off grid living

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What is off-grid living?

June 27, 2009 in Green Building, Green Your Home by Jennifer | No comments

Off-grid living is a fairly basic premise. Off-grid indicates that your home is self sufficient. vs. dependent, as in you’ve set your home up to be energy producing vs. paying the energy company for power or having your own well vs. paying the water company. Sometimes an off-grid home is referred to as a homestead, although homestead doesn’t exactly mean you’re not dependent on other sources of energy or water.

If you’re living in an off-grid home (or living an off-grid life) you may be doing all or some of the following…

  • Gardening vs. buying produce at the store.
  • Living in a green, or sustainably built home.
  • Composting.
  • Producing energy via alternative methods.
  • Making your own bio-fuel.
  • Cutting out extras (four TVs for example).
  • Making homemade cleaners.
  • Collecting water via a rain barrel.
  • Raising your own food – i.e. chickens.

The list above is super short. To gain more off-grid living ideas and tips visit Off-Grid.

Off-grid living comes in different shades. While most shades of off-grid life are greener than conventional living, not all off-grid homes are 100% self sufficient. Following is great example of an urban off-grid home and their owners. This family is almost entirely self-sufficient, but does rely on public companies for some things (like water). What this video will help you realize is that even more off-grid than not holds both money saving perks and eco-perks.

Bonus link: If you’re interested in off-grid living you’ll love the book Off the Grid.

Cons of Building or Buying a New Green Home

May 21, 2009 in Green Building by Jennifer | No comments

This month we’ve been sorting out which is better: remodeling green or buying or building a new green home. So far we’ve looked at…

Today the last part of our series – the cons of building or buying new. However, stay tuned because soon I’ll post some resources that will help you out, no matter your final decision.

CONS OF BUILDING OR BUYING A NEW GREEN HOME:

The obvious first con of going with a new green home is cost. Green homes can cost more at the start than conventional. In the long run a green home will save you money, but start-up costs can stop some people cold. According to CNN Money, if you went as green as possible, a green home might cost you 20-30% more than a traditional home, but don’t forget there are shades of green in-between as well. You’ll also get tax credits. Green Prefab can also be an affordable way to build or buy green.

Side note: I built a green home and the costs were not more than a traditional home – but keep in mind that we built small as well (also a green feature). Additionally a piece at Ecomii notes that green costing more is a myth. According to this piece; “The chief complaint most people have with green building is cost… This is not true — but it’s a common misconception promoted by ignorant architects and contractors who are afraid of building in a different way. Good architects and contractors know how to save their clients money. The client sets the budget, and a project should come in at or below that budget. With a clear direction of budget, there is no reason you can’t build a green building for the same price as, or less than, a traditional building.” Read more.

OTHER CONS:

Read the rest of this entry »

Is There an Ideal Sustainable Home?

January 30, 2009 in Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

Sustainable housing is not a new idea, but there are many different ideas surrounding the term sustainable building, some of them always changing (think LEED). People have varied sustainable plans when designing a house, but in reality you can narrow sustainability down to some basic ideas.

The best sustainable housing is…

Sustainable at each level. From choosing a site and clearing the land. Your choice of materials and your building ethics (i.e. recycling waste). Your energy system and landscaping. At each level of the planning and building process there are sustainable aspects you can consider.

A sustainable home has a light footprint and takes up less space. You can sort of build a green McMansion but that majorly defeats the true purpose of sustainable design.

The best sustainable materials are locally acquired, efficient, and recyclable. You can go further by choosing materials that have been reclaimed and by using only what you need. For example, two sinks in the bath, may be overkill.

Sustainable housing requires less fuel to heat or cool and maximizes natural vs. non-renewable resources for energy. Wind, solar, proper landscaping, window quality, and more are all ideas surrounding sustainable energy for housing.

Sustainable housing makes the most of water use with things like water efficient appliances, rainwater systems, and low-water landscaping.

Interior design is also a consideration. Non-toxic paints, clean air techniques, reclaimed floors, sustainable furniture, and more all contribute to overall sustainable design.

In my opinion, sustainable design also adds to the land integrity instead of claiming aesthetics from said land. This is not an across the board idea, but it makes little sense to overtake nature with design.

To learn more about sustainable design read:

Green Home Book of the Week: Off the Grid

November 12, 2008 in Books by Jennifer | 4 comments

A couple of weeks ago I posted a review of Off the Grid Homes. I recently received a copy of another book by Lori Ryker, Off The Grid Modern Homes + Alternative Energy, and it’s just as good, but in a different way.

Off the Grid Homes was like delicious but useful eye candy for green home lovers. This second book, Off the Grid offers a more in-depth look at home case studies. Don’t think you won’t see yummy homes in this one though; there are plenty of beautiful images to delight your eyes.

Pros:

  1. The thing I liked best about Off the Grid was the surprising variety of projects Ryker looks at, such as a  bungalow remodel, rural house on a pond, a lovely grassland homestead, and more. 10 projects in all, and each stunningly unique with the off grid component in place. No matter what your idea of off grid living is, this book will allow you to consider different possibilities.
  2. There’s a great projects at a glance section at the end of the book. Something I think too many green home books lack. Lately, I’ve been seeing this trait enacted more and more (thankfully) because when you do have an idea in your head, such as I’d like to see how a home that uses solar, wind, and gray water might work out, you can find it quickly with a project glance page.
  3. Each off grid project chapter also has a quick guide at the start. For example, home size, energy use, and materials, among other things is covered.
  4. The images – beautiful! There’s a nice combo of photography and diagrams. While I’m a sucker for house images; diagrams serve a way useful position, in that they allow you a look at the inner workings of say, a home ventilation system or how a geothermal cooling and heating system works.

Cons:

As with Off the Grid Homes, I honestly could not find any cons. If you’re interested in off grid living, green homes, or simply beautiful architecture, both books belong in your collection. Check Off the Grid out at your library first if you like, but I’m betting that you’ll want to own this one.

Green Home Book of the Week: Off the Grid Homes

October 18, 2008 in Books by Jennifer | 1 comment

I read a massive amount of green home books, so I’ve decided to offer a green home book selection each week – one I like, that I think you’ll like too.

This week, I’m obsessed with this book I recently got from the library – Off The Grid Homes by Lori Ryker.

Pros:

  1. Best luscious images ever. Every single home in this book is utterly beautiful.
  2. I thought it offered a nice balance of advanced information along with text that newbies to off-grid living would understand as well.
  3. Covers some very cool ideas that home owners can incorporate into their own homes, even if you’re not totally off-grid. Issues covered run from alternative energy to gray water to recycled materials and more.
  4. Handy resource section with architects, designers, and builders.
  5. Something nice about this green home book is that different area homes were discussed; it wasn’t all say desert homes, or NW homes, there was a nice variety. Often green home books seem to have a narrow location focus (not all of them – don’t jump me, but many).

Cons:

  1. I don’t own it yet (sadness).

When you get this book open to page 60 stat! That’s my favorite house. You’ll adore this book. Check it out at your library, or get it for the green home lover on your holiday gift list.

Green Building Resources & Green Living Tips

July 29, 2008 in Alternative Energy, Decor, Save Energy, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 1 comment

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Best Green Home Tips used to be located in a different spot, at the RiverWired network. Over there, we looked at many a green building and remodeling tip. I thought that if you missed these posts, it would be cool to catch you up to speed.

green living

Following are some of the best posts that you may have missed the first time around…

Green building:

Green home interior:

Alternative energy & energy saving:

This catches you up on about half of the green building blog. Later this week, I’ll post a second batch of great links that can help you to build and live green.