What type of energy source(s) are you interested in?

[[deleted user]]

For energy I am planning on solar and wind, though it would cost me next to nothing to connect to the grid. I am also taking hte first and most important step when living off grid, I am designing so as to reduce energy consumption. I will not have a microwave, electric washer or dryer, or any other major appliance other than a small refrigerator and a larger freezer.


With large expanses of windows I will have plenty of light for reading or working inside during the day, and then if I can I will be using DC powered lights (saves energy loss in conversion) and fans.

Also being underground the house will not need much in the way of heating and cooling, thus further decreasing the need for energy generation.

Water will be a pond pump system, so the crudest of all rain collection systems. This will require more treatment as there are livestock in the area, but that should not be much of a problem. I may also play with running a dehumidifier and collecting the distilled water from that, though most likely that water will be used to create various beverages, from juice blends to beer, cider, and wine.

[John]

We're thinking very much along the same lines, Brian, reducing energy usage and using solar and wind. Depending on the land we end up with, we'd also look at micro-hydro if there's enough flowing water. Mo, I found methane digesters to be an interesting idea, but I've also heard a few horror stories of methane digesters gone wrong--then again, I think those were all pretty old systems, so they may well be safer now.

When we build, we'll be looking to a house that consumes less energy for heating and cooling, whether that's cob, strawbale, some kind of earth-sheltered house. If we can start with a house that doesn't consume much energy, limit our needs and wants, we should be off to a very good start.

I also want to look into rainwater catchment systems in more depth. A lot will depend on the particular piece of land we end up finding.

[[deleted user]]

I have a rocket mass heater as part of my own plans. What I am hoping to create is a heated bed in the winter by running the exhaust in the mass holding up the bed.
I have to admit though that part of the attraction for me is the excuse to use cob in my U-house..

[[deleted user]]

I considered radiant floors as well, but without going to more trouble than I thought it was worth, I could not see how to do it with a rocket mass heater.. The other option is to pump fluid through PEX, which would require more power, thus more solar panels (or wind turbines) so for me it was not worth it. Especially given the amount of heat put off by wood stoves anyway!

I am also counting on the floor temps to stay around that of the earth the way that I am building, so they would be 60 or above anyway.. Now were I doing any sort of conventional house, you bet I'd be doing radiant flooring..



Edited to add.. My thinking on doing radiant floor with a rocket mass heater involved putting the stove essentially in a sunken area, so that it could vent under the floor, thus heating the floor. This might be interesting, but it seems like that would made loading the stove more trouble, and making my own build more difficult in that I would have to drop another three feet in at least one place. Still I did work on trying to find a way to make it work. Had I used a terraced floor plan, so that my house stepped down with the hillside, then I could have heated the upper floor, leaving the lower floor unheated except by proximity to the stove itself. Since I wanted a more open floor plan, I opted for one level with very high ceilings on one end allowing me to put in a loft area as a spare room and/or storage. For me that works better, especially since it allows the house to have windows starting at counter-top level and rising for at least 10 feet, bringing in wonderful amounts of light!

[[deleted user]]

I know what you mean. To be honest, the rocket mass heater is an extra for me. A regular wood stove would be just fine as it would heat the space quite well, and as I have more dead wood around me than I could possibly use in a lifetime, I do not have a need for the efficiency of the rocket mass heater. What I do have is the desire for one.. :)

I am fighting with myself on the hook to grid then buy solar/wind or just do it now and never hook to the grid at all. The former is easy and inexpensive, the latter challenging and expensive. Still there are advantages to never connecting, such as no wires, no record of a house where I am building, etc.

I'd love to do passive solar as well, but here again it requires more energy (my own) than I can spare.. There are so many great ideas that we just have to sift through them figuring out along the way which ones work best or we just have to have.

[[deleted user]]

Half the fun is trying to figure out ways to use those ideas.. One of the other benefits of the alternative building methods we are discussing is that it is much easier to change or add elements later. Or even add other buildings.. that is how I hope to do most if not all of the things I would like to build.