Linda and Wes Edwards moved from the suburbs near San Francisco to an isolated ridgetop near California's Lost Coast with their daughters two decades ago, where they live in one of the most gracious and well-conceived independent homes I have visited. I asked Wes and Linda to summarize their planning strategies. (You will find Linda and Wes's story in chapter 12.)
Wes: Okay, it's time to take some notes now! Here's my design strategy for a self-sufficient home. Start with a small house. That minimizes the impact on the site, and takes less materials . . .
Linda: When I clean this "small house," it seems big to me.
Wes: And when the grandkids come, it would be nice if it were bigger.
Buy a plan for your house, and get an architect's help to make the changes you need. This can save you time and costly mistakes, maybe irreversible mistakes. I definitely made mistakes, so I know. I'm an electrician, not an architect, so there were things that I didn't understand that an architect sees every day. It can be done right the first time. We spent two years seriously planning this house, gathering information, studying plan books, visiting other people's houses, watching the site through the seasons. From groundbreaking to occupancy only took a year.
As you build and change things, keep the house plans current, or keep sketches or photographs of the changes, so you know, for instance, what's in the wall when you cover it up.
I think this should be part of every building code: No one can steal your sun, and all houses must have correct solar orientation. You have to think of the whole south side of a house as a solar collector.
Align the roof slope to your latitude, which should be the best angle for solar panels, either hot water or photovoltaic. They may be a bit harder to work on up on the roof, but it's easier to attach them firmly, and they look like an intentional part of the design.
We tuned the house's orientation to our solar aperture, about ten degrees east of south. We run out of afternoon sun because of the trees and the ridge. We've had to top our closest trees to keep them out of the house's sun. And we built in thermal mass: seventy yards of concrete in the full basement foundation, and dark brickwork in the north greenhouse wall. I couldn't believe how much concrete we put in, or how much it cost, but you just have to do that part properly. We tuned the overhangs for summer shading -- you can also use seasonal vegetation for shading, if summer heat is the problem it is here.
Try to eliminate pollution from inside the home. Vent the propane refrigerator and the water heater, because they burn and expel fossil fuels, for example. Limit formaldehyde-bearing materials, use non-toxic paints and sealants, and avoid CFCs. Even then, you need good ventilation.
Use local materials if you can, because they will be better and cheaper. We milled the substructure and rafters from a fir tree that was standing right where the house is. We found a standing dead fir that we thought might still have good wood in it; the mobile dimension mill produced six thousand board feet of beautiful lumber. The deck came from a redwood sinker dragged out of the creekbed; it's only medium-grade wood, but it's perfect for decking, because it knows a lot about wet. I believe in sustained yield -- you ought to, if you live in a wood house -- so we tried not to use endangered materials, and used recycled wood where we could. It takes longer, but preserves the forest.
Use the highest-quality windows, the best you can buy. I had a problem with double-glazed windows in the greenhouse, and my glass man informed me that's common in very hot applications. They turned white, then their seals failed. Be sure to get good advice. Use good doors and window framing, because the operating parts of your house should be the best possible.
Build air-tight, and insulate as intensively as you can, because it's easier to heat.
Linda: We used six-inch, kraft-backed fiberglass and six-mil vapor barrier in our six-inch outer walls.
Wes: Limit windows on the north side. You see, we have none.
Around here, the best way to heat, after solar, is with wood and an air-tight, catalytic woodstove. I can clear enough from the land to keep going and hardly scratch the surface. I figure if it rots it produces the same CO2 as when I burn it. Woodstoves with small fireboxes and the high temperature required by a catalytic converter can be a problem, so research your stove carefully.
Plumb for solar hot water even if you can't afford the panels, and even if you just stub out the plumbing in the attic. Insulate all the runs, the hot side in particular.
Active solar hot water is more efficient than passive or thermosiphon. There are two problems to be dealt with: A, panels freeze, and B, controllers fail. Antifreeze in the collector and a heat exchanger tank takes care of A, and a system where the pump is matched to the sun with a PV module takes care of B. We've got our solar hot water backed up twice, with a coil in the woodstove, and an instantaneous water heater.
Separate your greywater from your blackwater, and send it to artichokes or other crops that tolerate soap and grease. You can reclaim the heat in the greywater by running coils through your greenhouse beds. Low-flush toilets are a must; you want to keep your septic system happy. If it's not drowned with too much water, and stays uncontaminated from soap, it makes a better class of compost .
I prefer a 24-volt system. Compared to a 12-volt system, it cuts the amperage you're moving in half. Seek professional help when you're contemplating a full-blown system . . . the same as getting an architect's help, you'll save on mistakes and false starts. Talk to people that have systems equal in complexity to the system you want.
Linda: You will be amazed at what you learn from others.
Wes: Provide for future expansion. With renewable energy, you can have it all, except heating, unless you have BIG hydro.
I no longer believe you need to double-wire your house with parallel ac and dc wiring. Direct current-to-alternating-current inverters have gotten so reliable and efficient, and the quality of compact fluorescent light is so good -- expensive, but once installed, people love getting 75 watts of light for 20 watts of power. Wiring for conventional 120 ac with 12-2 romex is much cheaper than wiring for both ac and dc. In this house, the smallest 12-volt wire is eight gauge, for lighting; that's too much copper in the wall. Instead, wire special circuits for 12-volt dc devices like pumps that are much more efficient than ac. You'll save a lot of energy if you plan carefully for zone lighting, and suit the fixture and source to the activity. And put in lots of extra outlets; you still never have enough.
Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) is something we should consider, even if we don't understand what it really means. We know there must be something to it, because the CIA was bombarding the Russian Consulate with it in the sixties. Wires in the wall don't worry me, but I want equipment at arm's length. Inverters should be outside the building, with the batteries.
Put in extra conduit runs between the basement, crawlspace, utility room, and attic. You can never plan for the future because of new technologies and new interests. For me it was a radiotelephone, a new rain gauge. Photovoltaic modules are expensive, so you usually won't start with enough, but plan and wire for a huge array. Spend money on the wire. Our system, which has thirty-four panels and a micro-hydro plant now, recovers quickly and our batteries are fully charged by noon, so we can use the surplus running the dishwasher and the washer in the afternoon for free.
Trackers make sense for pumping water in summer, when you get 50 percent more power by tracking. In winter, trackers only add 20 percent. You use more energy in the winter, because you're inside more and the days are shorter, so it's less costly to add 20 percent more panels.
Before buying appliances, check for water and energy use. European appliances are best; American manufacturers are just starting to get the idea that efficiency is a good idea.
One last piece of advice: Grow your own food. Organically.
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