GreenSpree Has Started His New Straw Bale Home
It’s pretty exciting, GreenSpree one of our MySietch bloggers has started construction on his new Straw Bale home. He has the pad and the driveway done and will be moving on towards the construction soon.
Our straw bale home is moving forward! We ended up getting our mortgage approved through our broker without going through CMHC but had already started shopping elsewhere by then. We went to a bank and got a better deal and lower down payment requirement and are going in today to sign the paperwork. We knew we were approved last week so went ahead and started the construction process rolling.
Monday the driveway and more importantly house pad were place and compacted on our lot! This seems to be a good time to go over the foundation construction to be used on our home.
Read the rest here.
Europe Considers The Benefits Of Going To DC Power Grid
Every time you use electricity in your home, from your computer to your TV (if you live in the united states or Europe) you are using AC, or Alternating current. Things like solar panels, and wind turbines produce DC, or Direct Current (edit: wind turbines can also produce AC). (the difference being that DC goes in one direction around the circuit, where as AC wiggles back and forth) That means that if you want to use solar panels, or wind turbines to power your home you have to use a little device called an inverter. An inverter changes DC to AC so that it will work with your stuff. Why, you may ask do we have AC instead of DC? Well, a long time ago a big fight happened, Thomas Edison backed DC. George Westinghouse backed AC. Westinghouse won.
There are a lot of good reasons why AC won. At the time the grid was small, you had lots of tiny power plants all over the place. Over short distances AC lines lose less electricity (to things like heat) than DC does. However with today’s modern grid (big power plants far away from the places that use the electricity) DC lines make much more sense. Over long distances DC power lines lose far less than AC. So why am I going on and on about this stuff? And what does this have to do with Europe or Wind Power? So glad you asked.
Read the rest of Europe Considers The Benefits Of Going To DC Power Grid
Ask The Sietch – Where Can I Get Solar Cells For DIY Projects?
Do you have a question you would like to Ask The Sietch? Contact us or post your question in the Forums, and we will do our best to answer it. Got this one from the contact form the other day
I’d like to do the “Build your own solar battery charger” project, but I’m new to this. Can you suggest places to get the solar cells?
Thanks,
Jimi
I get this question a lot. Finding bulk or “raw” solar cells can be a bit tricky. With the very high cost of pure silicon, and the fact that even “bad” solar cells (ones with small defects, or small color issues) still work very well, most companies no longer will give away the “rejects.” However there are still ways to get cells to work with. Below are a couple of ways you can try to go about getting them.
Read the rest of Ask The Sietch – Where Can I Get Solar Cells For DIY Projects?
New England Moving Toward Energy Efficient Homes Still Has Some Catching Up To Do
A recent analysis shows that In 2006, the percentage of newly constructed single family homes earning the government’s Energy Star label for superior energy efficiency exceeded 12 percent in 15 states, with three New England states at the forefront of that list.
Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont are among the leaders which host the greatest percent of Energy Star certified homes, alongside Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Utah.
“New England is once again leading the nation on energy conservation and environmental issues,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Consumers don’t have to limit their smart energy choices to energy efficient cars and appliances, but more and more can choose high-efficiency, low-emission systems in their homes.”
Read the rest of New England Moving Toward Energy Efficient Homes Still Has Some Catching Up To Do
Feeding Yourself In Six Simple Steps
One of our star MySietch bloggers Red State Green has completed her 6 step “how to feed yourself” guide. After setting off a firestorm with her initial post on the plausibility of feeding yourself (see also GreenSpree’s interesting article on small footprint farming) she went on to explain in 6 easy steps ways you can feed yourself.
Here they are
- Learn to garden
- Stock up
- Find out who your neighbors are
- Find local food sources
- Learn to cook
- Think about your meat sources
I found each one interesting and full of useful advice. She really takes something we never think about (where our food comes from and what we would do if we had to get it all ourselves) and tackles the issue with good advice and clever tips. I highly recommend reading them all.
Do you want to start your own blog, check out MySietch and start blogging today! It’s free and fun.
RSS XML Feed
