Cameron: committed eco-campaigner

WAIRARAPA New Zealand – Feb 1st –  Canadian-born James Cameron, Director of the two highest grossing movies of all time, has bought a thousand hectares near Wairarapa, north of Wellington, under conditions of strict secrecy with a view to moving there “indefinitely” with his family to be self-sufficient at a time of possible economic collapse. It will not be the first time the Director has lived off-grid. He used to have a solar and wind-powered home in California.

Its a coup for the New Zealand government (reported on Off-Grid.net earlier this month) which recently unveiled plans to attract wealthy Americans worried about their own country to live in eco-homes in remote beauty spots.

Cameron is believed to have paid about 20 million New Zealand dollars  for the large rural property. The purchase was only confirmed yesterday after being given the green light by New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office (OIO) in December.

One part of the property is a low-lying, 250-hectare dairy farm, sold by Heather and Rob McCreary, which runs along the southern end of Western Lake Rd. The other is a much larger 817ha hillside property overlooking Lake Pounui, where it is thought likely Cameron will build a house.

The property includes large sections of native bush, much of it covered by covenant, and was sold by Bill and Annette Shaw, who started the nearby luxury resort Wharekauhau Country Estate.

The owners of the two properties are not commenting on the sales, citing strict confidentially agreements.

Mr Shaw said he had been “sworn to secrecy”, while Mrs McCreary refused to comment.

Cameron, from Ontario, o is thought to have New Zealand residency. He is expected in the country later this year to start work on two sequels to Avatar, the biggest-grossing movie on record.

Avatar was made with Wellington’s Weta Digital, which provided the visual effects for the film and won an Oscar for its work.

But OIO documents released yesterday show that Cameron’s New Zealand connection will be more than just a working one.

“James F Cameron and his family intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm,” it says.

One of Cameron’s new neighbours, who did not want to be named, said people had known about the sale for “a little while”.

“Those who are involved haven’t said anything because of all the secrecy, but people around here have been talking.”

She said she was yet to met the film-maker, although he is known to have visited the properties at least once.

“I don’t know the man, I’ve never met him, so I don’t know if he’s good, bad or indifferent.

“If these people come here to live and be a part of our community, then I would have absolutely no problem with that.

“But if he’s just here as an overseas absentee landowner, then I have reservations.”

Another neighbour, Dougal MacKenzie, said the hillside property featured uninterrupted views over Lake Pounui and out to the sea beyond, and backed on to forest park land. “It’s about as private as you can get.”

The two properties are on the western shore of Lake Onoke, on a rural road 35 kilometres southwest of Featherston.

While the properties are a 90-minute drive from central Wellington, they are just a 10-minute helicopter ride from Wellington Airport.

They are also just minutes down the road from Wharekauhau Country Estate, a favourite of Wairarapa’s other famous film- makers, Sir Peter Jackson and wife Fran Walsh, who own an estate outside Masterton.

Wharekauhau is a private country lodge with cottages, suites and self-contained houses on 2023 hectares of rolling coastal farmland.

The resort was sold in 2010 and the surrounding land in 2011, with American businessman William P Foley II the major shareholder.

Born James Francis Cameron in Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954 (age 57) Moved to the United States in 1971. Quit his job as a truck driver to get into movies. Directed the two highest- grossing movies on record: Avatar in 2009 (US$2.78 billion worldwide) and Titanic in 1997 ($1.84b). Other blockbusters include The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989). His net worth has been put at NZ$788m. Married five times. Married to actress Suzy Amis since 2000. A reputation for being a tough boss led to his nickname “Iron Jim”. He has been known to threaten to use a nail gun to impale workers’ cellphones if they ring on set. A keen environmentalist, he has lived “off the grid” at his California home, with solar energy and a windmill he designed.

A web site for local information said:  ”

Wairarapa is a region of big skies, wide valleys and small towns, full of character. With three major forest parks and a wild stretch of coast it offers endless possibilities for outdoor adventures or just getting away from it all.

It’s also one of New Zealand’s top food and wine destinations offering some of the country’s premium wines and everything from country cooking to fine cuisine in the many cafes, vineyards and restaurants. The Wairarapa is a true escape – all within an hour’s drive of Wellington, and at the heart of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail.”

Simpsons endorse off-grid lifestyle

Fox continues to dribble out info about the upcoming, record-setting 500th Simpsons episode, in which Homer and family go to live off the grid.

What will Mr Burns think?

We already covered the basic news that the family are ejected from Springfield and find a warm welcome in an off-grid community.

Now it transpires that the episode will also include an appearance by Julian Assange, the autocratic Wikileaks founder, who is living with the off-gridders when The Simpsons arrive.

“The Simpsons go off the grid to this very rugged place where they meet [Assange], who’s sort of their new Flanders,” said Al Jean, executive producer of the show.

However, aside from being their new next door neighbour, the similarities between Flanders and Assange end there. When the Simpsons are invited to watch a home movie with Assange they find themselves watching an Afghan wedding being bombed.

Its not the first time Homer and family have toyed with the off-grid life. In an environmentally-themed episode aired Sunday, April 25th 2010, Homer tried out wind energy, and built a backyard turbine.

But when Homer realizes some of the power is being directed to the local electric company, he decides to remove his home from the grid and becomes completely dependent upon his  unreliable source of power. “From now on, the Simpsons are living intermittently,” he declares.

We’ve known for a while that the milestone 500th episode of “The Simpsons” would come somewhere early in 2012, but FOX has now nailed down a date for the episode: Sunday, Feb. 19.

Im looking to be frugal as i’ve started growing my own fruit and veg, look to re use or re purpose what I can. Have a creative and problem solving outlook to life.

Would love to learn bee and chicken keeping, gain permaculture experience and ween myself off the need to work 5 days a week and get away from being part of the machine.

Not looking to be part of a commune as do like my own space and ways of living and growing but am not against the idea of being part of a community of independant yet helpful and friendly individuals / families looking to share our excess and help one another like people should be in conventional suburbs.

Obama praises Nellis - unaware of flaws

Off-Grid.net has written many stories over the years about the US military’s early-adoption of off-grid energy strategies.  But some army and USAF bases are stymied by the big energy companies when it comes to readying themselves for a big outage caused by anything from solar storms to terrorist attacks.

A recent report from Nevada by Greenwire focuses on a base that carries out some of the Air Force’s most advanced work, including testing and flying drones.The 140 acres of solar panels at Nellis Air Force Base’s 14.2 megawatt array are useless when commercial power is out, thanks to a provision in the agreement with the local utility that lets NV Energy turn off the array if the grid power goes down.

It seems mad, but “ contractual and technical obstacles mean Nellis’ array won’t produce a watt of power if the grid goes down any time soon.  The deal reveals the hurdles facing the military as it tries to tap renewable energy in its search for energy security..

NV Energy claim the key issue is safety. The utility says it does not want the renewable power plant feeding energy to the grid if its engineers are fixing lines. But that is a ruse used widely by energy companies around the world.  A simple switch could solve that problem, and for large scale projects like this, a trusted operator would be required to throw it.  A similar arrangement may not work for ordinary households.  But what about an automatic switch in homes that have solar panels?  One that cannot be overridden and simply disconnects solar from the grid when the grid is down and connects back again when power returns to normal?  The electro-mechanical technology is child’s play but the gadget does not exist.  Why not?

Getting back to the US military, Nellis has not implemented that fix. No switching is allowed in their contract with the energy company.  Nor has the Navy at the Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, Calif., a 270-megawatt geothermal plant –  the only military installation that produces more power than it uses. Nor have many other U.S. military bases that have fields of solar panels and/or wind turbines.

The idea of using renewable energy to power critical missions was on the Pentagon agenda when Nellis was built in 2007 (though not when China Lake projects went up in 1987).

Today, as bases recognize the need to build renewable energy generation for reasons of energy security, there is no absolute requirement that vital services are maintained if the local power goes out. And that seems self-defeating.

“It’s not energy security if you’ve got renewable generation that you cannot access if the grid goes down,” Scott Sklar, a veteran renewable power consultant told Greenwire.

“Cost is often cited as a barrier for DOD not having the proper grid-access deals or technologies. Utilities charge a “disconnect fee” for the right to drop off the grid and continue generation during a power outage. The fees vary, but military energy managers say they are sizeable enough to affect a project’s overall financials”  says the report.

The problem lies in the way the military were authorized to take on renewable energy projects, which are legally required to yield more in savings than they cost to build. Because of bad management and inaccurate projections of future costs by energy companies – projects can appear to have thin margins.  However as energy costs rise faster than predicted, the energy companies’ position looks increasingly tenuous.

“Pentagon policymakers have been awakened in recent years to the vulnerability of bases that rely on commercial power, but as they start to devise new standards for renewable power, they must navigate regulatory mazes that vary from state to state. States have authority over utilities, and many utilities must be dealt with individually,” says Greenwire.

Capt. Jeffrey Dodson, commander of the Navy’s China Lake installation, raised the issue at the Pentagon this fall.

Meanwhile, Off-Grid.net reported three years ago http://www.off-grid.net/2009/07/10/29-palms-goes-off-grid-ready/ on one base which does have its own off-grid facility.  California’s Mojave Desert is home to the Marine Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms. It has an off-grid energy system that will work during a grid outage.  It can disconnect from the grid.  It has a  7.2-megawatt gas cogeneration plant, so will be immune to solar storms, and it is building a smart microgrid independent of the power company’s.

The military is investing elsewhere in smart microgrids that respond to changes in renewable energy generation and send power to the most important facilities.

Consider this scenario: The commercial grid is down, so the base is running its cogeneration plant and 5 megawatts of photovoltaics at full tilt. Then, clouds pass, and suddenly 5 megawatts of power is gone.

“Tom Hicks, the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for energy, said he cannot get around a requirement that projects save enough money to pay for themselves. But, he said, the service has a new tool that allows him to bring energy security benefits to the forefront.

“We always have many more projects that are financially viable and meet anybody’s definition of what a good return on investment would be, but there are some within that that also address some grid security or defense critical asset issues,” he said. “This should give them more visibility or greater interest.”

Meanwhile, the Army has launched a team of renewable-power experts to help bases maneuver technical and legal hoops as the service pushes to vastly increase the amount of clean energy produced on its bases.

And the Air Force is beginning to think about the issue.  Even renewable power that is tied to the grid can have security benefits if it brings cost savings that can be put toward other security measures like building an extra power line out to a base, said Kevin Geiss, Air Force’s energy spokesman.

Anne Cobham: practising what she teaches

Paul and Anne Cobham are the second in our series about Canadians living off the grid. They run Willow Retreat and Survival School from a secluded off-grid property in Cape Breton. They moved there in order to escape from the suburban grind and live a simpler, less stressful life. This is not quite what they ended up with!

“But that’s part of the journey,” said Paul, a survival instructor. Anne is a Reiki Master  - a teacher and meditation instructor. They are on the Cabot Trail in the small village of Middle River, Nova Scotia, nestled against a wooded hillside in the Cape Breton Highlands.

The lot includes five acres of organic gardens, a pond, a barn, a chicken coop, a power shed, and an off-grid log home with a fascinating history all based on a very private 125 acres, of which 100 acres is mixed hardwood forest; used during WW2 as a supplier of wood in the construction of various RAF aircraft, and until they purchased it this 100 acres hadn’t been touched since 1944.
After 20 years of living in suburbia, just outside Toronto Canada, earning money to pay bills “so we could live in a house to make money to pay bills,” they had enough with rising costs for energy, transport and day to day living, let alone the pollution. They started to look for an off-grid property they could afford.  After spending years looking, they found that place, in February 2010, almost two years ago.
Paul and Anne are surrounded by wilderness preserve, which is provincially protected and is off-limits to motorized vehicles, including ATVs and snowmobiles, It is very quiet; in fact all you can do on their surrounding land is walk, provided you don’t disturb, destroy or damage the flora and fauna etc., you can’t even camp.

Their driveway is 3.5 kms long, it’s a winding tree-lined drive, and visitors will pass bobcat, moose, partridge, the odd coyote, and of course Mr & Mrs Beaver. At the same time, the local ravens or bald eagles will do fly-bys to see who’s coming down the lane.  “The ravens can get quite protective of us!” says Paul.
Maintaining the lane and snow clearing can be a fulltime task. They purchased an old Soviet era 4×4 tractor with a dual augur 8 foot wide blower, and a front loading bucket which is great for maintaining the gravel driveway,” it’s not pretty but it is rugged, easy to fix and burns next to no fuel, it still has the CCCP markings. When the snow is only a few inches deep they use a Suburban with a plow.

“The beauty of living this new lifestyle is we don’t have a 9 to 5 grind, so if the weather is bad and we don’t have clients coming to our courses, we just stay home and let mother nature melt the snow,” says Paul

In their micro-climate the couple grow varieties of fruit, including grapes.

Power comes from a micro-hydro system. Here is a brief outline: a pipe takes water from the year-round stream up the mountain, runs it down to a power house where the water goes through a turbine, the energy from that is converted into electricity, which goes into the wires that feed the house. The electricity is stored in a battery bank in the basement, ready for use (the batteries were from the decommissioned Diefenbaker bunker).  Paul gtakes up the story: “We have a inverter and a number of control systems which clean up the electricity before it goes to our sensitive electronics such as the TV, computer, etc. We also have a back-up generator. This year we will be adding a couple of guest cabins, and will be using Solar Pv cells to supply power, and a solar Hydronic heating and pre-heat systems for our hot water system.”

Their drinking water is a priority; this comes from the same spring-fed stream that provides the power. The water goes through a separate line, down the mountain and travels appx 1500 feet through a 1 inch pipe and into the house through a filter and Uv system.  Back-up for our water consists of storage barrels and a pump system in case the water line freezes – this normally happens when the animals chew on the insulation for nesting material.

A well now gives capacity of 12 gallons per minute, (imperial Gallons). With weather patterns changing you need a back-up system for water that comes from deep underground, and will not be affected as much by seasonal variances in rainfall such as drought etc. The well pump is going to be a solar power slow flow system that refills storage tanks in the basement, and from there the water is pumped into our regular household system.

Although we are off-grid, we have all the conveniences of a regular suburban home. We have high-speed internet, satellite TV, a security system, all of which run on our free, water-powered electricity. We can have a hot shower courtesy of our on-demand water heater, and a lot of the time we even generate more electricity than we can consume.

“As for what we miss, or wish we had,” said Paul “ I can’t think of anything. We moved here full-time in June 2011, having finally escaped the trap of suburban life, and now we grow our own vegetables, harvest our own firewood, and drink pristine spring water from our own stream. We have no electricity bill and no water bill, and when the Nova Scotia Power lines are knocked out by high winds or ice storms, we are unaffected.

“Of course it is not all perfect: we’ve had to make major upgrades to the systems since we bought the place, and it’s been a steep learning curve and at times incredibly frustrating. One of the things we’ve learned is that it’s essential to have back-up systems, and preferably not just one, but two back-ups. There is no utility company to call when things go wrong (which they inevitably do), and no repairman is going to call.  When you’re off-grid, it’s down to you, and you’d better have a plan for when things go pear-shaped, especially in the winter!

“Being able to do plumbing, electrical wiring, welding, carpentry, mechanics, to name but a few skills are essential, anyone who has no practical skills should take some night classes before they even consider going off-grid, unless of course you have a huge bank account.

It sounds like the couple have overcome the need for money as well!  Paul and Anne are coming up to their 30^th wedding anniversary and most everyone will wish they look that good after 30 years of marriage.

World Economic Fixers grab for power

The Corporate Muppets running Davos, the annual gathering of financial and industrial leaders, launched their 2012 meeting saying that now is the moment for business to take over from government as the key force for social change. But the evidence they present for this claim proves quite the opposite:  in reality, while trust in politicians and companies has collapsed, public movements like Occupy and Tea Party, plus peer-to-peer web sites are likely to become far more influential.

The impetus for the debate is the just-released poll by Edelman, a corporate PR company, showing that the public’s faith in government has dropped sharply around the world in the past year due to a mixture of corruption and incompetence.  It is this change which is causing people to go off-grid in growing numbers, particularly in the US.

In the poll of 5,600 wealthy, well-educated and well-informed respondents in 25 countries, those saying they trusted their government fell from 52 per cent to 43 per cent, with the figure falling below 30 per cent in countries including Japan, Russia and Spain.

The steep falls in politicians’ standing in countries from France to Brazil, previously unseen in the 12-year history of the survey, more than erased the gains governments had made since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Politicians are now even less trusted than business, non-government organisations or the media, and the number of countries where a majority of the “informed public” polled said they distrusted all four institutions almost doubled in the year, from six to 11 per cent.

The causes for waning public faith in governments varied from the eurozone debt crisis to corruption scandals in Brazil and the handling of the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake, said Richard Edelman, the consultancy’s president.

“We see a yawning gap between what people expect of government and the performance they say government is actually delivering,” said Mr Edelman.

At Davos he will say that the new public view – that government officials were the least credible spokespeople – had given companies “a licence to lead”.

However, Dominic Barton, managing director of McKinsey consultancy, noted that business and non-government organisations had also lost ground in the survey. “We’ve got business, government and society in that triangle,” he said. “It’s a pretty torn fabric.”

Trust in business globally fell back from 56 per cent to 53 per cent. Chief executives saw a sharp drop in their standing, with the number saying they saw this group as credible spokespeople falling from 50 to 38 per cent. In every country, however, government leaders were even more distrusted than business leaders.

The US saw a slight rise in companies’ standing – trust levels rose four percentage points to 50 per cent. The figure jumped 10 points to 71 per cent in China, but the opposite was true in western Europe. In Germany, France and Spain, the share of the “informed public” saying they trusted business fell from about half to a third or less.

Executives hoping for less political scrutiny more than three years after Lehman Brothers collapsed will be concerned by the poll’s finding that half of those asked said they wanted business to be more tightly regulated, while only 22 per cent thought companies were over-regulated.

Financial services companies remain the least-trusted businesses, and trust in banks fell further, with distrust in the banking sector spreading from the eurozone to South Korea and Japan. In the US, however, bankers regained some public trust, despite the harsh light shone on them by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Policing corporate behaviour ranked highest on respondents’ lists of expectations of government, but “those are things business could do itself.”

That presents business with an opportunity to influence debate, Mr Edelman said.

Mr Barton said the survey offered contrasting lessons on the case for collaboration between business and government. “The negative side is that if two groups with negative trust start fighting with each other, that’s like two drowning people fighting,” he said.

The survey shows the stark impact of Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. Trust in government halved to only 26 per cent, trust in the energy industry dropped from 75 to 29 per cent and the share of people seeing government officials as credible spokespeople dived from 63 to only 8 per cent.

I want to set an example for others that people can afford to use solar and wind technology to live off grid and stop wasting other resources and polluting the earth and they can live very comfortably. I would like to have a large garden, raise sheep and horses, possibly have a small vineyard and am interested in bee-keeping for my farm.

The hardest part will be the financing of land and building materials. I am interested in learning to build and maintain my own solar and wind energy and how to manage water supplies. I currently live in Iowa and I think that this is where I want to stay, but that is something that can change bc I love to travel and explore this beautiful world. I hope I can find like-minded people who can help me learn.

I am Algonquin First Nation and was raised in the caucasian world because of my father. In the past five years I have reconnected with my heritage and have chosen to live off grid. I am a retired Purchasing Manager and my husband works in Logistics.

We must respect Mother Earth and treat one another with respect as well. Humanity has taken a bad turn and things are only going to get worse. The year 2012 is supposed to be a very active solar cycle and we can end up with another Carrington Event which would take down the failing grid structure.

Due to the Economic crisis & increase in siesmic and Solar activity it is best to get off the grid now and have peace of mind, body and soul. There is nothing better than waking up in the morning with the birds singing and becoming one with Nature once again, as humanity should be..

If interested please contact me.
Chi’Miigwetch, (Thank you very much in Algonquin)

There's no Remembrancer here, dear

The gloves are off in the 100-day standoff between the City of London Corporation and London Occupy protesters.

Occupy organisers plan to take over more buildings in the next few weeks, as the movement focuses public attention on finance industry billionaires. This evening it offered to vacate squatted buildings in return for concessions from City grandees on the transparency of their fundraising and lobbying operations.

After eviction orders were handed out to the St Paul’s and Bank of Ideas squatters by the High Court last week, the Occupy movement took a new building last morning, in the Barbican area of the City of London, and organisers expect to move into other addresses over the next few days.

But hours later the occupiers left the building after owners cited safety concerns. It is thought Occupy legal advisers considered the presence of Asbestos in the building would give the owners carte blanche to clear the Occupation before it had taken root.

In the few hours when the building was occupied, protesters garnered international publicity for their offer to leave the building only if the City Corporation (ultimate owners of the Square Mile) had agreed to open up its books to pubic scrutiny. Occupy supporters are worried that billions is being spent lobbying on behalf of the banks and other financial institutions. They point out that there is a little-know title in the Houses of Parliament called The Remembrancer, whose job is to warn the City Corporation of any legislation that might affect the interests of the denizens of the City of London. Is own web site says: “As the City’s head of protocol, the Remembrancer’s Office is responsible for organising events and hospitality on behalf of the City Corporation. Functions range from small receptions to major State banquets.”

The Remembrancer has an official location, out of sight behind the Speakers chair in the House of Commons, where he (always a he)  can see and hear everything but not be seen or heard. Little John has raised no objection to this tradition.
- ends -

Please send all news about Occupy to nick@off-grid.net

Preppers - a new kind of tourism for Taupo

The government has already earmarked the spot for a “Biosphere of the 21st century” and it is home to the New Zealand Clean Energy Centre.
The proposed family-style homes would be heated via geothermal or biomass sources, and electricity supplied via solar or wind energy.
Wastewater would be drip irrigated to energy crops that would provide future fuel for the community. Water would be supplied via rainwater collection.
There will be wi-fi internet along with communal vegetable gardens and septic tanks.
“This is about attracting people who have disconnected from the world, so to speak, who need only their laptop and smartphone and can travel anywhere and still work,” said the centre’s CEO, Rob McEwan.
“Young, affluent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are scouting around New Zealand at present looking for land,” Mr McEwan said.
“They are looking to get out of the US, live in a community with good water resources and establish a sustainable and ‘local’ lifestyle.” New Zealand could “easily” rise to be the No 1 choice for them, he said.
“We are politically neutral, almost 80 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewables, we have ample water and we are friendly to Americans.
“So then the question for Taupo becomes how can we lure them to our community?”.
The development would comprise half- acre sections and the actual houses would be simple designs that resemble any ordinary Waikato development.
“The large section would allow for things like large garden spaces, which could be private or shared, and septic tanks,” he said.
And how much would a slice of green living go for? “It is an unknown cost at this stage, but part of the vision is providing affordable housing.
“We would be looking at a range of homes, all under $500,000.” Owners would also have to pay about $60,000 for renewable energy technology add-on costs, he said.
Taupo mayor Rick Cooper was wary of the “grandiose plan”. “But the council does like to support drive and enthusiasm and dreams.”

Im looking to be frugal as i’ve started growing my own fruit and veg, look to re use or re purpose what I can. Have a creative and problem solving outlook to life.

Would love to learn bee and chicken keeping, gain permaculture experience and wean myself off the need to work 5 days a week and get away from being part of the machine.

Not looking to be part of a commune as do like my own space and ways of living and growing but am not against the idea of being part of a community of independant yet helpful and friendly individuals / families looking to share our excess and help one another like people should be in conventional suburbs.