Fossil fuels can be looked at as Mother Nature's savings account. For a period of time, sunlight that fell on earth was incompletely "spent" leaving some stored in the form of hydrocarbons. We learned how to burn these compounds for heat (just like we did with wood, peat and dung) and eventually we learned how to convert their stored energy into mechanical force. Recently we've learned how to convert them into plastics and chemical fertilizers.
Basically, we found the passbook to this savings account and in our naivete we went on a spending spree. We've been spending coal on a massive scale for 200 years, oil on an even worse scale for a century. In the 1970s folks started thinking about oil as a finite resource, one we could conceivably run out of. We failed to actually do much though, and we failed to realize that the waste products of this spending spree could drown us (sort of like the way yeast drowns in its own waste [Etoh] at a concentration of around 14% - great for us, not so much for the yeast).
We've been able to wrest food from the soil on a truly miraculous scale, by using oil to push tractors, and by using fertilizers made from natural gas. We've been able to build up the world population from 1.5 billion to 6 billion souls. But this has been made possible only by raiding this savings account.
Living off your savings is not sustainable. Spending more than you make is not sustainable (yes, I realize that in a society, some folks can get away with just that, but they are, by definition, parasites, and a society can afford only so many parasites). We can only live off Mother Nature's savings for so long.
I guess that this perspective makes me an economic conservative. I believe in balance because I do not see any long range alternative. None. Ever. Inputs and outputs must eventually balance. All of our inputs here come directly or indirectly from the sun (although an argument can be made for nuclear [pronounced new-klee-are] fuels being the "savings account" of a former star and therefore not to be included in this balance sheet). Solar energy is direct, using sunlight to grow oilseed and processing the oilseed into biodiesel is indirect, but the parent energy is still solar.
We don't have deficit spending as an option. Money is a fiction that exists as "valuable" only because we all agree that it does. Energy is real: it either exists or it doesn't, it has finite quantity. There is no fuel to "borrow" against an expected better future.
What we do have is a miracle of history, and an opportunity that is very, very short. If we solve our energy supply problems in a totally sustainable way while we still have a mechanical infrastructure we can continue, probably not in the style to which we have become accustomed, but at least continue in a civilized and reasonably comfortable manner. If we blow it and let individual greed (the problem of the commons) rule our decision making, and this opportunity slips away, we are doomed. (Whoa, Dude, Doomed?)
The middle ages, referred to as "the Dark ages" for a reason, follwed the Roman Empire, yet its citizens knew very little of advanced Roman technologies. They lost the ability to accomplish a number of things once common. I only mention this to prove that it can and does happen. We need advanced materails technology to pull off a conversion to sustainable solar harvesting.
We need top take advantage of the understandings that we have earned. We need the materials technology that we've recently developed. I, as an individual, can go back to burning wood to stay warm and raisning my food and fuel on my small acreage. 6 billion of us can't all do that.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Winter in the Earthship (not quite)
We didn't make it into the building this fall. Between Ruth's cancer and Liam's death we fell short, both emotionally and practically, on a number of key projects. We both took new jobs and that has been a (mostly positive, but still "mixed") blessing. Up here, even a 7 hour a day job sets you on the road in the dark and gets you home in the dark in December. This winter has been exceptionally cold too, at least compared to the last six or seven, with December temperatures often falling below zero (f) and staying for days. We expect some of this in January but this year we got two months of bitter cold instead of one.
The up side is that we got to test the thermal mass of the building without any added input*. Despite several days and many nights well below zero (f) the temperature in the building has never dipped below 24 (f). I sat down there one day, -28 (f) outside, 27 inside, realizing that I had almost 50 degrees difference. Then I noticed that the sliding glass door (which will open into the greenhouse when the greenhouse is built) hasn't been finished or even sealed.
The old (1904) house has a fuel oil (diesel for those in warm climates) furnace that is only about 15 years old. While I deeply hate buring fossil fuel for heat that is what we've got and I don't see a practical conversion at this time. Between the price of the oil and the periodic and untraceable breakdowns with this furnace I am even more adamant about not spending another winter in this house.
The house was built for a coal furnace (the "coal room" is still intact in the basement - I use it as a sandblast booth). The original occupants expected to wear thermal underware all winter, to bundle in sox, sweaters, and several layers of clothing, and to add mittens, boots and coats to go outside. They used copious numbers of quilts at night. Someone had to get up a couple hours before everyone else and make a fire, heat water (thaw, if frozen), etc.
Our expectations are quite different now. Unrealistic, I think, or at least unsustainable. We will, I suspect, slowly switch over to electric heat, but much of this will be generated by burning coal. The coal industry advertises that we have 250 years worth of coal now, but if that is 250 years at current usage, and our usage will quintuple as we switch away from oil to coal, we are looking at 100 years or less, all the while adding a staggering amount of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Our jersey gets a little pissy when the barn is -15 (f) and milking become a trial for both of us. In seeing that the temperature in the sheltered building stays so close to freezing without anybody breathing in there it occurs to us that an earth-sheltered barn would be a pretty good idea. I'm also spending a lot of electricity keeping water liquid for the livestock, and, if respiration would be enough to keep the interior at 33 (f) or above I wouldn't need a water heater at all.
While plans are still being finalized, we will start digging for an earthsheltered barn this spring. The second floor, a hay loft basically, may well be a greenhouse, we'll see.
This last summer my boss put in a commercial heat pump system of a style that is becoming popular out here. A 10' deep by 5' wide trench is dug through the yard and PEX pipe is coiled at the bottom of the trench with the ends run through the basement wall. His application uses several seperate runs of PEX. A water/glycol mix is pumped through the tubing picking up heat in the winter and leaving heat in the summer. A heat compressor/evaporator unit in the house strips calories and heats air that is blown through the existing duct system. He got a true test this last month and figure that in the subzero weather he has been spending about $8 per day to heat his large, old farmhouse.
*Caveat: Almost no added input... Marna brought us a little cast iron box stove that we installed at Thanksgiving and I have set a fire in it maybe six times since. We'll sit by the fire and talk about the house for a couple of hours and let it go out. The stove serves as radiant heat but does not heat the air very much, at least it hasn't in the short times we've run it. I assume that the calories are being stored in the nearby concrete. I have been playing with a 12v computer fan for forced outside air but have not drilled the box yet for a permanent connection to the stove. I'm looking for a cast iron toilet flange as the 4" drain pipe will fit the 4" flexible venting tube perfectly and can be bolted to the side of the box stove. The fan, a little underpowered, runs off a car battery that is charged by a 15wt solar panel. The panel sits on the roof and is covered with snow occasionally, but nothing is running off it right now besides the fan.
FYI:
http://www.blackhawk-studios.org/earthship/
This link is much more eaisily updated and is likely to have more current information. Google has, well, issues with security. I feel for them, I really do, but it makes uploading to this site much more difficult than uploading to my own.
The up side is that we got to test the thermal mass of the building without any added input*. Despite several days and many nights well below zero (f) the temperature in the building has never dipped below 24 (f). I sat down there one day, -28 (f) outside, 27 inside, realizing that I had almost 50 degrees difference. Then I noticed that the sliding glass door (which will open into the greenhouse when the greenhouse is built) hasn't been finished or even sealed.
The old (1904) house has a fuel oil (diesel for those in warm climates) furnace that is only about 15 years old. While I deeply hate buring fossil fuel for heat that is what we've got and I don't see a practical conversion at this time. Between the price of the oil and the periodic and untraceable breakdowns with this furnace I am even more adamant about not spending another winter in this house.
The house was built for a coal furnace (the "coal room" is still intact in the basement - I use it as a sandblast booth). The original occupants expected to wear thermal underware all winter, to bundle in sox, sweaters, and several layers of clothing, and to add mittens, boots and coats to go outside. They used copious numbers of quilts at night. Someone had to get up a couple hours before everyone else and make a fire, heat water (thaw, if frozen), etc.
Our expectations are quite different now. Unrealistic, I think, or at least unsustainable. We will, I suspect, slowly switch over to electric heat, but much of this will be generated by burning coal. The coal industry advertises that we have 250 years worth of coal now, but if that is 250 years at current usage, and our usage will quintuple as we switch away from oil to coal, we are looking at 100 years or less, all the while adding a staggering amount of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Our jersey gets a little pissy when the barn is -15 (f) and milking become a trial for both of us. In seeing that the temperature in the sheltered building stays so close to freezing without anybody breathing in there it occurs to us that an earth-sheltered barn would be a pretty good idea. I'm also spending a lot of electricity keeping water liquid for the livestock, and, if respiration would be enough to keep the interior at 33 (f) or above I wouldn't need a water heater at all.
While plans are still being finalized, we will start digging for an earthsheltered barn this spring. The second floor, a hay loft basically, may well be a greenhouse, we'll see.
This last summer my boss put in a commercial heat pump system of a style that is becoming popular out here. A 10' deep by 5' wide trench is dug through the yard and PEX pipe is coiled at the bottom of the trench with the ends run through the basement wall. His application uses several seperate runs of PEX. A water/glycol mix is pumped through the tubing picking up heat in the winter and leaving heat in the summer. A heat compressor/evaporator unit in the house strips calories and heats air that is blown through the existing duct system. He got a true test this last month and figure that in the subzero weather he has been spending about $8 per day to heat his large, old farmhouse.
*Caveat: Almost no added input... Marna brought us a little cast iron box stove that we installed at Thanksgiving and I have set a fire in it maybe six times since. We'll sit by the fire and talk about the house for a couple of hours and let it go out. The stove serves as radiant heat but does not heat the air very much, at least it hasn't in the short times we've run it. I assume that the calories are being stored in the nearby concrete. I have been playing with a 12v computer fan for forced outside air but have not drilled the box yet for a permanent connection to the stove. I'm looking for a cast iron toilet flange as the 4" drain pipe will fit the 4" flexible venting tube perfectly and can be bolted to the side of the box stove. The fan, a little underpowered, runs off a car battery that is charged by a 15wt solar panel. The panel sits on the roof and is covered with snow occasionally, but nothing is running off it right now besides the fan.
FYI:
http://www.blackhawk-studios.org/earthship/
This link is much more eaisily updated and is likely to have more current information. Google has, well, issues with security. I feel for them, I really do, but it makes uploading to this site much more difficult than uploading to my own.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Blackhawk Introduction
The Earthship at Blackhawk is more than just a building, it is also a way of life.
The Earthship sits in the middle of 20 acres of "wasteland" in fertile farm country. It is considered "waste" because it is rolling, partially wooded, and has a creek and drainage ditch cutting across it. From a factory-farm perspective it is garbage.
On site we keep a Jersey cow, a pig or two, chickens, and turkeys. We have a large garden and grow all of our own grain, and most, but not all, of our feed grain following post-organic principles.
On the property is a large 1904 farmhouse that we use in the summer and for groups and gatherings. This farm house, however, was built during a time of heavy long-johns, and abundant, cheap coal and is terribly inefficient for winters in this climate.
We want to live sustainably, using as few resources as possible (renewable and certainly non-renewable), while maintaining what we feel is an adequate and comfortable quality of life. Understanding that we all draw a line, but there is always the matter of where it is drawn, we are trying to practice what we preach.
The earthship utilizes a number of energy technologies including passive solar siting (we get direct sunshine through the windows and onto the floor from sunrise until about 5 pm in November), a thermal umbrella for 6 months passive heat storage, insulated low-e windows, attached greenhouses, exstensive plantings for winter wind protecton and snow drop, super-insulated walls and roof, solar water heating, rainwater collection and storage, and dual voltage electrical wiring with photo-voltaic generation.
Siting:
The house is set into a southeast facing hillside of glacial clay. (We're making tiles from some of the clay dug from the house site and some of these tiles will go back into the house.) This takes full advantage of what winter sun is available at our Minnesota latitude. We do lose a little evening sun but this is offset by the protection from the west and northwest winter winds.
Thermal Umbrella:
Utilizes the average temperature found 25 feet below the surface (much like a heat pump but with no moving parts), by insulating the (dry) soil that abuts the house walls from the seasonal temperature fluctuations. An added advantage is the storage of waste heat generated by lighting, appliances and, well, us.
Water Systems:
We have the typical farm water well, but have a 12v pump, photovoltaic panel, and deep-cycle battery to pump water. The roof, greenhouses, and thermal umbrella are designed as catchments for rainwater, and we have a couple of cisterns for storage. Salvaged parabolic mirrors serve to heat copper pipe for hot water (stored in a pair of insulated, recycled comercial water heaters) with a tankless on-demand water heater as backup.
Greenhouses:
We are using greenhouses for both plant propagation and thermal gain. There will ultimately be three greenhouses, one just southwest of the core unit that is used for thermal gain and a seriously extended growing season, one above the thermal umbrella that will be used for thermal gain in winter and and seedling propagation in the early spring, and a third that will sit above the first and be primarily for solar gain for the first greenhouse, turning it into a year-round hot-house for full year crops and tropicals (citrus in Minnesota?) We hope to use a passive methane generation system (livestock manure: carbon neutral) to heat (supplemental) the lower greenhouse.
Weather Plantings:
There is an established grove of trees and shrubs that creates a near-perfect wind break and snowdrop well to the north and west of the building. Obviously, forestry is an important part of "maintenance" for the site and house. (We also utilize the old European "twig" heating technology, collecting dry sticks from the forest floor, for a substantial part of our Tuli Kivi style heat source. Sticks are carbon neutral.)
Super-insulationOver the concrete roof panels we put 6" of foil-wrapped styrofoam insulation and cast an additional 3 ½ inches of concrete over that. This serves as sealant and rainwater catchment.
Dual Voltage:
While some of our appliances run on 110v AC bought from the grid, many run on the 12v DC system we have built and installed. Powered by photovoltaic panels, the electricity is stored in a series of deep-cycle batteries and is used for lighting, forced air circulation (for example, warm air from the greenhouse on sunny winter days, and outside combustion air for the wood stove), our CD player and amplifier/speakers, laptops, etc. Our state does not yet force utilities to buy excess consumer generated electricity and, of course, they choose not to do so (if you live in Minnesota write your state legislator) so it is not yet cost effective to build in excess generating capability. We hope to put up a wind generator eventually.
Composting toilet:
The state requires a complete septic system for greywater, so we have one, but we built a fiberglass Clivis knock-off for human waste which is composted and then plowed into the field land. The system uses a 12v computer fan and small PV panel for ventilation.
Food Production:
We grow a variety of small grains, both for nutritonal variety, but also as a traditional hedge against climate problems ("bad years"). On a "good" year wheat does well here, but in a "dry" year the barley and rye out-perform the wheat and oats. Our livestock gets all of our excess regardless of the flavor. We planted 375 Marquette wine grape vines this year and will begin making our own wine as soon as the vinyard is in serious production. We have just under ¼ acre in vegetable production, selling our excess at the local farmer's market (not particularly profitable but it helps support the community). We grow black walnuts and raspberries in quantity, and are nurturing a young orchard of apples, cherries, plums, pears, and even a greenhouse sheltered peach and a sweet cherry tree. We have a jersey cow and make cheese, and we try to raise a pig or two on the garden surplus each summer. Our chickens and turkeys are truly free range with unfettered access to, well, the whole world if they want it.
Other Notes:
We use salvaged and recycled materials when we can (and pray for more responsible product design in the future). We run our pickup truck on E85 (closer than gas to carbon neutral, not as good as bio-diesel).
Think about this: Coal and Oil were nature's way of sequestering carbon at a time when there was too much in the atmosphere. Oops! When we get a handle on this, what's left will probably be something like limestone, or chalk. Would't it be elegant to pave your factory floor with marble made from your own carbon emissions? Beats turning grandma into a diamond.
The Earthship sits in the middle of 20 acres of "wasteland" in fertile farm country. It is considered "waste" because it is rolling, partially wooded, and has a creek and drainage ditch cutting across it. From a factory-farm perspective it is garbage.
On site we keep a Jersey cow, a pig or two, chickens, and turkeys. We have a large garden and grow all of our own grain, and most, but not all, of our feed grain following post-organic principles.
On the property is a large 1904 farmhouse that we use in the summer and for groups and gatherings. This farm house, however, was built during a time of heavy long-johns, and abundant, cheap coal and is terribly inefficient for winters in this climate.
We want to live sustainably, using as few resources as possible (renewable and certainly non-renewable), while maintaining what we feel is an adequate and comfortable quality of life. Understanding that we all draw a line, but there is always the matter of where it is drawn, we are trying to practice what we preach.
************
The earthship utilizes a number of energy technologies including passive solar siting (we get direct sunshine through the windows and onto the floor from sunrise until about 5 pm in November), a thermal umbrella for 6 months passive heat storage, insulated low-e windows, attached greenhouses, exstensive plantings for winter wind protecton and snow drop, super-insulated walls and roof, solar water heating, rainwater collection and storage, and dual voltage electrical wiring with photo-voltaic generation.
Siting:
The house is set into a southeast facing hillside of glacial clay. (We're making tiles from some of the clay dug from the house site and some of these tiles will go back into the house.) This takes full advantage of what winter sun is available at our Minnesota latitude. We do lose a little evening sun but this is offset by the protection from the west and northwest winter winds.
Thermal Umbrella:
Utilizes the average temperature found 25 feet below the surface (much like a heat pump but with no moving parts), by insulating the (dry) soil that abuts the house walls from the seasonal temperature fluctuations. An added advantage is the storage of waste heat generated by lighting, appliances and, well, us.
Water Systems:
We have the typical farm water well, but have a 12v pump, photovoltaic panel, and deep-cycle battery to pump water. The roof, greenhouses, and thermal umbrella are designed as catchments for rainwater, and we have a couple of cisterns for storage. Salvaged parabolic mirrors serve to heat copper pipe for hot water (stored in a pair of insulated, recycled comercial water heaters) with a tankless on-demand water heater as backup.
Greenhouses:
We are using greenhouses for both plant propagation and thermal gain. There will ultimately be three greenhouses, one just southwest of the core unit that is used for thermal gain and a seriously extended growing season, one above the thermal umbrella that will be used for thermal gain in winter and and seedling propagation in the early spring, and a third that will sit above the first and be primarily for solar gain for the first greenhouse, turning it into a year-round hot-house for full year crops and tropicals (citrus in Minnesota?) We hope to use a passive methane generation system (livestock manure: carbon neutral) to heat (supplemental) the lower greenhouse.
Weather Plantings:
There is an established grove of trees and shrubs that creates a near-perfect wind break and snowdrop well to the north and west of the building. Obviously, forestry is an important part of "maintenance" for the site and house. (We also utilize the old European "twig" heating technology, collecting dry sticks from the forest floor, for a substantial part of our Tuli Kivi style heat source. Sticks are carbon neutral.)
Super-insulationOver the concrete roof panels we put 6" of foil-wrapped styrofoam insulation and cast an additional 3 ½ inches of concrete over that. This serves as sealant and rainwater catchment.
Dual Voltage:
While some of our appliances run on 110v AC bought from the grid, many run on the 12v DC system we have built and installed. Powered by photovoltaic panels, the electricity is stored in a series of deep-cycle batteries and is used for lighting, forced air circulation (for example, warm air from the greenhouse on sunny winter days, and outside combustion air for the wood stove), our CD player and amplifier/speakers, laptops, etc. Our state does not yet force utilities to buy excess consumer generated electricity and, of course, they choose not to do so (if you live in Minnesota write your state legislator) so it is not yet cost effective to build in excess generating capability. We hope to put up a wind generator eventually.
Composting toilet:
The state requires a complete septic system for greywater, so we have one, but we built a fiberglass Clivis knock-off for human waste which is composted and then plowed into the field land. The system uses a 12v computer fan and small PV panel for ventilation.
Food Production:
We grow a variety of small grains, both for nutritonal variety, but also as a traditional hedge against climate problems ("bad years"). On a "good" year wheat does well here, but in a "dry" year the barley and rye out-perform the wheat and oats. Our livestock gets all of our excess regardless of the flavor. We planted 375 Marquette wine grape vines this year and will begin making our own wine as soon as the vinyard is in serious production. We have just under ¼ acre in vegetable production, selling our excess at the local farmer's market (not particularly profitable but it helps support the community). We grow black walnuts and raspberries in quantity, and are nurturing a young orchard of apples, cherries, plums, pears, and even a greenhouse sheltered peach and a sweet cherry tree. We have a jersey cow and make cheese, and we try to raise a pig or two on the garden surplus each summer. Our chickens and turkeys are truly free range with unfettered access to, well, the whole world if they want it.
**************
Other Notes:
We use salvaged and recycled materials when we can (and pray for more responsible product design in the future). We run our pickup truck on E85 (closer than gas to carbon neutral, not as good as bio-diesel).
**************
Think about this: Coal and Oil were nature's way of sequestering carbon at a time when there was too much in the atmosphere. Oops! When we get a handle on this, what's left will probably be something like limestone, or chalk. Would't it be elegant to pave your factory floor with marble made from your own carbon emissions? Beats turning grandma into a diamond.
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