In some areas od Poland people are disconnected from the electrical grid by the weather. A lot of hard rime covered electrical lines and caused some pylons to break.

It is not uncommon in Poland to have temperatures below -20°C (-4°F). But such weather with very high humidity is not something we would expect. Read the rest of this entry »

I just finished watching the first season of TV show “It’s Not Easy Being Green”, hosted by Dick Strawbridge. A great source of inspiration, and a great way to spend seven afternoons, watching seven episodes.

If you’re not familiar with european satellite TV channels, you probably don’t know Dick Strawbridge, lieutentant-colonel, and engineer. But if you live in Europe and watched TV shows Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t have access to water supply network, you can harvest rainwater, or use water you have on-site. If you have access to groundwater, you need to dig or drill a well to be able to use it.

Having your own well is a good idea. It is a reliable source of water, and the water in most cases is clean enough to be potable. So the only investment you need to make is to drill or dig the well, and to pump the water to the surface. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I read the last page of the book Peak Oil Survival: Preparation for Life After Gridcrash, another Amazon purchase. Since I planned to post here every week, it’s a great I have something to write about.

The book’s title indicates that it’s about preparing for living after the electrical grid crashes. It’s not a manual on off-grid living, it doesn’t describe how to supply your own water and electricity and how to heat your home for permanent off-the-grid conditions. Instead, it helps one to deal with a grid crash in a normal, or low-energy building. It won’t tell you how to make your house autonomous, but how to deal when the energy you normally use becomes unavailable. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I finished reading a book I purchased some time ago on Amazon, the “Five Acres and Independence” by M. G. Kains. This article will start a new series of reviews of various books and articles to read. So here’s my review.

The description of this book on Amazon is very short, and consists of only one sentence, saying:

Classic of the back-to-the-land movement is packed with solid, timeless information and will teach new converts how to make their land self-sufficient.

Inspired by the title I thought that it might be a good guide to achieving independence and self-reliance with a small amount of arable land available. Five acres is not much, but I forgot that converted to the units we use in Europe it’s over 2 hectares (1 hectare is the area of a square 100×100 meters, or roughly 100×100 yards). Read the rest of this entry »