternatives  present themselves.
Running the Van motor to charge up  the battery is among the first  solutions  that  comes to mind.  Next is a small  stand alone portable genset and  a typical automotive charger  that plugs into the mains.

»Keep reading 'Emergency Power: engine-driven generators'

Class of its own

February 22, 2010
Class of its own The first off-grid classroom with a revolutionary solar-powered rainwater harvesting and filtration system, has been opened.  Exclusive Benenden School in the UK, a girls-only boarding school, launched the classroom last term as a place to conduct field studies of nature subjects. Benenden provides the innovative teach space set amongst mature parkland. The unique education facility is designed to be entirely off-grid, relying only on solar energy for electricity.

»Keep reading 'Class of its own'

Truck as a generator?

February 13, 2010
Truck as a generator? Over at diesel-generators.org, opinion is divided over whether to use a giant old diesel truck as a generator. Assuming you get the truck for next to nothing, the question is whether the inefficiences of a non-purpose-built generator outweigh the benefits of a (huge) 7.3 litre Ford diesel engine acting as a generator. Its a nice idea, since generators can easily cost up to $1500, and still be relatively noisy and energy-intensive. But on the whole the experts are against using a vehicle as a generator. "The engine in the truck is designed and built to move the truck," says one reply. "There are far cheaper to run and more effective options for direct charging any battery bank." ie a purpose built generator. While not denying that there are disadvantages, the reaction of other experts is: "For emergency and the occasional deep cell charge up, yeah why not? 

»Keep reading 'Truck as a generator?'

Cómo construir panel solar para $100 – Usted puede también

February 12, 2010
Cómo construir panel solar para $100 – Usted puede tambiénEn este artículo voy a describir cómo construir una foto de paneles solares fotovoltaicos para una fracción del precio que se pagaría a un fabricante. Le mostraré cómo los materiales de bajo costo y las herramientas simples pueden ser utilizados para hacer los paneles que rivalizan con los productos comerciales en la producción de energía, pero a un precio mucho más bajo. Hace varios años me compré una propiedad a distancia en Arizona (en Ingles).

»Keep reading 'Cómo construir panel solar para $100 – Usted puede también'

Reedbeds, not sewers

January 15, 2010
Reedbeds, not sewers Reedbed Filtration is a natural approach to human waste water treatment. International environmental scientist, MELVYN RUTTER is a born-again reed-bed enthusiast. Here he describes his personal journey. I began my research in the spring of 1995, shortly after graduating as a mature student from Huddersfield University. I visited many sites with reedbeds, learned their designs, and saw what they did. I formulated a design that avoided all of the faults and mistakes of the systems I studied. All methods of waste water treatment harness the work of bacteria to break down nutrients and pollutants. In the presence of air ( oxygen ) things break down, and in the absence of air ( oxygen ) things build up. The original developers of reedbeds used a horizontal flow system. This is where the effluents flow in the top and out of the top of the bed. They normally used a single bed. Sometimes they elongated it, and twisted the flows round and round again.

»Keep reading 'Reedbeds, not sewers'

Details of my Off-grid Plan

January 13, 2010
Details of my Off-grid Plan Oki doki folks! Jenny here. Hello out there once more! Continuing on from my previous article, which can be found here, I shall now home in on some finer details beginning with choice of van, and energy sources, both for powering the van and for power in the van. Van:  I already discussed in the pre-mentioned article my reasons for choosing a van/minibus to live off-grid in…..but now how do I go about deciding, which van (from this point forward meaning minibus as well as van) to use? Does it matter? Well, from my research I have learnt that yes, indeed it does matter! Especially if, like me, one hopes to use USVO (Used Straight Vegetable Oil) as the fuel - more on USVO specifically in a moment.

»Keep reading 'Details of my Off-grid Plan'

Free solar calculators

December 23, 2009
Free solar calculators

Who loves the Sun Solar Calculators (aka Solar Estimators) will estimate the size and calculate the cost to install a solar energy system for your home or building. There are many free ones on the Internet. Just type in "free solar calculator" They are all based on the number of hours of sunlight you can expect at a given address, and then vary in sophistication after that. 

»Keep reading 'Free solar calculators'

Humanure – sawdust toilets

December 13, 2009
Humanure – sawdust toilets Sit, flush and forget, that's what most of us do, multiple times a day. Composting toilets are the answer. We use perfectly good, drinkable water to flush our waste --  what a waste it truly is! After we flush, we don't think about all the water that is used/wasted to process the sewage that is created, chemicals are pumped into our water system, the water we DRINK, so that we can do it all over again. I'm starting to sound pretty green aren't I?

»Keep reading 'Humanure – sawdust toilets'

How I built a $100 solar panel (2)

December 10, 2009
How I built a $100 solar panel (2)

Here's the second half  of a feature by our fearless DIY renewables enthusiast Mike Davis, on how to build your own solar panel. Part One is lower down the page, and is a free service provided by Off-Grid 101 - the technical and informational part of this web site. Many sites attempt to charge hundreds of dollars for this kind of information: Now that the structure of the solar panel is finished, it’s time to get the solar cells ready. Once separated from their brick form, they are amazingly fragile and difficult to handle and store. I would recommend leaving them as bricks until you are ready to install them in your solar panel. That way you won't wreck them before you get to use them. So build the panel first.

»Keep reading 'How I built a $100 solar panel (2)'

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