Welcome to a home site for ideas and links to energy conservation.
-- Updated 3/3/09 --
Click on Pictures to enlarge them.
Created 1/1/08 for the purpose of sharing information and data on ways to save energy in your home and property. The site has been created by Mark Greenwald of GCC, a licensed general construction company here in Southern California and a resident within Long Beach, CA. The information here is one person's opinion and is based upon over 23 yrs experience in this field in California.
This site will show and update on an as-needed basis ideas and practices to help you save money, time, resources, etc. to improve our homes and the world we live in (whose contributions we may find small but as a group we can make an impact).
Location
Picture of Long Beach ~1940s Lakewood Village.
Long Beach residents located 5 mi inland live in a climate zone that sees hot summers, mild winters, and mostly sunny days. The area has seen fog in the Spring that burns off at mid-day, as well as winter nights that leave frost on the roof tops. Our proximity to the Pacific Ocean brings moist air with 40 - 50% humidity on an average day. On occasion, winds come from the east and bring a Santa Anna condition of hot winds with 10% humidity, typically during the fall and lately, the winter seasons.
Subject Index (as of 7/1/08)
In this area, the weather temperature extremes vary from the high 30s to over 100 degrees. This effect makes homes and their combined materials expand and contract, depending on the location of the materials and their makeup. Exterior walls that face South, roofs that are dark, dark colored exterior materials exposed to the sun, etc... absorb heat. The heat is not typically wanted in the Summer, and needed in the Winter.
Homes here in the LV (Lakewood Village) were built in the 50s, some earlier, with wood framing (a few steel!) on raised foundations. Many are covered with stucco siding, some with wood. A few have brick wainscoting, others stone veneers. Of the homes I've worked on, none had insulation under the floors in the subfloor areas, most had 3 in. or less of attic insulation, and no wall insulation - exterior or interior walls.
Evidence is abundant for saving heating and cooling expenses by adding insulation in your home. Retrofitting walls is tough. Attics and subfloors are accessible (mostly) and are do-able without too much trouble. City Building and Safety personnel have relayed to me the following order of priority:
The best practices today use blown in products (fiberglass, cellulose, (no asbestos products)) and batts of fiberglass. The latest product was recycled bluejeans (denim) into batts for use a heat/cold insulation and sound-deadening. It doesn't itch and is treated to the latest standards of safety. It also costs more than fiberglass by a significant amount - but to those who want it, it's available. R-30 minimum ceilings/attics.
To further delay hot attic heat from penetrating the insulation and heating up your ceiling, install an attic fan - either in the roof or at the gable ends of the walls. This one (left) is controlled by a thermostatic switch that turns on the fan at a set temperature (which you can dial in on the unit).
This model runs on 120 V but others are available that run on a solar panel (photo voltaic panel) - but don't have the same ability to move air (less cfm). As photo voltaic cells get less expensive and last longer, it will be the way to go. Simple to install for those who have the tools and the knowledge. This one is ~22" in diameter and serves approx. 2,000 sq ft attic space.
Cold floors conduct cold to the air. Carpet helps out best in my opinion: but it's not R19. Even though City codes state underfloor insulation is required for new construction, even with it installed, my hardwood floors are cold in the winter (the raised subfloor space stays cold apparently, and it makes its way through the insulation). Underfloor installs use stiff wires to hold up the batts in between floor joist (16" wide, or 24" wide). For those houses without floor joists (some have tongue and groove 2 x 6 plank) - you need to use a combination of staples and fiberglass screening to hold up the product; also rigid foam is available but more difficult to install; more methods are available to blow in expanded foam - but it's pricey. R-19 minimum.
Windows and doors: Single pane glass windows, windows that leak air and convect cold, and air leaky doors (unweather striped, and bad door sweeps, too thin i.e., 1-3/8" exterior doors) are the targets for repair and replace. Infrared imaging would show major temperature changes in these areas. Replace old windows with the latest vinyls or clad wood depending on your budget. Low-E is a minimum with other features offered for increased energy efficiency (inert gas filled dual-paned (or more); heat mirror films; etc.). It's my understanding that the gas doesn't last - but companies are willing to warrant it and service it. Your choice. R-values vary with the manufacturer and product.
Exterior walls/interior walls: best insulated during a remodel. Pack all the walls during open framing for increased insulation and noise cancellation. No remodeling any time soon - well I know of companies that drill the stucco and plug them after blowing the insulation into the wall cavities. Once completed, the plugs are covered and you have to re-stucco to get a good match. The same could happen indoors as well, except plaster or drywall work needs to be done to repair the holes. A bit pricey and time consuming. It's 4th on the list - so if you get the other 3, your a good ways there. R13 minimum.
Note: a can of expanding foam can work wonders for holes in walls and floors in cabinets, etc... to plug up air leaks. Plumbing penetrations through walls should be foamed up as long as it won't burn the foam (water heater and B-1 vent pipes for example). Check if your recessed cans lighting your house are leaking air - versions installed prior to the Leak Tight models now in the market place should be either taped up with high heat foil tape on the slots or the trims replaced with Air Tight models.
Solar Water Heating:
Many options are available for heating water using solar panels. Two versions I like involve no electricity and no moving parts: passive systems that work reliably to reduce water heating bills.
1. One version can be home made: a used water heater mounted sideways on saw bucks, enclosed in a box with glass tops and sides - much like an aquarium. The tank cover is stripped off, painted black, and plumbing run to the existing water heater. The unit preheats the water going into the heater. You need to be somewhat mechanically inclined to pull this off. More on this style later.
2. Another version is prebuilt but needs assembly: it too has tanks that are heated by the sun, but additional science has been done to design it with maximum efficiency for a unit that is stationary (doesn't move to follow the suns rays as they do in the large desert arrays to make electricity).
The beauty of this design is the plastic housing that surrounds the tank with a column of air that keeps the tank insulated from the surrounding air in the tub. The tub itself also gets a dual-pane cover (later) that insulates the whole thing from the outside air. Essentially like taking a thermos bottle and leaving it on the dashboard of your car while parked out in the full sun all day long (imagining your car has dual-pane glass, and the bottle has just a glass cover on it!).
The tank is high grade stainless steel (25 gal) painted with thermal absorbing black paint. Behind the tank will lay a mirror of mylar to bounce and focus the rays onto the tank. The system can produce 170 F water that goes into your water heater. It stores in the tank on your roof until called for. By the time it reaches your water heater, it doesn't call for heat - and your gas bill is for the pilot burner!
Note: winter time use and cloudy days don't guarantee 170 F water - so keep the heater to warm it in those time periods. But any sunlight will assist in raising the temperature more than it is supplied out of the ground (65 F). A dual tank system is recommended for 3 or more people in a house. The dual tank layout has the hot outlet from one tank feeding into the cold inlet for the 2nd tank to continue the heating process. The outlet from the second unit feeds into the storage water heater.
Note: These units can also work with tankless heaters (vs. storage water heaters) as those heaters sense the inlet temperature of the water prior to sending it to the rest of your house. But for sustainability - it makes sense to have a storage tank of water in case a disaster shuts off water to your house. With the right plumbing connections, 50 gals on the roof and 40 to 50 on the ground - it could sustain a family for 2 weeks and still have water to cook, wash,
and flush.
Picture (left) shows final plumbing lines insulated with foam wrap and foil tape to protect the foam. The metal tape wraps around the foam insulation and is primed with metal primer spray paint. The final paint color has not been applied at the time of this picture. More data will be presented here as the system is used over time. So far there are ~20,000 of these units in use with no complications from rust, leaks, mineral deposits, or clogging up.
Note valve connections: in this install, the cold comes out of the wall, up to the roof and back down on the right side right into the water heater. By-pass valves were added in case a problem might occur where the system needed service, allowing the water heater to continue running with the solar heater out of the loop. Two hose connections were added for emergency water use: this allows the water in the tanks to be used for hot water, and the water in the heater to be used for cold water supply in an emergency. The valve on the left is higher than the one on the right: the right one is opened to let water out while the left one is opened to allow air to let the water flow out of the tanks. Simply hook up your garden hose and use as needed! (Lines are shown without insulation for illustration only.)
Rain Water Collection and Use
At this time, a drought exists in this area. The City of Long Beach has mandatory water saving measures in-place to make it illegal for residents to waste water or use it too much (watering lawns, washing down walkways and driveways, etc.). When it does rain, much of the fresh water runs off into the storm drains rather than become absorbed by the ground. This affects our fresh water supply beneath the City in wells, where the seeping water makes its way down to the aquifer where it is pumped up to use as our water supply. If your property drains into the street without running through some vegetation or soil, try the following:
To enhance our sustainability, one could save rain water running off our roof tops and gutters by allowing them to drain into:
The City of Long Beach does not have a local pickup of home green waste, to be used for composting. To recycle green waste (food scraps, garden waste, lawn cuttings, leaves, etc.) the City does have classes in creating and running a compost pile to make compost for your garden and possibly your dirt for a new lawn. There are several web sites for instructions on making your own composting bin or ones that will sell you one. I saw many designs and improved them to the one below.
In this writers opinion, one must have a garden with something growing in it that you can eat (when the right time comes to harvest). This sustainable resource can not be overlooked - the self reliance on growing one's own fruit (trees) and vegetables (as much as you have space for) is your ticket to surviving when an emergency cuts off power and shopping stores are closed.
To keep the nutritional value of the garden going, it gets the best fertilizer from natural sources: composting is one of them. Another is using a worm composter (worms eating the waste from the kitchen and garden turning it onto castings and by-products). There are also many sites on the web that explain, direct to build, and sell equipment to make worm composting bins. It appears the castings and by-products are the finest fertilizers for the garden, and allows you to recycle waste that would otherwise get thrown out into a dump somewhere.
There are do's and dont's to raising worms for composting - read up. More will be added here shortly.
Sites for More Info.:
www.digitalseed.com/composter/vermicomposting.html
www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System
DYI Composting Barrel
Take a 55 gal plastic drum and cut a hatch into it. Hinge it, clasp it, drill holes for the post through the centers of each end. Cut fence post to length and fasten L-shaped brackets onto the post to the inside to keep the barrel and post tied together (it spins as one with the post).
Drill and tap the holes to hold the bracket to the post with threaded screws. Cut fins for mixing the compost to the bottom and top of barrel. I used a 4 x 4 plastic fence post as it had thick walls and would stand up to the weight of the compost as it turned. Rip the plastic fence post into 4 x 4 L-shaped fins - screw the fins to the barrel with sheet metal screws. Create a wood washer from 3/4" plywood approx. 10" diameter with a 1-3/4" hole in the center to act as a spacer and a fastener for the pole. I used hot melt glue to fasten it to the outside of the barrel, and screws through the barrel from the L-brackets, securing the post to the barrel.
Next, create the stand from 2 x 4 pressure treated lumber if you want it to last a while outdoors. Drill the post for a 5/8" hole through the post for the J-bolt handle (or equivalent rod) used to turn the barrel for mixing.
Drill several holes through the upper portion of the barrel to allow air to flow through the inside. This barrel has a drain hole for draining 'brewed' water from the pile after it has 'cooked', good for fertilizer. Once done, open the hatch and the contents will spill out on the bottom into a wheel barrel or the like.
I also placed axle grease on the rolling surfaces and the plywood spacer to protect it from rain and to make spinning the barrel easier. Being black - it should absorb heat and promote the temperatures needed to assist microbes and fungi to break down the leaves, etc.. into that much desired mulch for the garden. Recycle waste and become self sufficient.
Heating and Cooling
Cooling will be addressed first. Insulating the ceiling, walls, and floors makes sense for both heating and cooling. To further reduce energy in cooling your house, and minimize the use of an air conditioner, install a whole house attic fan. I've had them in all my homes up and down the State. They work well. The object is to exchange warm inside with cooler air outside. That happens in the dusk time period, so your house insulation and roof attic fan have to make it to the end of the day. So far, it keeps our house at~80 degrees F in the most intense hot days! R-30 in the attic, 5/8" drywall ceilings, and a roof attic fan that draws cooler air inside the attic while exhausting the hot air out the roof. Not to confuse you with a roof attic fan and a whole house attic fan, the later is a ~36" diameter fan mounted in the ceiling connected to a wall timer - it is not thermostatically controlled (it could be with the right switch). The timer turns it on. Typically 2 speed operation, one simply opens screened windows, doors, and openable skylights around the house to let in cool fresh air.
There are many whole house fans on the market - get a sturdy one - it can vibrate over time and create unwanted noise. Louvered vents cover the fan and can rattle if not made properly. The vents are not insulated and, hence, need to be covered in the winter time. I've notice there is no mention of this on web sites for these fans, so make one your self out of 1/2" expanded polystyrene (foam board) and tape it to the cover for the winter to keep the hot air in the room (or the cold air in the attic). Works better than nothing at all - stops air leakage, too.
The nice thing about these large fans is they pull a lot of air through the house quickly and cool off the attic as well. The idea is to make it to that time period when it's cool out - no sense putting on the fan if the air outside is warmer than it is inside! If you can't wait, and it's one of those days when it's intolerable, then the air conditioner is your last resort.
Air conditioners - whole house versions mounted to your heating furnace: these units vary in SEER efficiency and power requirements. The higher the SEER, the more efficient and typically more expensive to buy. Less expensive to run. The choice is yours. Go with what you can afford - default choice is as high as you can afford. Ducts here in Southern California now have to be R6 to keep the heat or cold better till it gets to your vent register. Typically foil-faced insulation with a plastic lined duct, the flexible duct tubing should be installed without any kinks in it to avoid low pressure and/or flow. Choose reputable knowledgeable installers who can diagram out for you the lengths, diameters, sizes, and CFMs involved with a system. They should know the temperature rise and falls and be able to demonstrate them. If they can't, find someone else.
Note: for homeowners willing to use a white painted roof coating, the reflected light and energy in the summer time is significant, keeping interior attic spaces cooler. This is useful in rooms where a lofted ceiling has no insulation above it.
Heating: so much is out there on heating a home. My preference here in S. California and in most of the U.S.A. is to not burn wood. I typically take out fireplaces in remodels and new construction designs. I replace them with entertainment centers. Solar heating is my first choice - but it has to be designed into the house. Most of us don't have heat sink interior walls that get direct sunlight during the winter months - walls that absorb heat in the day and radiate it at night. Some use water tanks that the sun heats within the house - designs abound, but most if us aren't on the cutting edge of house designs for energy independence. So we mostly use gas-fired forced air furnaces blowing heated air. For those of you stuck with wall or floor furnaces without fans, have one installed to break up the stratification of hot on top and cool at the floor level.
Few have electric heating: wires in the ceiling to radiate heat. Probably more expensive to run. Floor heating with hot water tubing and pump(s) (hydronic) is more common on the Eastern part of the U.S.A., but I've installed them here in the West. A nice heat - but it was done on top of a slab concrete foundation covered by tile. No leaks since I installed it in 2003. Still uses gas (or electric if you prefer) for the storage water heater to heat the water, plus electricity to circulate it. Could be installed on a raised floor foundation, but one would have to design it into the subfloor layers to get the right finished floor height.
This site will show and update on an as-needed basis ideas and practices to help you save money, time, resources, etc. to improve our homes and the world we live in (whose contributions we may find small but as a group we can make an impact).
Location
Picture of Long Beach ~1940s Lakewood Village.
Long Beach residents located 5 mi inland live in a climate zone that sees hot summers, mild winters, and mostly sunny days. The area has seen fog in the Spring that burns off at mid-day, as well as winter nights that leave frost on the roof tops. Our proximity to the Pacific Ocean brings moist air with 40 - 50% humidity on an average day. On occasion, winds come from the east and bring a Santa Anna condition of hot winds with 10% humidity, typically during the fall and lately, the winter seasons.
Subject Index (as of 7/1/08)
- Home Insulation
- Solar Water Heating
- Rain Water Collection and Use
- Waste Recycling/Composting
- Electrical
- Natural Gas (To Be Added Later)
- Water (To Be Added Later)
- Landscaping (To Be Added Later)
- Home Remodeling/New Construction (To Be Added Later)
- Heating & Cooling
- Misc. (To Be Added Later)
In this area, the weather temperature extremes vary from the high 30s to over 100 degrees. This effect makes homes and their combined materials expand and contract, depending on the location of the materials and their makeup. Exterior walls that face South, roofs that are dark, dark colored exterior materials exposed to the sun, etc... absorb heat. The heat is not typically wanted in the Summer, and needed in the Winter.
Homes here in the LV (Lakewood Village) were built in the 50s, some earlier, with wood framing (a few steel!) on raised foundations. Many are covered with stucco siding, some with wood. A few have brick wainscoting, others stone veneers. Of the homes I've worked on, none had insulation under the floors in the subfloor areas, most had 3 in. or less of attic insulation, and no wall insulation - exterior or interior walls.
Evidence is abundant for saving heating and cooling expenses by adding insulation in your home. Retrofitting walls is tough. Attics and subfloors are accessible (mostly) and are do-able without too much trouble. City Building and Safety personnel have relayed to me the following order of priority:
- Ceilings
- Floors
- Window and doors (replace old 1 pane w/new 2-pane vinyls or similar)
- Walls
The best practices today use blown in products (fiberglass, cellulose, (no asbestos products)) and batts of fiberglass. The latest product was recycled bluejeans (denim) into batts for use a heat/cold insulation and sound-deadening. It doesn't itch and is treated to the latest standards of safety. It also costs more than fiberglass by a significant amount - but to those who want it, it's available. R-30 minimum ceilings/attics.
To further delay hot attic heat from penetrating the insulation and heating up your ceiling, install an attic fan - either in the roof or at the gable ends of the walls. This one (left) is controlled by a thermostatic switch that turns on the fan at a set temperature (which you can dial in on the unit).
This model runs on 120 V but others are available that run on a solar panel (photo voltaic panel) - but don't have the same ability to move air (less cfm). As photo voltaic cells get less expensive and last longer, it will be the way to go. Simple to install for those who have the tools and the knowledge. This one is ~22" in diameter and serves approx. 2,000 sq ft attic space.
Cold floors conduct cold to the air. Carpet helps out best in my opinion: but it's not R19. Even though City codes state underfloor insulation is required for new construction, even with it installed, my hardwood floors are cold in the winter (the raised subfloor space stays cold apparently, and it makes its way through the insulation). Underfloor installs use stiff wires to hold up the batts in between floor joist (16" wide, or 24" wide). For those houses without floor joists (some have tongue and groove 2 x 6 plank) - you need to use a combination of staples and fiberglass screening to hold up the product; also rigid foam is available but more difficult to install; more methods are available to blow in expanded foam - but it's pricey. R-19 minimum.
Windows and doors: Single pane glass windows, windows that leak air and convect cold, and air leaky doors (unweather striped, and bad door sweeps, too thin i.e., 1-3/8" exterior doors) are the targets for repair and replace. Infrared imaging would show major temperature changes in these areas. Replace old windows with the latest vinyls or clad wood depending on your budget. Low-E is a minimum with other features offered for increased energy efficiency (inert gas filled dual-paned (or more); heat mirror films; etc.). It's my understanding that the gas doesn't last - but companies are willing to warrant it and service it. Your choice. R-values vary with the manufacturer and product.
Exterior walls/interior walls: best insulated during a remodel. Pack all the walls during open framing for increased insulation and noise cancellation. No remodeling any time soon - well I know of companies that drill the stucco and plug them after blowing the insulation into the wall cavities. Once completed, the plugs are covered and you have to re-stucco to get a good match. The same could happen indoors as well, except plaster or drywall work needs to be done to repair the holes. A bit pricey and time consuming. It's 4th on the list - so if you get the other 3, your a good ways there. R13 minimum.
Note: a can of expanding foam can work wonders for holes in walls and floors in cabinets, etc... to plug up air leaks. Plumbing penetrations through walls should be foamed up as long as it won't burn the foam (water heater and B-1 vent pipes for example). Check if your recessed cans lighting your house are leaking air - versions installed prior to the Leak Tight models now in the market place should be either taped up with high heat foil tape on the slots or the trims replaced with Air Tight models.
Solar Water Heating:
Many options are available for heating water using solar panels. Two versions I like involve no electricity and no moving parts: passive systems that work reliably to reduce water heating bills.
1. One version can be home made: a used water heater mounted sideways on saw bucks, enclosed in a box with glass tops and sides - much like an aquarium. The tank cover is stripped off, painted black, and plumbing run to the existing water heater. The unit preheats the water going into the heater. You need to be somewhat mechanically inclined to pull this off. More on this style later.
2. Another version is prebuilt but needs assembly: it too has tanks that are heated by the sun, but additional science has been done to design it with maximum efficiency for a unit that is stationary (doesn't move to follow the suns rays as they do in the large desert arrays to make electricity).
The beauty of this design is the plastic housing that surrounds the tank with a column of air that keeps the tank insulated from the surrounding air in the tub. The tub itself also gets a dual-pane cover (later) that insulates the whole thing from the outside air. Essentially like taking a thermos bottle and leaving it on the dashboard of your car while parked out in the full sun all day long (imagining your car has dual-pane glass, and the bottle has just a glass cover on it!).The tank is high grade stainless steel (25 gal) painted with thermal absorbing black paint. Behind the tank will lay a mirror of mylar to bounce and focus the rays onto the tank. The system can produce 170 F water that goes into your water heater. It stores in the tank on your roof until called for. By the time it reaches your water heater, it doesn't call for heat - and your gas bill is for the pilot burner!
Note: winter time use and cloudy days don't guarantee 170 F water - so keep the heater to warm it in those time periods. But any sunlight will assist in raising the temperature more than it is supplied out of the ground (65 F). A dual tank system is recommended for 3 or more people in a house. The dual tank layout has the hot outlet from one tank feeding into the cold inlet for the 2nd tank to continue the heating process. The outlet from the second unit feeds into the storage water heater.
Note: These units can also work with tankless heaters (vs. storage water heaters) as those heaters sense the inlet temperature of the water prior to sending it to the rest of your house. But for sustainability - it makes sense to have a storage tank of water in case a disaster shuts off water to your house. With the right plumbing connections, 50 gals on the roof and 40 to 50 on the ground - it could sustain a family for 2 weeks and still have water to cook, wash,
and flush.
Picture (left) shows final plumbing lines insulated with foam wrap and foil tape to protect the foam. The metal tape wraps around the foam insulation and is primed with metal primer spray paint. The final paint color has not been applied at the time of this picture. More data will be presented here as the system is used over time. So far there are ~20,000 of these units in use with no complications from rust, leaks, mineral deposits, or clogging up.
Note valve connections: in this install, the cold comes out of the wall, up to the roof and back down on the right side right into the water heater. By-pass valves were added in case a problem might occur where the system needed service, allowing the water heater to continue running with the solar heater out of the loop. Two hose connections were added for emergency water use: this allows the water in the tanks to be used for hot water, and the water in the heater to be used for cold water supply in an emergency. The valve on the left is higher than the one on the right: the right one is opened to let water out while the left one is opened to allow air to let the water flow out of the tanks. Simply hook up your garden hose and use as needed! (Lines are shown without insulation for illustration only.)
Rain Water Collection and Use
At this time, a drought exists in this area. The City of Long Beach has mandatory water saving measures in-place to make it illegal for residents to waste water or use it too much (watering lawns, washing down walkways and driveways, etc.). When it does rain, much of the fresh water runs off into the storm drains rather than become absorbed by the ground. This affects our fresh water supply beneath the City in wells, where the seeping water makes its way down to the aquifer where it is pumped up to use as our water supply. If your property drains into the street without running through some vegetation or soil, try the following:
To enhance our sustainability, one could save rain water running off our roof tops and gutters by allowing them to drain into:
- a series of storage tubs set around the house at downspout locations to catch the rain water during the rainy season. Storage tubs work well as they have lids that can be used to cover the tubs to keep bugs out after the rains leave. Some days later, when the warmer weather comes back, transfer the water by hand using buckets or pails to deliver this fresh water to your plants/garden/trees or lawn. Good exercise and good for your plants. This option requires that you have your downspouts cut back a bit higher to get the tubs underneath them.
- buy a ready made barrel and downspout kit that uses a flapper on the downspout to divert water to the drum. The flow into the drum is restricted, though. Try the following: buy the drum, insert a valve at the bottom to drain the contents into pails. This option holds 55 gals water, but requires you leave the barrel in-place for the duration. Below shows drum installed with an overflow hole and spout. The overflow drains into another tub. The last big rain filled both and the rest went into the ground. Current install has 3 around the house.
- use extending pipes to get the runoff water to a grassy or garden area, watering an area that may go with less water than normal rainfall gives. One version can be bought at the local home remodeling centers. It's made of plastic and shaped like an accordion to expand as you pull on it. It may be rectangular and fits over the downspout to direct the water where you want it. Be sure to run the water away from your house foundation and avoid trouble later with subsidence.
- build a cistern below ground and store all the water that comes off the roof! Done more in tropical island areas, it can be adapted here using a large buried storage tank (typically made of plastic) and a pump to get it out. Also available are custom bags made of plastic that are placed under the house to do the same function.
The City of Long Beach does not have a local pickup of home green waste, to be used for composting. To recycle green waste (food scraps, garden waste, lawn cuttings, leaves, etc.) the City does have classes in creating and running a compost pile to make compost for your garden and possibly your dirt for a new lawn. There are several web sites for instructions on making your own composting bin or ones that will sell you one. I saw many designs and improved them to the one below.
In this writers opinion, one must have a garden with something growing in it that you can eat (when the right time comes to harvest). This sustainable resource can not be overlooked - the self reliance on growing one's own fruit (trees) and vegetables (as much as you have space for) is your ticket to surviving when an emergency cuts off power and shopping stores are closed.
To keep the nutritional value of the garden going, it gets the best fertilizer from natural sources: composting is one of them. Another is using a worm composter (worms eating the waste from the kitchen and garden turning it onto castings and by-products). There are also many sites on the web that explain, direct to build, and sell equipment to make worm composting bins. It appears the castings and by-products are the finest fertilizers for the garden, and allows you to recycle waste that would otherwise get thrown out into a dump somewhere.
There are do's and dont's to raising worms for composting - read up. More will be added here shortly.
Sites for More Info.:
www.digitalseed.com/composter/vermicomposting.html
www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System
DYI Composting Barrel
Take a 55 gal plastic drum and cut a hatch into it. Hinge it, clasp it, drill holes for the post through the centers of each end. Cut fence post to length and fasten L-shaped brackets onto the post to the inside to keep the barrel and post tied together (it spins as one with the post).
Drill and tap the holes to hold the bracket to the post with threaded screws. Cut fins for mixing the compost to the bottom and top of barrel. I used a 4 x 4 plastic fence post as it had thick walls and would stand up to the weight of the compost as it turned. Rip the plastic fence post into 4 x 4 L-shaped fins - screw the fins to the barrel with sheet metal screws. Create a wood washer from 3/4" plywood approx. 10" diameter with a 1-3/4" hole in the center to act as a spacer and a fastener for the pole. I used hot melt glue to fasten it to the outside of the barrel, and screws through the barrel from the L-brackets, securing the post to the barrel.
Next, create the stand from 2 x 4 pressure treated lumber if you want it to last a while outdoors. Drill the post for a 5/8" hole through the post for the J-bolt handle (or equivalent rod) used to turn the barrel for mixing.Drill several holes through the upper portion of the barrel to allow air to flow through the inside. This barrel has a drain hole for draining 'brewed' water from the pile after it has 'cooked', good for fertilizer. Once done, open the hatch and the contents will spill out on the bottom into a wheel barrel or the like.
I also placed axle grease on the rolling surfaces and the plywood spacer to protect it from rain and to make spinning the barrel easier. Being black - it should absorb heat and promote the temperatures needed to assist microbes and fungi to break down the leaves, etc.. into that much desired mulch for the garden. Recycle waste and become self sufficient.
Heating and Cooling
Cooling will be addressed first. Insulating the ceiling, walls, and floors makes sense for both heating and cooling. To further reduce energy in cooling your house, and minimize the use of an air conditioner, install a whole house attic fan. I've had them in all my homes up and down the State. They work well. The object is to exchange warm inside with cooler air outside. That happens in the dusk time period, so your house insulation and roof attic fan have to make it to the end of the day. So far, it keeps our house at~80 degrees F in the most intense hot days! R-30 in the attic, 5/8" drywall ceilings, and a roof attic fan that draws cooler air inside the attic while exhausting the hot air out the roof. Not to confuse you with a roof attic fan and a whole house attic fan, the later is a ~36" diameter fan mounted in the ceiling connected to a wall timer - it is not thermostatically controlled (it could be with the right switch). The timer turns it on. Typically 2 speed operation, one simply opens screened windows, doors, and openable skylights around the house to let in cool fresh air.
There are many whole house fans on the market - get a sturdy one - it can vibrate over time and create unwanted noise. Louvered vents cover the fan and can rattle if not made properly. The vents are not insulated and, hence, need to be covered in the winter time. I've notice there is no mention of this on web sites for these fans, so make one your self out of 1/2" expanded polystyrene (foam board) and tape it to the cover for the winter to keep the hot air in the room (or the cold air in the attic). Works better than nothing at all - stops air leakage, too.
The nice thing about these large fans is they pull a lot of air through the house quickly and cool off the attic as well. The idea is to make it to that time period when it's cool out - no sense putting on the fan if the air outside is warmer than it is inside! If you can't wait, and it's one of those days when it's intolerable, then the air conditioner is your last resort.
Air conditioners - whole house versions mounted to your heating furnace: these units vary in SEER efficiency and power requirements. The higher the SEER, the more efficient and typically more expensive to buy. Less expensive to run. The choice is yours. Go with what you can afford - default choice is as high as you can afford. Ducts here in Southern California now have to be R6 to keep the heat or cold better till it gets to your vent register. Typically foil-faced insulation with a plastic lined duct, the flexible duct tubing should be installed without any kinks in it to avoid low pressure and/or flow. Choose reputable knowledgeable installers who can diagram out for you the lengths, diameters, sizes, and CFMs involved with a system. They should know the temperature rise and falls and be able to demonstrate them. If they can't, find someone else.
Note: for homeowners willing to use a white painted roof coating, the reflected light and energy in the summer time is significant, keeping interior attic spaces cooler. This is useful in rooms where a lofted ceiling has no insulation above it.
Heating: so much is out there on heating a home. My preference here in S. California and in most of the U.S.A. is to not burn wood. I typically take out fireplaces in remodels and new construction designs. I replace them with entertainment centers. Solar heating is my first choice - but it has to be designed into the house. Most of us don't have heat sink interior walls that get direct sunlight during the winter months - walls that absorb heat in the day and radiate it at night. Some use water tanks that the sun heats within the house - designs abound, but most if us aren't on the cutting edge of house designs for energy independence. So we mostly use gas-fired forced air furnaces blowing heated air. For those of you stuck with wall or floor furnaces without fans, have one installed to break up the stratification of hot on top and cool at the floor level.
Few have electric heating: wires in the ceiling to radiate heat. Probably more expensive to run. Floor heating with hot water tubing and pump(s) (hydronic) is more common on the Eastern part of the U.S.A., but I've installed them here in the West. A nice heat - but it was done on top of a slab concrete foundation covered by tile. No leaks since I installed it in 2003. Still uses gas (or electric if you prefer) for the storage water heater to heat the water, plus electricity to circulate it. Could be installed on a raised floor foundation, but one would have to design it into the subfloor layers to get the right finished floor height.
No comments:
Post a Comment