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Amy Suarez

Energy

Tesla supercharger network

elon-muskHelp may be at hand for off-gridders who want to see an alternative to the power grid. It is provided by Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, who is no fan of off-grid living as far as we are aware, but his needs happen to coincide with those who live outside the power Utility networks.

“Tesla needed to solve the problem of long-distance travel and we can’t wait for others to agree with our strategy,” says Musk. “If we wait for some sort of consensus, it’s going to take too long. We just need to get going and other manufacturers can either copy us or join us.”

Musk, founder of PayPal, and owner of SpaceX, isn’t a guy to wait around and hope technology adapts to his product. No, Musk would rather adapt and invent technology to support his product.

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People

Paolo Soleri

(ANSA) – Rome, April 10 – Renowned Italian architect and visionary Paolo Soleri has died at 93 at his home in Arizona.

Born in Turin in 1919, Soleri was best known for Arcosanti, an experimental village he established in the Arizona desert devoted to his theory of ‘arcology’, or architecture in harmony with ecology.

After studying with Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona in 1946, he returned and settled there 10 years later where he developed influential theories on buildings that respect nature and spoke out against urban sprawl.

In 1970 he founded Arcosanti, a futuristic community planned for 5,000 people that over the next 40 years received international acclaim as an urban laboratory.

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Land

Two luxury properties for sale

As the idea of living off the grid goes steadily mainstream, increasing numbers of properties are being offered on the market. Here are two, at very opposite ends of the spectrum….. and the world.

In Argents Hill, Coffs Harbor, Australia, a dwelling for 230,000 ozzie dollars. In Woodstock, NY, a 2.3 million dollar property.

If you want your own private bushland oasis of 100 timbered acres, there is a council-approved two-bed home plus 7m x 5m Colorbond shed. The basics are all in place. A small solar system, generator, water tanks with pump, two seasonal creeks and a hidden dam. An extensive list of fruit trees are already planted.

In Woodstock, an iconic village north of Manhattan, an off-grid retreat for the 15.

“When I first bought this property,” Miller said, “everyone told me you couldn’t build here. But it was exactly where I wanted to live.” Woodstock is one of those iconic places, both beautiful and convenient, and it s great to see an off-grid home there – a showcase that might encourage many others to do the same.

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Energy

Eco-tricity on a still and cloudy day

BioLite stove products are making camping and cooking with wood more eco-friendly, and providing an off-grid power source for charging phones, lights, and other electronics where there is no sun or wind.

There has been a flurry of new products offering an off-grid power supply. Bio-Lite is one of the most innovative.
A brainchild of New York-based, Smart Design, BioLite is a wood-burning stove that utilizes its own thermal energy to burn wood as cleanly as gas. Amazingly, it also converts waste heat into electricity, powering not only a combustion-improving fan, but also electricity to charge phones, lights, and other electronics off the grid.
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Energy

World Economic Forum launches energy propaganda unit

Be Warned.

The World Economic Forum has launched their Energy for Society initiative, “which seeks to engage citizens in a discussion about the future of the energy industry.”

The initiative is supported by a new online platform with 24 case studies that “demonstrate corporate best practices for meeting the world’s growing energy needs while improving living standards for those with limited access to energy.”

Twenty global energy companies signed on to the initiative. Leaders of the companies agreed on five principles – supplying secure and affordable access to energy, having efficient energy systems, upholding responsible citizenship in communities, contributing to economic development and promoting energy literacy.

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Mobile

Canada series – downsizing in Calgary

National Post profiled a couple from Calgary who are quitting their lives in the city and building a tiny house on a trailer.  They told the magazine they are doing it because the system has not really worked for them – they worked hard all their lives but have nothing to show for it – no home and  no savings. So they want to get off the merry-go-round, and start having some fun. 

Being attached to society hasn’t really served us,” says Kirsten Shaw.  “We don’t have money in the bank, we don’t own a home. We don’t have any retirement money saved up. Quite honestly, at our age, that’s something we need to take seriously. If we can reduce our monthly expenses by $2,000 that is money that can go towards our children having fun and a retirement fund.”

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Yurtshire goes for gold

Yorkshire in the UK has already “won” four Olympic gold medals as sportsmen and women from the Northern county have taken the medals as part of team GB.

Now Yorkshire is vying to be known as the centre of Yurt holidays, as a former surveyor who set up a luxury camping business after being made redundant, opens a third site near the market town of Ripon.

Tom Sterne launched his third sustainable ‘glamping’ center with three yurts overlooking a small lake.

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Haunting photos from off-grid

Les Rencontres d’Arles 2012 is one of the world’s key photo exhibitions. this year it has an off-grid theme.

In the centre of town, the biggest and most well-attended show is a historical one: Gypsies by Josef Koudelka. The book, first published in France in 1975, is one of the defining photobooks of the 20th century. Koudelka’s brand of poetic sadness is more powerful today given that the world he photographed has all but vanished in the intervening years to be replaced by a new Gypsy generation which prefers concrete and mains power to caravans and wood fires.

The most haunting image in the collection shows a beautiful, bewildered young man in handcuffs. He stands in the foreground as if mesmerised by Koudelka’s camera while, behind him, a string of onlookers and a pair of uncertain policemen await their parts in this mysterious drama.

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Land

Nine tips for land purchase and self-building

________________So you’ve decided to buy some land and build an off-grid home. Good luck.

If you are in the United States, chances are strong you will succeed. In the UK and Canada you will be beset by bureaucracy and even if you triumph over the system, there are plenty other traps for the unwary. Here is a checklist of simple ways to stay on top and out of trouble.

Time is money
Unless you are going for a second home, building your off-grid place is no quick route to home ownership and it takes an average of about two years from finding a plot to moving in, so make sure you factor in the cost of renting or paying the mortgage on your existing home over this period. Half of this time is likely to be spent securing the relevant permissions and finding contractors.

Beware of false economies

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Now even Zillow heralds off-grid housing boom

Government may not heed it – when do they ever listen to the people?  – but big business is getting the message.

Zillow, a division of Forbes, is celebrating the off-grid housing boom in a blogpost titled “Stories of People Who Are Doing it: Living Greener, Off-the-Grid.” Here is an excerpt:

“Off-the-grid” may conjure images of die-hard survivalists, but the term actually has a spectrum of meaning.
“Now more people are starting to understand how quickly we are driving toward the edge of our ecological capacity on the planet,” said Katrina Morgan, principal architect for Fermata Consulting, a green building consulting firm. “They are not just fringe types anymore.”Many of those disconnected from the electrical grid are living in homes powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. Some eschew other public utilities, like municipal water and sewage systems. Others forage for building materials. Many live communally. Here are a few of their stories.

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