zerostao Posted May 1, 2016 http://www.offgridquest.com/food/maine-town-declares-food-sovereignty 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted May 1, 2016 Great move, I think. I hope the idea grows and spreads throughout the US. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted September 13, 2016 http://offgridworld.com/colorado-legalizes-rainwater-collecting-rain-barrels/?utm_source=HSS&utm_medium=Advertising&utm_campaign=HSS 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent thunder Posted September 13, 2016 http://offgridworld.com/colorado-legalizes-rainwater-collecting-rain-barrels/?utm_source=HSS&utm_medium=Advertising&utm_campaign=HSS Â Â thank you Colorado for exhibiting some intelligence on this... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted September 13, 2016 thank you Colorado for exhibiting some intelligence on this... But let's face it; it was real stupidity to make it illegal in the first place. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent thunder Posted September 13, 2016 But let's face it; it was real stupidity to make it illegal in the first place. It was criminally insane in my opinion. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 15, 2016 Well, this really sucks !   http://www.thedailysheeple.com/court-officials-who-jailed-a-veteran-for-living-off-grid-were-just-doing-their-jobs_122016  Tyler is a vet and lives quietly with his GF and harvests his own electricity from the sun and water from rain ...... NO YOU DONT .... you will buy our water and electricity or you will go to jail !    They actually are putting a vet in jail for living off grid .  That double sucks  !   Makes me angry too  !  -  I have an older friend - Viet Vet ..... boy does he get a hard time !  The gov ripped him off heaps ....  and he was looking after a fully disabled daughter as a single father at the time .... stopped his payments and treated him like crap when he tried to sort it out, so he got agitated and they called the cops and locked him up !  WTF is going on here ? !  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted December 15, 2016 Like has been said, the more laws a society has the more criminals that society will have.  This past election we here in Florida voted against having to pay extra on our electric bill for having solar power. They wanted to charge us for not using their power. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cold Posted December 15, 2016 They are putting solar everywhere here.  Home in the middle of conifer forest .... no problem  Orientation North West East or South ... no problem  Will your electric bill be reduced? Well no, or maybe, its complicated.  But tax breaks mean no cost to you... so its a no brainer right.  After all your neighbors have solar!  We need a drastic change in electric creation and storage.  It's coming.  Meanwhile I remain cautiously optimistic. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 20, 2016 Just fir the fridge even .... I am good with the rest  ; solar for lights and small electronics with occasional genny backup for  rainy times , wood for heating and cooking in winter and gas for cooking in summer .  I had a small gas fridge , carked it 3 days ago    ,  have a friend who is gasfitter , he says, and I already knew, the  expensive ones or larger ones are just as bad, and troublesome  its only a matter of time .... and expensive !   $3 .5 G  new  ... maybe last 3 years .   Hmmmmm .......            2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted December 20, 2016 My travel trailer has a fridge that operates on 110VAC but also has the option to operate from propane and 12VDC. One of those would be neat in areas where there is no electric service. The 12VDC could be gotten from solar/battery storage with propane brought in. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Geof Nanto Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) Just fir the fridge even .... I am good with the rest  ; solar for lights and small electronics with occasional genny backup for  rainy times , wood for heating and cooking in winter and gas for cooking in summer .  I had a small gas fridge , carked it 3 days ago    ,  have a friend who is gasfitter , he says, and I already knew, the  expensive ones or larger ones are just as bad, and troublesome  its only a matter of time .... and expensive !   $3 .5 G  new  ... maybe last 3 years .  My travel trailer has a fridge that operates on 110VAC but also has the option to operate from propane and 12VDC. One of those would be neat in areas where there is no electric service. The 12VDC could be gotten from solar/battery storage with propane brought in.  Those three-way fridges are good in that they run silently but are a terrible choice for solar power. They are very inefficient when running on 12v power, and will drain batteries much quicker than a compressor fridge. I've been living with off-grid solar for many years and use a WAECO CFX-50 50 litre 12 volt compressor fridge. It's reasonably silent, and draws little power. It has plenty of space for my needs and keeps food nice and cool. I have it set for 2 deg C and it stays that cold even when the ambient temperature is over 40 C (above 100 F).  It can also be used as a freezer.  But most of the people around here with off-grid solar simply just use an ordinary domestic compressor refrigerator. You don't need a particularly big solar system and battery pack to cope with that. Electric refrigerators and solar power are a good match in that they draw more power when the weather's warmer; more sunshine / more solar power available.  Edited December 21, 2016 by Yueya 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted December 23, 2016 Like has been said, the more laws a society has the more criminals that society will have.  This past election we here in Florida voted against having to pay extra on our electric bill for having solar power. They wanted to charge us for not using their power. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/03/09/florida-makes-off-grid-living-illegal-mandates-all-homes-must-be-connected-to-an-electricity-grid/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 23, 2016 My travel trailer has a fridge that operates on 110VAC but also has the option to operate from propane and 12VDC. One of those would be neat in areas where there is no electric service. The 12VDC could be gotten from solar/battery storage with propane brought in.  Thats what we used to use - small caravan fridges running on gas . For some reason, back then they were relatively cheap and reliable - to an extent .  But they are pretty small in size.  Thing is, they do use a lot of electricity, one would need to a  good array of panels and batteries. In a  vehicle, I can see the sense as when you are running the motor you are producing electricity, if you camp out you have the gas and at a park you plug in.   So for me the  AC v  and DC v is out and that leaves gas .... as I said , gas fridges are wont to break down and be troublesome ... like mine just did . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cold Posted December 23, 2016 We are on the cusp of great change.  The question remains will it be voluntary or involuntary? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 23, 2016 Those three-way fridges are good in that they run silently but are a terrible choice for solar power. They are very inefficient when running on 12v power, and will drain batteries much quicker than a compressor fridge. I've been living with off-grid solar for many years and use a WAECO CFX-50 50 litre 12 volt compressor fridge. It's reasonably silent, and draws little power. It has plenty of space for my needs and keeps food nice and cool. I have it set for 2 deg C and it stays that cold even when the ambient temperature is over 40 C (above 100 F).  It can also be used as a freezer.  But most of the people around here with off-grid solar simply just use an ordinary domestic compressor refrigerator. You don't need a particularly big solar system and battery pack to cope with that. Electric refrigerators and solar power are a good match in that they draw more power when the weather's warmer; more sunshine / more solar power available.   How much current does it draw ?   I looked on the net, read  a page about it full of incidental info and it said to go to the manual to find out about power usage ????  They could wrote all that and could not just write a number with a W on an  a  after it  ????????   Looks like they range from 800 to over 1000  $s   - yikes !   Looks like the foam broccoli box and ice bottles for a while yet . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 23, 2016 We are on the cusp of great change.  The question remains will it be voluntary or involuntary?  Involuntary  ...... and you two days too late - it just happened   1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cold Posted December 23, 2016 Ha Ha Ha and a dollar short two! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites