More Todd e-mails; hope they aren't repeats.
Minimum Energy House
Planning and Building The Minimum Energy Dwelling by Burt Hill and Associates, Ed by Kirk Williams, Craftsman Publishing, 1977
Effect of comfort zones – 11.7% of the energy can be saved with a setting of 72.5 and 77 degrees; and 46%with a setting of 68 and 80 degrees
Residential energy use including one car – 36.4% car, 35% space heating, 4% space cooling, 9% water heating, 3.4% cooking, 3% clothes drying, 4% refrigeration, 2% misc., 2% lighting
Energy use by section – 41.2% industrial, 14.4% commercial, 25.2% transportation, 19.2% residential
Insulation choices – siliceous rock, vermiculite, mineral wool, cellulose, urea formaldehyde, fiber glass, cellular glass, extruded polystyrene, urethane, aluminum foil
Selected insulation materials and energy resistance (btu/in(hr)(sq ft)(degree F) and energy capacity (btu/144 sq inches)(degree F) - air space .909/0, 4” brick .111/2.383, earth .154/1.833, insulation fiber 5.882/.144, rigid insulation 2.778/.347, plywood 1.250/1.842, Styrofoam 1.667/.043, urethane foam 5.882/.048
Major power users (KWH per month) – clothes dryer 92, microwave oven 100, freezer 140, range 125, refrigerator/freezer 100, TV 100, water heater 400, well pump 40
Air exchange (20 CFM per person per hour) – “normal” infiltration, air to air heat exchanger
Water usage – toilets, lavatories, bathing, laundry, kitchen, misc.
Vern and I were discussing minimum energy, sustainable homes in PM’s a couple of weeks ago and we thought some of you might like to kick around what might go into the design of a minimum energy or sustainable house. By sustainable I mean a house which functions with only owner energy inputs from his/her property.
It’s important to recognize that a minimum energy house may not be sustainable if it uses outside energy inputs such as grid electricity and natural gas or propane whereas, realistically, all sustainable houses will be minimum energy designs. Therefore, a designer has to choose one or the other right from the outset.
Nationally, excluding cars, a typical 1977 family household energy budget was as follows (I assume it’s still applicable today. In any case, it’s the only data I have.):
Space heating – 57.5%
Water heating – 14.9%
Refrigeration – 6%
Cooking – 5.5%
Air conditioning – 3.7%
Television – 3.0%
Clothes Dryer – 1.7%
Food Freezing – 1.9%
Misc. – 5.8%
What’s interesting to me from a sustainability point of view is that the major energy users, space and water heating, are easy to work around. However, things like lighting, refrigeration, cooking and food freezing have far fewer options.
Now, my natural tendency is to go into technical overdrive and overload everyone with technical stuff. For example, take combining mass and insulation – Consider two materials: 2” of rigid insulation and 8” of concrete. Separately, the insulation has a thermal conductivity or “U” value of .18 and a time lag of .75 hours. The concrete has a U value of 5 and a time lag of four hours. The challenge begins when the two materials are combined. First, consider putting the insulation on the inside of the wall and the concrete outside. Blah, blah, blah.
Rather, I’m going to start with a list of considerations and options and get into more technical considerations if anyone is interested.
So, here goes:
The future of energy –a) things will remain the same; b) things might change but there will be equivalent alternatives; c) things will change but there will be no viable energy alternatives to petroleum and natural gas. The hydrocarbon age is over.
Comment: Making a decision about the future is key to how one has to approach the design. I believe that most people who believe the future will be a continuation of today will not spend the extra money for a minimum energy house nor put up with the inherent inconveniences that many alternative or replacement technologies have for a sustainable house.
In addition, some of today’s technologies fall by the wayside to the degree to which you anticipate an energy poor future. Take an incandescent light bulb: It requires mining and refinement of metals. It requires glass making. It requires inert gas. All of these operations require lots of energy. No one can make a bulb at home. Therefore, electric lights must be discarded if you believe in a worst case.
The list of precluded technologies goes on an on. Just look around your own house and ask yourself whether you could fix or replace your stuff using 18th (or even 19th) century tools and materials.
Embodied energy (emergy) concerns in house materials, construction/house systems – Yes/No
Comment: Given the fact that the US wastes massive amounts of energy, I can’t see any reason to scrimp on anything that goes into the house regardless of how much energy is wasted in its manufacture or the EROEI.
Looking at data from 1977 again, the energy budget in the US was:
Industrial – 41.2%
Commercial – 14.4%
Transportation – 25.2%
Residential – 19.2%
Clearly, even if some energy is wasted in the production of materials/systems, have a negative EROEI, or even in the construction of the house, they would be minor compared to national energy usage.
Timeframe – one generation, multiple generations
Comment: From both a survival and energy efficiency point of view, timeframe matters. Anyone can stock enough replacement parts to cover their lifetime. It’s a different matter when it comes to generations of lifetimes. Most surviving old houses have one thing in common – they have simple mechanical systems and designs.
Family size – couple, kids, grandparents, great grandparents
Comment: I’ve known a couple of multi-generation families who lived in the same house. They really weren’t that successful but they were tolerable to the people involved. However, having said that, if you believe industrial society might end, it’s a reasonable option.
Self-sufficient homestead or division of labor with neighbors/town’s people – which?
Comment: It makes a difference in how you plan the usage of your house.
Usage of house – housing only (sleep, eat, bathe), housing plus ancillary activities such as food preservation, spinning/weaving/sewing/tanning hides, soap making, candle making, home schooling, family entertainment, library, food production/greenhouse, shop, storm/tornado shelter
Comment: Well, this goes back to how you see the future and whether you anticipate a continuing division of labor.
Geography – sun, rain, fog, mountains, plains, rivers, desert, natural resources
Comment: It matters where you are (duh) but a lot of designers still come up with inappropriate designs anyway.
Clients can also screw things up. I once designed a passive solar house for a couple. There was a large south-facing window that was to provide the main source of ventilation for the bedroom on the second floor. When I came out one day to see how things were going, I found that my nice big, opening window had been replaced with a fixed one. They thought it was still great even when I told them they would roast during the summer since there would be little airflow. The house design did incorporated a below grade air inlet on the first floor using the chimney effect with the hot air exiting a cupola above the bedroom but there was no way this would replace the opening window.
Power/fuel source – grid, PV, wind, hydro, TEG (thermoelectric generator), wood gas, steam, methane, alcohol, biofuels, no supplemental power
Comments: Since I believe in contingency planning and common sense says that mechanical/electrical power sources will fail over time, it is only logical to design with fallback technologies in mind or to start with technologies that will not fail in the first place.
I threw in TEG even though it doesn’t produce electricity without a power source such as propane but what the heck.
In the case of PV and hydro, it almost makes more sense to stick with a 12volt system right from the beginning and forget about an inverter(s) since it is a weak link. Batteries are also a very weak link.
One thing to remember is that some fuels such as wood gas, which contains significant quantities of carbon monoxide, can be hazardous and have to be used with safety in mind.
Construction methods – stick built, rammed earth, poured/pre-cast concrete timber frame, pole, brick/block/stone, Flagg, oversized light weight composition concrete “blocks” (I think these are really neat – they can be cut with a hand saw and glue together. They are made from Styrofoam beads and cement. The cores are later filled with concrete.), SIP (structural insulated panels), straw bale, cordwood, corncob, fiberglass, steel/aluminum, adobe, log cabin
Comment: To me, the first criterion is that the house be able to survive nature – fires, storms, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, whatever comes at it. Second, that it be zero maintenance. No paint, replacement shingles, no nothing for the life of the house.
I personally don’t believe that any above grade wood house (whether it is stick built, SIP, log cabin or timber framed) qualifies as a sustainable dwelling since it would fail on both counts.
Insulation – thermal mass (brick/stone/concrete/earth/water), siliceous volcanic rock, vermiculite, mineral wool, cellulose, urea formaldehyde, fiberglass, cellular glass (foamglass), extruded polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, urethane, sprayed foam (various), aluminum foil, foil faced plastic bubble
Comment: The design and geographic area will typically dictate which insulation is used. Don’t discount some of the older materials like vermiculite that can be used for block fill.
Building styles – conventional above ground, dome (above or below grade), zome, earth berm/earth sheltered/sod roof/underground
Comment: I admit it; I’m hot on underground houses. Among the houses I’ve owned have been a log cabin, a dome and converted barn and they aren’t forever structures. My current house is above ground, solar tempered and the back-up heat is from a wood stove. I considered underground when I was designing the house 20 years ago but our budget precluded it.
Heating – passive solar, active solar, solar tempered, gas/propane/oil/coal, wood, wood gas, corn, methane, biofuel
Comment: To me, any system that relies on a limited resource (petroleum) or one that requires processing to produce a usable fuel (biofuel) is the wrong choice. One key point to recognize is that there are essentially no solar houses, including those with active systems, which receive all of their heat from the sun. A very high level is 80% (and even these are confined to certain geographic areas) and a more typical level is 40-55%. They all have back-up heating systems – often wood heaters/fireplaces but some use natural gas or propane. Granted, they don’t use much back-up fuel but they still require it.
It’s not that a house couldn’t be designed to get all its heat from the sun but rather that such a system would be massive and costly.
One of the catches in designing a house with high thermal mass is to calculate the time lag between heat absorption and heat release. As I alluded to in the opening, it matters how mass and insulation are used.
Remember too that all houses require fresh air exchange. Most houses have so much air infiltration that there isn’t any need to consider an air to air heat exchanger. However, an exchanger of some kind would be necessary in an energy efficient house since infiltration would be minimized. The standard is 20 CFM per hour per person. This is where a lot of designers get caught when they “insulate the hell out of it” and provide little thermal mass.
Glazing Material – ordinary double strength glass, tempered glass, wired glass, laminated glass, polycarbonate, plexiglass
Comment: For the long haul, wired glass is the only way to go. If a worst-case energy crisis develops, glazing is going to disappear since it is so energy intensive to make. Wired glass is tough stuff and a crack can simply be filled with tree pitch if necessary.
Glazing type – single, double, triple plus inert gas, plastic film between panes, insulated shutters/blinds, storm windows
Comment: Again, for the long haul, I’d use a single pane of wired glass with a wired glass storm window and an exterior insulated storm shutter.
Space Cooling – electric refrigeration, solar ammonia absorption, swamp cooler, cold soil air, cooling tower/chimney, thermal mass
Comment: Being too hot is as bad as being too cold and there are enough options to proved some kind of cooling.
Refrigeration – grid electric, PV electric, gas/propane, cold cellar/spring house, stored ice, solar ammonia absorption/Crosley Icy Ball, alcohol, methane or wood gas fired conventional gas fridge
Comment: Food refrigeration is one of the boons of the 20th century. This is one of the most important technologies to perpetuate.
Water heating – active solar, passive solar, gas/propane/oil/coal, grid electric, PV electric, wood, wood gas, corn, alcohol, methane, biofuel
Comment: Next to space heating, water heating is the number two user of energy. For what it’s worth, you can still buy Mexican wood/kerosene fired water heaters. However, there are more efficient ways to do it yourself that will last, essentially, forever.
Cooking – grid electric, PV electric, wood, wood gas, gas/propane/oil/coal, methane, maybe corn, biofuel
Lighting – grid electric, PV electric, oil/alcohol lamps, candles, methane, wood gas, biofuel, light pipes (daytime)
Comment: Nighttime lighting is also one of the gifts of the 20th century. It is also one of the most difficult to work around. Most gases and some liquids would work in a lamp but to be bright the lamp needs a mantle and mantles can’t be made at home and contain a rare metal (thorium as I remember).
Having said that, I think this is the one place I’d cop-out and store 100+ years of mantles. I’d use homemade alcohol as the fuel. Grains are easy to grow and ferment and the alcohol could be solar distilled. With a packed column, fairly high percentage alcohol could be obtained in one pass.
Toilet – flush, composting, privy
Comment: Composting toilets have been around a long time and work well.
Greywater – septic system, greenhouse, exterior irrigation
Comment: Numerous designs have used the greywater rather than dumping it.
The above should be enough options to get going on a reasonable house design.
What options would you choose?
To start this off, here’s my design:
First of all, I am very pessimistic about the future. Although I don’t anticipate a petroleum cliff, I do expect that reductions in petroleum availability will cause an economic collapse from which no industrial society will recover. This belief in turn influences how I view appropriate energy design.
I see no way to avoid multi-generational/multi-relationship families living together whether they want to or not. No individual or couple will have the income (if, indeed, there is such a thing as income) to support a single-family house. However, I can envision the living group scraping together enough something to be able to support a common household.
I also believe that the firstest are going to get the mostist and maintain the highest standard of living. By this I mean that the people who recognize what is coming soonest will have the most options while those who wait until the writing is emblazoned on the wall will have few.
My design starts from the position that it will be possible to maintain a 20th century lifestyle for, perhaps, two generations before personally stored repair parts run out. As things became useless, the technologies used would change to self-sufficient replacements. Further, some current technologies would not be used at all since they will obviously fail in the moderate term and it makes more sense to just abandon them right from the start. Electricity falls into this category.
Another criteria is that the house have zero maintenance requirements since it is likely that neither repair supplies/replacement materials nor routine maintenance materials such as exterior coatings will be available. For example, it is doubtful that replacement glazing/glass will be available. Therefore, it makes no sense to have large areas of glass that, if broken, are broken forever.
I also believe that the house must be safe from natural damage since the structure will never be able to be replaced.
With these things in mind, here’s the house:
Underground with roof at grade (or slightly above it to allow for drainage pitch).
Foundation walls of glued (no mortar is used) light-weight over-sized blocks with concrete filled cores, 12 feet high. The blocks are made from recycled polystyrene beads mixed with cement and are about 1x1x3 feet. They can be cut with a handsaw.
Roof/ceiling – light-weight, reinforced, insulated concrete
Size – 70x70 feet (4,900SF). The largest house we’ve owned was 4,800SF. Since this is to be a multi-generation house, I can’t imagine anything smaller.
Insulation – cellular glass (won’t rot, burn and is impervious to insects)
Glazing – roof sunscoops of double pane wired glass with insulated (cellular glass), metal protective covers. There would be a series of these, one pane high. My rationale for one pane is that it is unlikely multiple panes could be broken at one time.
Energy considerations – no viable alternatives to petroleum and natural gas
Embodied energy - no
Timeframe – generations
Geography – mountains
Construction method - walls – oversized blocks; They use recycled polystyrene beads mixed with cement. They are about 1x1x3 feet and have hollow cores that are later filled with concrete. They can be hand sawed and the blocks are glued together.
Construction method – roof – poured, light weigh concrete
Insulation – cellular glass; This type of insulation is often used in chemical plants. It won’t burn, rot, mold and insects don’t attack it. It comes in large sheets like urethane.
Building style – underground
Family size – multi-generation
House usage – Since I expect the division of labor to eventually fail, it would allow for any activity
Space heating – solar tempered with wood back-up; In my area, total passive solar heating isn’t viable since we often have storms/little sun that last a week or more. Yes, it could be done with active solar and a massive storage area but this would require collectors, pumps and, maybe, fans to move the air. I currently live in a solar tempered house where we get about 20-30% of our heat from the sun and the rest from wood and it works fine.
Space cooling – won’t be a problem except, perhaps, in the kitchen area but could bring in cool air from the earth
Refrigeration – solar absorption ammonia (no moving parts or flames) and a cold cellar
Hot water heating –
Todd’s Survival Index
So you want to know how you’ll do if TSHTF. OK. I’ve put together an index that covers the basics. There are ten categories and each category is worth a maximum of ten points for a total of 100 points. You can decide how many points assures your survival.
Let me add that although the questions focuses upon NBC/debt as triggers, peak oil and natural gas could be substituted for them. Further, it is unimportant whether we are speaking of individuals and families or groups.
I tried to take those categories that always show up when survival is discussed, with the exception of PMs or things to barter, and provide a framework within which they can be discussed. My rationale for excluding PMs/barter is that I have what most people would want in an emergency, societal collapse or in the aftermath of a war. I cannot envision a circumstance where I would be interested in your gold and I have all the stuff I need. I think this would be true of other people in similar circumstances.
In order of importance (IMO), they are: NBC/ Fallout; Water; Skills, Equipment and Tools; Hordes; Food; Debt; Shelter; Heat; Power; Transportation.
NBC/Fallout
Give yourself one point for each 25 miles you are distant from an area that might be nuked.
Commentary: This question assumes that you have taken the time to review blast and fallout maps. It would have been nice to have had this in two separate sections since the distances for each are different but then I would have run over ten questions. The truth is that if NBC and fallout could be a concern then you aren’t serious about survival in the first place.
Water
10 points – you can supply all the water you need for personal and agricultural use.
5 points – you have a one-month supply in secure containers.
0 points - you plan on using the water heater or toilet tank.
Commentary - Water is the lifeblood of survival. For those who don’t know, you will absolutely, certainly die within two weeks (one week is more likely) if you don’t have water.
Skills, Equipment and Tools
10 points – You have the skills, equipment or tools necessary to provide for all your needs.
5 points – You can provide for some of your needs but may lack many skills and equipment.
0 points – You have no skills, equipment or tools.
Commentary: Why rank this number three in order of importance? Because you will not survive without them in the mid to long term. So, what kind of skills do I mean? Hunting/fishing/trapping; construction; food production; timber falling; mechanics/equipment repair; welding/blacksmithing; sewing. In other words, all of those skills most people rely upon others to accomplish today.
But these must be skills you have practiced not simply a book or computer file. For example, I have a textbook on emergency surgery. I also know what the inside of body looks like from field dressing game. But there is no way I would consider emergency surgery a personal “skill”.
However, there is a hidden assumption – that raw materials will be available to utilize these skills to make necessary things locally. I believe raw materials are the Achilles’ heel of almost every survival plan I have ever seen. People seem to make two assumptions: First, that there will be trade so that raw materials (or, perhaps, finished goods) can be acquired from some other area. Second, that all problems are temporary and that they will be resolved in a matter of months if not a few years. I believe this is naïve.
Take my case: I live about 200 miles north of San Francisco. In a global war SF is going to be nuked. Besides wiping out the city and the surrounding oil refineries, the fallout plume will drift toward Sacramento and close I-5, the main north-south road in the state. Further, Santa Rosa, a city north of SF, is also likely to be nuked. These two blasts will effectively isolate northern California for a lifetime. In other words, if you don’t have “it” at your place, you’re never going to have it!
Here is a mind game I like to play: Location – the boondocks. The family – 8 people (2 children, 2 parents, 2 grandparents, 2 great-grand parents). The expectation is that they will not leave their location for 100 years. They have a 20’x40’ building and unlimited funds to purchase raw materials or finished goods. What would they chose to store for this 100 year period?
Here are some of the things I would store:
Fertilizer – I’d use a 20’x20’ area (3,200 cubic feet) and pack it floor to ceiling with something like Plantex 30-30-30 with trace minerals plus many bags of a calcium containing fertilizer such as calcium nitrate, sulfate or phosphate, maybe even slacked lime. This would allow about 5 bags of Plantex per person per year for 100 years. Why devote so much space to fertilizer? Simple. You can’t take off a crop without depleting the soil and cutsy-pie stuff like biodynamics and permaculture won’t hack it. The fertilizer would be used to supplement my soil fertility program.
Canning lids – The standard is 100-200 quarts per person per year. Taking 100 quarts, this requires about 100,000 canning lids for 100 years. 100,000 canning lids will require 60 cubic feet (1cu in/lid in boxes of 12 lids each).
Eye glasses – Lots of drugstore eyeglasses.
Clothing – A lifetime supply of industrial-strength polyester pants, shirts, etc. such as Ben Davis stuff. Producing clothing takes an inordinate amount of land, resources and time. It’s far easier to simply buy and store what is required. The clothes won’t take up that much room.
Bolts of cloth and thread – these would be used to patch clothing to extend its life.
Boots and shoes – Same deal as clothing.
Detergents – A couple (?) of drums of dry, industrial-strength stuff.
Engine oil – A couple of drums of synthetic oil. I don’t know if we’d still be using engine-powered equipment but the oil doesn’t take that much space.
Solvents – Things such as MEK, acetone, isopropyl alcohol. Maybe 5 or 10 gallons each.
Lamp mantels – I’m planning on lighting with wood gas or alcohol. Were I to use alcohol, I’d also include wicks.
Steel – Probably some plates and rods of various sizes
Blacksmith’s coal – Maybe a couple of hundred pounds.
Replacement tools/parts – Things such as saws wear out.
There is still a lot of room left for more stuff but my list is getting too long for this thread. My point is that it that it makes more sense to simply store stuff rather then acquiring the raw materials to make stuff.
And, this mind game especially applies to groups. In fact, I believe it is more important to groups then individuals/families because a dense population requires more concentrated, high quality resources.
Hordes
10 points – I’m in the middle of nowhere and have to come in by horse
5 points – we’ll wipe them out as fast as they show up
0 points – my neighbor’s house is only ten feet from my house
Commentary - The argument is always made that the city hordes will head for your safe area and wipe you out. This is a judgment call. It can certainly be argued that no place is safe from hordes.
Food
10 points – you can produce all the food you need forever.
5 points – you can produce most of the food you need but must rely upon game for the balance.
0 points – can’t produce any food at all.
Commentary - My thrust here is really toward long-term food production rather than food you might store as preps. I want to make a point: being able to produce food means that you currently have the land on which to produce it and water for irrigation in addition to actually having the seed and/or animals in your possession. None of this, “Well, I know I could grow food if I had to” stuff.
Debt
10 points – debt-free
5 points – can repay debt with a lower income or can pay it off with other assets.
0 points – require current income to pay debt.
Commentary – In some situations, debt might be ranked number one. It’s a judgment call as to whether the economy will collapse before global war.
The requirement to repay debt is unlikely to be waived permanently even in an emergency, although it might be postponed. And, yes, the PTB could still confiscate your fully paid for property.
Shelter
This is a judgment call. Clearly if you are on the sixth floor of an apartment you are in worse shape then someone in a single family house in suburbia who in turn is worse off then a single family house in the boondocks who in turn is probably less secure then a hunter-gatherer living in a tent or Hogan.
Heat
10 points – you can supply your own heat (firewood or whatever)
5 points – you can supply most, but not all, of your heat for most of the winter
0 points – you cannot supply any heat
Commentary - Obviously there are times of the year when you don’t need heat and there are areas where you can survive without any heat.
Power
10 points – you don’t need any power
5 points – you can power basic “necessities”
0 points – you really need power but can’t produce any
Commentary – Let’s face it, people have gotten along without electricity or natural gas/propane (for a fridge) for thousands of years. They used springhouses, cold cellars, caches (in winter) and so on. They got their water from springs, ponds or rivers. They went to bed early by the light of a fire or oil lamp.
To me the real key is being able to say, “Well, if the inverters died, we can just move everything from the refrigerator to the spring house.”
Transportation
10 points – you don’t need to go anywhere
5 points – you have a horse or vehicle converted to wood gas or can walk
0 – you are dead meat without vehicular transportation
Commentary – I live in the boondocks and, since I can provide for our needs, I don’t have a need to travel in an emergency. However, most people will have a need for transportation at some point either because they cannot supply their necessities or because of NBC.
So that’s it. I got an 87 when I went through the questions. This was mainly due to the possibility of a city 120 miles south of me being nuked, although fallout due to the wind isn’t a problem. I also downgraded myself in the hordes category. I think it is unlikely that hordes will show up (but it’s possible) since we’d fell trees across the roads but you never know so I gave myself a 5 for this category. I also shaved off some points in the power category. I don’t have a springhouse or cold cellar - although a cold cellar wouldn’t take me much time to put in.
If someone had a lot of time, it would be easy to expand this short survival index. However, what I wanted to accomplish was to offer a basis for thinking seriously about the unthinkable. |
