Key Off-Grid Building Blocks & Ideas
101 ideas, topics, technologies & authors I'll be writing about for the next year
The equation for off-grid, sustainable living involves hundreds of concepts, ideas, technologies and topics. I like to think of this big-picture as an extensive puzzle to solve. Every off-grid system is a puzzle piece. Every concept is a puzzle piece. Every influential author is a puzzle piece. Every puzzle piece is a building block. Read on for the full list of topics for the next 101 articles or so:
Here are the puzzle pieces (or building blocks rather) I’ll be writing about over the next year as our team improves the Land Lab Simulator and completes out first off-grid video series:
Water Systems
Food Systems
Creative Shelter
Clean Energy Systems
Sanitation Systems
Transportation Systems
Local Community
Community Supported Agriculture
Methane Digesters
Solar Ovens
Biochar
Seed Saving
Rainwater Collection
Solar Panels
Solar Hot Water
Passive Home Heating
Rotational Grazing
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Backyard Chickens
Kune Kune Pigs
Pollinators
Liquid Fertilizer / JADAM
Mushrooms
Food Waste
Remote Work
Homeschooling, Roadschooling & Unschooling
Off-Grid Friendly States
Holistic Healthcare
Small Business
Eco Tourism
Short Term Eco Rentals
Battery Technology
Biomass for Energy
Tiny Homes
Yurts & Canvas Tents
Container Homes / Barndominiums
Earth Ships
WOFATIS
The term: Climate Change
Micro EVs & Car-free Paths
Time Banking
Greenhouses
Meadows & Lawns
Western Culture
Minimalism & Monks
Dachas & Allotments
Kibbutz & Moshav
American Homesteads
The Mighty Dollar
Modern Careers
Deglobalization
Declining populations
Zoning for Off-Grid
Financing Off-Grid
Composting Toilets
The Land Lab Simulator
Land Labs for Education
Distributism
The Big Cycles: History’s Wheel
Overproduction of Elites
Vermicomposting
Aquaponics & Aquaculture
Health Cost Sharing
Credit Unions & Crowdfunding
Corporate Consolidation
Circular Economies
David Holmgren
Joel Salatin
Ryan Avent
Charles C. Mann
Francis Schafer
Ted Trainer
Katherine HaeHoe
Martin Ford
Kate Raworth
Daniel Susskind
Peter Zeihan
Wendell Berry
Mark Bittman
Rana Foroohar
Tristan Harris
Tim Jackson
Andrew Yang
Vaclav Smil
Kevin Roose
Dan Saladino
Mark Mills
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Joel Kotkin
Jack Dody
Noah Sanders
Happen Films
Sepp Holzer
Front Porch Republic
Ray Dalio
Peter Turchin
Ebenezer Howard
Kirsten Dirksen
Paul Wheaton
If any of these technologies, concepts, ideas, methods or authors resonate with you, stick around! I’m looking forward to unpacking each idea and connecting them to each other to form the overall puzzle for us to learn from together.
Our end-goal is to deliver a flexible off-grid blueprint for others. Every location on earth is different, and every human’s needs and preferences are a bit different. Every off-grid living system will need to be uniquely adapted for its location on earth, and for the needs of the people living within it.
Learning about these core building blocks are the most important first step. Once you understand the building blocks, you can begin to assemble your own off-grid design for building a different lifestyle.
The puzzle pieces can fit together to make a stunning final design. What will your unique off-grid design look like?
Our mission at Acorn Land Labs is to share the ideas, methods, tools & concepts needed for people to leverage off-grid systems to live more freely and affordably. Go build something!
🎥 Off-Grid Systems Video Course - 10 hour off-grid systems course
📗 Acorn Off-Grid Home eBook - 50 key off-grid systems we use for living simply
🎧 Acorn Off-Grid Audiobook - 50 key off-grid systems we use for living simply
📚 Acorn Off-Grid Systems Paperback / Hardback Editions - buy on Amazon
