Let me search some links and see what I come up with. An option might be a CH&P option that would take care of lighting and doing radiant heating in the floor. That would procude a nice kind of warmth. If there was a battery with the genset then it could be utilized off-grid. Lots of banter going about this on the list recently. It might be useful to think about an old 1.6 VW diesel pulled from the junkyard and convert it to a genset. Anyone have experience w/ that?
James Slayden On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, girl mark wrote: > > > At 10:16 AM 1/7/2003 -0800, you wrote: > >What is the cost limitations? > > We're not sure yet- maybe used equipment that costs under 1,000, maybe > much > more- the group the building is for is pretty good at fundraising for > specific equipment once they have an amount in mind (they've got > connections with church groups, great interpersonal connections all over > the country for their tiny remote project, very important work they do, > and > they're charismatic people!). We don't have a very clear budget in mind > yet > as they are waiting for the design, we're designing it as cheaply as > practical to accomplish what they need it to do. > > the building is only an 'outbuilding'- housing restrooms for the > community > center (SunMar composting toilets actually, the brand of toilets was > donated, not by our choice), however > it gets year-round use in a very harsh climate, and needs to be > comfortable > in a blizzard (and in the Plains 118 degree heat too!). The building > also serves some other uses, and in the future it might become a > dwelling > instead, or something else we can't even predict right now. So we have to > plan it as a potential year-round dwelling, not just a restroom building > for an institution. > > The other point of investing decent amount of work and money in this > building is that it is a model for cheap housing on the rez as well- lots > of families trying to figure out how to build like that there, some > interest in and experience with strawbale, lots of need for buildings > people can do themselves without mortgages and loans (not available to > reservation people!), and a need for housing that can be built over time > as > money and labor are available (ie, put up a pole barn when you can afford > it,then do a strawbale wrap and plaster when you can afford it the next > year, poor people in the southwest and mexico build this way and it are > better off than middleclass americans with a huge mortgage, in some > cases) > There's especially a great need for 'anything but electric heat and > trailers'. the community center place is trying to provide information on > doing this kind of building, so we're trying to figure out where passive > and inexpensive active solar, solar hot water, and biofuel heating can > possibly come into play for various people who might use this as a model. > Since we were there last year with a biodiesel-fueled vehicle, there was > lots of interest generated in the question of how vegoil fuel can bring > people's costs of living down (though few people in that community can > afford diesels- they tend to drive whatever they can find cheap and their > options are limited, though the rest of Montana is filled with ranchers > driving really great diesel trucks! home heating oil equipment is > available > there, though, and the oil is a cheap alternative in case the > biodiesel/wvo > doesn't work out for some reason). The idea probably wouldn't work with > homemade biodiesel at the community center- we're dealing with a bunch of > elderly people and very young kids- but some kind of WVO heating option > would be entirely appropriate- they really got off on the idea of sending > the kids (teens) to wrangle grease at KFC with me one day (and boy did > the > kids swear not to eat any more fried food! resolution lasting only about > two days...). too bad in this case that WVO options are not as mainstream > as biodiesel being a straight replacement for home heating oil. > > Mark > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > ADVERTISEMENT > HGTV Dream Home Giveaway > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
