'Tis the season to be merry...

...That’s the way I like to think about these commercial holidays.  

I’ll leave all the ‘green’ preaching to the mass media encouraging us to buy our way to a more green + sustainable Christmas. What’ I’d like to talk about here is what I celebrate at this time of year.  And each year the pull gets stronger.  It’s the ancient basis behind this time of year.  The winter Solstice.  It was once (in B.C. years) the predominant turn of the seasons, the earth’s physical renewal, the turning of darkness into light that marked the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one.

Living in an uber-eco-solar home,  I am aware of the 2+ minutes of sunlight loss each day between June 21 and Dec 21; and the 2+ minutes of increasing sunlight between winter and summer solstice.  With WinSol3’s large windows and overhands, I am constantly aware of the sun’s angles and shadows around me.  One doesn’t have to be an architect to appreciate the dramatic differences in solar angles between the seasons.

The ancients practiced the winter solstice in BIG style.  From Greek mythology - when the gods met on summer + winter solstices -  to Stonehenge which is perfectly aligned with the solar angles of sunrise and sunset on winter solstice – the ancients knew it was essential to the survival.  Back then most of the work between summer and winter solstice was done in preparation to survive the cold winters following December 21^st.

It seems we do something similar – we save our money all year so we can spend it all during the Christmas shopping days.  We’ve come a long way baby!  Instead of storing food and drink for surviving, we now store capital so we can consume.

I wonder about everyone in the Southern hemisphere – their winter solstice occurs on our June 21^st.  Yet there’s no summer Christmas there.  I wonder how the ancients south of the Equator (Africa, etc) celebrated our northern summer solstice?

This year’s winter solstice is even more special – there’s a full moon lunar eclipse happening at the same time, along with a large meteor shower.  Unfortunately for most of northern California we will be socked in a long winter storm and won’t be able to enjoy it – boohoo….

Even more sad is that I won't be having my annual bonfire and reveling in the  enjoying the first sun rays at exactly 7:43AM on Dec 22.  I always have a very, very deep spiritual connection at that moment in time.

It feels reassuring to know that the earth and sun are still properly aligned through first hand experience:-)

Update - after the storm.

Not much happening at WinSol3.  The snow has put a cold blanket on my solar hot water, so yesterday I re-piped the main shower inside to allow for electric hot water (on-demand) heater to run off the generator.  So now I will have unlimited hot rainwater showers even during long cloudy periods.  Also working on the greenhouse - just started seedlings in the HotBox and finishing up the tiling of the water pond, sealing the sauna more and enjoying the tranquility of this nature sanctuary.

The same weather pattern as last year is showing up - long cloudy periods with minimal sunshine and little wind. What's a renewable energy guy to do?  the LED lights come in handy... and going skiing also works.  I have enough power each day to charge all my toys from 1-4pm, and that's about it.

The 4+ feet of snow is melting - about down to 6" of wet hard pack. It's mostly 45F all day and all nite - weird.  The road in and out is a BIG mess with all the big 4-wheelers and their chains digging deep trenches between the snow banks.  The RAV is making it through amazingly easy.

After the storm...

That was a wallop!  Talk about a 1-2-3 and then some... punch!  This storm in the middle of January or February would have been normal - but late November? and the first one of the season? Heck all the oak trees still have their leaves on, and my ash tree still has GREEN leaves on it!

This morning I went for a magical cross-country ski tour around the road out the back door... it was quite the obstacle course with over 20 trees downed... i couldn't get more than a mile and half out tho before the trees were just impossible to get around.  I tried another logging road down by the creek - same story.

So here's some more pictures - I've been shoveling snow - more out of  paranoia (hey - only the paranoid survive - right Andy?) than necessity probably, what the heck it's good exercise!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snow + Fireplace pictures

Here's the view out the window this morning. And the fireplace last nite.

First Winter Snows

November 19, 2010

I woke up this morning to more than a foot of snow.  Looking out on the new deck and the picnic table and seeing all that snow made me smile.  A knowing smile: that all the hard work that Ron and I did on bracing the high front part of the deck is paying off. Yesterday with 75F outside, I was putting thru + lag bolts in the middle and back parts of the deck which are way lower.

This is the first day of real winter at 7L.  Over the last three years there has been extreme weather swings than in the previous 20+ years.  So it wouldn’t surprise me if all this snow is gone in a couple days.  Last nite, I moved the RAV up higher up the road – thank goodness!  Or else I’d be shoveling the driveway all morning to get it out. 

The real winter storm is coming in a few hours.  The weather predictions were for rain here until late tonite with 1-2’ of snow tomorrow morning.  So much for that!  Right now I’m sitting at the dining table looking out over a winter wonderland.  The sky is totally clear, and in a few minutes the rising sun will set the scenery ablaze in a blinding wonderful light.  To the west there’s a looming dark front approaching with the next blast of winter weather.  I’ll be putting my dark glasses and x-country skiis on and go into the magical forest before all the trees shed their white loads crashing down.  I’ll be looking for fresh animal tracks to.  This early morning as I was putting out the cat food, I noticed that Bella’s tracks were coming from the greenhouse – smart cat.  The GHS is much warmer and cozier than the basement.

Each winter there is always the decision on whether to move the RAV up to the county road area.  I will probably not do that today, only because there is no need for me to go anywhere for the next three days.  And then again, there’s supposed to be another 2-3’ of snow tonite. I may be snowed in for too long.  I’d like to get my first downhill ski day in early next week. Standard winter time decisions.  This time I have the live weather radar feed to help in that decision.  My years in Wyoming make this winter weather a breeze – heck, all I have to do is go 5-20 miles west and the snow disappears.

November 18, 2010

Approaching winter storm

The first real winter storm is in progress.  This winter season at WinSol3 bring two major improvements.  The wind generator and satellite internet. 

The wind generator usually just sits there and stares blankly at the wind.  And then with a certain wind gust it spins madly and continuously whipping out 400watts of 12VDC power.  That’s twice the maximum ALL my solar panels put out.  They are short bursts of power, but they usually occur at night and under super cloudy days:  a perfect compliment to the solar panels.

Changing communication technologies

About 6 months ago, I traded my AT+T rip-off cell phone for monthly Hughes satellite internet service.  The hi-cost and unreliable AT+T cellphone was a pain. Now I have much more reliable Skype and Google voice, along with Verizon pay as you go service.   The VOIP has its own issues, but at least it’s free and reasonably reliable.  The  big plus is that it comes with full hi-speed internet service.

The big winter improvement is that I can check live satellite radar and see exactly when, where and how long a storm will last and if it is going to turn to snow.  I just moved my truck up the road as the temperature was dropping below 38F and it looks like there’ll be some snow overnite.

This is much better than relying on main stream weather forecasts which are aimed at the big population centers.  I have several close-by area weather stations and other forecasts and web cams over the years that I rely on. 

The closest weather station is at Grizzly Flats which monitors on going wind, temps and precipitation along with historical averages.  The snow forecast weather site for Kirkwood has some ex-Navy weatherperson behind it, and I love the long-range descriptions of macro weather patterns. And then there’s always the private cabin web-cams, that eventually get snowed out and in.

Picture - WinSol3 roof

Here's the rainwater harvesting, large overhangs, perfect summer shading/winter embracing, property oriented, snow shedding, cradle-to-cradle STEEL, no penetrations (OK 1 chimney), WinSol3 Roof. Oh - and did i mention a nice green color?  :-)

Getting Salvaged Materials

There are so many ways to get salvaged materials. First tho, let me define what salvaged materials are:

1. About to be trashed, discarded materials.
2. Returned items, 50% off store discards.
3. Hospice and charity second-hand stores.
4. Used or un-wanted building materials.
5. Scrap piles, de-construction sites.
6. Various construction/renovation projects' discards
7. Friends+
8. Nature's bounty?


I have a whole network of stores and places I stop by for each of these. My most used sources are Urban Ore in Berkeley and multiple ReStore locations from Habitat for Humanity. There are two ReStores that I used for a LOT of WinSol3's materials: the El Dorado County one in Placerville, now relocated to El Dorado city; and the Sacramento Army Depot one = mainly for 95% of the tiles at WinSol3.

WinSol3's 80%+ salvaged accounting

How do I arrive at the 80% + Salvaged material? I calculated that backwards. The only construction materials that I bought brand new were:
a. Steel Roofing
b. 2x8 Roof Rafters
c. Roofing membrane + insulation
d. Floor joists
e. Decking 2x6
f. All concrete + cement
g. plumbing pipe + fittings

That's it! All the windows, rocks, support posts, tiles, fasteners, plywood sub flooring, etc. were salvaged.

I have the luxury of time, and the pressure of limited funds that motivate me to use salvaged material. I know that not everyone can do this, and that is the BIG limiting factor in using salvaged materials = time.


Here's an example of how I get salvaged materials:

The other day, as I was working on finishing the mudroom, I decided I will need more drywall to finish the walls.

When I went to the Home Depot the next day (I always check the scrap pile there) because that lumber manager offers it to the public for 50c – to $2 per piece), there was a whole cart filled with 3’x4’ 1/2" drywall pieces. I wasn’t sure if it was for sale. After a while I found the clerk in charge of that area and sure enough they were about to trash all 16 drywall pieces! So I took 8 pieces for 50c each. I was tempted to take the rest, but 8 pieces was more than I needed for finishing the mudroom walls (and more importantly, I didn't need more 'stuff' to store)

This is just one example of hundred's of such purchases of salvaged material.