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Thermal insulation
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 10, 2004

Thermal insulation

Materials generally available for building purposes can be classified into two generic groups – bulk materials and reflective foil laminates (RFL). The fi...

Portable AC power
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 10, 2004

Portable AC power

Who said being off-grid was uncomfortable? Well not if you get yourself one of those: a power inverter will allow you to plug into a car cigar lighter or a sola...

Solar Power in California
EnergyAug 6, 2004

Solar Power in California

There are over 11,000 officially registered homes with solar power in California, up from 900 in 2002. There are many more in the backwoods and small towns. Now...

Windpower in Antarctica
EnergyAug 6, 2004

Windpower in Antarctica

Harsh weather conditions and inaccessibility for half the year make it impossible to install wires and pipes to deliver energy to Antarctica. In Australia�s Maw...

Hot to Be Cold
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 6, 2004

Hot to Be Cold

It seems like a paradox, but solar refrigerators only need the sun to come out before they will chill your drinks. Solar fridge/freezer systems work with power ...

Island Switches to Wind and Hydrogen
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 5, 2004

Island Switches to Wind and Hydrogen

The inhabitants of Utsira, a small island off the southwest coast of Norway, are so pleased with their new wind and hydrogen power plant that they named one of ...

Solar’s the New Black
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 4, 2004

Solar’s the New Black

Soaring electricity prices and fear of recurrent blackouts are pushing liberal New Yorkers to switch to solar power. From Brooklyn to the Bronx, solar panels ar...

Cook in the sun
Courses, guides & tutorialsAug 3, 2004

Cook in the sun

Last week we discovered something great: solar cooking. The weather was so nice, we thought we’d try building a solar cooker – and it worked. Our la...

Energy Saving Light Bulbs
EnergyAug 2, 2004

Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Living off-grid means reducing your consumption to the minimum, be it water or energy. To save money on electricity, replace normal light bulbs with energy savi...

Energy Saving
EnergyAug 2, 2004

Energy Saving

There are simple things you can do to decrease the energy consumption off-grid in your house, shack, tree-house, campervan or boat. Energy efficiency is easy. S...

Want to Build a Wind Turbine?
Courses, guides & tutorialsJul 28, 2004

Want to Build a Wind Turbine?

Want to learn how to build a wind turbine? Here are a few tips Hugh Piggott has a good website with detailed explanations. He runs workshops all over the world,...

Natural Solar Cells
EnergyJul 21, 2004

Natural Solar Cells

Photovoltaic cells, the devices that make up solar panels, are made out of silicon. This semiconductor converts the light that strikes it into electricity. Scie...