Our journey to modern off-grid living
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019
We’ve lived off the grid for decades. Throughout the years, we’ve traveled the path from living a very rustic lifestyle with few amenities to our current off-grid homestead...
Dim bulbs in California
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
By now many of us have heard that under a bill proposed by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D), the state of California is about to become the...
Homemade electric power
By Jim Van Sant
Issue #131 • September/October, 2011
Ever wonder how you could live off the grid when the sun isn't shining on your solar panels?
Our homestead alternative energy system is based on 12 volts...
Millenium Vehicles
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
A major failing of transportation worldwide is that 99.9% of vehicles on farms, street, and freeways work on one energy source: liquid fuels. In any disastersmall or large,...
Use solar landscape lights for emergencies
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
Solar-powered landscape lights in dark room.
Note different light patterns and brightness.
People own all kinds of household items that can be used to make life easier during...
Battery powered weekend retreat
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
Blake McKinney owned several acres of beautiful deep forest wilderness along a fast-moving year-round fishing stream that was perfect for a planned weekend retreat. Mr. McKinney,...
Solar Building Design
By Steven Heckeroth
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
Solar building design has been used since ancient times. In the more recent past, it has been more or less ignored as impractical, complicated, or too expensive. Incorporating...
Solar Power 101 — Solar arrays
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
This article is the fourth and final part of our beginner's course in solar electricity. Simultaneously we have instituted a Home Energy Information (www.homeenergy.info) section on...
Grid-tied, Grid-connected, Off-grid. What’s the difference?
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
Several weeks ago I received a call from a woman in Florida complaining that they just had a power outage lasting several days and her solar...
Build your own battery charging station
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
Completed charging station after sanding and painting
Let me guess the reason many of you do not use rechargeable batteries is that every time you need...
Build a simple solar-powered outdoor light
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
Figure 1. Pole-mounted street light showing a front view of the solar light
In our last issue, I discussed how to use solar energy to power a...
Sunny Solutions for north slope applications
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #61 • January/February, 2000
Solar-powered pumps have proved their worth for many installations worldwide, anywhere under the sun. However, in the northern hemisphere, a year-around spring located at the base of a...
Water pumping windmills
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
Standing tall like a giant sunflower in a sea of undulating prairie grasses, or in any rural setting, a windmill is a thing of beauty. Not only are...
Solar Power 101 — Batteries: Part 1
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
This article is the first in a series of what will be a beginner's course in solar electricty. Simultaneously we have instituted a Home Energy Information...
Just for Kids: Sun-kabobs and solar sizzle
By Lucy Shober
Issue #28 • July/August, 1994
Click on pictures for printable, full-sized versions to color.
Picture yourself in this dreamy scenario: It's a hot summer afternoon. The sun is beaming through the shade trees as...
Hydronic woodstoves
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
Do you realize there is an entire field of woodstoves that the general public rarely hears about, even though there are specialty woodstove stores in every...
