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A couple years ago TreeHugger highlighted the efforts of the island of El Hierro (one of the smaller of the Canary Islands, with a population of about 10,000) to make the switch over to generating all of its power from renewable energy sources. For an update on this interesting project, the BBC is running a short video clip which is worth checking out.

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Four 6,000 gallon tanks hold water gathered from the roof; a wind turbine and photovoltaics generate electricity for 14 batteries that hold a week's worth of electricity (do they have longer nights in Australia?) LED lighting, passive solar design, in an elegant modern envelope. As Dwell says, none of the "down-on-the-alfalfa-farm nuts and berries aesthetic associated with sustainable architecture."

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Akeena Solar, maker of photovoltaic panels and racking systems, and Enphase Energy, maker of microinverters, have joined up to make integrated systems even more integrated. Taking out steps in the installation process, taking out steps in the troubleshooting process and giving you AC power faster - all in the hopes of making solar upwards of 25% cheaper.

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Blight offers a brilliant twist on staid venetian blinds. Rather than serving simply to block the sun’s rays, the design re-envisions blinds as sun-soaking solar panels that store energy during the day and illuminate your interiors at night.

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Welcome to offgrid.ca, promoting green, energy efficient home designs & building and complete renewable energy system, from simple backup power systems to full off-grid energy packages.

Solar, wind, earth and micro-power, all our renewable energy systems are designed and engineered to fit your lifestyle & budget.

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With energy prices going through the roof, an alternative lifestyle powered by solar panels and wind turbines has suddenly become more appealing to some. For architect Todd Bogatay, it has been reality for years.

When he bought this breezy patch of scrub-covered mountaintop with views to Mexico more than two decades ago, he was one of only a few Americans with an interest in wind- and solar-powered homes.

Now, Bogatay is surrounded by 15 neighbors who, like him, live off the electricity grid, with power from solar panels and wind turbines that he either built or helped to install.

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The economy is hovering somewhere between catatonic and hebephrenic, and funding for the big plans that green tech companies laid in 2008 might be a lot harder to come by in 2009. Recessions haven't always been the best times for environmentally friendly technologies as consumers and corporations cut discretionary spending on ethical premiums.

Still, green technology and its attendant infrastructure are probably the best bet to drag the American economy out of the doldrums. So, with the optimism endemic to the Silicon Valley region, we present you with the Top 10 Green Tech Breakthroughs of 2008, alternatively titled, The Great Green Hope.

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Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’ bodies.

And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.

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this solar powered water purification system, which uses wind and solar power to pump and purify up to 6500 gallons each day from brackish water; the seawater version can produce 925 gallons per day. On a sunny, windy day it will provide excess energy that can be used for other purposes.

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William Yuan, a 12-year old boy from Beaverton, Oregon, has developed a new 3D solar cell which if it ever gets commercialized could seriously change the face of solar power.

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Can you imagine being able to produce enough water in the Sahara to grow crops there? Can you imagine harnessing sufficient quantities of solar power to supply electricity to cities in Africa and cities in Europe? Can you imagine producing a sustainable bio-fuel that doesn’t impact on world food supplies? Charlie Paton, Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts can and what’s more they can imagine all these happening in the same place at the same time.

This week this trio of visionaries launched the Sahara Forest Project: their proposal to combine two innovative technologies, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Seawater Greenhouses, to produce renewable energy, water and food in an area of desert known to be one of the hottest places on earth.

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An experimental installation called ‘The Beacon’ on London’s Old Street is hoping to offer answers on how human perception works. Designed by a neuroscientist at the University College of London, the six-metre tall installation features brightly patterned plexiglass lit by electricity from solar panels, some of which include solar paving stones embedded in a mix of resin and local recycled glass.

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However, a couple of sacred cows of environmentalism also come under the spotlight. Goodall questions, for example, whether organic agriculture can really help feed the world – arguing that yields are only just over half what can be produced through other methods, and with meat consumption, biofuels demand and populations rising, organics will need to step up to the plate if it is to be part of the solution.

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We’ve reported before on the progress of the first solar-powered car to make a round-the-world journey , and are pleased to report that the so-called Solartaxi has completed its 32,000 mile journey today, pulling up to the UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland.

The noiseless vehicle, which can travel at speeds up to 55 mph and go 185 miles on a fully charged battery, has been driven by Swiss schoolteacher Louis Palmer to spread the word that we have the technologies to radically reduce carbon emissions and stop global warming. Palmer had this to say of his trip,

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Author/engineer William H. Kemp, who is a leading expert in small- and mid-scale renewable energy technologies, designed and built his own off-grid home. The result is a house that has all the standard “middle-class” creature comforts while using less than five times the total fossil-fuel energy of the average North American house.

The Renewable Energy Handbook focuses on the unique requirements of off-grid living and contains chapters on energy conservation; heating and cooling; backup power; domestic water heating; wireless communications; photovoltaic, wind, and microhydro energy generation; battery selection; and inverters.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.

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The cabin is 14 x 14 and aproximately 400 square feet with a full loft. It includes a kitchen, dining area, bathroom and living area downstairs and a large bedroom and office upstairs.

I built this cabin by myself from new materials for under $2000 (not

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LaMar Alexander, is one eco-friendly-building-machine and he's ready to share a few things he's learned along the way in his new ebook, Simple Solar Homesteading. This book is not for just anybody, as the house is small, the appliances are few and while y

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So we know what it takes to live off grid and how you generate off grid power, but what does living off grid look like? It might be a surprise to some, but some off-grid homes are totally indistinguishable from other houses in the neighborhood (except for

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