"The trouble with most forms of transport, he thought, is basically that not one of them is worth all the bother. On Earth – when there had been an Earth, before it was demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass – the problem had been with cars. The disadvantages involved in pulling lots of black sticky slime from out of the ground where it had been safely hidden out of harm's way, turning it into tar to cover the land with smoke to fill the air with and pouring the rest into the sea, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of being able to get more quickly from one place to another – particularly when the place you arrived at had probably become, as a result of this, very similar to the place you had left, i.e. covered with tar, full of smoke and short of fish." - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (wikiquote)
You provide the space, they install the windmill and maintain it, you pay only for electricity usage, less than you pay your local provider for electricity, and in 8 to 10 years you own it.
They're in Oregon and mention a customer in California. Haven't been able to find more information on availability.
Since the 80s people have been talking about new technologies and breakthroughs that would “soon” produce “dollar-a-watt” solar panels.
Though you may not be able to buy the official “dollar-a-watt” solar panels yet,(http://www.globalsolar.com/company/) aren’t the now 3 dollar a watt solar panels actually equal to the dollar a watt concept from the 80s?
if you check the website “measuring worth” you find that the 2008 dollar is valued at exactly half of a 1985 dollar.
Is anybody watching the Discovery Channel tv series/'reality'/situation show "The Colony"? What do you think of it?
From Wikipedia: "The Colony is a reality television program. The series was filmed in an industrial area bordering the Los Angeles River on the edge of downtown Los Angeles, and follows ten cast members in an environment that simulates life after a global catastrophe. The series first aired on the Discovery Channel on July 21, 2009."
I can recall from my youth (which exists now only in my fading memory and the annals of history) watching the earlier incarnations of what has become Texas Country Reporter, a human-interest news show that explores the backroads and backstories of fascinating people around the state of Texas.
There was the guy who built his home from a decommissioned missile silo in West Texas, the old barber in East Texas who's been clipping hair for decades and decades, the tasty eatery in Beaumont, the centenarian porter at a regional airport who still makes his way to work everyday and helps people with their luggage. Stuff like that.
The host, Bob Phillips, is personable -- and, for me, his distinctive voice (sounding like it is perpetually trapped mid-gulp) and inflections have become synonymous with these sorts of down-home segments.
This weekend, I caught part of an episode that profiled John Wells, a former fashion photographer from New York who has staked out a life for himself near Study Butte, Texas, just outside Big Bend National Park amidst the austere West Texas landscape, sometimes desolate, sometimes starkly beautiful, sometimes both.
There are those who can't fathom forsaking their shopping malls, conference rooms, office buildings, department stores, mega-multi-movie-plexes, and other so-called accoutrements of civilization. But, Wells instills a purposeful drive to reconnect with nature and the purity of a self-sustaining life.
It would seem, looking from the outside, that such an existence highlights both the boon and bane of solitude, occasionally conjuring its darker cousin, loneliness. But, some people are better suited for limited opportunities of face-to-face interaction. And Wells manages the tether of DSL to remain connected via the Internet.
He still exercises his photography skills, too, keeping his daily blog lively and documenting life around The Field Lab.
I am looking for help finding off the grid land preferably as far from civilzation as possible but if it has to be close would prefer it to be atleast a few miles from town
inexpensive 12vdc CFL lightbulbs and you dont have to build a fixture. just hook the aligator clips to a car battery. no inverter required.
i ordered these a while back and was initially sent the wrong lights, they sent the screw base bulbs instead of wired bulbs. i emailed the seller and he said, whoops, i'll get the right ones out quick as i can...... and he did, didnt even ask for the other ones back.
so i would consider myself a happy buyer.
Edit: you may want to check out the other items for sale also, he has 12v LED lights also for those that prefer LEDs
We are new to livejournal and to this group. We've lived off the grid for 17 years now -- no running water, no powerlines, not anything when we started (we have cellphones now).
Recent posts have to do with a natural gas well that's to be drilled on our property (we own surface rights only), but hope to post about our new addition to the house and harvesting rainwater.
Looking forward to reading new and past messages to the group and their comments. Thanks!
I have an idea regarding a more efficient solar powered renewable energy solution.
Note that current solar panel technology is roughly 2% efficient. I propose the use of magnifying lenses to concentrate sunlight, direct the laser's heat toward a liquid, and then use the liquid's subsequent molecular excitement to move other items that might, say, charge a battery. (Think of a wind turbine that is, rather than being turned by open air currents, is turned by a circulating, closed system of heated liquid or gas.) Now, many questions remain: what liquid to use? is the liquid's excitement harnessed as the pressure of steam (pneumatic) or in some other manner (perhaps hydraulic)? would it be best to use one large magnifying lens or many medium-sized ones?
I am seeking answers and suggestions. Thank you for your time.
I’ve got a solar array and I’ve been using a xantrex c35 charge controller and after about 3 months of use the circuit board has rusted pretty bad and is no longer charging properly.
The number of places that I have to mount the thing is severely limited due to my set up.
The question is do you know of a more weather resistant unit or has anybody had any similar problems?
I’m thinking of changing to a unit from harbor freight
I have two questions: Does anybody know a good source for recycling and utilizing rainwater, and does anybody know anything about those things you could mount a bicycle on so you could pedal and provide energy? Thanks a lot.
Does anybody have any experience with or know of any online resources/books about using CAR BATTERIES for power.
i have known people from time to time who have powered various projects with car batteries, but i'm having trouble finding info. i'm guessing that this is due to the potential hazards related to messing with plastic boxes of sulfuric acid.
ideally im thinking: powering lights/fans/small electronics, or pretty much anything.
I'm in the process of improving 25 acres of rural land in Central Texas I own to build a home on that is as self-sufficient as possible. I've been reading lots of books and articles recently about passive solar home design, rainwater collection systems, PV solar energy, wind energy, small scale subsistence farming/ranching, biodiesel/SVO/WVO production, etc. Ive been reading a lot of Ragnar Benson's books, Home Power Magazine, Backwoods Home Magazine, Mother Earth News, and various other simple living/back-to-basics type books.
Hi, it's me again. Asking for your help... Again! 7 07 07 has arrived and I'm not fully prepared to deal with it.
As some of you may know I will be covering Live Earth for my thesis, the "problem" is that there's simply too much to cover, so if you see any articles or pieces of news you think might be interesting (especially controvesial stuff lol) and would like to share it with me... please leave me a comment and I'll build you a statue in Rome (my hometown).
Links, scanned articles, news from around the world... I'll take it!
(The Google News Alert thingy and my lack of 48 hours to stare at a computer screen are the reason why I'm asking for help, just so you know I'm not being lazy. *wink wink*)
For anyone interested in off-the-grid living, I highly recommend this documentary on the inspiring work of architect Micheal Renyolds. I had a chance to watch it at HOTDOCS (Toronto International Documentary Festival) and have been thinking about it eversince.
Below is a link to the documentary's official website. Grab a copy of it or do a little research on Micheal Reynolds, it's absolutely worht it!
My name's James. I've had a long time interest in off grid living, but now is the first time I've had a chance to do anything about it.
I've got some friends who have a small house in the foothills of the sierras and are looking at slowly migrating off grid.
I've so far served as the voice of reason and talked with them about how to realisticly measure their power requirements, where they need to change their habits instead of trying to power a traditional modern household off a few solar cells etc, but now they're ready to make a first step.
They asked me how they could set up something so that they could get about 1kw for 10 hours straight off of battery, and start converting to using this system at night, and running house power durring the day for recharging and running their regular household life. Ideally this system will allow for charging off of a 12 or 6 v source, as we're going to start integrating a windmill and some solar later on. So far so good.
So the components I'm looking for are:
1.) a charging circuit that runs off of 12 or 6v and a converter to power this off of house (112) initially
2.) a regulated 112v power supply from 6 or 12v (eventually hopefully we'll be converting most of the household to straight dc to cut the horrible loss this conversion entails)
3.) some type of expandable modular battery bank (deep cycle rv/marine batteries? golf cart batteries? )
Then I realized it's been over a decade since I did any ham stuff and I have completely forgotten anything I ever knew about electricity and setting up power supplies.
At first I thought APC would have something like this already put together, but from my reading, the intrarnets tell me this isn't as common as I would have thought.
Anyone want to point me at a good resource for figguring out how to do something like this? Am I even headed in the right direction?
What tiny simple solutions are you taking to reduce your footprint? Reduce your need for large complex systems/utility use, etc.?
For example, I just got a head-mounted two-LED batter powered light. Rather than turning on the lights when I'm shuffling around the house at night, or looking for something in a closet, etc. this is a simple and effective solution that does the job of appropriately lighting the area I need to see in, without having to get to the light switch, utilize the grid or higher watt power greater than my need is. (Even though I use 99% CFLs throughout my house, it would still be more wattage than I need for the situation in most cases.)
darxus
cheerful