My Passive Solar Nautilus House

It has been a struggle for me to post the pictures of the floor plan and the model I'm constructing of my Nautilus House. Generally, anytime I (or anyone) mention something different than the accepted mainstream beliefs, we end up being ridiculed and thought totally weird. The concept for this house came to me from Spirit, in a meditation about 10 years ago.

The shape of this house is based ion a Fibonacci Spiral, or Phi:The Golden Number/Golden Mean/Golden Ratio.

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Putting that aside, there are still many, many questions still to answer in fine-tuning in the plans for this house. The changing pitch of the roof in each section will be a real challenge to build. The "public space" of kitchen, dining and living room are planned to be one large open space, with probably a kitchen counter/bar as a visual separation. Then there are the things not definable, like the energy contained within the Fibonacci spiral shape.

There are a number of things I see built into this house. First off, it is basically Passive Solar, with the long exterior window-wall of the living room facing south. I envision radiant hot water pipes in a well-insulated concrete slab floor, now that hot water heat with long flexible lengths of piping to prevent leaks at junctions is possible, and affordable.

Some sustainable considerations include: a greywater system, composting toilet, earth cooling tubes, rocket mass heater, solar chimney, solar heated water, possible passive solar greenhouse attached, sustainable forestry adjacent to the site, and a sheet-mulched, no-dig permaculture / edible food forest garden.

I envision this as a long term project that includes other eco-buildings, food forest gardens, aquaculture ponds, coppicing and possible timber production depending on the site, a classroom for courses and workshops, orchard, cider making facility, wild food, wildlife refuge and maybe even part a future small sustainable community.

This house is only 1 bedroom, with slightly under 900 square feet of living space, but could be built to include one more turn of the "nautilus shell" so there are 2 bedrooms. Alternatively, there could be a loft bedroom above the private spaces (laundry/pantry, bath, and bedroom) without increasing the footprint. I didn't even consider a 2 bedroom mock-up since there is so much interest today in smaller houses, rather than McMansions.

I looked into several different types of exterior construction... from straw-bale, earthbag, and cob to a cast-in-place sculptural form like Flying Concrete. In the end I decided the transition to a passive solar non-conventional shape would be more readily accepted by using conventional stick-building techniques. The large vaulted, open (public) space with exposed wood beams supporting a wood tongue and groove ceiling would be striking, with a strong feel of "mountain getaway cabin".

I am hoping to interest some university (or perhaps private) schools with sustainable and/or alternative energy departments into considering this house as a hands-on teaching project.

Solar Housing Thoughts

In the 2-1/2 years of this blog, I have posted very little about my passion for passive solar sustainable housing. Maybe I have shied away partly because I think when most Americans hear the word "solar", they immediately think only of solar PV panels on the roof, and the accompanying complex systems of deep-cycle batteries, a bunch of electronic monitors and controls that don't make sense to them, and even possibly having every electrical thing in the house converted to run on 12 volt direct current electricity if they don't use an inverter. The cost for such systems can easily exceed $40,000-$50,000 even though the prices for PV panels have come down considerably in the last 10 years.

Why is it so expensive? Because the big corporations that control the PV market are the same big corporations that control the fossil fuel energy market, and they are the most profitable businesses around. Plus, they have incredible political as well as financial clout. Sure, the companies that install PV systems aren't making the kind of profits the fossil fuel utility companies make, and the government does provide token underwriting for some alternative energy systems (also usually owned by big utilities), or sometimes token tax breaks for us, but it's all smoke and mirrors.

Most small and independent alternative energy companies are not in a financial position to donate millions of dollars to political campaigns, although the pittance allowed to them in funding is used in a platform by political candidates to proclaim they back alternative energy. Truth is, just the federal money spent to aid fracking could put hundreds of small alternative energy companies in business, and people back to work.

However, active solar electric systems are not my point here.

I suspect the average homeowner doesn't know a lot about what passive solar really IS, much less what it can do for their existing homes, often on the cheap. However, they DO know how hot their car gets sitting in the sun during summer, which is pure passive solar! (New homes are a different ball game because they can be designed for passive solar gains, discussed below.) 

Simple summer cooling
My own (older) home is not oriented to take advantage of any solar gain in winter, but a simple solar chimney and some earth cooling tubes could be installed for a few hundred dollars, which would mean not running expensive AC in the summer. For a few hundred dollars (or less if I do a lot myself) I could have free solar hot water for the 6-7 non-freezing months of the year and turn off power to the water heater in those months! For only a couple hundred dollars more, it could be a closed-loop system filled with a liquid that doesn't freeze and I could have free solar hot water all year long, for the rest of the life of this house (although I could need electricity from a small PV panel to run a pump from the collector if necessary).

External summer wall shading
One of my spring projects is to install a tall wire trellis a couple of feet from the narrow south end of this house, and grow vines and pole beans on it to shade that wall. The wall is windowless, but it sure heats up the house because there's minimal insulation in the old walls. I need to find some really tall poles, and then I'll post this project as I get it started.

During the 1970's there was a strong movement into alternative energy because of the oil embargo. Homeowner-inventors lurked in a gazillion basements and garages, and many energy-saving innovations were born. Homeowner-built things like "breadbasket" aka batch collector solar water heaters, Trombe walls thrown up outside existing walls to gain heat in winter, attached green living spaces with solar collection mass added in the lower walls and floors, tall interior tubes containing water or phase-change materials to collect and slowly release the solar-gained heat at night... the list was almost endless.

The opportunities in new construction were also endless, and needed only one big basic thought-change to jump-start sustainability... orient the house to the sun, not to the street!

Unfortunately, the government incentives and tax breaks ended soon after the embargo ended and fossil fuel was cheap once again.

I'll have more to say on passive solar heating AND cooling as time goes on, since I'm working on a scale model of my own passive solar home design which I will post in a few days.

Dreams, Demons, and Feeling Adrift

If you have been following this blog for a while, you may know I have ongoing (lifelong) problems with my younger (by 9 years) half-sister, who co-owns this house, and was recently fired from her job. She has almost zero possibilities for another one between her age, and the local economy which is even worse than the national average. My concern is the effect this will have on the rest of my life.

My half-sister has problems that span most of her adult life and several marriages, but I thought she had finally grown up. We interacted very infrequently over the last 40+ years and we certainly are not friends, so choosing 5-6 years ago to pool our scant resources and share a house may have been a big mistake.

Another thought is that I finally realize I do not like it here very much, even though I share half the responsibility for the choice. Oh, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love these mountains... but I find myself living on the outside of a tight-knit (closed) community (just my local county, the town 30 miles away is quite different) with whom I seem to have very little in common. The other thing I dislike is any adequate shopping is 100+ miles away... including shopping for organic foods (beyond what my farmer's market has available during the season, which is no different than what I grow in my own garden).

Does that mean a move elsewhere? Frankly, m'dears... I haven't a clue, and I certainly have no money to do so! The demons are the "imagined" responsibilities for my sister and this house, my long-range plans / progression for the garden including my efforts over the last 5 years, and how I feel about the unwelcoming area where I live.

I long to be in a community where there are at least a few others who can the see the possibilities of what we can do towards sustainability... and healing our lovely blue planet.

Segue:
Several years ago during a meditation, I had a "vision" of a house for me. Not at all what I would have imagined, either. I have designed many houses for myself over the years, and actually built a few of them. THIS house was extraordinary... lots of curb appeal although funky, very organic, with a small ecological footprint, passive solar and other energy efficiencies, and based on the Fibonacci Spiral found in Nature.

Over years since then, I have relegated this house design to "only a dream" without knowing exactly why I did that. However, I DID buy some balsa modeling components 2 years ago, intending to build a scale model. Those pieces were still behind the seat in my truck last week. I really don't know why I haven't followed through (until now) with this project, but it was more than just an "I can't afford it" attitude. Must have been some lessons I still needed to learn. (Do the Lessons ever stop?)

At any rate, I have now cleared a space on my coffee table to finally start building a scale model... and wondering about what area would be a great location for building it. I'm thinking probably the NC mountains. My plan is an interdisciplinary plan that involves eye-candy, sustainable development, alternative energy (passive solar, green-building, solar cooling, solar chimneys, radiant floor heating), small, affordable houses, yada, yada... and on the outside, food forest farming (polyculture perennials) with the vegetation integral to how the house functions.

When this dream house first came to me, I contacted the Colorado engineer, Steve Kornher, who started Flying Concrete in Mexico, thinking that would be a perfect medium for this house. I was certain I could put together a summer project for engineering and architectural students, and get a grant to build it. Then Steve assured me that not only was he too busy, but his "flying concrete" would never pass US building codes. Sigh.

In my current frame of mind, I don't see myself living where I am now for more than another year or two, because I am excited about the possibilities of this dream house (even though I see no way to accomplish it). Of course, nothing is etched in stone, either.  I hate feeling adrift, like a ship without a rudder...

But finally, I am really excited that despite all the obstacles, there WILL be a way to build this house... I just have to believe!

Where's the Sun on YOUR Garden?

Wow, what a cool app! With this Google Maps hack, you can find the path of the sun across your own garden for any day of the year. Just plug in your address in the search bar.

According to the description on the site:

    SunCalc is a little app that shows sun movement and sunlight phases during any given day at the given location.

    You can see sun positions at sunrise (yellow), specified time (orange) and sunset (red). The thin orange curve is the current sun trajectory, and the yellow area around is the variation of sun trajectories during the year. The closer a point is to the center, the higher is the sun above the horizon. The colors on the time slider show sunlight coverage during the day.

 

The default is set for the current day, but I was able to change the dates and get the trajectory for both the shortest day of the year in winter, and the longest (summer) day. Knowing the winter trajectory makes a big difference in where I should locate cold frames and a future, wished-for greenhouse. I had a good idea of the summer sun's path although I was a little bit 'off', but I was woefully off on the winter sun. Probably because I grow nothing in winter so I don't pay as much attention.

Since I have hopes of eventually doing some winter gardening a la Eliot Coleman's Winter Harvest, this little app is a treasure for planning. It gives me a great location for a possible greenhouse when I win the Lottery! Sure wish I'd had something like this when we first looked at this property... the gardener in me might have passed on buying it.

I will also use this online calculator in planning the placement of a solar collector for heating water when I can get to it as a project.

Update, just after Thanksgiving: I plugged in the shortest day and the longest day again for my house today, and took a "Grab" screen shot of them. There is a choice in the app on the upper right for a road map type image, or a satellite image, and by looking at both images on those 2 dates, I now know exactly where to plant 4-5 deciduous shade trees for optimum shading of this house in summertime. Cool, huh?

For less trouble, there is a little gadget available (photo above) that you can place in a container or garden bed for 24 hours and it will give you total sunlight hours (categorized as full sun, partial sun, part-shade, shade), although it will not tell you whether it is hot midday sun, early morning sunlight, or late afternoon sunlight. It would be handy in the garden, esp. if taller plants tend to shade another, lower plant.

My Favorite Nuclear Reactor

"I'm a large proponent of nuclear power; we have a very safe reactor sited 93 million miles away, it's called the Sun. That's my nuclear reactor." -Ed Begley, Jr

Since the mid-1970's I have been interested in passive solar energy (that means FREE energy directly from the sun) for heating, cooling, cooking, drying and even supplying my Vitamin-D! Back in those days there was a real movement by individuals and small groups to design all kinds of solar things, from 'breadbox solar collectors for hot water' to New Alchemy Institutes' solar aquaculture to passive solar houses, where none of the primary goals were corporate profiteering. 

It was a time of Trombe walls developed as an architectural element by French engineer Félix Trombe, and owner-built roof ponds for solar evaporative cooling. A time of walls built with wine bottles and beer cans in them for insulation, heat gain and pure visual interest; a time of tall cylindrical tubes filled with water to store heat gain through the south-facing windows. 

Most of the wonderful, creative solar ideas of the 1970's and 1980's came from tinkerers in their backyard workshops and garages, and groups of passionate environmental thinkers who came up with things like Zomeworks' Beadwall (where styrofoam pellets were blown into thick window cavities during the day to block heat from the sun, or blown in at night to prevent heat loss) and architects like Malcolm Wells and David Wright designed amazing homes. (Remember, this was also the era of Steve Jobs' inception of Apple Computer in his garage.)

Earth-sheltered or Earth-bermed (not totally underground) homes just needed better materials for waterproofing, and better windows for natural lighting and heat control. We have those materials available now, but not the interest (or mortgage money available) for energy-saving earth-bermed homes. The first house I built other than for myself was only a  1 bedroom home and no mortgage company would lend money for one-bedroom homes in 1975. I hacked the space to make it 2 bedrooms, and it sold almost immediately. (That house I built was published by Fine Homebuilding, in the inaugural issue.)

Some of the early ideas worked quite well, and some weren't very practical at all, although most worked in theory. Some solar ideas were cheap to build, while others weren't. Still, we were definitely on the right track and only more tinkering was needed...

After just a very few years, the whole bootstrap solar trend faltered when the government removed rebates for improving energy conservation in our homes, and backed the "acquirement" of cheap foreign oil instead. All that survived was the corporate interest and investment in solar electric and heating systems like photovoltaics, where only the manufacturers and utility companies make a profit. Homeowners now can buy and install very expensive solar PV panels and deep cycle batteries for energy storage, but can only sell the excess generated energy for mere pennies, if at all. (Many utility companies will not buy the excess under any circumstances.) It's comforting to be off the grid and self-sustaining, but it's also a very expensive proposition.

Geo-thermal was in its infancy in those years, and held great promise. Micro-hydro was being seriously explored during that era too, and is still pursued in third world countries by small local native cooperatives. It hasn't been as feasible here because it's difficult to get a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers (government) who control ALL waterways. On my own property here, mini-hydro is possible by harnessing the energy from my very small spring. It wouldn't provide enough electricity to run the whole house, but it would sure augment it.

The years between 1970 and 2011 could have been exceptionally fruitful for architects and home builders (and benefit us as well!) if more of them had addressed the simple tenets of passive solar design. IF you orient a home to the sun (and also consider prevailing wind direction), design the windows for maximum solar gain and minimal heat loss in winter, minimum solar gain in summer with proper convection for ventilation and cooling, insulate heavily and weatherstrip properly, it is possible to have a home that is a living joy, and easy on the pocketbook. Instead, we still orient our homes to the street, and we are still stuck on our houses looking "conventional" like every other house in the neighborhood!

Sure, there are architects in the US and around the world who are designing passive solar structures and passive solar enclaves, with some designed inside atmosphere-controlled domes; most of them are very expensive. A good US example is Dennis Weaver's Earthship home that was for sale for $3.75 million in 2005.  His Earthship home's monthly electric bill was reported to be around $50, an incredibly low figure for a 10,000 sq. ft. home.  Personally, I believe that Earthships can be effective living spaces and they are made from mostly recycled materials... but not at those prices.

Given the dismal economic conditions of 2011, it is not likely many of us can start from scratch building a passive solar home. However, we can take lots of baby steps using solar energy and reducing our overall purchased energy consumption. We can build solar cookers and solar food dryers... I've seen plans for solar cookers that hang on an outside wall and are accessible from inside the kitchen. We can build and install movable insulated panels or "curtains" to reduce heat loss through our windows at night in winter. Windows that get fierce summer sun could have Bahama Shutters installed outside, and/or deciduous trees planted that will shade them only in summer.

We can learn to conserve our electric use, and unplug our phantom electric drains like chargers and ready-on TV sets when we are not using them. We can add more insulation to our attics, and add better weatherstripping around doors and windows. We could add a solar greenhouse to the sunny side of some of our homes depending on their design, allowing free heat gain in winter AND a source of fresh produce all year. (Architect David Wright designed lots of those years ago.)

What it takes to do any of this is simply a change in mindset, and personal intent. My sis (who shares this house) cannot be bothered to unplug her TV, dust-buster or cell phone charger when she's not using them even though it would cut the energy costs considerably. Unfortunately, we split the electric bill so I end up paying for her care-less-ness.

I'm pretty handy and for around $250 (I think) I can build and install a breadbox solar water heater, one we would use only during the year when the water won't freeze in the pipes. To build one with a heat exchanger that transfers heat captured via a chemical compound that doesn't freeze (like water) would cost probably twice as much, but it's still very possible to have hot water all year without any operating cost except a booster for rainy periods. 

When I was growing up we had our hot water tank in the attic under the simple solar collector (glass covering copper water pipes) mounted on the roof. You just have to use hot water for laundry and dishes later in the day after the sun has heated it, although an insulated water storage tank can keep it pretty warm overnight for morning showers.

We are hoping to afford a new roof next year (going from crappy, worn-out and maybe leaky fiberglass shingles to a metal roof), and after that I will seriously consider solar hot water. This summer we added R-30 insulation to the attic, on top of what was already there. (I wanted to add R-38 instead of R-30 but it was twice as much money in material cost to add just another R-8.) 

We need better insulation installed under the floors, and a new vapor barrier on the ground under the house. It's amazing how effective a mere cheap plastic vapor barrier can be in reducing heating costs! I'd love to replace the windows but we need other things first. So for now, movable window insulation is in order. (I have the 1980 Rodale Press edition of this re-issued book.)

Amazing "Solar" Student

http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html

I may have to revise my thoughts about US education approaching failure mode. Whether it's due to the schools... or his parents and environment, a Middle School boy has discovered how to increase solar energy collected by flat panels, and has been granted a provisional patent for his work.

http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html

Middle School student Aidan Dwyer applied the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical principle widely occurring in nature, to solar panel arrays in a months-long backyard experiment. He found that small solar panels arranged according to the Fibonacci sequence found in tree branches produced 20 percent more energy than flat panel arrays, and prolonged the collection 'window' by up to two and a half hours.

Here's a news story about the lad:

http://northport.patch.com/articles/young-naturalist-granted-a-patent-in-solar-energy#c

Here's an in-depth report about his research, and both the above photos are from this site, posted here for educational purposes:

http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html

I've been intrigued by the Fibronacci sequence for a long time, and a few years ago I designed a house modeled on the Fibronacci sequence in a Chambered Nautilus shell.

More information on Fibonacci Numbers in Nature:

http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html

http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/fibslide/jbfibslide.htm

http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#veg

http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fib.html

Some Renewable Energy Projects Funded, finally!

Installing Solar Panels at Wayne National Forest, photo by US Forest Service

The U.S. government has awarded $550 million in grants for renewable energy projects, which will double the amount of stimulus money heading toward green energy over the next few years. The move signals an encouraging commitment to a clean energy future, which will help to combat climate change and create greatly needed green jobs.

The grants will be given in cash to companies, instead of tax credits in order to provide an reimbursement to solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy production facilities.

Projects already underway include the Wayne National Forest installation, which was given $400,000 to add 250 additional solar panels to a facility that already had 50 previously installed. The Solar Expansion Project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

Solar-Powered and Biodegradable Cell Phone

Photo CreativeCommons License by tuexperto_com

Cell phones, like many consumer electronics, create a lot of waste... some in manufacturing, some in plastic in the landfills, plus some toxic waste in the batteries which usually get tossed in our landfills, too. Samsung may be on the right track with their new "Reclaim" cell phone that is solar-charged, and 40% of the plastic case is corn-based, biodegradable plastic.

That doesn't mean you can toss it in the compost pile, though. The other 60% of the plastic housing is still conventional, and won't break down any better than all those zillions of plastic bags in the landfills. BUT, it's a start.

Please do your part and recycle your old cell phone: here.

Solar Water Pumping

If you have read much of my blog, you know I have finally been able to pump water from my spring to water my garden. However, the submersible pump still needs electricity to operate.

I found this video on YouTube, and it looks like an interesting possibility. Most solar installations require a storage unit (battery) for the excess electricity produced so that there is electricity available on demand for cloudy or rainy days. My garden won't need any water at those times, so that's one thing to eliminate in the expense column. (I don't use the spring for potable water so I don't need it to be able to pump 24/7.)

Solar panels produce DC (direct current) electricity, and the majority of homes and appliances for them, including water pumps, require AC (alternating current). To go from DC to AC requires the additional expense of an inverter, or optionally, the expense of a DC pump, which must be what they use in this video. As electric rates continue to increase, this process is at least worth investigation.

Solar Water Pumping System Installation in a water well:

Raleigh turns to flower power, solar power

CreativeCommons License by susteph

The Public Utilities Department of Raleigh, N.C., has planted about 50 acres of sunflowers to harvest the seeds for oil. The oil will be processed to produce biodiesel. Department officials hope the biodiesel could then be used to operate the city’s farm equipment.

Photo by the U.S. Forest Service

The city is also leasing 10 acres of land near the treatment plant to Southern Energy Management and NxGen Power to install solar panels that will generate the equivalent amount of electricity used by 200 homes a year, reports The News Observer. (Hey, it's a start!!)

NC is my home state, and I'm always pleased to see positive moves towards sustainable energy practices! This announcement comes with great timing too, just after my post about algae producing biofuels.

Solar Lightbulbs

Solar energy, particularly free passive solar energy, has been a passion of mine for 30 years or more. I became convinced years ago that there is lots of free solar energy that we could use, if only we knew how.

Recently a friend introduced this YouTube video on a forum I follow on sustainability. It demonstrates a means of bringing the equivalent of a 50 watt light into dark interiors, using not much more than a clear 2 liter soda bottle, and water. Of course it only works when the sun is shining, but for the price, who cares? (By contrast, a Solatube costs about $300. The only big advantage I see is that it can be installed through a home insulated attic space thanks to the long attached tube.)



The concept is so simple I immediately smacked my head and thought, "DUH!!" The concept is the same as the deck prisms used on wooden sailing ships for centuries. The deck prisms were flat on one end and installed flush with the decking for safety. The prism end hung below deck in all sorts of dark nooks and crannies; it magnified the sunlight and refracted it for a flood of natural light. A plain cylinder of solid glass would not have magnified and refracted the light, although it would have provided a spot of bright light directly below it.

In the case of the soda bottle light... the water it contains acts as a prism and refracts the sunlight all around the circumference of the plastic bottle. Making it is simple, and since the video is in Portuguese, I'll walk through the steps here. Remember, the soda bottle needs to be clear, not green or opaque. Put 2 capfuls of household bleach in the bottle, and fill it with water.

The bleach keeps algae from growing in the water and making it cloudy; cloudy water will not refract light. In the video, they put a used film canister over the top of the bottle, to keep the bottle cap from deteriorating. With the advent of digital cameras, film canisters are hard to find. I think I'd try a short length (2 inches or so) of plastic pipe (but not PEX which I know breaks down in sunlight) and fill it with the same silicone adhesive I'd use to seal around the hole in the roof for the bottle. The water-filled bottle will have some weight and it may be necessary to support it until the sealant cures.

I haven't made one yet but I plan to put several in my old barn, which has a dark interior and no electricity run to it. Perhaps I will also put a couple in my garden shed. I don't go into either structure at night, so darkness is no problem. In fact, they'd do great in a chicken house!