Beginning with the obvious, if you want to go truly "old school" for an incredibly simple lifestyle, there's no need to even worry about any of this. Go Amish, so to speak. Live by the sun, no electricity, everything done by hand. If this is your aim, then by all means, all respect to you. I couldn't go this route for a few simple reasons. First of all, I am a night owl. It's just the way I'm wired. I have tried and tried in vane to change. I just can't seem to function any other way. As a result of that, I need light at night. Candlelight is beautiful, and has it's place. But I don't know how feasible that would be on a long term basis. Beyond that, I have an online business. I kind of need the internet for that. That, I may be able to change over time. But for now, it is what it is. But even still needing to have some kind of electrical connection, there are ways to drastically cut down on the amount of power you use, and thus, potentially altering the type of energy source you will ultimately decide on.
To get a baseline of what you currently use, the best way is to simply look at your utility bill. Now, depending on where you are and what is included on that bill, you should be able to determine how many kilowatt hours per month are being used. You must also think about what it is that is eating up that electricity. To put it into a little perspective, the number one eater of electricity is central heat/air. Number two is generally the water heater, followed by the refrigerator coming in at number 3. Then, think of things like your computer, television, radio, or anything else that uses electricity. Obviously, anything plugged into an outlet eats power. But did you know that keeping something plugged in, even when it's turned off or otherwise not in use, still pulls power? Power strips can and do help. But if there's a plug in an outlet, it's pulling power. This is called phantom power. And while it may not seem like a lot, it can add up quite quickly and easily if you're not careful. A single random plug may not even be noticeable. However, the more things you have plugged in, the more it can add up, sometimes even up to $20 - $30 a month on your bill. So while it may be a bit inconvenient, it's always a good idea to unplug everything that is not being used at any given time.
Of course, we all know about energy saving appliances. Those are definitely a great option to help cut down on your energy usage. You still might want to unplug those when not in use to limit that phantom power. But there are options beyond those, as well. I'm going to cover a few of those here. Other ideas that can be used in cutting energy uses will be discussed later on when I start discussing the various options for the building of your home, itself. So let's look at some of these other options out there for saving energy.
If you want some modern conveniences but don't mind a bit of work, try something like a bicycle powered washing machine. The loads tend to be smaller than a standard machine. But that can be customized. There is a version or two that you can get your hands on for a price. But why not build your own? Take a container of whatever size you decide, and hook it up in place of the rear wheel on a standing exercise bike, or as an addition behind the rear of a regular bicycle. Either way, every time you pedal, you turn the drum. Add a bit of water and soap, and you have a washing machine. Drain the soapy water, fill with clean water, pedal again, and rinse. Easy breezy, right? There a tons of tutorials building different versions of these things. Then air dry. If you really want to up the ante, use this option in conjunction with the pedal powered electricity. Or, if you would rather not pedal your clothes clean, there is this option of this tiny trash can looking gadget. Then there are these options. Get creative here. It's really the same basic concept, only a different way of moving the water. Any of these, while using muscle power instead of electricity, land somewhere in the middle between the old fashioned scrub bucket, and the modern machines most of us are used to. And, even when used alongside air or line drying, no electricity is required.
There is this wonderful idea for washing dishes. In all honesty, doing the dishes is one of my least favorite things to do. Paper plates isn't exactly ideal for a number of reasons, so I really like this idea. Dishwashers, to me are a waste. They waste so much water, it seems almost ridiculous to have one. At the same time, it's not always workable to do the dishes by hand, especially if you are cooking for more than one or two people. That's where this gem comes in handy. Basically a hand-cranked dishwasher, it's light, it's easy, it's fast. Cut down on the amount of water used, while using no electricity. I can see that if you have something really stuck on, this may or may not work, and a little soaking might be needed. Otherwise, I really love this idea.
Cooking. I love to cook. But even an energy saving oven has it's issues. It's a complete waste if you are cooking for only a couple of people. For myself and my son, a simple toaster oven does the work nicely. While not ideal for everyone, I personally like the idea of a wood burning stove. You may not have much control over the heat, but personally, I like the resulting flavors much better. Depending on the design, they can have a number of compartments for cooking different things at the same time, some have a separate bread warming area, and there's even the possibility (like with the pedal power) of using it while also creating electricity for your home. Now while a good wood burning stove may set you back a bit in cost, you can get a lot of the same benefits from building your own cob oven. Generally seen outdoors, they can also be use indoors with adequate ventilation. A solar oven is a very good option, although it may take a little bit longer. Buy one if you like, or build it yourself. They're not difficult to make. Or, so long as you're not wanting to cook anything huge, the GoSun is excellent. And again, no electricity whatsoever.
Referring back to the top three energy suckers, let's look at number 3- the refrigerator. Energy saving appliances included, they still suck energy. Every time the door opens, the light comes on, cold air rushes out, and warm air rushes in. And then the motor has to kick in to rebalance the temperatures. No matter what else is going on, that's the basic set-up of he common refrigerator. But what if you could have a refrigerator, even larger than the one that is currently in your home, but ran literally with no electricity? Sounds to good to be true, doesn't it? Well how about this? It's more or less a modern take on a root cellar. It's large, and it keeps your food at the ideal temperature. The only caveat is that it must be placed underground. If you were to add this to an existing home, it would require either a bit of (potentially expensive) remodeling, or a trip outside any time you want something to eat. However, if you are building your homestead from scratch, you can easily integrate it into the design of the home. The same basic idea, but on a much smaller scale, is this container that can easily be built by just about anyone. Or you can support the entrepreneur who created this. And not one of them requires a bit of electricity.
Now, what about that water heater- energy sucker number 2? By now, we probably all know about mass-produced solar water heaters. They've been on the market for several years now, but can still cost a pretty little penny. But there is always the option of building one yourself. There are so many ideas and instructions out there for various ideas when it comes to DIY water heaters. You can do pretty much anything from adding solar panels to a traditional water heater, wrapping copper coils filled with water around a heating element, such as the exhaust pipe from a wood stove, running the water pipes/tubes under a pile of compost, or any number of designs similar to this. These ideas can be used for everything from heating water for our shower, to running through a radiant heated flooring system. The size of your tank(s) and pipes/tubes all depends on how much hot water you need. But then, you could always forego any of that, and either just use cold water (burr!!) or heat it up over a fire, bucket by bucket, just as they did in the days of old. No? I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to follow through with either of those options, either. But any of the other options mentioned above can get the job done, some, fairly quickly, and again- not requiring a bit of electricity. For other options, look here, here, here, or here.
Now for the gigantic elephant in the room. That number one energy sucker. We all want to be comfortable. It helps us sleep better, work better, think better, and just overall function better. Too hot or too cold, and you just don't feel like doing anything. But even here, there are ways to drastically cut your energy consumption. The best place to start, I think, is utilizing passive solar energy. This may not always be an option, but if you get to choose your property, and the location of the house on that property, then you can make it so that passive solar is an option. Now what this does, is that it utilizes the position of the sun to aid in heating/cooling your home. Orient the home so that there is a large bank of windows directed towards the equator for greater exposure to the sun. Meaning that if you live in the northern hemisphere, you'll want a southern facing view. Or if you're in the southern hemisphere, you want that view facing north. The key is that you also want a good overhang on those windows, and here's why. In the summer, the sun rides higher across the sky. The closer to noon, and the more heat coming down, the less it will come into your home if there is an overhang or some other form of shade over those windows. By the same token, in the winter, the sun rides lower in the sky. Those windows being aimed towards the equator will increase the duration of the sunlight that comes in, both keeping artificial lighting to a minimum, as well as using the heat of the sun to warm your home. Along those lines, have you seen this house that actually rotates around to follow the sun? Pretty cool, although maybe a bit more maintenance in order to keep everything running and moving smoothly. If you live in warmer climates, there are number of ways to keep cool, from fans, airflow design, diy air conditioners of just about any size, to even this simple idea of cooling off your air. Or how about a 3D printed "cool brick"? On the other side of the spectrum is keeping warm in cooler climates. This could be something as easy as sitting in front of a nice warm fire, to heating the air throughout your home with one of these homemade air heaters, using radiant floor heating, or even the idea of a building material that not only absorbs and retains heat as the sun shines on it, or as fire warms it, and then it slowly releases that heat out into the home over time. Cob and adobe are both excellent natural examples of these types of materials. Rocket mass heaters/stoves are also a very good option. Or there are these glass tiles. Now while glass tiles have been around for years, this system is designed specifically to capture heat, and move it throughout the home.
As you can clearly see, there are many many many options out there for ways and methods of cutting down on your energy needs. And what I've mentioned here is merely scratching the surface. There is even this contraption that uses gravity to power a light bulb. I know I've said it many times before, and I'm very certain that I'll say it many times again in the future, but the only limit is your imagination. This just flies across the board. If you can dream or envision it, then you can make it a reality. Yes, you will need some sort of electricity if you want to have internet, television, or anything like that. But in almost every other way, even when it comes to the most energy consuming products on the market, you can actually cut your usage down to almost nothing. And in cutting down your energy consumption, you cut your expenses in whatever alternative energy system you decide to implement.
No comments:
Post a Comment