Up North and Off Grid

In this last picture, Jupiter can be seen in the middle. Below and to the right of Jupiter is Aldebaran (in the ‘band’ of the aurora). The Pleiades are also visible (to the top and right next to the ‘band’). All the best for 2025!

I've held off on writing this entry since I was afraid it might get too technical, and become either too long or just boring and useless with lack of detail. Hopefully I found some middle ground now, and I can show you how I manage and control all the energy related systems. In addition, this entry allows me to write about some of the smaller items such as a battery charger and sensors that complete the whole set-up. Please note that what I built is not something that is necessary for everyone - it's just what I did.  Perhaps the first questions to answer: what do I mean with energy management and control systems, and why do I need it? In its simplest form, energy management means monitoring the state of charge on the battery, the incoming energy from the solar panels, and perhaps some sensors for the temperature in the buffer tank. Expanding on that, we can include automation aspects: turn on the heat pump when the battery is full to use the excess solar energy, schedule heavy...

Over the course of writing this blog, I've made several upgrades and expansions to the systems in place. Some I mentioned briefly in previous posts, others I have not, or I might have only mentioned that things were in the planning phase. In this post I will show you what has changed in more detail, the reasons why, and the cost. Before that, I think I never shared a good picture of the finished inside with floor in place, painted ceiling and walls, lights, and the masonry fireplace fully installed with chimney, so here goes: This is before any furniture was placed. The combination of the spots and 'spider lamp' ( Serge Mouille inspired) works really well I think. They're all LED of course, and on dimmers, and have different color temperature options depending on the intended atmosphere. All sockets, light switches and dimmers are Schneider Exxact , in anthracite color. These things don't seem to be available outside of the Nordics, hence the link to the Finnish si...

  This winter in Finland was (still is at the time of writing this) the coldest in 20 years. Temperatures down to and below -40C (-40F, yeah they’re the same) in some places, and all the way to -33C (-27F) where I am. Even here in Finland, these cold temperatures can be challenging, especially when they are sustained for weeks at a time… How do we keep warm off-grid with this kind of weather? Early winter — we had no idea at this time how cold it would get… Obviously since we’re in the middle of winter, I can’t rely on solar power for heating. That means the heat-pump isn’t even in the picture this time of year. I run the generator once a week to charge the batteries, to augment what little I get from the sun, but for a heat-pump I would have to run it every day. The only viable energy source for heating off-grid in this climate is wood  as I said before  — and I’ve got plenty of that. So let’s look at how much wood I use on these coldest days. I’ll use a few consecutive ...

Over the years since I started planning this project and discussing it with others (both online and offline) I've had a myriad of questions pop up. I've also had people commenting on what I was doing in both constructive and, let's say, not so constructive ways. In this entry I want to summarize some of the most common questions and comments I've received and my responses to them. I hope that these topics will not only help for you to understand my thought process behind the project better, but that it can also help you understand yours better if you want to do something similar. I don't have a set number of questions, and I might expand and refine the list at some later point in time. 1) How do I start doing what you did? The first question you should ask is: do you really want to do what I did, or is it something else you're looking for. With that I mean, don't just look at something and go "hey, I want that too", instead, think about my project ...

After my previous entries on water, heating and power, I think it's time to go back to the house and reflect on some of the details involved in the building process. I already discussed the foundation and some of the design decisions, but in this entry I want to go over things like insulation, roof design, and other aspects that are crucial for this project. At the end, I also briefly discuss some updates to the power system. The Roof The roof construction is more involved than one might think. For one, the eaves have to be far enough out from the wall to help protect the wall from water. But there is much more: it needs to hold the insulation, it needs the ability to dry out in case of moisture, it needs to support the snow load, and of course it has to be waterproof. For these reasons, a typical roof construction over here looks, with possibly a few other material choices, like this: Let me go over these details and explain why I made these material choices compared to others.  G...