Segway Inventor Takes His Private Island Off The Grid

Late last year, Segway inventor Dean Kamen announced that he would take his private island "off the grid," a term associated more with grizzled hippies or disturbed militia men than with millionaire inventors.

But Kamen is determined to use his personal empire to show the world that zero net energy is not only possible, but also that it will soon be very appealing--for everyone.

Kamen has resolved to live only on the energy he can produce with the island's renewables: a wind turbine, solar panels, and his own redesign of the Stirling engine. The key to using energy within his means is cutting energy consumption. The first stop: lighting. So Kamen has retrofitted the entire island with LEDs. With steps such as this, he says--tongue in cheek--that his island will be the world's first energy-independent nation.