The Alternative Lifestyle Site

It’s been a long cold winter here in my little piece of paradise.

Not like in the northern hemisphere but lots and lots of grey sky, days and days of heavy frosts, ferocious wind storms and after years and years of drought conditions LOTS of rain!  This month we’ve had 215mm in our garden (8.6 inches in the old scale) and that’s not been seen here for almost 10 years!  Our 120 litre rain water tank is overflowing and our new dam (pond) is full and almost overflowing.

Today, was one of only 4 sunny days this month and I took the opportunity to go out into the muddy patch that used to be my yard!  I love that it’s so wet, I love that we have all the water we can ask for and I love that Spring is just around the corner.

There will be an update soon on our Transition Projects – now that we can almost get outside again and I’d love it if you checked out my new blog – all about baking bread at home.   Homemade Bread Recipes Talk to you again soon.

Transition Project #3: The House (an update)

Summer has been and gone and we are in the last throws of perfect Autumn weather here in North East Victoria, Australia.  Perfect deck and pergola building weather and that’s exactly what we are up to.

Our building program has proceeded steadily over the past 6 months and we are getting very close to our straw bale home extension being completed.  The render work is all finished (thanks Chris from Australian Render Systems in Beechworth), the gorgeous handmade doors and windows are in (thanks Rob and the crew from Designed By Eye in Stanley)  and the double glazing (thanks Hilton from Indigo Glass – another local business) is working perfectly, the lighting and fans have all been installed as have the solar panels and we are now exporting electricity to the grid.

You can get the same system we purchased (if you live in Australia) from Rezeko – ekoenergy solar, check out their website here.  Wall to wall carpeting was laid in the bedrooms last Monday and of course it was just too much to resist and we have been sleeping in our new bedrooms for about ten days now!  Total bliss.

Now I’m making curtains and the perfection of that process is that we were able to source curtain fabric and lining that is actually manufactured within 40km of our home which ties in beautifully with our ethics of using local people and materials if possible.  What a bonus.    Bruck Textiles is the manufacturing facility located in Wangaratta and the fabric is from the Wilson Fabric range and it’s called Karratha (with is named after a town in Western Australia) just in case you were wondering.

More pictures and videos will follow to bring you visually up to date with how things look and what still has to be done.  The feeling of satisfaction is immense and I can feel a celebration on the front deck (14m x 5m) brewing in the background.  Wish you could join us.

Put your name and email address into the box top right to receive updates, special videos and notifications of exciting happenings here at the Alternative Lifestyle Site Blog.  Glad to have you aboard it’s a great journey.

Transition Projects #3: The House (part 4)

When owner building, the time can seem to simultaneously drag and absolutely speed by. By regular building standards we are taking quite a long time to build our home however this is not an off the shelf house, a breeding box as a friend of mine sarcastically puts it, it is custom made by us, for us and for the planet we all inhabit. So that takes care of the time dragging component but what about the time speeding by? Well, we look back at the end of each month and sometimes marvel at what we’ve managed to accomplish, there are some things that just make such a big impact. Despite beavering away each weekend (and during the longer summer evenings) we can sometimes feel as though no progress has been made. Then, as if by magic, one day something big happens and we marvel at the fact that WE are building a house and it’s beginning to actually look like a house!

To put things into context, neither myself nor my loving partner had ever constructed anything of great consequence. I’d managed to pull together a chook house (looked more like a shanty lean too) and we used to joke that Graham couldn’t even put up a shelf (well, only half joke really) and now we stand back with a nice glass of local red wine in our hands and smile with satisfaction and sometimes surprise at what we’ve managed to create so far.

The difference between our building style and speed was brought home to us recently when we had the roof put on. In our state you are not permitted to put your own roof on (don’t get me started on Industry Lobby Groups) so we engaged a local man to do that for us. During that process we also decided to engage some people to put up the framing for the roof as it was quite tricky and we wanted to get the bales covered before the weather got any worse, rain wise that is. What a LEAP! They were so organised, so fast, so confident. At the end of just a few days we had a roof on!

Now it looks like a real house! We’ve got a lot of prep work to do now to get it ready for its first coat of render but we know that it’s all going to make a big job a lot easier if we can get that done before the render team turn up. So it’s all stops out now to pin the straps to the bales to limit movement (and render cracking), filling up all the gaps in the bales with straw and cob, covering the straps with mud before the render goes on (as the nylon strapping doesn’t like lime apparently) and then hitting the walls with the whipper snipper (brush cutter) so tidy up all the loose ends! Noisy job but fun in a weird power tool kinda way

You know you’ve lost your marbles when this kind of thing is the highlight of your month – I’m looking forward to getting my life back.I got so excited about having a roof on that I made a little video, might as well share it with you – however I’m still struggling with the software…. hmmm, time for a mac?!

I’ll let you know when I finally get to post the video – hopefully not too long. Bye for now.

Permaculture, Youth, Music and the Future of Mankind

I was checking out some of my regular RSS feeds this evening and came across this great one on The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia site. There is a good post on the site explaining just who and where these images were taking place so if you would like more information about Quail Springs, CA head on over and take a look.

For now though, the YouTube is too good not to share.

Do you think I over did it with the heading for this post? Upon reflection, knowing what I now know and feeling what I feel about the Earth… nope, I got it just right! Love to hear your thoughts. Post a comment, share an experience. Go on, I dare ya!

The Shame of Environmental Politics and Big Business

This morning I read a great piece in The Age newspaper, that comes out of Melbourne, Australia.

It was written by Alan Gray, editor of Earth Garden magazine and Green Power Today (available from Earth Garden Books). He put his case against the recently announced Carbon and Emissions Trading scheme (called the Australian Carbon Trust), and I was so impressed with it I thought it was well worth providing you with the link to the article, so you could read it for yourself. The reason I like it is that he provides us with a simple, real life example of what some people are doing and what the potential impact of this proposal will in relation to his example.

Here are a couple of quotes from the article to whet your appetite and the link to the full piece is provided below.

The new Australian Carbon Trust announced by Rudd on Monday is a bureaucratic Band-Aid made to look like the Government is dealing with this issue. The trust is a poor response to this problem because it would force households or businesses to pay twice: once when they make the carbon reductions, and again when donating to the trust.

Contrast this with large polluters who won’t even pay once because of their massive “compensation payments”, or corporate welfare.

I really don’t think there are very many thinking people out there who believe for one minute that “band-aid” solutions are what is required in response to the looming impacts of climate change, but here is the government of an educated, politically active, western country attempting to hoodwink their populations by delivering a policy that is, frankly, absolute rubbish! Grrrr, I don’t usually get so irritated but this morning they really found where my goat was tied up!

Here is another quote from the article which appeared in The Age:
As the draft legislation stands, none of the contributions made to date by householders by paying for GreenPower will count towards reducing Australia’s carbon cap. All these existing voluntary reductions will simply ease the pressure on big polluters — they will have to cut less because we have all cut more. Stinks like a tip full of methane, if you ask me. And experts, like Richard Denniss of the Australia Institute, predict that the GreenPower scheme will die overnight if the legislation is not amended. Why should householders reward the shareholders of giant electricity companies by making the cuts the companies should make?

Talk about pulling the rug out from under the feet of people who are voluntarily (and in large numbers) choosing to make choices that will benefit themselves, the whole of the community and the environment. Shame on you Prime Minister, Shame on you.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-little-green-car-that-pays-for-itself-20090507-awk6.html?page=-1#

Eco-Friendly Housing: Learning From Mistakes

I guess you can tell by now that I am really sold on Solar Passive Design and I suspect if you were starting from scratch with all the right things in place you could create for yourself an amazingly comfortable home that was almost free to heat and cool. Yes, I did say almost.

Solar passive design is not the total solution to our energy needs for heating and cooling our homes. No matter how good the design, there will be times when supplementary measures are necessary.

So if I were considering some of the limitations of Solar Passive Design for residential and commercial purposes, this would be the first limitation I would consider:

• Passive Solar Design in homes reduces the need for extra energy needed to heat and cool the home. It does not negate that need entirely.

• It is possible and even desirable to have additional, mechanical heating source for days or weeks when the sun just doesn’t shine. Wood, gas, electrical, and geothermal are all suitable systems to have on hand for those seasons of the year when an additional boost of warmth or coolness is needed.

Now, let me share a bit of a story with you about my personal experience which I label learning from past mistakes.

Just a few years ago my family and I moved from living in a 1870′s stone cottage to living in a standard 1980′s cream brick veneer home.

• We didn’t give it much thought when we chose the new house (we were renting at the time and didn’t have a lot of options to choose from), but as luck would have it, this house faced it’s main living areas to the north and collected all that delicious sun.

• The difference to our lives was immense. The rooms were filled with light and warmth, the amount of energy we needed to buy to heat it to a comfortable level was significantly reduced and it was a delight to live in.

I’m sharing this with you because this was just a very ordinary four bedroom 1980′s family home. Ordinary construction, insulation and all the rest, but it faced exactly the right way to be snug on a winters day and reasonably comfortable (without air-conditioning) during our hot, hot summers. It’s large windows faced the sun (north in the Southern Hemisphere, South in the Northern Hemisphere) to catch the winter sun but they were protected from the summer sun by pergola’s, outside blinds and wide eaves (roof overhang).

As the builder I quoted in an earlier post on this subject said – 80% of the benefits can be derived by correct orientation to the sun. Imagine how nice it would be if there were floors to catch and store the heat to be released during the evening!!

There is much you can do to make your home more comfortable and more energy efficient. To that end I’ve created a series of video’s for you to help you minimise your energy use and maximise your savings in both money and in carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

To access this great resource put your name and a good email address into that form at the right …. ensure you respond to the request to confirm your details because I don’t want to be spamming anybody…. and they will then begin arriving right to your inbox.

If you have any first hand experiences you would like to share, let me know!

Leave a comment to this or any other post on the blog and help others learn from past mistakes and move into a more comfortable and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Eco-Friendly Housing: There Is So Much More

There is so much information out there on Solar Passive Design and eco-friendly housing that it’s hard to know where to begin when looking to share some core information.

While reading lots of articles on the subject, I discovered this one from Tim McDonald (thanks Tim!) and I’ve posted it here because it has some really good basic principles for you to consider when designing or re-designing your home.

• On the topic of re-design or retrofitting your home, have you considered alternative energy options? If you follow this link, you will find a review I wrote for you a little while ago comparing two alternative energy options. Take a look at them and consider which one suits you the best.

• And while you are considering, why not subscribe to the video series? Put your name and a good email address into the little form there at the right and I’ll send you these video’s I made especially for you. They will show you how to save money and save energy and they are at no charge to you.

Here is Tim McDonald’s great article. I hope you enjoy it.

Passive Solar Design Basics
By Tim McDonald

If you ever wanted to save electricity and improve the comfort of your home without using any high-tech gadgets, then passive solar design is the answer.

Passive solar design is a technique of using the sun to naturally heat and light up your home or office. This is achieved by using various building features and materials to improve heating and cooling efficiency. The best part about passive solar design is that it is relatively simple to implement, little maintenance is needed, and your home’s market value can increase considerably.

Your home’s passive solar potential is determined by where and how it is situated and by the types of windows and materials used. Although most buildings can be optimized to receive the ideal amount of sunshine, it is easier if they are on flat land or a sun-facing slope. If your home is surrounded by many trees, make sure they are deciduous so that they shade your home in summer, but their bare branches let sunlight through in winter. Also, try avoid nearby buildings that create too much shade.

When constructing a new home, make sure it is built so that the length of the house faces the sun, allowing the maximum amount of sunlight. Also note how the size, shape and placement of windows will determine the amount of natural heat and light in your home.

So how does the sun heat your home? There are three ways:

• Direct gain – direct heat from the sun shining on a surface.
• Indirect gain – radiated heat from objects heated by the sun.
• Isolated gain – determined by the airflow in your home.

To ensure the most natural heat from the above three sources, a number of large windows should be placed on the sun-facing side of your home, allowing maximum sunlight in.

All that sunlight and heat in your home is useless, if it cannot be stored and used when the sun is set. The solution is to use heat-absorbent flooring and walls that carry on radiating heat long into the night. A simple way to reduce power cost in winter is to locate to rooms in your house that get the most sunshine at certain times of day. Also, shady rooms should be cut-off (their doors closed) from the rest of the house to retain heat better.

During summer, the right length roof overhangs or eaves can be used to control the amount sunlight and heat in your home. The eaves should be wide enough shade out the intense midday sun, but let the let low-angle sunlight through during dusk and dawn to light up and warm the home. Again, the right trees and shrubs can be planted to regulate the house’s seasonal exposure to the sun.

For current buildings, the simplest passive solar design solution is to replace your windows with modern ones, that use various methods to store up 50% more heat. Although they are 10% to 15% more expensive, they pay for themselves in the long-term from all the power saved to heat your home.

Double-glazed or Low-emissivity (Low-E) windows let solar heat in, but keep in the indoor radiant heat. Another way to reduce heat loss is to ensure tight seals around all windows or by using multiple panes that have gaps between them filled with argon or krypton gas.

What your windows are made from can make a big difference too. While metal framed windows generally conduct heat out the house, wood, vinyl and fiberglass frames insulate the heat better. Always ensure any modern windows bought have labels issued by Energy Star or the National Fenestration Rating Council. These labels provide statistics on how effective and efficient the windows are at retaining heat, which helps you purchase the right windows for your conditions and budget.

So you can see, passive solar design is the effective use of nature and physics to maximize the use of the sun’s natural lighting and heat. Always remember, the point of solar passive design is to reduce your electricity usage and bills. So it is recommended to always weigh up the costs against the potential power savings when installing any passive solar solution at home.

Tim McDonald and his wife, Trudy, have been living off the grid since June 2008. If you want to learn to make your own power at home, get off the grid and save thousands on your electricity bills, then go to http://DIY-Renewable-Energy.com, where you will find a wealth of information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_McDonald
http://EzineArticles.com/?Passive-Solar-Design-Basics&id=1728697

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Yahoo Answers: Limits To Solar Passive Design

Yep I’ve been mooching about on Yahoo Answers again and I’m glad I did because someone wanted to know about the limits to solar passive design.

What a lovely rich little field of research and writing that turned out to be!

Here is a little video to give you the heads up on what’s coming up around this topic in the next little while.

You can get a head start creating your eco-friendly home by signing up for the 20 video series on Energy. Put your name and email address in the form (top right) and begin making those little adjustments today.

Learn how to maximise the benefit and minimise the cost of the energy you use.  You’ll be really glad you did.

Energy Series 13: Cates Top Tips To Save Money (and the Planet)

I thought I’d try to pull all these wonderful energy (and money) saving ideas into one place and started writing a great little report to help you do just that.

I want to make it so easy for people to really begin to make a dent in their energy consumption and save some money along the way.

As I was researching and writing it occurred to me that I shouldn’t make you wait for the report and I should give you the Top Tips right now!

So here are some of the easiest ways to get you started.

Of course, there is a LOT more to come so keep you eye on the blog for the upcoming Report.… I’m working on it.

If you want to ensure you don’t miss out, subscribe using the form (top right) so that I can get the notice for the release of the Report right to your inbox so you can start saving energy and money as soon as possible.

Don’t miss out just because you were on the wrong list – this is the one, do it now before you forget.

Sustainable Living: Take The Lead

Climate Change, Access to Food and Water, Peace, GM/GE foods entering our foods without our knowledge or consent, over development, over consumption, peak oil, pollution…

For the past decade or so our collective Governments have not taken the lead on these kinds of issues. Maybe once upon a time they did but in modern times, Governments have tended to ‘watch the market’ so to speak and do what they think will be popular. So they are not going to take the lead on this issue, unless they think you want them too.

If you make it clear to your political leaders that you want them to respond to climate change in real and meaningful ways, they will.

• I’m afraid, rolling up to vote once every four years is not going to be soon enough, or loud enough.

• Whether you currently believe in climate change or not, it will effect you.

• Whether you currently consume a lot or a little, you can do more.

• Whether you think there will be a political shift, a technological breakthrough or a grassroots revolution – climate change is happening.
• Water shortages, food shortages, energy shortages are all going to impact your life, your family, your community.

I hope we have a few years left to mitigate those events, to plan for them, to have support mechanisms in place and develop alternatives and replacements. By raising your awareness of these issues, by observing the now Global and Annual “Earth Hour” (see my post here) you can actually encourage others to wake up and engage in the world around them.

You can make a huge difference both personally in your private life and as a citizen of Earth by making those small changes that MUST be made to move you ever closer to a Sustainable Way of Living.

Begin by subscribing, using the form top right of this page, to receive 20 free video’s that will help you get a handle on your energy use and will even save you money. Don’t delay, time is short.