Water pumping windmills
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
Standing tall like a giant sunflower in a sea of undulating prairie grasses, or in any rural setting, a windmill is a thing of beauty. Not only are...
Keep those gadgets working after the power goes out
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #84 • November/December, 2004
The recent 2003 northeast electric grid failure taught the residents of many large cities what most rural residents learned years ago: Lights, air conditioners, televisions, stereos,...
A small creek provides plenty of power for this off-grid home
By Scott Gentleman
Website Exclusive • November, 2007
For eight years, Tracey and I lived in a solar powered home and for eight cloudy winters, we ran a small Honda generator every week to recharge our...
Build Your Own Car Wash
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #133 • January/February, 2012
Completed car wash in operation
If someone told me a year ago that I would have a commercial car wash behind my garage, I would have laughed....
Build a passive-solar food dehydrator
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The finished passive-solar dehydrator maintained a fairly constant temperature of 150° F throughout most of the day without any repositioning, which shows that this design can...
Is steam power in your future?
By Skip Goebel
Issue #43 • January/February, 1997
If you're thinking steam is old-fashioned, consider this: Almost a century ago, steam cars and ships attained speeds and efficiencies which are still difficult to attain, even with...
Millenium Vehicles
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
A major failing of transportation worldwide is that 99.9% of vehicles on farms, street, and freeways work on one energy source: liquid fuels. In any disastersmall or large,...
Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #149 • September/October, 2014
Click Here to listen to an interview with Jeff about this article.
Most of the electric substations, transmission lines, and electrical switchgear for any given utility are...
Solar system codes — Build it right!
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
Here, multiple homemade solar modules have caught fire and burned.
The further you go into the mountains or rural countryside, the more some people think building codes...
Making and using a solar cooker
By Joe Radabaugh
Issue #30 • November/December, 2004
Solar cooking is a delightful alternative to conventional cooking methods. The solar cookers available today really work and they deserve serious evaluation by a much larger audience. For...
Water: a safe supply when you’re off the grid
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
That remote mountain property seemed like a steal until you found out you could not drill a well. Four years ago we were approached by a...
Powering medical equipment during a utility blackout
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
Most people consider blackouts a nuisance. However, for some folks, a blackout can be paralyzing or even deadly, particularly if a critical piece of medical equipment lacks electricity....
Phantom solar — The crucial invisible system needed before you install solar
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #78 •
Are you planning to install a solar photovoltaic system to reduce your utility bills? How would you like it if your first solar electric power system had invisible...
Install a mobile, solar powered toilet
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
When our solar business started to really increase, I found myself spending more and more time in my truck traveling down the highway to very remote...
Sunny Solutions for north slope applications
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #61 • January/February, 2000
Solar-powered pumps have proved their worth for many installations worldwide, anywhere under the sun. However, in the northern hemisphere, a year-around spring located at the base of a...
