Please visit http://www.housepurge.com for more details on my project. The more the merrier! We can offer each other support!
We’ve lived self sufficiently off the grid for over 5 years now. In 2003 I left an Engineering position with Boeing, sold 2 houses and most of our positions, purchased a small ranch in West Texas near the Mexican border, built a completely green home using 100% recycled and local (rocks, lumber, sand from the ranch) materials, built a wind generator and some solar panels, built a hydrogen generator and converted the vehicles to run on alternative energy, purchased some goats, chickens, ducks, lamas, etc, a composting toilet, water storage tanks, planted crops and fruit trees and settled down for the long run. We typically don’t leave the ranch for 6-8 months at a time, and only then to visit family.
The house is built utilizing natures natural materials, Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.
To see some pics of the ranch you can check out my photobucket below, navigate with the tabs on the left (hacienda, misc, guest house, etc), we’re adding every day so be patient and don’t laugh at my scraggly winter beard..
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e88/ar...
We also built many small cabins on the ranch that we offer to family, friends and our on-site off-grid workshop guests, including one straw bale, one papercrete, earth bag and adobe, one cob and cordwood, one underground and rammed earth, one log and post and beam and one rock.
I later wrote a several guides on how to build with alternative materials, alternative energy / fuels using alternative methods for next to nothing. Anyone interested can check it out at..
http://www.agua-luna.com/guides.html
As we have no bills, no mortgage and do not pay taxes (buahaha don%26#039;t tell anyone) we have little use for money (any extra money saved up usually goes towards vacations as we enjoy traveling to mexico).
If you%26#039;d like more info on how you can make the transition easily, let me know.
Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at http://www.agua-luna.com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.
Lastly you may want to add a link to Habitat to humanty and freecycle.org
both great places to get rid of all your old junk without it polluting the city dump.
Dan Martin
Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy %26amp; loving every minute.
for more info visit agua-luna com or email me at agua-luna@lycos.com http://www.agua-luna.com