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A Frost-Free Community Solar Greenhouse (new)
In these days of peak oil, resource depletion and wars, and worries about the economy a community needs to learn how to grow its own food, especially in winter. The San Luis Valley is an agricultural community that exports and sells elsewhere most of the food grown here. Mosca and Crestone and a few other areas have organic food growing operations, and some families have successful food gardens in summertime.
We in the Crestone community are located at the end of a long highway and may be vulnerable to interruptions in food supplies,
........ Read the rest of the story »
A Simple Elegant Solar Hot Water Drain-Back System
We live in a climate perfectly suited for solar heating of homes: cold winters with lots of sunshine. Yet most of us, including new homes, still use propane or electric for home heating and hot water needs. That large propane tank sitting in the yard must soon give way to a heating source that is more stable, cheaper in the long run, and less vulnerable to world market fluctuations and distant resource wars.
To help with the transition to a more reliable, cheaper, distributed, cleaner, and saner energy source people are waking up to solar energy. Using today’s sun today, rather than drawing down our fossil fuel bank account, ........ Read the rest of the story »
The Sustainability Buzz or What Is Sustainability
“The process of providing for people’s needs within ecological limits requires a cultural revolution.” -2002- David Holmgren, Co-originator of the Permaculture Concept
by Paul Shippee
On a warm Tuesday in May, Alice was sitting on the patio under a large green umbrella. We were talking about how difficult it is to make an observation instead of a judgment. Out of the blue the term sustainability popped up. Alice paused for a thoughtful moment, then said, “Sustainability is a beautiful word, but I don’t know what it means. It seems to mean different things to many people.” Whatever it is, I thought, it’s a buzz that is drilling down deeper into our modernist culture.
While driving home that night, thoughts about sustainability began to move like white clouds through my mind. I remembered what US Senator Ken Salazar has been saying ........ Read the rest of the story »
Thermal Mass For Passive Solar Heat Storage
Passive solar heating of homes is usually thought to be simple enough: just let the sunshine in through south-facing windows on winter days. Everyone knows that this
technique works. Many people have enjoyed cost-free warmth and comfort from the sun
in their homes on cold days.
However, during winter nights, which are much colder and also twice as long as winter days, the thermostat then tells the furnace to turn on and we return to our ........ Read the rest of the story »
Insulation for Passive Solar Buildings
House insulation is a rather mundane subject. But it is also generally understood as the
most effective means of energy conservation. Therefore, your first green dollars spent to “save home heat” are best spent on additional insulation before you even consider solar
heating. Let’s take a look here at a special application of insulation.
Even though the subject of insulation is not glamorous – it works silently, invisibly, andis not expensive – it begins to get challenging and more interesting when we ........ Read the rest of the story »
Building Awareness with Solar
Has this ever happened to you? One day, out of the blue, my friend Alice asked me, "How can you live a life that has meaning?" I began thinking about that -about what the world needs, what do I need, where does my life connect with the world.
That seemed like a good start. Today, as the bonfires of fossil fuel burning around the world are heating up the earth and sending out troublesome clouds of carbon dioxide and air polluting particles, I am helping people design and build solar ........ Read the rest of the story »
Solar Heating Design Options
There are two main types of solar heating systems for homes and buildings: passive systems and active systems. Passive systems utilize some of the actual building components, such as glass walls and thick slabs, to collect solar heat during the day and store it for nighttime use. Active systems typically use a number of flat plate solar collectors, exterior to the building, through which air or water (plain or mixed with antifreeze) is circulated via fans or pumps when the sun is shining. As the solar heat is collected it is circulated to a tank of water or a bin of rocks (heat storage) to be re-circulated to rooms in the house as needed.
Rather than looking at solar heating options as a simple choice between passive and active systems, it might be interesting to consider
........ Read the rest of the story »
Passive Solar Home Heating
The design of passive solar buildings is an imaginative art. It is a process that brings together knowledge from many fields, demands a common sense approach, and quietly resists complication. It tries to create a living space that is comfortable, attractive, and genuinely responsive to climate while eliminating most of the need for heating fuel.
The results are simple, yet somehow quite sophisticated. It has already been demonstrated in several passive solar homes that these goals can be
........ Read the rest of the story »
Good House Bad House
“Sustainability means living without driving,” Alice quipped during a recent Baca conversation. We were standing on white snow under a blue Colorado sky. I happened to look up and notice a heart-shaped gray cloud moving in to block the sun when Alice corrected herself. “Come to think of it,” she said, “there’s nothing wrong with driving. It’s what you put in the gas tank that’s the problem – those ancient sunlight fuels we’re depleting.”
Alice’s thoughtful statement put me in a philosophical mood; how do you translate that problem into action? My thinking moved naturally toward houses, the ones that are already built. If you own a house, then it seems easiest to start there. You can cut your heating bills
........ Read the rest of the story »
Peak Oil
What is peak oil? Peak oil refers to the point in time when the global production of oil and gas begins to decline. Picture a bell curve; we are now at the top of that curve. According to a 2005 United States Department of Energy report, “World oil peaking represents a problem like no other. The political, economic, and social stakes are enormous. Prudent risk management demands urgent attention and early action.”
One problem we find in thinking about peak oil is that it can induce either fear or complacency. The fear is about potential abrupt and severe ........ Read the rest of the story »
San Luis Valley - Colorado