by Steve Byrne | May 7, 2013 | self sufficiency
For a while there we thought it might never be sunny again, but once again we are enjoying the warmth, and the knowledge that the sun is providing our electricity and an increasing amount of our hot water. All around us the place is bursting into life, and the brown...
by Steve Byrne | Apr 9, 2013 | off grid, smallholding, the farm
It isn’t a huge amount of solar, but it’s enough to allow us to manage almost entirely without the mains grid. (The washing machine is too much for this system). We have, in theory, enough power to keep us going for 5 days in the event of it being...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 1, 2012 | self sufficiency
All you need to enjoy a break from the connected world is here. The house truck features a unique upcycled pallet wood interior, well equipped kitchen, wood powered shower, and of course, an outside compost loo with a view. Harriet even has her own decking area where you can sit and admire the view, and is powered by solar electricity.
by Steve Byrne | May 13, 2012 | off grid, renewable energy
We returned home today to discover that the wind turbine had suffered a catastrophic failure and lost all three blades. 2 of them were embedded firmly in the ground below the turbine, and one has yet to be found. I repaired one of them a week ago, and straightening...
by Steve Byrne | May 7, 2012 | permaculture
I’m compiling a map of broadly ‘eco’ places – anything that is involved with a low impact, sustainable approach to life, from Transition Towns to permaculture farms, and interesting buildings. Other than the ones I already knew about, finding...
by Steve Byrne | Mar 12, 2012 | renewable energy
For a seemingly simple setup, the wind turbine certainly involves a lot more that I ever thought it would. A lot of folk with ‘big’ turbines certainly view the small, chinese made end of the market as very suspect, but my view has always been that at least...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 18, 2011 | buildings
Another extraordinarily wet volunteer day on Monday, but undaunted, the team made a start on the cob and cordwood wall at the front of the roundhouse. In the morning we learned how to cut wine bottles in half, using a glass cutter and hot and cold water, and then...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 10, 2011 | buildings
Well I never thought we’d do this as quickly, but today the roof frame went on with surprisingly little fuss. In the morning we completed the henges and finished the wallplate – below and had a practice run with the reciprocal frame at ground level so...
by Steve Byrne | Aug 25, 2011 | renewable energy
The ever helpful Philip from Leisure Batteries Ireland has kindly lent us a Victron 750W Inverter, so that we can get a comparison with his new budget range of inverters that are coming soon.Our cheap and cheerful modified square wave 500W inverter works pretty well,...
by Steve Byrne | Aug 3, 2011 | smallholding
Today we put up the wind generator – a huge thank you is due to all those who very kindly gave us something towards it – with any luck that gift will keep on helping to make power for us for a long time to come. Thanks also to Sinead, who unwittingly came...
by Steve Byrne | Jul 5, 2011 | water
Lets face it, installing 1000 litre rainwater storage tank was always going to guarantee us some sunshine, and so it was that we had a week of glorious weather.All good things come to an end of course, and so it was that today we got some serious rain, and a nice,...
by Steve Byrne | May 2, 2011 | smallholding
Had a moment today so made up some wind chimes from odds and ends – the striker is an old bowl core left over from turning.
by Steve Byrne | May 1, 2011 | Uncategorised
I didn’t start out with the sole intention of going off grid – it has crept up on me over the last year. My interest in permaculture, the transition movement and low impact living has certainly driven me, and now I come to the point where the...
