Monthly Archives:May 2005

When the oil runs out

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It is emerging that world oil stocks are far lower than previously thought, and affordable oil may not even last until the end of the decade. This explains the US government’s sudden interest in renewable energy and of course their foray into Iraq. It also means that off-grid energy solutions are going to become much more popular as the news seeps through.

Matthew Simmons, a former adviser to President Bush’s administration was recently reported as saying: “Any serious analysis now shows solid evidence that the non-FSU [former Soviet Union], non-Opec [Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries] oil has certainly petered out…”

No cheap oil, no cheap food.

“From The Wilderness” reported Simmons saying: “I think basically that peaking of oil will never be accurately predicted until after the fact. But the event will occur, and my analysis is… that peaking is at hand, not years away. “If I’m right, the unforeseen consequences are devastating… If the world’s oil supply does peak, the world’s issues start to look very different. “

Calculate your personal carbon count

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To calculate the effects of your personal lifestyle on the planets non-renewable carbon consumption, go to http://www.bestfootforward.com/carbonlife.htm.

If we all did our own little bit instead of waiting for the government to sort it out, then we’d be behaving like adults, and taking control of our own lives.

A History of Atmospheric CO2 and Its Effects on Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems (Ecological Studies)A History of Atmospheric CO2 and Its Effects on Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems – Buy it from Amazon

World’s best solar cookers

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We asked leading expert on Solar Cookers, Dr. Ashok Kundapur, for his opinion on which is the best, and which is the cheapest acceptable Solar Cooker. Dr Kandapur has listed over 60 main types of solar cookers and more than 100 variations of them in his site http://solcooker.tripod.com. He believes the best solar cooker is yet to come, and when it comes, it will allow cooking inside the kitchen instead of directly under the sun’s rays, and also allow cooking at night.

As of today, says Dr Kundapar, “a Cooker which comes close to the ambitious model described above is the one designed by Scheffler of Germany. The Scheffler Cooker, it is a shallow parabolic reflector with a long focus.
” Thus the sun rays could be directed into the kitchen where the cooking can be done. When the cooking is completed, the focused sun rays could be used to store the heat into a metal block. The Cooker is available in large size too and world over several Hostels and big establishments are using such Scheffler cooker. A domestic model with 2 m dia costs about Rs. 8,500 in India, a price at which it is considered to be a bit costly. Cooking With the Sun: How to Build and Use Solar CookersCooking With the Sun: How to Build and Use Solar Cookers – Buy it from Amazon

Solar Box Cookers are very popular in India, they are also known as Gosh Type Cookers.

Biofuel Wars

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Josh Tickell vs Maria Alovert – with thanks to Maxim Online

In the blue corner: Josh Tickell, has been featured in these pages before. He’s a skinny, blond, motor-mouthed Louisianan who moved himself to L.A. in an RV painted with sunflowers and butterflies—and powered by biodiesel, an alternative fuel source made primarily of vegetable oil that can be poured directly into diesel engines after it’s mixed with methanol and lye to separate out the glycerol, which isn’t good for engines. Biodiesel is based on materials grown, not mined, making it, in theory, sustainable, and thus, Tickell will gladly tell you, one step toward energy independence, clean air, and a shiny, happy planet free of wars for oil.

The trouble is, biodiesel isn’t available at the local filling station. If you want to scarf down some French fries and then drive your car home on the grease that made them crispy, you’ve gotta make it yourself.

In the red corner: Maria Alovert has not been written about here before, but we must be one of the few sites on the web to have forgotten to mention her. Alovert is also on a mission to promote bio-diesel, but she does it in a very different way to Rick Tickell, and that’s the cause of the problem.

"The Gleaners and I" by Agnes Varda

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For her documentary, “The Gleaners and I,” French documentary Director Agnes Varda turned her mini DV-camera on an old practice — foraging for wheat left after the harvest — to create a portrait of modern day “gleaners,” those hungry people who live on the leftovers the rest of us have discarded, and those, like herself, who create art of the images and materials they collect. Andrea Meyer speaks with the legendary director about connecting with her audience, intuition, editing and cine-writing. The interview was first published on http://www.indiewire.com/

indieWIRE: Gleaning is such an unusual subject. I wonder what drew you to it as the topic for a documentary.

Agnès Varda: Gleaning itself is not known — is forgotten. The word is passé. So I was intrigued, by these people in the street picking food. And then I thought, what’s happening to the fields of wheat? Nothing is left in the fields of wheat. So I went to the potatoes, and I found these heart-shaped potatoes, and it made me feel good. Made me feel that I was on the right track.

“Filming, especially a documentary, is gleaning. Because you pick what you find; you bend; you go around; you are curious; you try to find out where are things. But, you cannot push the analogy further, because we don’t just film the leftovers.”

The Gleaners and IThe Gleaners and I – buy the movie from Amazon

PINK VOLKSWAGEN CARAVELLE

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A quick reader poll found the VW Caravelle, diesel model, is the off-grid vehicle of choice.

The Caravelle is the much-evolved successor to the classic VW camper van or Microbus, and it’s more comfortable, faster, better-equipped and generally more refined than ever before. It might not look trendy on the beach at Newquay, but it’s a larger, functional alternative to more car-like MPVs such as VW’s own Sharan. And you can always paint it pink and fill it up with bio-fuel.

The Caravelle can’t compare to older Vee-Dub vans – iconic in their own way – in coolness, and it won’t have the same impact on the school run as more car-like MPVs (Sharan, Galaxy, Voyager, Espace etc.), but it does exactly what it says on the tin, and for that fundamental honesty, we applaud it.

I Feel Free re-release

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Classic Rock band Cream have re-released their hit song “I Feel Free” after 35 years. Its not exactly an anthem for the off-grid life, but it certainly expresses one major part of the philosophy.

Cream – Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals) and Ginger Baker (drums) – formed in 1966 and dispanded in 1968. In a little over two years, they released four groundbreaking albums and secured worldwide acclaim and success with their unique take on electrified blues. Cream sold 35 million albums and last played together in 1993 when they were inaugurated into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. They produced some of the most enduring rock anthems including I Feel Free, Sunshine of Your Love, Strange Brew and Crossroads.

Hear the track – http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Clapton/_/I+Feel+Free

Buy the album: I Feel Free - Ultimate CreamI Feel Free – Ultimate Cream — from Amazon

I Feel Free – US version – from Amazon

Future is Fuel Cells

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The next great step forward in human civilisation will be the next generation of batteries, which have hardly progressed since the 1940s.

And the leading edge of battery research is in fuel cells. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most promising fuel cell technologies. This is the type of fuel cell that will end up powering cars, buses and maybe even your house. Here’s how they will work:

Save money on a watering system for your garden

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save garden water
If water is scarce……..

In a perfect world, you’d plant your off-grid garden and it would rain the day after and several times during the week, says Pat Veretto of www.frugalliving.com, allowing enough time for the sun to beam good things to the plants. And then we want rain every week after that of course.

In the real world, garden seeds and seedlings usually need to be watered by us whether it’s cloudy or sunny.
The most primitive, but not necessarily the most frugal way to water the garden, is to carry buckets of water and pour on the plants or on the soil around them. It seems as if it takes less water to water by hand, than either by hose or bucket, but test the soil when you’re through and you’ll see that often the water doesn’t penetrate very far – usually an inch or so, which is a long way from plant roots where it’s needed! It takes a long time to properly water anything by hand, but it’s not an unenjoyable task for a leisurely morning.

The next step “up” is digging ditches or small furrows to carry the water from the source to the plants. Furrows take the place of garden paths, but they have advantages over hand watering.

If you are into gadgets and gizmos, Water Timer: Nelson Touch Set Systembuy this Water timer from Amazon

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