Resources

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Blogroll

Off-Grid.net

Off-grid brings you news, knowledge, discussion, and classifieds from the off-grid world. What seems like a tiny niche is growing in popularity as people seek a life outside of the city. Off-gridders must find ways to produce their own energy, food, water, shelter, and other necessities. Connect with people who live off the beaten path or begin the search for your own property on this site.

Build It Solar

Dedicated to do-it-yourself renewable energy projects, Build It Solar provides hundreds of ideas and plans for any kind of home energy endeavor. New to renewable energy? Start with the "Half Plan" that uses a variety of energy saving projects to cut your energy usage in half. New to solar? Look for the do-it-yourself site survey to understand your property's solar potential. Not limited to solar, Build It Solar also includes tons of projects for wind power and biofuels.

Earth2Tech

Energy self reliance is a big topic for environmental, political, and individual reasons. Earth2Tech posts news about technological developments that can affect us on personal and societal levels. Stay on top of the news about electric cars, the smart grid, the bloom box fuel cell, solar power applications, and LED lightbulbs.

Wisebread

Wisebread is well-known for its advice on real personal finance. It's a community of bloggers who write about frugal living, lifehacks, careers, and other financial wisdom. Being smart with your money isn't supposed to inhibit you: rather, Wisebread's advice helps people worry less about money, allowing you to focus on the really important things in life. They also feature an active forum where you can ask questions and interact with other people who are trying to live within their means.

Instructables

Do you want to know how to build a vertical garden? How about your own solar panel array? Maybe you're looking for ways to reuse a linen closet full of old pillowcases. Instructables is a community based site that allows anyone to post a how-to project complete with photos and instructions. The result: a lifetime's supply of projects that can help you save money, recycle, or simply satisfy your appetite for making stuff.

Survival Spot

Disasters are a reality that shouldn't be ignored. That's the reason Survival Spot was created - to share information about a variety of survival and preparedness topics. Topics cover many aspects of survival, including gardening, food storage, health, and self defense. Also read about getting by in the wilderness and reviews of essential gadgets and gear. Like any other type of self reliance, preparedness is something to get into gradually and this blog can give you ideas on where to start.

Self-Reliance-Exchange

Written by a group of self reliant people, Self Reliance Exchange is quickly building an enormous database that covers a huge range of categories on self reliant practices and philosophies. Anyone interested in self reliance will find something useful to take away from this blog - recipes from scratch, emergency preparedness, and personal finance are great categories to start looking into here.

Simple Self Reliance

This writer explores the concept of self reliance and how self reliance fits in this modern society. How far can you realistically go down the path of self reliance? How can you stay on track with your priorities? He also writes on the grandaddy of self reliance, Henry David Thoreau. We can't wait to see how this blog unfolds!

American Preppers Network

For information and news from the world of emergency preparation, American Preppers Network is a great resource. Learn about food storage, what to expect during a natural disaster, and about other survival techniques. You can also connect with other preppers in your region and all over the world in the forum and through the numerous links to other prepping blogs on the web.

Biofuels

Biofuels are alternative fuels derived from biological material such as vegetable oil, corn, algae, and many other materials. These fuels are increasing in popularity due to their potential to power cars and motor vehicles. Already, many regular gas station in the U.S. use a blend of gasoline and a biofuel - ethanol.

There are different levels of production of biofuels which make them an promising option for energy self reliance - although biofuel is not the magical cure to environmental sustainability. For example, ethanol is made from corn, the cultivation of which raises economic and environmental concerns, especially if ethanol were to become THE fuel of choice for our vehicles.

Another intrigue of biofuels is that some varieties of biofuel, such as biogas or alcohol, can be made at home and can be used in a car with a modified engine. There are plenty of online resources explaining how different biofuels can be made at home, and how to tweak a car to accept these homemade fuels. Pretty neat.

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Latest Additions

Competition for Grain - Sustain a Blog
There is a growing demand for bio-fuel around the world. But since this bio-fuel is taken from our current food supply it increases the costs of grains. Read about the morality of bio-fuels in this well researched article.
Biofuel Forum - Frybrid Diesel/Vegetable Oil
Ask and answer questions about many different types of biofuel related questions. Includes discussions of current member projects, provides tips, and DIY experiments.
Twenty Two Dispelled Myths About Bio-diesel - Gas 2.0
Very few people are educated enough to recognize the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to Bio-Diesel. This article dismisses some of more common myths about bio-diesel. Heres a preview bio-diesel is not hard to find.
Making Bio-Diesel - Journey to Forever
Learn how to make bio-diesel from common household oils. This article provides a in depth instructions. Includes information about ingredients, and a step by step guide for making bio-diesel.
Biogas Guide - The University of Adelaide
Biogas is an untapped form of alternative energy. Small scale units are easy to install and can be used for cooking, heating, refrigeration, and lighting. Read this article to learn about this relatively unknown source of power.
Bio-Fuels - Build it Solar
Learn about biofuels here! This site provides multiple links to site covering a wide range of bio-fuel topics. Also, learn about Biodiesel, veggie oil, ethanol, wood gas, and methane.
Biofuels Library - Journey to Forever
A wide collection of articles covering a variety of bio-fuel topics. Some great topics included are converting your car to run on alcohol, and making fuel from sawdust.
Popular Science: How I Converted my Mercedes-Benz to Run on Veggie Oil
If you're interested in converting a car from a gas guzzler to a veggie guzzler read this article! It provides a great introduction to the topic.
Ready Nutrition: Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner Then Use it to Run Your Car
Learn how your recycled oils and greases can be transformed into biofuel. This site contains instructions and a video on how to do this easily.
Northern Arizona Jack Central: Deep Fried Transportation Justifies Freshman Fifteen
Northern Arizona University: Dining hall cooking oil fuels campus buses. The oil is filtered and tested before it hits the gas tank, reducing costs on fuel and collection fees and making a more sustainable campus.
Wall Street Journal: Five New Technologies That Could Change Everything
Space-based solar power... carbon capture... algae biofuel... these are some of the major ideas that could change the world's energy use in major ways.
Running On Alcohol: Sunlight in a Bottle
First law of thermodynamics: Energy can change forms, but cannot be created or destroyed. Robert Warren's hobby was distilling ethanol, or liquid sunlight, for his car. This site is full of information about ethanol as a clean burning, sustainable fuel.
E85fuel: What is E85?
E85 is one option in the world of fuel. It's a mixture - 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline - that is used in "flex fuel" vehicles. Here's a list of common questions about E85 fuel.
Ethanol Today Homepage
Ethanol Today is the official online magazine for the American Coalition for Ethanol. It publishes news and information from the ethanol world to spread the word about this energy resource.
Ethanol.org: American Coalition for Ethanol
The American Coalition for Ethanol posts news articles on recent developments, studies, and polls from the world of Ethanol.
 
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