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Amy Suarez

Wenatchee Treehouse in danger of demolition by local council
Urban

“$1m” Tree House under threat

A family in Wenatchee, WA have been told they can only keep their tree house if they takes out a $1M insurance policy in case it falls down

Zeb Postelwait built a tree house for his young sons in the front yard but the council say it is a threat to public safety.
Postelwait disagrees, says it is secure and does not obstruct the sidewalk. The council says that if Postelwait does not remove it, they will have an engineer appraise it, obtain an order to remove it and tear it down – and send him the bill for all costs.

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UK energy firms kept £400m when customers closed accounts

Big six thieves[/caption]The “big six” energy firms have been told to hand back more than £400m owed to customers when they switch accounts and forget to reclaim overpayments from regular monthly payments.

Credit left in customer accounts when people and businesses move or switch suppliers has accumulated over the last six years, energy regulator Ofgem said today on BBC Radio.

The energy regulator, which says its estimates are the minimum owed, has called the amount “unacceptably large”. Industry lobby group UK Energy claimed that it can be hard to trace customers who move, but did not deny that they never even try.

Ofgem thinks 3.5 million domestic and 300,000 business accounts are affected.

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Martin Davidson old fart, Lord Hall old fart
People

BBC- British Bullying Corporation

The BBC recently announced the sacking of one of its radio presenters and of channel boss Janice Hadlow. But her husband Martin Davidson remained in post despite presiding over decades of mediocre programming.

Now the full mediocrity of his work has been revealed — Davidson presided over the latest BBC season of films about the First World War, and they all bear the unmistakable tinge of old farts. This will have endeared him to biggest fart of all – Lord Tony Hall the BBC DG

Davidson has created a series of truly awful BBC dramas about WW1 – playing at prime time they are more suited to Open University than national TV.

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Fleece jackets for the cold snap

They may not be the statement jacket of the season, yet a fleece pullover or jacket is a great investment for your winter wardrobe. It could save you up to a hundred bucks in the first year of use alone – the extra layer can cut your heating bill when you are home as well as keep you warm when running out to meet friends.

There are many great fleece jackets out there, and the prices vary widely – the main differences are in the level of warmth they provide and how good they look.

One of the lowest priced on the market does both – looking good and having a high warmth level – at under $20 plus delivery, Dickies Men’s Polar Fleece, Dark Gray, Medium offers value.

Its not super-stylish, but its not ugly either.

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offthegridnews survival,prepping
Spirit

The Yearling

offthegridnews survival,preppingIts “The Year of The Yearling,” the seventy-fifth-anniversary celebration of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s 1938 novel about a young boy whose pet deer unwittingly threatens the survival of his family farm.

The Yearling has been described as a magnificent, transparent, slow-moving river. Its style is direct and free of fireworks, its subjects planted at the beginnings of the sentences, solid as potatoes.In 1945 it was made into a motion picture starring Gregory Peck.

The Yearling reflects a world we’re losing, and does so in an orgy of carnage.

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ethnography of candlelight
Off-Grid 101

Pools of light and off-grid comfort

ethnography of candlelightThis site is dedicated to showing how you can live off the grid in comfort and style without costing the earth. Lighting is fairly crucial part of that. Being able to snap on the light when you come home is just as important to off-gridders as to those who are grid-connected.

Light is expensive, energy-hungry, and vital to our happiness – especially at this time of year. And there is a large degree of unanimity amongst off-gridders about what makes good lighting and how to achieve it.

When you live off-grid, electric lighting is not something you can take for granted. The means for controlling natural and artificial light and thus achieving visual comfort are not as well-established in the Unplugged community. But the off-grid aesthetic is now spreading to the plugged-in community.

So how do off-gridders light their homes to maximise the gain and minimise the cost?

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beat electrcity/gas price rises. Save money on utulities, save money on energy
Energy

Save Money on Gas/Electricity

Time for a selection of Christmas Gifts for our ON-Grid friends and family. Here’s how to help others save money on energy bills during these cold, dark winter days as bills are going up.

Though price rises are as inevitable as winter, they are a reminder on why its sensible to be off the grid, and also a reason for your less fortunate cousins to check their energy use.

To help them shave large chunks off their energy bills, we’ve put together a guide to this year’s best energy-saving gadgets.

Philips Hue Wi-Fi lo-energy bulbs

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Year round maintenance tips for small engines

Power equipment, especially two stroke engines in like generators, snow blowers and lawnmowers are built to do a specific job and in most cases do it well. But when a piece of equipment doesn’t perform as it should, or not at all, you might regret not having spent a few minutes a month on preventative measures.

Proper engine maintenance and on- and off-season preparation are crucial. Without it, the engine’s performance could be diminished and its lifespan drastically reduced, which means you’ll be spending more time and money on repairs or replacements. And when your equipment is out of commission, it also means you could lose out on opportunities for new projects.

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Stephen Scrivens CEO of Hydrotechnology and Technical Landscapes
Land

UK Judge: Green home design is secondary to planning rules

Stephen Scrivens  CEO of Hydrotechnology and Technical LandscapesA green campaigner’s plans to develop eco-friendly houses powered only by the sun and wind have been thrown out by the High Court.

A judge rejected Stephen Scrivens’ latest bid for planning consent to create his blueprint for houses of the future.

Mr Scrivens’ plans to build a self-sufficient house at Longberry Farm, Bethersden, where he lives, had already been rejected by Ashford Borough Council and two government planning inspectors.

In a test case ruling, Mr Justice Collins said that, despite a European directive setting a target for all new homes to be “nearly zero-energy” by December 31, 2020, energy considerations did not constitute a “trump card” when it came to planning consent.

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People

Third Industrial Revolution

The first industrial revolution in the 19th Century was the invention of the steam engine. In the 20th Century oil and gas played a large role, and the US invented the telephone and television.

Electrical supplies became centralised.

“Now we are at the crossroads of a Third Industrial Revolution” – said Jeremy Rifkin, 68, economist and eco-guru, whose book The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World
is a best seller, in interview with Handelsblatt on November 19.

Jeremy Rifkin characterised the Third Revolution as one of sustainable development for a good quality of life. He said the US was a pioneer in the first half of the third industrial revolution – the Internet.

“Then the US stopped – they have even gone backwards, using fossil fuels such as shale gas”.

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Sizing a solar install, dont cater for peak consumption
Energy

If they can do it in Lahore, why not LA?

Sizing a solar install, dont cater for peak consumptionFrom DAWN Magazine, Lahore – On an average summer’s day when the rest of Lahore sullenly waits in the heat for the electricity to return, Shahid Razzaq’s family lounges peacefully, their air conditioner running and all appliances working. While in other households the sudden and frequent power blackouts are greeted with groans and resigned sighs, the Razzaq family doesn’t even notice. And they certainly never have to switch on a generator.

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Energy

UK National Grid “likely” to collapse this winter

power cutA top Utility executive has embarrassed the company that runs Britain’s power supply – by exposing the high risk of power cuts this winter.

He says the risk of power shortages has been underestimated by ministers and the National Grid, with factory shutdowns and “politically unacceptable” price spikes more likely than had been feared, energy giant SSE has warned.
National Grid last month said that in a cold winter the UK’s electricity “margin” – the safety buffer between peak demand and supply – would fall to just 5pc, the lowest since 2007, as old power stations are switched off.
But Keith MacLean, SSE’s director of policy and research, warned: “We think that could easily flip to minus 5pc.”

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