Green-Trust.Org

Grid Beam is a modular system for building all kinds of things. From go carts to bunk beds, it’s an open source construction set. It’s simple to build with, so kids of all ages can enjoy building life size projects. It’s just as easy to take apart, and rebuild, or build something else.

How to Build with Grid Beam: A Fast, Easy and Affordable System for Constructing Almost Anything

Yet grid beam is a real building system, not a toy (although children do enjoy it and can build their own play structures to boot!). With it, ordinary people can create strong durable, real-world projects ranging from furniture and sheds to vehicles, full-sized buildings, and industrial equipment. Key to grid beam technology is flexibility and reusability. We all strive to build or buy products that will be relevant in our future. But, since none of us knows what the future will really look like, design flexibility and reusability is essential.

http://www.gridbeamnation.com/
http://www.gridbeamers.com/
http://gridbeam.biz/
http://gridbeamuniverse.com/
http://forums.makezine.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=5260

We want to interview some of you for a Radio 4 report in July. We are looking for Brits living off-grid anywhere in the world, who are willing to let Radio 4 into your home or camper van, for a chat about why you do it, how you do it, and what you get out of it.

If you live off-grid, especially in the UK, please get in touch. Please send details about your off-grid life and situation, plus contact numbers to Nick Rosen, nick@off-grid.net, or ring 07971 543703. Thanks!

Nick Rosen
nick@off-grid.net
http://www.off-grid.net

Yesterday, Daniel Lugumya, the founder of a orphanage in Uganda that specializes in HIV/AIDS orphans, stopped by to chat about solar and wind solutions. Apparently, electric power is very sporadic and expensive in Kampala. We showed him our various solutions for generating power, explained how inverters and chargers work, and have decided to take on their mission as a joint project for Green-Trust and Woodhenge. Jim Juczak and I are planning a trip to Uganda in January to teach the kids how to build and maintain wind turbines, solar water heaters, and solar cookers. We gave him a inverter to take back to Uganda to run their PA system, dvd player and video projector for mobile video projection. If you would like to help with this project, please visit http://www.jcmuganda.org and donate funds for the wind turbine project. They will be grateful.

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Posted by Steve Spence to Green-Trust Off Grid at 8/29/2006 03:18:00 PM

Come join the discussion at one of the premier off-grid discussion groups on the net. Learn what off-grid living is like, or share your experience. You’ll be communicating with hundreds of off-gridders on all sorts of off-grid topics like:

Rain Water Harvesting
Solar & Wind Power
Organic Gardening
Animal raising for food, transportation and clothes
Recycling
DIY Home building
Soap Making
DIY Fuels

and much, much more. It’s a warm friendly group, and we look forward to your questions and experiences. Come on home to Simply Off Grid!

We have been getting a lot of requests for information on how to conserve energy, how to go off grid, or even partially off grid with wind and solar. I recommend two things to help educate yourself. First you need to know how much energy you are using. Your monthly electric bill will show you a total kWh consumption, but for tracking individual items for daily consumption, you need a $20 device called a Kill-A-Watt. You plug an appliance into this, and it tells you how much energy you are using, now, and over time. This is important for planning and design purposes. The second item I recommend is Bill Kemp’s “The Renewable Energy Handbook”. One of the best resources for educating yourself on what renewable energy is all about and how to implement it. Another $20 well spent.
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A good discussion group for all things off grid is the Simply Off Grid group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplyoffgrid/.

Our friend Nick Rosen, Author and director of off grid books and videos, is working on another project. His previous work on people who live off grid and why they choose to so met with critical acclaim. See Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America.

Had it with The Man? You’ll love this series about 12 off-grid households – managing their own power, water and waste. Its freedom, eco-living, self-reliance.

Off the Grid Crowd-sourcing from Nick Rosen on Vimeo.

We have two discussion groups (ok, so we have more than two) that help folks trying to go off-grid. One is aimed at helping you design and install your own solar power system, the other is aimed at learning to conserve, and live in a off grid friendly manner (energy conservation, cooking, gardening, and more). Check them out, and see if they are helpful to you. You’ll find a few thousand friendly folks with similar interests.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DIYSolar/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplyoffgrid/

A few others you might find helpful are the Low Voltage DC (off grid) group and the DIY Generator group.

Where do you go to ask questions, and talk with others about renewable energy topics? We have a series of discussion groups on a variety of topics related to living off grid, solar energy, rain water harvesting, and more:

12VDC_Power – We’re here to discuss 12VDC alternative power systems for off-grid homes, whether off-grid by choice or necessity. We’ll talk about any type of generation — wind, solar, hydro or whatever. And, we’ll also discuss storage and distribution systems for 12 VDC. And, not to eliminate anyone, we’ll gladly talk about 24 and 48 volt DC systems too. Our planet is rapidly running out of fossil fuels, and the pollution from those is destroying our environment. It’s time to utilize renewable energy and that’s why our group is here.

AlRutanMethane – This is a working group dedicated to developing methane digesters. This work was started by Al Rutan, The Methane Man.

AxialFlux – This group is dedicated to the Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Alternator, as designed by Hugh Piggott, with additional development by Dan Fink and Dan Bartmann of Otherpower, Steve Spence of Green-Trust and Jim Juczak of Woodhenge. This alternator uses rotating magnets and a fixed stator with handwound 3 phase coils. This design is applicable to wind, water, engine, even human and animal power.

DIYSolar – Home of the DIY Solar Install Guide This is a support group for those who want to install their own solar power system. There is an ebook, “DIY Solar Install Guide”, found at http://www.green-trust.org/ebooks/. The eBook tells how to install your own solar power system. Includes tips on siting the panels, battery maintenance, and sizing a system.

DIY_Propane_Gen – Discuss convert your gasoline generator to multifuel, propane, methane and gasoline. There is an ebook, “DIY Propane Conversion eBook”, found at http://www.green-trust.org/ebooks.

DIY_Generator – This is a working group for home built generators and battery chargers for off-grid applications. We discuss instrumentation, smart charging, inverters and battery banks, and other off-grid components. The results of this group has been distilled into an eBook.

DIYVeggieDiesel – This is a support group for those who want to convert their diesels to run on vegetable oil.

DIYElectricVehicles – Building and modifying vehicles for human power, electric assist, and solar power.

HPWD – The discussion of any type of equipment or transportation using human muscles, usually leg muscles with cranks and chains. This includes generators, mills, drills, presses, boats, planes, and land vehicles. If a human muscle powers it, it’s on topic.

LogHomeTalk – Over time we have become a small log home community, separated only by distance we have become friends. We share a common goal of wanting to live in a log home. We also share the joy and pain of reaching that goal.

RainWater – A group dedicated to harvesting rain water as our source of water for household and garden needs. Water collection, purification, and storage will be discussed. Cistern construction, water conservation, system sizing and other topics are welcomed. Photo, Diagrams, and instructional material can be found in the files and photo’s section. Members may list photo’s of their installations. Links to other helpful sites are found in the links section. Grey water recycling is most pertinent, as are any topics that promote water conservation and non-aquifer depletion water sources like distillation of dew or sea water.

Resource_Conservation – Discuss tips for conserving energy and resources, and using it more efficiently. Download the guide from the files section.

SimplyOffGrid – This is for people who want to live off grid, at the same time, want to keep it simple as possible. If you are like minded, then you are welcome to join! We are all here to help each other out and to learn from common experience and research. Please post your links and research here so we can all glean from it. Book reviews are great too! Please share your experience, links, research and any tried and true ideas with us!! We share ours!

We have been off grid for 5 years. We installed our own off grid power system, and designed our own wind turbine. We have produced biodiesel and converted diesel engines to run on Veggie Oil.

My background is computers and electronics for over 20 years. We are offering a new service, personal one on one support, in solar and wind, off grid power systems, battery care, inverter and charger help, and other off grid topics, including off grid internet options. Try it out for free for the first ten minutes on us. No obligations, no upfront fees, no hidden fees, We want to help you become more self sufficient. If you want to continue after 10 minutes, or schedule additional sessions, we charge $1/ minute, with a money back guarantee if you are not happy with our advice.

http://www.green-trust.org/support/

We also offer research packets in the topic of your choice.

All with a money back guarantee. If you are not happy, you don’t pay.

Steve Spence, Director of Green-Trust on Off grid living in the NY Times Escape section, May 30th, 2008:

Steve is quoted as saying “You start adjusting your way of life around some of the natural rhythms of nature.”

Practically speaking, you’ll need to do some research before building your backwoods getaway. Homepower magazine and Mother Earth News are two recommendations from Steve Spence, director of Green-Trust.org, a nonprofit renewable-energy advocate. “But then when it comes to actually getting into it to see if it’s something you want to do for your whole home,” he said, “I recommend taking a travel trailer or an R.V. or a boat or even one room in your house and move that off-grid. Install some solar panels, put in a battery, put in a generator and plug some loads into it and see how it works.”

That’s because energy is usually the first element in disconnecting from the mainstream. “Most people who try to move off-grid tackle their electricity needs first, and solar is by far the most popular source of home-produced electricity,” said Dave Black, author of “Living Off the Grid: A Simple Guide to Creating and Maintaining a Self-Reliant Supply of Energy, Water, Shelter and More” (Skyhorse Publishing), scheduled to be published in October. But, as Mr. Spence noted, every situation is different. Some regions are sunny and work better with solar power; others are overcast and blustery and lend themselves to wind power.

Keep in mind that completely do-it-yourself power systems are expensive. But Mr. Spence added, “If you go grid-tie,” which means connecting your system to the power company’s existing services, “there are federal and state rebates that can pay for up to half your system.” To find out more about these incentives, go to www.dsireusa.org.

The other challenge of completely disconnecting is that you have to be your own power company and do your own maintenance.

The upside, as Mr. Spence sees it, is that the experience will educate you about your energy consumption and how to manage your usage.

“If it’s a nice, bright sunny day and you’re doing the laundry, instead of throwing the stuff in the dryer, you might decide to throw it on the line for a few hours,” he said. “You start adjusting your way of life around some of the natural rhythms of nature.”

But that doesn’t mean giving up the modern world completely. “We have all the goodies,” Mr. Spence said of his own home in upstate New York. “We’ve got the large-screen L.C.D. TVs, high-speed Internet, microwave and the standard stuff you would find in a normal home. We just have to run it off the sun.”