Underground and Off-grid at Middle Earth 

Check out Tolkien-inspired Hobbit Hall at Middle Earth in the Kanimbla Valley where Physicist Hans Coster and his wife Tillie (a retired teacher) have reforested a degraded sheep paddock and built a two-storey underground house designed to withstand climate extremes. It uses the stable underground temperature of the earth (around 14C) to regulate indoor temperature, and is close to self-sufficient: with banks of nickel-iron batteries fed by solar panels ... and lots more.
Read more about nickel-iron batteries and how they waterproofed and built their underground Hobbit Hall and in Lithgow Area Local News: www.lithgowlocalnews.com/middle-earth-kanimbla-valley/
For more stories click Subscribe to the Blue Mountains Planetary Health RU-vid Channel and subscribe to the fortnightly Planetary Health Newsletter here: www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/planetary-health-news
This story has been produced by the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health. It is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
To learn more about the Planetary Health Initiative visit www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au