>Composting toilets resolve water issues and enhance soils. That's exactly right, that's what we have to do. I prefer "restore" to "enhance" though - the stuff goes back to where it came from, according to the natural cycle. Flush toilets break that cycle, like many other things we do. That broken cycle is right at the root of so many of our problems, or even all of them, I think sometimes.
There's an energy aspect to this. Compost is a seriously neglected source of energy. It's easy to rig a composting toilet arrangement so that it's contributing to a thermophilic (hot) compost heap rather than a mesophilic process (warm, takes longer). The heat generated is considerable. Often when I've mentioned this I've been told: "But it's uncontrollable," which always baffles me, I don't think it's uncontrollable. I think Jerry mentioned this once, using compost to heat water. I reckon it should be a standard arrangement. They say you need bulk to make good hot compost, but it's not really true. It is probably true that if you don't have bulk you need skill. But it's an easily learnt skill. We have a smallish composting unit outside, about 16 cub ft (plus a bunch of worm bins about the place), but I've also been fiddling with a small unit on the balcony, a 14x14x14" wooden box - less than 1.5 cub ft internal. Right now there's about 1 cub ft of composting stuff in it, and the temperature is 58 deg C (136 deg F). Our hot water tap only does 56, which is more than enough. The box will stay at that temp for at least a week. With two of them in series (the usual way with composters) you'd have a constant supply of heat, easy enough to harness and taking up very little space. It's free, very productive (compost is GOOD stuff!), easy to keep it fed if you have a small garden and a kitchen, and you're keeping your organic wastes out of the waste stream, where they truly don't belong, and putting them where they do belong, in a considerably enhanced form. Aleks's acid-base 2-stage process (the Foolproof process) needs less heat than that (55 deg C). Such small boxes won't do for humanure, but they're just fine for anything else. >As for paper, better recycled cardboard boxes or renewable annuals. Yep. >In a perfect world nothing but lumber should be coming directly from trees. Well, I see what you mean, but a good forest can produce a great variety of products (including energy) in large quantities and still be there, nice place to take a walk in, full of wildlife and stuff. Chopping it down is a really dumb thing to do. Especially to make paper out of it. Best wishes Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ >Todd >Appal Energy >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html >To unsubscribe, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
