The generators are in! We still have to move them off the truck but they’re here, and I’m thrilled. So that’s one component of the off-grid system down, several dozen to go. I think that we’ve finally narrowed down our vision and selected the components we’ll go with though. (Save for batteries, batteries are the [...]
Archive for January, 2010
Generators have arrived!
Posted in off grid, Renewable energy, tagged batteries, generators, inverters/chargers, off grid, RE, wind turbines on January 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Power outages & papercrete
Posted in off grid, tagged compost bins, compost toilet, generators, off grid, papercrete on January 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Another weekend, another power outage, and another reminder of how happy I’ll be to be off-grid. It’s amazing when you think about it- how dependent we are on power, and really just a handful of companies. Honestly, I can do without lights for periods of time. We have lots of candles and a couple of [...]
Surviving the Canadian Winter
Posted in natural building, off grid, rocket mass heaters, tagged alternative heating, papercrete, passive solar design, rocket mass heaters, rocket stove, solar gain, thermal mass on January 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I love living in Canada, wouldn’t trade it for anything. Oh I enjoy traveling, for sure, and could spend months on end in Mexico alone but I always look forward to coming home. At least now that we’ve abandoned city life. It does, however, present its share of problems for natural and conventional builders alike- [...]
Rocket stoves & mass heaters: a pictorial
Posted in off grid, Renewable energy, rocket mass heaters, tagged alternative energy, alternative heating, rocket mass heaters, rocket stoves on January 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Renewable Energy- decisions, decisions…
Posted in natural building, off grid, Renewable energy, Sustainable living, tagged batteries, generators, natural building, off grid, Renewable energy, solar panels, Sustainable living, wind turbines on January 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Going off-grid is a major goal of ours. We happen to live in one of the best areas in all of Canada for wind, and are close to one of the top areas for sun, so it makes sense to make use of our renewable energy. Add to which we intend to be completely independent [...]
Accessible building practices
Posted in natural building, Sustainable living, tagged adobe, cob, earthbag domes, green building, natural building, natural plasters, rocket mass heaters, sustainable building, Sustainable living on January 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In order to make green building accessible to all, there are a few major hurdles to overcome. Issues that are paramount are cost, skill, labour force, and aesthetic value. The cost of green building (one could argue ‘green living’ in general) is simply prohibitive to many. It seems contradictory, that using more natural and recyclable [...]
Earthbag Sauna
Posted in Sustainable living, tagged cob, earthbag building, natural building, rocket stove, sustainable building, Sustainable living on January 5, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Our pilot project, a sauna. We wanted to try our hand at earthbag building while also experimenting with cob, earthen plaster and a rocket stove. We fired it up the other day to test it out in winter conditions and were able to jump from -10 C to [...]
The plan
Posted in Sustainable living, tagged earthbag building, natural building, off grid, Sustainable living on January 5, 2010 | 5 Comments »
A couple of years ago, Shane and I fell in love with an acreage in the “middle of nowhere”- a small parcel of land on the Alberta prairies. We decided, pretty much on the spot, to trade our high-powered, fast paced careers and home in the city for a new way of life. It took [...]
