Water is supplied to many homes via water supply network. But it might be quite easy to get your water elsewhere, even if you’re living in an urban area. (more…)

In almost all modern homes the most energy is used to keep the room temperature on the desired level. It includes both heating in winter and air conditioning in summer. In some climates you need only one of those, in temperate climates you need both. For example, in Poland we have annual mean temperatures close to 6-10°C (43-50°F): in winter it easily drops to -25°C (-13°F) and in summer it may reach +35°C (95°F) (1). So we need to warm our homes and sometimes to cool them using air conditioners. In addition, we need to warm our domestic hot water supply as we like to bath in hot water. (more…)

This is the first post in a series of how to live off the electrical grid. In the series I will answer the following questions:

• how to make electric energy from various sources (photovoltaics, wind turbines, internal combustion engines, fuel cells, etc.),
• how to store electricity to use it later,
• how to save electricity, in order to reduce the home energy usage and reduce your off-grid power plant operating and investment cost.

As I mentioned before, we are addicted to electricity as it’s the easiest way of supplying energy to different home appliances. (more…)