Post by shedoutback on Nov 5, 2011 4:07:35 GMT -5
Hello there. I spotted this discussion forum for non-fossil fuel sources amongst other stuff, and I am looking for ideas and suggestions on a project I am dreaming up to educate myself, my wife, the small ones, etc.
Take a small habitable shed/shelter at the bottom of the 'garden', with say 20 sq yards of growing space. The 'shed' would be something along the lines of the econospace, a shoestring self-constructed and highly insulated living space design developed by peter cowman et al of the livingarchitecture.com people in Co Leitrim. To get the idea see a few pics of this at www.livingarchitecturecentre.com/econospacemaking/
Now, whilst planning this econospace shed thing, I'm looking for ideas on solar water heating for showers and washing, some form of solar electricity generation and storage to power lights/radio/laptop, some form of simple but clean heat source, and anything else you guys can suggest to enable one to live without a connection to the water/electric/sewerage utilities and without burning too much in the way of fossil fuels. Regarding the grow space, it would be really useful to have suggestions on what we should grow, what fertiliser to use. Regarding toilets, if anyone knows of any composting type toilet designs a man can build his self, that would be really helpful too.
This project has to be affordable on a shoestring budget so please keep suggestions lowtech!
Take a small habitable shed/shelter at the bottom of the 'garden', with say 20 sq yards of growing space. The 'shed' would be something along the lines of the econospace, a shoestring self-constructed and highly insulated living space design developed by peter cowman et al of the livingarchitecture.com people in Co Leitrim. To get the idea see a few pics of this at www.livingarchitecturecentre.com/econospacemaking/
Now, whilst planning this econospace shed thing, I'm looking for ideas on solar water heating for showers and washing, some form of solar electricity generation and storage to power lights/radio/laptop, some form of simple but clean heat source, and anything else you guys can suggest to enable one to live without a connection to the water/electric/sewerage utilities and without burning too much in the way of fossil fuels. Regarding the grow space, it would be really useful to have suggestions on what we should grow, what fertiliser to use. Regarding toilets, if anyone knows of any composting type toilet designs a man can build his self, that would be really helpful too.
This project has to be affordable on a shoestring budget so please keep suggestions lowtech!
