As for self reliant houses, you can get close, but only at great cost, but there is no free ride in Canada. The sun will not heat any house in the face of -30 degree temperatures outside.
Arn
There was a guy in North Dakota in a straw house that was claiming one 20 LB tank of Propane a year to heat his house. I know it's not Canada, but it's close.
There are going to be areas where no building can be self sufficient, we generally call those place "uninhabitable", or "Canada".
Seriously though, if you were building a house, would you even look at the designs that OKflyboy has posted (here and other threads).
Brad
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02:10 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
There was a guy in North Dakota in a straw house that was claiming one 20 LB tank of Propane a year to heat his house. I know it's not Canada, but it's close.
Brad
Thats the thing too, straw house? If your city or county has any codes I'm guessing thats not going to qualify. There is logic there though, I mean growing up in Wisconsin people would border the outside of their basement walls with straw bales to help insulate along the ground level.
There was a guy in North Dakota in a straw house that was claiming one 20 LB tank of Propane a year to heat his house. I know it's not Canada, but it's close.
There are going to be areas where no building can be self sufficient, we generally call those place "uninhabitable", or "Canada".
Seriously though, if you were building a house, would you even look at the designs that OKflyboy has posted (here and other threads).
Brad
You know I believe him, but, what kind of house? Sounds pretty rustic.
Prairie cabins were often made of sod and it is well established that they were well insulated and easy to heat. Pass modern codes? Not even close.
There shouldn't be any issue with local codes etc. If you build a straw bale house properly. You may have to do some arguing with the powers that be, but I've seen that with every type of building.
quote
once the bales have been stuccoed outside and plastered inside, the bale walls are very fire resistant, with a considerably higher fire rating than stick construction. We have seen several examples where after a vicious fire, only the straw bale walls were left standing. Many controled fire tests have been conducted under "laboratory conditions". Check DECAT in my links for results
www.balewatch.com got me started on the straw house idea. It's most likely the worst designed website in the world, and information seems to disappear, and get placed in odd places, but there is a lot there of you can ignore the bad programming.
There is no single, cheap or easy fix to the oversupply of electricity the Northwest has experienced as surging wind and water energy have overwhelmed regional demand and the ability to export surplus power.
The question now is whether utilities and renewable power producers in the region can agree on a suite of potential solutions, or if one will ultimately be imposed by courts or an outside regulator.
I think the courts will have to decide it. It's a mess with more wind power scheduled to come on line soon.
edit: Just noticed another neighbor is having solar electric panels installed on his roof. With the incentives now in place, the installation payback is about one year so many people are installing them here. Unintended consequences continue.
[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 06-07-2011).]
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12:42 PM
blackrams Member
Posts: 33123 From: Covington, TN, USA Registered: Feb 2003
I think the courts will have to decide it. It's a mess with more wind power scheduled to come on line soon.
edit: Just noticed another neighbor is having solar electric panels installed on his roof. With the incentives now in place, the installation payback is about one year so many people are installing them here. Unintended consequences continue.
It's probably a good thing that incentive isn't offered in every logical state. I'd already be installing solar panels or what ever is the best option if Uncle Sugar wants to help pay for it.
It's probably a good thing that incentive isn't offered in every logical state. I'd already be installing solar panels or what ever is the best option if Uncle Sugar wants to help pay for it.
I wonder if they'd pay for one just to electrify my fences?? Fry you zombie fry!!
