Off-grid / Discussions

First off, THANK YOU for this site! Very grateful for your gracious sharing. My husband and I are embarking on a journey to build a fully off grid home in 2022 on Southern Vancouver Island. The lot is not serviceable by BC Hydro for any reasonbale cost (>$100,000) and in any event, off grid living has been a lifetim...

A structure that would not blow away, burn down, low to maintenance, radiant heat, off grid, no asphalt shingles, gray water treatment, composting toilets, passive solar -- etc.  Thanks so much for your ideas.  Sure glad I found your site - appreciated - Building a house ready to withstand the climate crisis we already...

Hello I am 20 years old and live in NORTHERN British Columbia. I used to rent a small cabin a bike everywhere all year round, I now have and live in my truck because I am saving money to build an environmentally friendly house for me and my dog. I have researched tiny houses and such, but as a vegan working student wit...

We are currently living within the GTA area but looking to buy a land (within the next couple of years) about 2 hours away from the central Toronto area and build a new home. It will be a small 2-bedroom bungalow or rancher (just under 1400 sqft) that we would keep, essentially forever. We are both few years away from ...

I will probably build a solar panel with layers of black screen. My question is, I have a patio door with a thermal pane in it. Could this be used for the glass cover of the collector? For a DIY solar air heater that sounds like it would work fine. It may help you even more than a single pane of glass as a thermal pane...

Earlier posts regarding the Kenogami House talked about using a phase change thermal battery, to avoid overheating during sunny winter days that provided too much passive solar heat. How well did that experiment work at collecting excess heat?   It was also mentioned using the radiant hydronic floor, moving purposely h...

Hi, we are planning to build a home in the Canadian Rockies, we would like to incorporate a grid tied, ground mounted solar system into our design.  Given that we are hoping to generate a portion of out own electricity what would be the best method of heating the house.   Most people in this area seem to use propane fo...

I have an illustration of a top view looking down but still working on a side view but not quite sure on what section and how much reinforcement I would need to hold the structure I want to build.  Can you help? Where are you building? And are you talking about the air heated raft slab form kit from Legalett? 

...off-grid that is looking for heating solutions. There are links on that page you can follow to the manufacturers page, and I took a look myself just now and found the following – The Wiseway stove lists 24 inches as the width so that’s a no-go for you, but the Edison model pellet stove lists the width at 22 ¼ inches, s...

Very interested in your prefabs on slab. We would prefer to be off grid as the cost of grid power on our site is expensive. We also need a water collection system as our water is not good for consumption. I was looking at the earthship model, however, I was never sold on the heating concept for our northern climate (yo...

At the moment I'm designing a small house that I hope to be able to be able to live in all year round, with zero bills so I'm using wind, hydro and solar for electricity and rain/lake water for water. I want the house to be as well insulated as possible so I have to generate less electricity, so I'm wondering what sort...

...Off-grid heating solutions Passive solar home design Choosing the right wood stove Off-grid living blog: heating systems To reduce your carbon footprint while heating with wood, consider the low-emission benefits of rocket stoves compared to traditional open fireplaces or older box stoves.

I live in NM where the temperature gets below freezing in winter and around 100 degrees in summer.  In my small mechanical room I have a propane boiler and an indirect-fired WH which I use for my radiant floor and hot water.  I also have a heat pump minisplit, and I have PV electricity.  Which would be better (more sus...