Off-Grid Living/Off-Grid Thinking
Republic
of Grass
Nothing New Under the Sun...
Solar Power. The use of passive solar to heat water dates to the 4th century BC in Greece. The first solar powered motor was patented in 1861 and the earliest version of the photovoltaic cell for converting sunlight to electricity was invented in 1876.
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Wind Power. Windmills were first used to automate grain-grinding and water-pumping in 500-900 AD, while wind was first utilized to generate electricity in 1888.
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Straw Bale. Straw bale construction was fairly common in the Great Plains at the turn of the century, especially in the Sandhills region of Nebraska, but despite the durability and insulative quality of the technique, it was often viewed as a temporary housing solution. As to permanence, and contrary to the story of the Three Little Pigs, the 102-year-old straw bale Burke homestead near Alliance, Nebraska is still standing, despite having been abandoned in 1956.
Resources for Sustainable Living
Renewable energy classes and workshops
World’s leading supplier of small wind turbines
An array of indoor outhouses
Online resource for strawbale construction
Intntl Journal of Straw Bale & Natural Building
A guide to composting human manure
All about graywater systems
Read 2004
Solar Today article about
the house
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Practicing the
Ethics of Enough
Off the grid has come to mean more than living without dependence on local infrastructure like electricity, water or sewer. The term has expanded to imply a way of thinking and acting outside the mainstream, of shifting emphasis from profitability to sustainability, from consumerism to stewardship, and of living with a keener consciousness of the planet's dwindling resources.
Philosopher Mortimer Adler is credited with coining the term the ethics of enough, a philosophy that underpins the way we live, work and play in the Republic of Grass. By definition, abundance is an ample quantity. This does not mean, as it has come to imply in our culture, an unlimited supply. In other words, abundance is enough, not more than enough. Clarifying the definition of abundance provides a jumping-off point for beginning to intentionally align want more closely with need, which is Adler's simple maxim for practicing the ethics of enough.
Solar & Wind Energy
Bales & More
Water Conservation
Solar
2-kilowatt system
(twenty 100-watt PV panels)
Thermal collection system
(fifteen panels) heats all water for household use, including radiant floor heating
Wind
1-kilowatt wind turbine on 80-foot tilt-up tower provides 386 kW/month
Integrated system
Deep-cycle battery bank (16)
Wind power center
Power panel inverter
Building Style
Post and beam with haybales
Chicken-coop design with south-facing clerestory windows
Materials
Recycled lumber, native limestone & hardware from 100-year-old barn
Native Indiangrass cut and baled to custom sizes on the ranch
Metal roof
Interior plaster
Exterior stucco
Mexican pavers
Thermal windows & blinds
Salvaged fixtures
…we want to live differently…we want to express our love and our prosperity in terms of the quality of our relationships, not in the amount we acquire and consume.
Peter Forbes
The Great Remembering
A Little House (Baled) on the Prairie
Composting toilet Read more...
Tank in greenhouse room provides filtration for household gray water (sink, tub, washer)
Well & cistern system
Water-efficient washing machine
Planned rainwater harvest system
If every U.S. household switched a single incandescent bulb to a compact fluorescent bulb, one nuclear power plant could be shut down.
Tour a little gallery of glimpses inside the house
