Off the Grid: Modern Homes + Alternative Energy
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA
on 05.30.06
TreeHugger is a big fan of the energy-efficient, off-the-grid lifestyle; one difficulty of selling it to a mainstream audience is that so many grid-free homes are prohibitively expensive or aesthetically-challenged and ugly. Off The Grid: Modern Homes + Alternative Energy is a foil for both arguments, proving that we can, at once, have good design and extensive use of alternative energy without reliance on the traditional power grid (and here are five other off-grid examples). The book profiles “ten beautiful homes in regions as diverse as New York City, urban Germany, suburban Southern California, rural Canada, and the remote ‘bush’ of Australia,…(and) shows you how to take responsibility for your future choices and conveniences by living in a beautifully designed home that uses much less energy. Off-the-grid living is a concept that can be easily understood and adopted by everyone, regardless of where you live or how much money you make.” 'Nuff said. Available at ::Powell's Books and ::Amazon via ::MoCo Loco
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I've moved our house towards "green" by installing both solar panels as well as a water turbine down in our year-round creek. Not enough to take us complete off-grid yet, but it definitely lessen's our dependancy on public power.