... change to this blog

November 2013 update:  This blog is now continued in this link:

http://livingenergieswinsol.blogspot.com


Thanks to everyone who has read and replied back to the stories and experiences related on this blog.

As we move into a fourth generation WinSol with the iLc ++, this blog will be going private and written by multiple authors.

The new blog/network will be by invitation only.  Please comment here or send an email directly to be included on the invite list.

climate? it's weather babeee...

I wish they would start calling it weird weather instead of global weirding or extreme weather or climate change or whatever the current soundbites are... It really is about changing weather patterns.
Here in nord California we are finally experiencing a more 'normal' winter - as in real cold and real snow storms (lots!)  But there is an interesting twist if you look closely at the new weather patterns this year:

A little bit of pineapple express mixed with a little bit of Artic cold waves.  Along with some sharp gradients and weird monsoonal driven (clockwise) flows.  Seems that the normal southern monsoonal and pineapple express flows are coming north on a regular basis and they viciously collide with the Artic fronts that had been our predominant weather systems in the winter.

The anomaly that concerns me and is getting more normal all the time, are the continuous cloudy days.  This pattern started about 2-3 years ago and appears to be the new normal:  1 or 2 days of sunshine followed by 10 cloudy days.  It used to be more like 60/40:  5-6 days of sunshine followed by 3-4 days of cloudy/storm weather.

Why is this important?  Well, a solar house without sun really sucks!  (who's heard that be4?)  The re-charging of WinSol3’s electrical solar PV system and solar thermal hot water systems are really strained since they were designed by the 60/40 pattern which was predominant over the last century. The upside is that all the rainwater storage tanks get filled early and easily. 

Time will tell – stay tuned.  I’m sure there will be more weirder weather coming and we’ll have to adjust.  But our adjustments will be limited by the design of our buildings.  So there is an even stronger need to design in more flexibility and adjustments to accommodate larger weather variations.

Some of these new design inclusions (for the iLc being built) will include:

European type window shutters (roladden)

Rocket mass heater using 80% less firewood.

More geothermal + earth tube type cooling.

more HW storage capacity

I really love this little Buddhist parable:

The ancient fox used to have a beautiful gait.  And then a fox saw a prophet with an even more beautiful gait.  The fox started following the prophet, but couldn’t keep up.  He changed his gait and started hoping and limping to keep up with the prophet.  When the prophet was gone, the fox had forgotten his original gait, and so that’s why you see the weird gait that foxes have today.

embracing the snow

One of the amazing miracles of living in the mountains is the blue skies spread out on a white forest blanket.  The last two days were rough… coming back from  wonderful networking days in the city to two days of blizzards and close to a foot of snow – ahhh another winter season approaching. And then I woke up to a sparkling, blinding scenery of white, blue and trees dressed in winter whites…

For the past few years I made the comment ‘the older I get the less I like the white stuff (snow)’, and ‘I never want to have silverware sticking to my fingers’ (referring to what frozen utensils do when winter camping).  Well – I’ve changed my mind and transitioning to the enjoyment of the ‘white stuff’.  What put me back over on the friendly side of snow, was the realization that someday there will be less snow here and eventually – none.   ?

It wouldn't be so hard to transition into winter - but going from 80F to 40F for a hi-temp in one day!?  com'on already... this global weirding is just everywhere!


We all know that climate change is accelerating – and what we are slowly learning is that extreme weather patterns is its current manifestation. 

The more snow that falls in the Sierra, the more water storage and river flows will be available in the summer – and this is crucial to keep this California paradise resilient.  So – let it snow, let it snow, let it snow – just not more than 2-3 feet at a time here – please

Seems like the same pattern of the last two years is returning – clouds for 4-6 days, 1-2 days of sunshine, 4-6 cloudy days and on + on…  This winter pattern is a pain for a solar PV system – barely gets the batteries charged with only 8 hours of daylight.  Hopefully this year won’t be like 2 years ago with 3-5 feet of snow in several storms… that was the 150year record!

WinSol3 update

Each year the winters get easier to handle:  as I observe, learn and take actions.  This year it is warmer inside as there are:

1.  heavy insulating curtains in the 2^nd story windows. 
2.  firestove has its first solid masonry chimney
3. not one microscopic smoke leakage,
4. tight (triple layered) waterproofing/flashing.
5. There’s more oak firewood than any previous year.
6. Height of finished living roof makes it easy to clear snow off PV panels

The road out is still a bit of an issue, but with no early morning meetings, and x-country ski fun – I have no problem in waiting for the snow to recede – or just park out by the plowed road.

.....

Today, i made some of my own laundry detergent for the first time – it’s easy and costs less than $1 per gallon!  and it WORKS!  damn... another corporate/media 'wool over the eyes' bites the dust...

Batteries and temperatures

On a side note, for the second year in a row I am experiencing the extreme reduction of my battery output due to cold temperatures.  Not only is the bank of L16’s (Trojan deep cycle battery)  ten years old – they’ve gone through some pretty deep discharging over the last couple years and I think they are past the knee of the depreciation curve (where one replaces them)…. And so there will be another winter with minimal juice.

I have two solutions in mind:

1.  

  Buy and install an additional 100watt solar panel (will increase my current 180 watt total PV supply by 60%!) 

     or...

Split the battery bank (6vdc units) into 2 separate 12vdc banks and hook up the wind generator to one of the banks.  It gives me more flexibility and solves an electrical drainage problem:  the solar controllers cannot handle the wind genset’s integrated controller (after 12 months of frustrations in not getting a proper answer from the manufacturer or the web forums).   It is obvious to me that there is an impedance mismatch and when I hook up the wind genset in parallel with the solar bank and controller, I lose at least 0.2vdc immediately and it drains the battery bank overnite when there is no wind generation (can u tell I used to be a EE?)

Winter arrives...

Finally!  With a roar and sudden Alaska cold front, winter has arrived at WinSol3.  Tuesday saw shear winds over 100mph hit along with a couple inches of snow. 

Just like last year, we went from 80F to 40F in less than 48 hours.  Hopefully this winter will end up with more snow in the mountains. 

Some issues...

Several minor things occurred... like the 4 layers of visqueen and roofing tar paper getting ripped off the 1000+ sf iLc floor AND several leaks on the flashing of the new masonry chimney.  

But all in all WinSol3 stood up really well to the sudden high winds and chilly temps:

• not a single stone (of the 200+) on the new chimney got lodged loose.
• The entire window expanse didn't have a single leak.  
• The living roof 6" + of soil didn't get swept away
• the temperature inside remained at 62F for 3+ days of 35F outside temps
• The new rough cut roads held up well (thanks Will!)
• All the vegie raised beds are continuing to produce

Rainwater replenshing

WinSol3 was down to it's last 500 gallons for irrigation and yesterday it was very cool that the snow slowly melted into the long gutter while it was party cloudy and the solar PV system was able to pump up over 3,000 gallons of water all day!  That's a great start to replenshing all the tanks.
The big lesson here is that summertime water conservation really pays off... it was over 5 months with no rainwater and the tripling of vegies and courtyard watering worked!

summertime...

sing it Gershwin:  ...and the livin' is easy... Ah yes... the dog days of 2012 summer are upon us.  Here's a brief update on goin-on's at WinSol3:

Gardens

Blackberries are jumpin' out like there's no tomorrow.  Always be careful of what you wish for.  I can't get enough blackberries, and this is the first year EVER at 7L that this wish came true.  The best part is that I don't have to bend down or get scratched:  the blackberries are hanging off the deer fencing at 5' up - just waiting for my pickings.  Their timing is perfect.  Heavy pruning and digging up shoots for more plantings is a constant chore. 

Just as the rhubarb dims, then the strawberries dwindle, then the blackberries come to life and when those dwindle the grapes will be ripe - 100's of globes this year.

Another planter  bed is almost finished.  Learning from the last bed (which is just a'rockin with huge tomatoes and cukes +++ ) there'll be plenty of Pt. Reyes seaweed in there, along with local manures, silica beads to retain moisture, bio-char, and deep forest peat.  So that makes eight raised beds now.

The auto-drip system in each of the beds is finally working. I discovered some cool auto-drain couplers that will prevent any 'accidental' freezing of the water lines... but what's so cool about these couplers is that they drain the lines after each watering cycle so that the animals won't chew on the poly pipe like in previous years. I am the only water source around for miles of national forest to the east - so all the wildlife hangs here! The courtyard is standing the test of the first hot summer in 3 years - the deer have only nibbled some roses - the LED alarm seems to be working. A few roses are climbing up, the sedums are doing well along with the lawn, lilies, mahogany tree, etc. 

 International Learning Center (iLc)

The work continues on the international learning center.  I'm now transporting 14' long beams on my RAV's 4' wide rack... looks funny, but works.  That way i can cantilever 2 feet on either side and have 20% more floor area.  The geodesic dome size keeps increasing (it's now at 32' diameter, 3V isohedron) as I am getting re-familiarized with tensegrity math and the huge amount of enclosed volume for a small incremental increase in materials.  

So, after 2 months of cement pouring over 15 concrete piers (some over 4' tall) there's now over 200sf of flooring and another 300sf to go before it gets winterized.

I'm also making models and designing the 8' conduit dome (probably a burner type dome) for the big celebration weekend next month (email me for details).

Greenhouse

I just filled the big tub with cold water, after some dirt and cement work - and there's now a functioning cold+hot tub.  Soaking it up on a hot day hits the spot: almost as good as a swimming hole (hey! I said almost :-)  That's a project in progress right now... back-filling the area and then putting down no-slip tiles.  I hope that the Habitat Restore has some good ones in stock on my next town trip. 

The bamboo trellis and overhang is filled this year (for the first time) with grapes, willow, raspberry and virginia creeper leaves.  It is so awesome to have natural summer shade.  Still struggling to discover what will grow or not inside the greenhouse.  I watered the worm bins today... they are so low-maintenance that sometimes I forget they are even there... oh yeah, gotta remember to add a whole bunch of those red worms to the new raised bed.

Mainhouse

The only project that's going on here (besides continuous simplification and clean-up) is every morning at 5:30am  I get up on the roof and add another layer of granite rocks around the fireplace chimney extension.  It is looking so COOL.  That granite chimney will change the whole outside look of the place!  ...and i could care less about whatever happens in that chimney in the future... flames shooting out of the top for all that i care!  :-)

Other stuff...

One big and worrisome task is that I need to cut three trees (one well over 150' tall) down right in front of the main house.  Wish me luck that it falls where it's supposed to!  i am so worried about it, that I am studying and talking to experts... if a wind breeze comes up on the tall tree it could take out the whole greenhouse and deck.

Each summer it gets cooler and better at WinSol3.  I just discovered my refrigerator of the future:  Dometic.  A friend's RV had a small unit powered on 12VDC and propane.  Very cool, made in Sweden and available for less that 1k.  I'm there, along with a couple more PV panels - it's almost a no-brainer.  ha!
 

wether the weather

In conjunction with my eco-blog about bitchin', I couldn't resist complaining about the weather this year.  Hey, if we can't bitch about the weather, is life worth living? :-)

So when the raindrops started to fall on WinSol3's roof this morning as I was putting another layer of granite rocks on the roof chimney... what else could i do than complain?  I mean it's the middle of summer, and all of sudden I had to rush and cover up all the exposed cement bags, cardboard boxes, etc. that would not look pretty after a good soaking.
That's one of the problems with several outdoor projects going on at WinSol3 - unexpected rain.  I am going to start watching the hurricanes down mejico way more.  And then there's the sweltering heat.  At 4200ft elevation we just don't get the delta breezes this far up, and when Tahoe is warmer than Sacto in the afternoon - well that says it all.

Update:  Construction of the iLc (international learning center) is WAY ahead of schedule (family room floor in, 30' geo dome model in progress, common area piers poured, access road),  the courtyard flat area is almost doubled, the roof chimney extension had a sudden schedule change about a month ago, and the garden beds are just popping!  This year there will be hundred times more yield of grapes and berries than last year.  The lower bed is going crazy with vegies of all sorts, the greenhouse arbor is filled to the rim with virginia creeper leaves, grapes and blackberry leaves that i can't even see the overhead glass = natural summer shading at its finest.  I love going in the greenhouse in the morning and picking berries from above my head as i walk by the pond.

As I am writing this, I get tired just thinking about all the hard work - but it has been the result of many hands, and support of fairplay neighbors ++

I'd like to thank all the on-site helpers so far who have visited and worked hard for days on end in exchange for room+board and festivities... Ram, Del, Pierre,Lia, Monica, Jim, and to the various visitors that have given helpful tips.  A special thanks to Will and his tractor - the fire breaks, new roads, and sangha's are a real blessing - in so many ways.

Soon we'll have the annual party.  And then the 1 day demo of how to build a 8' geodesic dome out of electrical conduit with 1000's of pounds of people standing on it!  I wonder what the Guinness World Record is... timewise + people on top?  next stop Burning man?

I

Another 'living by the sun' lesson: UV

As a delayed spring cleaning is happening, it occurred to me that one of the best ways to disinfect things is with ultraviolet radiation. UV is usually used to purify and disinfect water, air, etc.  ....   and it's also a movie!?

 Here's more info on UV... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet

I usually try to avoid UV since it's one of the most damaging natural elements out there for buildings, human skin and countless other things.  That's why i use steel, stone and dirt as much as possible in my building plans - those three are impervious to UV. 

 and now, the rest of the story...

A common laundry dilemma is what to throw in the washer and what to soak/hand wash and what to take to the dry cleaners (yuk factor here for many reasons).  I occurred to me that i have the best antiseptic cleanser right outside:  the sun.  So i put all the down comforters out there in full direct sunlight for a few hours and then place them into large plastic bags filled with home-grown biodynamic lavendar buds.  So I get a germ free (i mean what bacteria/bugs can survive hours of UV? yikes, I don't want to know!) and sweet nerve-calming lavender smell.


As a side note, I discovered a couple years ago that most critters hate the smell of lavender as much as they hate cedar.  Who knew? Why do stores market up cedar based closet boards, cedar soaked whatevers... when the sweet, calming smell of lavender does the same?   For the last couple years, I split my lavender plants each year and have several varieties abundantly  growing.  They don't need ANY maintenance!  no watering, no pruning, no nothing... my kinda plant!

2012 Spring

This is the 3rd year for the little garden that keeps expanding.  Last year there were 50+ grape globes and lotsa rhubarb... and from the look of it this year there will be hundred's - amazing what a bit of pruning and proper bracing will do.
Straw bales are truly amazing.  i wish I had discovered them decades ago.  It saves SO much de-weeding work, it's wonderful to walk on barefoot, it protects runoff and soil, decomposes in 5+ years and adds nutrients to the soil, it's cheap!, can be used as building and sitting blocks, on and on... 

So the construction of the iLc begins.  It's a momentus decision to pour the first footing.  There should be some sort of a celebration or ribbon cutting.  This iLc (international learning center) will shape not only the future of WinSol3, but also a future eco-village (i call it Sieben Linden West) based on living by the sun.

Felling four tall fir trees the other day gave me pause to admire the beauty and bounty of trees.  Sometimes I wish I would re-incarnate as a tree - they are so buddha like.  There's a wonderful buddhist saying:  'the Banyan tree even gives shade to the person that cuts it down'.  I am careful which trees I harvest in thinning the forest, I use every little bit of the tree (lotsa biochar from the slash), I debark them immediately when the sap is running, and then they dry for a year before they become the long-standing main supports for the iLc. 


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Of all the seasons, Spring is by far the hardest working and most joyous time.  Farmers used to celebrate the spring planting and fall harvest seasons, and gardeners relish the daily observations of newly sprouted blooms and growth.  Each year the flowers and shrubs and trees seem to multiply ten fold.  


There are irises, poppies, rhubarb, grapes, lilacs, lavender +++ blooms just exploding here every day - almost too much to handle, not!  For the first time in 9+ years, I have my 100+ strawberry plants back.  I tried a supermarket strawberry the other day:  tasteless, methyl iodide, and unnatural - yuk!  But for me, one of my most relished rituals is to pick fresh strawberries from the garden each morning with cereal bowl in hand.  ahhhhhhh..................

And straw bedding makes it easier and so much less work!




 

Living by the Sun

This will be an on-going posting about lessons learned from over 30 years of living by the sun.  We all live with the sun - more than we know.  Everything we use and are, originated from the sun - our star.  Ultimately we are all from the same star dust. 

Each day that I have lived at WinSol3 has provided me with new teachings about how to live more closely with our star.  And that has made all the difference.


For instance, in the last couple days, I've noticed that the crazy weather and solar angles are getting weirder all the time.  if I had to design this structure today, I'd do it a lot differently.  The fall and spring are no longer the transition zones between winter and summer, but contain within themselves elements of winter and summer.  So I would design some slidable louvers or large exterior panels to accommodate the cold days of late spring and summer or the warm days of late autumn or winter.

We are getting warmer mornings in the summer and weird weather patterns that I believe are being kicked up here by some of the hurricanes off Mexico's waters.  The last couple days, WinSol3 could have really used some strong sun through the windows... but usually this time of year it's very warm: Sacramento's music festival usually has 100F temps ... so WinSol3's structure passively allows not ONE single ray of sunlight inside from Spring to Fall solstice... the sawtooth western roof allows for a little late afternoon sun in the fall, but that's about it. 

wet + Wild

Leaving WinSol3 early this morning was a blessing in disguise...with my power systems drained ... and no sunshine for at least 2 weeks... it can snow up to 10feet for all I care....but of  course it won't do that!  ...only when I am there and have important meetings to get to.
A couple weeks ago we got close to 2ft of snow (first big storm of the year that I experienced).
One of the reasons I haven't blogged here in a while is that I only have about 2 hours of max power each day to charge my laptop and do important web work... and guess what? this blog ain't in the top five!  :-) for those of you keeping up with my 'life'... go figure.

Lessons learned... which have already been taken: don't run ANY big loads between October thru March...double the size of the PV panels.  install disconnect and force total power load shutdown when I'm gone.  That's in place, and should resolve THE big issue.  The other one is to get a Morningstar rather than a Xantrex controller - but that's only for power techies who won't be reading this.

The last two months have been INCREDIBLY warm... have planted a bunch of seeds and flowers are bursting out like crazy... only to be squashed by snow. The greenhouse is looking better and better each day... lotsa bulbs blooming... can't wait for spring!

Grandest Moments + Perfect Storm

There’s nothing like a clear morning after a storm - especially after several cloudy days.  I used to love those only for fresh powder skiing in my younger days.  Now, I am so addicted to the sun at WinSol3 - for different reasons.  The first storm last week was a pain: as unpredicted snow (level was supposed to be 6500 ft with less than 6")... and guess my surprise when I had to drive down to the big city at 6am with 10" of fresh snow.... not a problem, but still a bit of a pain at the hour in the morning when the main roads haven't been plowed.

Then there's the perfect storm yesterday where it was sunny all day... just after sunset the snow storm arrived - dropped about 1" of snow - and blue skies returned just in time for the sunrise - now THAT'S MY IDEA of a PERFECT STORM.  The movie + book by the same name is kinda maccabe... it should've been titled something like the 'Worse possible storm'... but that wouldn't have sold or marketed that well.

There’s something about the first rays of sunlight rising up through the forest and shining its warm rays on WinSol3’s windows.  Even though it’s relatively warm inside, there’s still something magical about the rays of sunlight coming through all the windows here.

Yesterday, I had such a moment, and was overwhelmed with feelings of joy, happiness – no, make that gratitude - , and that wonderful feeling of being alive.  It’s all relative of course.  If it wasn’t for the past few cloudy days, for the last month of being away, etc.  it would not have felt the same.  Walking out on the deck for my morning stretches (tai chi) and down to the Zen Deck and the forest roads always are magical.

In my walk through the forest after the rain, the incredible richness of smells were just intoxicating.  My nose reached out to get every whiff, my brain trying to identify what type of tree it was.  The smells were a cacophony of conifers + pine needles, dogwood, autumn leaves, rotting bark, mountain misery, dirt, water puddles… just plain ole nature in all its glory.

It is the grandest of moments for me.  To wake up next to an endless forest with nowhere to go.  For the last 35 days, I have spend ONE – yes 1 – day in a car.   That’s my measure of my life’s quality.  Talk about quality of life.  Like most of my friends know:  I used to measure the quality of my life by the # of sail and ski days per year.  Now I measure it by how many days I do NOT get in a car.

This grandest moment here at WinSol3 is in contrast to a similar grand moment taking a walk with a friend early morning at the Bay Area marina, and as we approached the end of the headlands and viewed the harbor, the seawall and the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was coming up... WOW... another grand moment in the middle of a huge urban, asphalt jungle... and my friend commented that he always likes to start his day this way... here, here!

I hope everyone who reads this experience a grand moment tomorrow morning.   With love and gratitude...

Solstice + Ancients

It is always a real joy to be at WinSol3 on Dec 22^nd and watch the first single ray of sunlight (hopefully it’s clear skies!) reach through the forest from the SE and shine onto the entire southern window span of WinSol3.  It is no accident that this first ray of sunlight falls into the bedroom and kitchen/sitting area first.

This morning I absorbed this ritual of the ancients.  At exactly 7:43am the sun’s first rays graced WinSol3’s southern window expanse, announcing that the earth was shifting on its axis.  As I stood out on the deck observing the sun’s rays changingly distributing its bounty throughout the forest, I felt a spiritual rush of the connection with our giver of life.  Realizing that this event was observed for thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of years by most of humanity – until recently - I wondered if perhaps that internal rush was a connection with the ancients.  After all we are all from the same stardust, and we all breathe the same air and all our exhalations.

Then my brain really kicks in with something like this (from Wikipedia):  

The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest.^[2] Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter.

 

I wonder how the ancients figured out the longest and shortest days of the year – were they able to tell time somehow?  They most definitely knew about solar angles and horizons. We'll never know. Why have we lost all records and insight into this ancient wisdom?

In Thom Hartman’s book ‘Last hours of Ancient Sunlight’ he states:  ‘We once knew more than we know now’  Over the years I’ve found this statement to be so true.  Our left-brained, highly technological and scientific world has given us many wonders and lifted many people out of poverty – but at what cost?  Are we happier, more content?  Are our technologically driven communities and children better off?  Yes and no.  Mr. Hartman now blogs about the 'Last hours of Ancient Sunlight' ,his latest about how trees are  the 'canary in the coal mine'  that we are ignoring.

 and now... back to WinSol3 solstice ...

My usual routine is to light a big bonfire outside and then around 7:30am sit at the indoor granite fireplace bench looking at the ‘X’ mark on the French door glass that says 7:43am.  At 7:40am I am skeptical, there’s no sun to be seen and I wonder if by some strange reasoning I marked it wrong, if the house shifted, or heavens forbid our planet is out of alignment!   Every Dec 22^nd I go through this same ‘Doubting Thomas’ routine.   Then, as I go out onto the deck, sure enough, right on schedule, there is the first sunlight.   And all is well with the universe.

The joy within my heart is immense at this moment.  I feel a connection with the ancients, with a power indescribable, far greater than anything I usually have felt all year (although this year, the feelings I had at the temple ceremony in Indonesia ranks right up there).  Each year, I allow my heart and spirit to linger a bit longer, before my brain kicks in.  It’s getting easier each year to delay my brain kickstart.   But sure enough, after a couple minutes, my left brain hints at the history of this moment going back over the eons – of the Stonehenge + Pyramid architects, of designers and computer software packages that can predict this event within a microsecond at any location behind any shading tree in the world.

Then slowly my mind and heart sift together in unison to realize that our home is right now shifting on its axis ever so slowly.  Usually by the time I awaken from this trance, the entire inside of WinSol2 is flooded in sunlight and the sun has shifted a few degrees from the far SE horizon.

Then slowly I realize the ‘event’ is over and tasks beckon.  I wonder how many urban people even know about this event?  I know the farmers and many gardeners know - their livelihood depends on the sun.

For some reason, I am not that enamored with the counter solstice to this on June 21 each year, when the earth shifts back from the opposite axis shift.

temp Adjustments

Over the past few early mornings at WinSol3 (4300ft elevation) it has been about 50F outside and I am starting to feel warm without the fire stove or dressing like an Eskimo. 

After returning from spending ~20 days at the equator and 88F = 24/7, I was freezing cold at WinSol3.   I remember last winter I was comfortable around 45F, and I’ve  heard other people say the same.  But I know that most people would feel terribly cold at 45F.  A lot of that has to do with our metabolism and cold/warm bloodedness, our age, what we eat, fitness and exercise, etc. 
But I’d like to espouse a whole different reason: over the last few decades,  we've reset our body thermostats

Ever since the invention of instant on-demand heating and cooling systems, we’ve slowly weaned ourselves from our body’s automatic thermostat.  We used to be fine in temperatures from 50-90F with no problem. 
But nowadays, if someone from the northern zone steps off a plane in the southern zone, they'd immediately complain about the god-awful heat (and humidity).  They would head for the first air-conditioned space they could find. 
And then when they got back home to their northern colder climate, they would turn up the heat so they wouldn’t be too cold.  You get the irony here? 
It’s more psychological than physiological.

Let me repeat that: It’s more psychological than physiological.  Notice the word ‘logical’ in each of those.  Is there any basis for logic in the fact that the human body is designed with an automatic temperature control system (brain/heart and veins/arteries)?  Yes! a resounding YES!

Our veins and arteries are very sophisticated heat exchangers trying to maintain 98.6F by opposing flow patterns along our skin.  These are more complex than most hi-tech HVAC units.  Our skin is one heck of a large absorber or adsorber temperature plate. Heck the skin actually forms beads of water on it own if it gets too hot (sweating :-)!  It can serve as an alternating condenser or evaporator coil.  And yet, we like to keep our outside temperature exposure within 65-75F, 24/7,365.  In other words, we’ve gotten too comfortable over the years, and like to luxuriate in this narrow temperature range. 
But this has allowed our body’s thermostat to go on hiatus and in some cases maybe even malfunction.  I used to do this all the time myself: 

Decades ago when I was logging 100k airmiles/year I used to never every take a winter coat to the far northeastern states in the dead of winter - why hassle with it?  I step off the plane into a heated building, into a heating rental car, into a heated hotel, into a heated office building.  In one 24 hour period i'd be lucky if I got exposed to more than 20 minutes of sub-zero outside temperatures.  We've set up our environment to spoil our body's thermostat.

An energy saving tip:  start allowing your body’s wonderfully complex and fully functioning automatic thermostat and heating/cooling adjustment system to work – on its own. Instead of heating an entire room to 70F so that your body (all of 10-20 cu.ft) can be spoiled, let it adjust on its own.  Ok, so maybe you need to grab a blanket the first few days...
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It only took me ~3 days to start feeling comfortable when I first arrived (in Indonesia) at equatorial temperatures of 88F   24/7.  Then it took me ~3 days of adjustments back at WinSol3 to the relatively frigid 45-60F.   Had I opted for air-conditioning at the equator, or full-on heating at WinSol3 (sauna anyone?), my body would not be able to adjust so quickly.

Like an exercise/diet fitness program, we need to embark on a temperature adjustment fitness program – and just think of all the energy savings a 10-20F thermostat setting change would be on your monthly utility bill.

Back at Nature's Sanctuary

From my last entry here, I thought for sure that my next post would be in late December of April 2012... but here I am, back from an incredible experience in Indonesia.  I hesitate to say that it is Bali, because I never once experienced what 90% of the world thinks Bali is.  Let's just say that Hawaii is a heavenly paradise compared to Bali.
I barely saw the ocean twice for a scant 5 minutes driving to and from the airport in Denpasar.  What i did see was the sad effect that 'eat, pray, love' has had on Ubud.  I was lucky enough to spend 7 magical days in the highlands of central Bali with the local villagers and one world-famous retired American author. 
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I learned so much about what WinSol3 means and why I spent the last 10 years rebuilding and living here.  Being away give me new perspective.

Today, my 3rd day back, I am breathing hard and feel my lungs really marginalized from breathing continual diesel and motorbike fumes - even in the remote village of Pentahan.
Thankfully i had a 'green' drink and tropical fruit galore each morning, but the lack of exercise and actually doing anything physical has taken its toll.
I found myself breathing harder than ever walking up from WinSol3's zen deck, with a load of HUGE mushrooms I spotted... so now the house is filled with eight+ big trays of wonderful sliced mushrooms.  The altitude and my lungs will take a while to transition.

WinSol3 stood up well to the first winter storms and first snowfall.  It was my first experience putting WinSol3 'on ice' so to speak.  The feral cats were all doing wonderfully, and the vegetable garden actually had beautiful things still growing - bigger pumpkins, potatoes, spinach, lettuce, etc.  All the vines and grapes have since died away and oak leaves and pine needles cover the expanded courtyard.

So my new project, and to regain some physical stamina and muscle tone, will be working on the greenhouse. I keep thinking how some people go to a gym to work their muscles - and what a sad waste that is, when there is so much more enriching work that could be done on soil and useful things,  instead of putting it into a steel machine. 

One of my other big learnings about WinSol3 is that I live an enchanted life compared to expatriates and the other 80% in 3rd world countries.  But i decided in Nepal 7 years ago, that i would work from within the 1st world to undo part of the damage our western technologies have done... and WinSol3 is just the start.  The Indonesia project has really Kick-started my next chapter with CMGs and shown me how powerful this concept and learning center will become.

In attending a bamboo workshop in Ubud with a friend (Chakra), and the excitement I felt in realizing that WinSol3 was light years ahead of the sustainable compound (and green school)... well I am inspired!

Stay tuned to a new program involving WinSol3 in the coming years as a true international learning center.

changing seasons + hiatus

The false siren of winter storms came early this year. Snow fell in the hi-Sierra on October 8^th and Wolf Creek ski resort set an all-time record for earliest ever opening by a USA ski resort.  But - for the past two+ weeks it’s been ~70F at Tahoe.  Perhaps it will change this week as overnite temperatures are dropping into the teens.  There's some snow today above 7,000ft.

The fall aspen colors are amazing as yesterday I ventured up to Sorensens and Hope Valley to take in the awesome view.  Lotsa leafer-peepers, and a mere shadow of a New England autumn… but close enough. 

Here at WinSol3, these fall + spring seasonal turns and ‘middle periods’ for solar gains and passive heating/cooling of the house are always a challenge.  I’ve gotten good at it over the years, fine tuning and intuitively learning what WinSol3 needs to maintain a comfortable temperature ~60-70F each day and nite. It requires some minor manual adjustments:  like keeping the loft curtains closed all the time, and maybe opening/closing windows in the day or night cycles.  This is a fine intuitively honed balance.  I’ve only had to turn the firestove on for a few days in early October.

Old timers say that this winter will be like last winter.  Meteorologists are saying it can’t possible be like last winter – that was an all-time aberration.  I believe the latter.  And what convinces me of that, is that I just haven’t seen the proliferation of pine cones on trees that I saw last year.  uI still see robins and squirrels all over the place – last year at this time they were already bunked up for the long cold haul.  Mother nature has a few predictors around (I’m sure if I could communicate with any animal creature, they’d tell me exactly what kind of winter it will be).

 So as the seasons change so do beckoning calls for projects in faraway places on community microgrids... and time to follow Bucky Fuller's adages:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
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“You may assume that you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to converting all your experience to the highest advantage of others.”

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I will be signing off this blog for quite a while.  Please email me directly if you need.

Energy learnings

What a surprise when I did my bi-annual maintenance on my battery bank.  Every cell (all 12) was empty or water. Thankfully the plates looked wet, so they couldn't have been dry too long.  It took close to a gallon of rainwater to fill them all.  WOW!  I've never experienced that before - and likewise, I've never shorted the PV panels directly to the battery bank either.

After realizing that the Xantrex C35 wasn't doing its thing on equalizing batteries, or charging them properly - i just shorted the whole system for the summer.  I've found out since then that many others do the same thing - but not all summer.... just for a few weeks.  This really juices up the batteries, equalizes them in a hurry and you're all set to reconnect the controller.  Well, i waited 4 months for this... and boiled off a lot of the lead acid in there.  So lesson learned - only a few weeks of shorting... not months.

These huge babies can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'  - but they ain't cheap!My battery bank is fine and are they are all recharging properly. I'll be all set for a long winter - especially with the 400watt wind generator: I'll have power to spare.



Smart Energy
On another front:  An energy monitor (with a shunt) is SO important when managing your energy usage. This is the one I have:

 Simple and effective.  Four numbers: % charge state, voltage, current amp hours, cumulative amp hours (resettable).  Now, if I could just hook that up to my computer and have it log the data over time.

I constantly monitor the amp hours and all kinds of other numb3rs and trends for my energy system.  It's gotten to a point where I play a game of guessing what the meter will say and then seeing how close i get to the actual number.  Imagine my surprise when i discovered recently that my laptop computer external hard drive sucked up as much energy as the entire laptop on a dead battery (4.5 amp hours or ~45 watts)!  That was a new one on me!  So, now i copy all my files off the hard drive while I got plenty of juice (as in sunshine) - that way i use 1/2 the energy at night when watching the Daily Show or a movie.  

Figure it this way (hey, I'm an engineer - in another life!) :  45 watts X 3 hours a nite X 250 days/year = 33,750 watts per year... that's a small chunk off a solar system, but every little bit helps.

Season Transitions

What season?

As WinSol3's energy meter turns to 12.6 vdc at 7am of the first rainy day of the new winter season, the outside temperature reads 38F. My reflections turn to a summer filled with learnings and the upcoming winter season.  This time I may not be spending the winter here - lifestyle changes beckon great adventures.

Some weather reports are predicting snow levels dropping to 6,000ft (on October 5^th!).  Kirkwood received 10 inches of snow!  wheeeeee....The upcoming winter season is picking up where the last one left off – from snow on Memorial Day weekend to a trace of snow today.  That’s 4 months without snow: No spring, no fall – just snow, heat, snow.  And it was a VERY cool summer.  I think Sacramento had 6 days over 100F (normal is 30 days).  This is all new to my 30 years here, an all-time short season and cool summer record.  I couldn't even get into the high country with all the snows lingering around.  Who says there’s no climate change?

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So what has transpired and what have I learned over the past short summer seasons?  There is a shorter growing season sometimes, and I need to get the greenhouse warmer in order to grow more food.  AND the big one: the 2^nd biggest fire ever could easily have rendered me homeless and all my efforts negated. 

Of all the things occurring over the past summer months though, I took the first big step toward shaking off the isolation and remoteness and started finding community.  The WOOF and HelpNetx and other web networks have generated some interest, but nothing concrete yet.  There have been over a dozen visitors (plus the September celebration) to WinSol3 from various areas.  I am grateful to all of you who came up to visit, and I treasure your friendship.

The distance of this place to main urban areas is probably the single largest lesson I’ve had to come to grips with: don’t build too far out.  Since this was initially picked to be my Kirkwood ski hamlet, I could have never guessed that the location of WinSol3 would be THE big issue.  But people who frequent mountain resorts are not the same people who would readily live off-the-grid in a closed loop, self-reliant style.  I believe they are more inclined to pay for the convenience of endless energy and conveniences next to hi-end infrastructure.  So I am turning toward the Coloma/Nevada City area for possible future eco-village community networking since they are seem more enlightened and closer to ‘civilization’. 

Here’s a list of WinSol3 accomplishments over the past 4 summer months:

• Living roof connecting deck with hi-psf structural supports
• triple sized courtyard patio with new firepit and sitting areas
• five raised beds and bountiful veggie + grape + rhubarb + harvests
• Greenhouse water feature and tile work
• Demos of Rocket Mass heaters
• Perimeter clean-ups, screened under deck storage
• Outside LED lighting system
• 12vdc Sound system everywhere
• Gravel driveway straw cover, weed prevention
• Main area, loft, mudroom drywalled, painted
• Main deck final bracing

Whew… I get tired of thinking of the hundreds of cement bags mixed, hauling of dirt buckets, the # of granite slabs,

Lessons learned: 

It is possible to live self-reliantly with many hi-tech + modern comforts

It requires only knowledge and construction materials

More + more people are discovering reused, salvage, hospice,

My overall fire prevention strategy of not exposing wooden sill plates, masonry barriers, etc. to the surrounding forest area really paid off since it helped stop the spreading uphill fire (flame retardant helped too! :-)   

So the shift from summer to winter is on.... and this is where WinSol3 shines.  Solar PV panels and large windows + overhangs designed to let maximum daylight and sunlight in during winter months.  It's nice and bright and soon to get warmer as i fire up the stove for the first time in months....

Memorable Sierra experience

At the weekend's wonderful Sierra Nevada Alliance annual meeting, I was taken by one of the questions posed to a panel: 'what was your first memorable Sierra experience?'

There are so many Sierra experiences + memories and they continue daily. My first one was in the summer of 1977. I had just started my first 'big pay' job with PG+E and took a summer break before the job started, and backpacked deep into Sequoia National Park, you know - home of the giant trees.  My goal was to cross over 100 miles of wilderness to the John Muir Trail and get some Golden Trouts.



A bit of background may help here:  I had spent the previous 5 years in Laramie Wyoming (U of Wyo Cowboys) and every weekend I went backpacking, climbing and fishing into the Snowy Range close to town and did extensive mountaineering in the Tetons, Wind River Range, Yellowstone, etc.  So long backpacking trips was my forte. Looking at the national park map and seeing the vast unspoiled wilderness made me more comfortable after experiencing the congestion (relative to Wyoming) of the Bay Area.

I remember how amazing it was seeing my first giant Sequioa. Nowadays, they almost look 'normal'.

What made this trip so memorable is my getting cited on the second day by a Forest Ranger for not having a permit.  I was dumbstruck and naive.  I said to the ranger ' i need the state's permission to walk on god's earth?'  He laughed and we started talking and I got a quick introduction and learnings about 'wilderness' in California.  What a difference compared to Wyoming 'wilderness'!
Since then I've pulled a few permits - mostly for peak bagging - and stay away from overused trails that require day permits.

I never did make it across to the Golden Trout Area and the John Muir Trail (i finally did get there in 1998), but I fell in love with the Sierras.  They were WAY more friendly (weatherwise) than the Wyoming Rockies, and in California I eventually needed more time away from people congestion and the Sierras were the perfect antidote.

Eventually I settled on the Carson Range and that's right next to where WinSol3 is - outside my backdoor... pinch me!