Resources

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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.

Heating and Cooling

Of all household appliances, the heater and air conditioner hog the most energy. In second place (for most homes) is the hot water heater. Saving energy on heating and cooling is not only a way to save money, but a way to reduce your reliance on the grid. If you live in a hot climate, running the A/C in the summer costs a lot of money and also puts a strain on the grid. California is one example: on the hottest days, power companies institute rolling blackouts to deal with the load, leaving homes and businesses literally in the dark.

The website's we've reviewed cover several aspects of efficient heating and cooling. Some will encourage you to rely less on these appliances by turning the thermostat up or down or doing an energy audit to get rid of drafts.

There are also more dramatic things you could do to save energy, such as institute certain passive heating or cooling techniques. Passive heating techniques strategically take advantage of the sun's heat to heat hot water, or trap warm air. Cooling techniques generally make use of shade, ventilation, or a home's architecture to cool naturally.

These links include background information on all heating and cooling techniques, as well as some do it yourself projects.

Classifications

 

Latest Additions

Roll Up Exterior Sun Shades - Build it Solar
Do you have huge windows that face the sun during summer months? An excellent and cheap way to cool your house is sun shades. Using sun shades can lower your house's temperature significantly.
Window Shading - Build it Solar
An energy efficient and cost efficient way to cool a house is to shade your windows. Read about this cheap way to cool your house in this detailed article.
DIY Solar Water Heating System - Build It Solar Blog
This article discusses the Thermosyphon Solar Water Heating System. The article specifically focuses on tips on installing a thermosyphon system, a system that uses solar power to heat up water which is then distributed throughout the home.
Radiant Heating - U.S. Department of Energy
Radiant floor heating is a common type of heater in apartments. It works either by heating water, air, or by using electricity to heat up a room through the floorboards or walls. This site details how these systems work, and how they compare to each other.
Active Solar Heating - U.S Department of Energy
Active solar heating uses solar energy to heat up air and water to heat up a house. This site is a detailed guide to how solar heating works and how to size your own system.
Wood and Pellet Heating - U.S. Department of Energy
Interested in wood heating? This ancient form of heating is being revived in the form of pellet heating. Pellets are pieces of wood that are compacted to burn slowly. This site provides a detailed guide to this form of heating.
Inefficient Earth Cooling Tubes - U.S. Department of Energy
Earth cooling tubes were thought up by architects in the 1970s. By running pipes underground the architects hoped to create a cooling system that was more efficient and alternative cooling system.
Radiant Cooling - U.S. Department of Energy
Learn more about radiant cooling - a little known, cheap, but somewhat inefficient method for cooling your house. The slightest shift in humidity might debilitate your system, but it's an interesting option nonetheless.
Evaporative Coolers - U.S. Department of Energy
A good energy efficient way to cool your house by using a swamp cooler. A swamp cooler evaporates water to cool down a house. This article talks about sizing and selection, installation, operation, and maintenance.
Ventilation Systems - U.S. Department of Energy
Using ventilation is the cheapest way to cool your house on a hot summer day. This site provides detailed information on avoiding heat buildup, natural ventilation, ceiling fans, window fans, and whole house fans.
Heating and Cooling - U.S. Department of Energy
This site shows what percentage of Americans have each type of heating system. It also provides ideas on how to save money and lessen your impact on the environment when using your heating systems. Great ideas include replacing your filters frequently.
Extreme How-To: Air Flow Cooling
This is a technical article detailing the methods for evaluating an air flow cooling system performance (aka air conditioner).
House Energy Homepage
House Energy is an excellent resource for introductory information for residential energy saving topics. It specializes in defining all the new and different appliances, methods, as well as renovation and home construction.
Solar DIY: Vinyl Sheet Passive Solar Heater
This interesting DIY project uses clear vinyl sheeting and other easily-obtained materials to create a passive heating system on the side of a house.
Solar Wind Works Portal
Conceived and operated by Chris Worcester who has lived off-grid for 30 years, this website offers products and customized assistance for your home energy projects.
 
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