Trailer Park Girl

(”Energy” segment that I put together for a Permaculture Basics Weekend)
• “Renewable energy” typically refers to solar power (which can be further divided into photovoltaic and passive solar); wind; biomass (wood, dung, etc.); hydroelectric; and human power. Because energy goes into everything we make or do, its on-site/local generation and wise use should be a focal point of permaculture design.

• Nature creates no waste. Outputs of one organism, system, or process become food/fuel for other organisms, systems, or processes. Recycle “waste” on-site whenever possible. A public bath facility in Tokyo uses heat generated by a trash incinerator to heat its water. Conventional light bulbs give off more energy in the form of heat than in the form of light — figure out how to capture that heat.

• The energy that goes into producing, transporting, marketing, and other steps involved in creating a product or service (from a head of lettuce to a sheet of roofing material to a newspaper to a catered banquet) and conveying it to its end user, is known as the embodied energy of that product or service. Just about everything we see around us in the industrialized world has very high embodied energy. Mark Sardella, who teaches renewable energy and runs a nonprofit called Local Energy in Santa Fe, has commented that the amount of cheap energy at our fingertips amounts to each and every modern-day American owning 80 slaves.

• Some people who identify as “green” view nuclear power as a clean, infinite energy source. But nuclear violates all of the permaculture ethics. The mining of the uranium used for the reactor core is an eco-disaster. And the overall infrastructure requires a police state to maintain it, and when problems occur, they are potentially deadly and far-reaching.
• “Peak Oil”: Nobody knows for sure when (or even if) the “crash” will be, and opinions differ widely even among experts. But even if fossil fuels were infinite or renewable, there are many arguments for drastically curtailing or eliminating their use:
– Their extraction and transport damages the environment and living things. One graphic example is mountaintop removal, the main method now used to extract coal (which is the main fuel used to generate electricity).
– Using fossil fuels as our main energy source keeps us tied into a system that is riddled with Type 1 design errors: too much space devoted to cars and roads as opposed to habitat and food-growing; the “job-car loop” (I have to have a car to get to my job; I have to stay in this job (that is not my true calling) to make my car payment …); too much geographic separation between the basic functions of everyday life, leading to social isolation/alienation and consigning people of all ages to the automobile for hours a day; air and water pollution; obesity; large, complexly designed homes that make homeowners dependent on building/remodeling experts and force them into debt for decades; poorly designed buildings that have to be climate-controlled, which cuts us off from nature and in turn causes us to keep perpetrating poor design… The list goes on and on.
– Cutting fossil-fuel consumption reduces one of the key motivating factors for war.
– It also curtails the power of mega-corporations whose actions (or inaction) we view as damaging and morally wrong. Many don’t realize it, but everyday citizens are positioned UPSTREAM of the big corporations and government bodies that we think of as “the top.” We as consumers are their lifeblood. To take back our power, we should “vote” with our actions every day. Organize your daily routine to make use of natural light whenever possible. Donate that desktop computer to a worthy organization and make do with your old laptop. Put on a sweater (DUH – but all too often, people crank up the heat instead because it’s convenient to do so.) Use a solar oven. Refuse excessively packaged foods and beverages. I could cite a hundred little examples here, and if we all start by picking our personal “low-hanging fruit” and keep going from there, it will have more impact than screams of public outrage or our votes at the ballot box. (This doesn’t excuse us from civic engagement, however.)
– By reducing consumption of fossil fuels, we reduce a major living expense. This frees us up to invest more time/money in our education; travel; acquiring skills that lead to right livelihood.

• The “Gas Crack”: (a term used in the Peak Oil awareness community): refers to our window of opportunity to channel the remaining supply of fossil fuels into creating durable capital for a sustainable society. For the aforementioned reasons, even if fossil fuels were infinite/renewable, we would do well to use the “Gas Crack” concept to guide us in setting our manufacturing and development priorities. Durable capital for a sustainable culture might include earthworks (berms/swales, root cellars, etc.); greehouse glass; windmills; solar panels (BUT NOTE: panels only last 25-30yrs); bicycles & bike parts; roofing material and other durable sheet materials; high-quality food canning and storage containers and other food preservation supplies; good hand tools; hand-powered pumps and mills; solar ovens; high-efficiency biomass stoves; etc.
• We want to generate power as LOCALLY as possible, a couple of reasons being 1) centralized, remotely located power generation and transmission has unacceptable environmental and human costs (that are all too easy for us to ignore because they’re not in our backyard); 2) local power generation strengthens local economies. (In our current setup, the dollar that you spend on energy leaves your community faster than any other dollar you spend).
• The ultimate renewable energy source is the sun. It’s is the source of all other energy sources. The cleanest, most efficient way to meet our energy needs is to harness the sun’s energy as directly as possible. (Plants are the ultimate masters of this.) The term for using the sun’s energy directly, as opposed to generating electricity via solar panels, is passive solar. Examples of passive solar technology include home heating using a glass wall or greenhouse; water heating using a solar collector (heating element that consists of coiled pipe in a large flat black box with a glass front) or breadbox heater; and solar ovens.
• Solar panels (photovoltaic) convert the sun’s energy to electricity. The same as for all electricity, energy is lost at each step of the conversion, transmission, and storage process. One advantage of solar PV is that it can generate power even on a white-overcast day — there’s still enough UV getting through to the panels. Passive solar devices require direct sun (though a solar oven, once warmed, will continue to cook the pot of food as long as the sun comes out from behind the clouds for at least 20-30 minutes per hour).
• Wind power is up-and-coming but still meets only a tiny percentage of our needs. Texas is the #2 state, after California, in terms of wind-power capacity.
• Hydroelectric power on a large scale requires the construction of massive dams that carry heavy costs of building and maintenance, and are damaging to ecosystems. Micro-hydroelectric systems, such as the one in use at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, can be used to meet modest electricity needs of a community situated along a stream.
• It’s naïve to think we can just “switch over” to renewables without making any changes in our American lifestyle. (Permaculture design consultants routinely get calls along the lines of, “I just built a 5,000 square foot house in the country, and I want to go solar.” [sound of eyes rolling loudly in head]) My monthly electricity consumption of around 30kwh (summer) to 50kwh (winter) is less than 5% of the average US household’s. Even so, generating my electricity photovoltaically would require a 10 x 10 solar panel. (I arrived at this by using information freely available online to calculate my electricity usage, then asking a guy at Meridian (solar PV company) how many panel’s I’d need.) A 10×10 panel is a large expensive object, which of course has its own embodied energy of manufacture, transport, installation, etc. Intuition and common sense tells me it’s more sustainable for me to continue to use electricity from the grid (the infrastructure that’s already in place — its embodied energy of manufacture and installation already expended), while continuing down the path of weaning myself off electricity. For most of us, conservation is the easiest, cheapest, most effective way to reduce fossil-fuel consumption. (In a similar vein, “the greenest house is the one that’s already built” — the one you live in now.)
• The fuel-water connection: it takes fuel to transport water, and it takes water to extract fossil fuels. By reducing water consumption, we reduce fuel consumption; by reducing fuel consumption, we reduce water consumption.
• Heating and cooling: Cooling (removing the heat from air, water, or another medium) is more energy-intensive than heating.
• Energy costs account for 48% of the lifetime cost of a building. The most energy-consuming areas of a home are refrigeration, air heating and cooling, and water heating. Through zone and sector planning, and through the building techniques described in the Natural Building /Greenbuilding segment, we can reduce or eliminate our need for artificial heating and cooling. Ianto Evans (cob builder and stove guru) describes how to build household fixtures such as cob benches that are heated from within by wood fires. Homemade wood-fired saunas (with cold showers adjacent – or located alongside a cold creek, like the one at Earthaven Ecovillage) and hot tubs offer an alternative to heating large quantities of water for personal bathing. Added benefits are social enjoyment, and a glowing sense of cleanliness and well-being.

• Examples of low-tech home heating and cooling abound. The Kerr-Cole Sustainability Center in Arizona keeps cool with earth tubes (passages that channel cool air from the ground into a house). Swamp coolers, which work by the evaporation of water, work well in dry climates (contrary to their name). Russians pile hay on the roofs of their cottages to keep warmer in winter.

• Cooking, particularly with electricity, is another significant energy user. (Note: In countries with climates similar to ours, but where the population doesn’t have access to cooling, heating, refrigeration, and other modern conveniences, cooking-fuel costs can account for nearly 100% of a household’s energy costs.) Solar ovens, hayboxes (retained-heat cooking), and high-efficiency biomass stoves are good additions to the home. A prime example of a high-efficiency biomass stove is the Rocket Stove, which runs on small twigs or wood chips. The stove was developed by engineers at the Aprovecho Research Center, a permaculture and appropriate-technology center in Oregon.
• Seemingly trivial modifications can add up. At the Kerr-Cole Sustainability Center in Arizona, a couple cooking on a daily basis were able to make a 5-gallon propane tank last 17 months by putting a reflective skirt around the cookpotpot and a hood in back of the stove; using the haybox for slow-cooking of beans, rice, and other dishes cooked in liquid; and making extensive use of the solar oven.
• In many countries where wood is the primary fuel source, deforestation has become a problem. (This could happen here in the U.S. again — deforestation inspired Ben Franklin to invent the high-efficiency Franklin Stove in the 18th century.) Conservation, together with the systematic planting of fast-growing fuelwood species, are called for.
• Remember: Conserving energy and using local & renewable energy increases your FREEDOM and POWER. Enjoy!

In my previous entry I mentioned the Sustainable Food Center. This is an Austin-based nonprofit whose mission is to “create a Food-Secure community by improving access to local, healthy, and affordable food for children and adults in Central Texas.”

SFC carries out its mission by offering free classes in gardening and food-preservation techniques, donating produce to area food pantries, organizing the Austin Farmers’ Market, and more. It’s an extraordinarily well-run organization and a wonderful group of people.

Two upcoming events will raise funds for SFC:

1) Saturday May 3, 6:00-9:00 p.m.: Artist reception at Projex Gallery (1710 S. Lamar, Bldg C).

2) May 7, 5:00-8:00 p.m.: Farm to Plate event at Triangle Park (Lamar & 46th). Featuring a sampling of Austin’s wealth of local food and local music.

For more details visit the Sustainable Food Center website.

- On Saturday May 10, the Sustainable Food Center, a heroic Austin nonprofit, is hosting a workshop on food preservation (canning, freezing, drying) herbs, fruits, and vegetables. It’s from 10 a.m. to noon. at Camacho Activity Center on Robert Martinez in East Austin. Free, but registration is required. Contact Emily Neiman, Grow Local Program Coordinator, emily@sustainablefoodcenter.org or 512-236-0074 ext. 105.

- On Thursday May 15, I’m giving a free talk on “Permaculture vs. ‘Green’: What’s the Difference and Where’s the Overlap?” It’s from 7 to 9 pm at the Habitat Suites Hotel (Austin’s permaculture-inspired hotel). This is #1 in the Austin Permaculture Guild’s Summer Series of talks and videos; get more info and view the full schedule at www.permie.us, the Austin Permaculture Guild website

- We also still have spaces available in our Permaculture Basics Weekend May 17-18. Co-taught by two local permies (one rural dweller and one city rat), it’ll expand your possibilities for creating a greener, healthier, less expensive, lower-maintenance home and lifestyle. For details visit the Austin Permaculture Guild website; call the public-relations coordinator of the Austin Permaculture Guild (that’s ME) at 512-619-5363 to ask questions or to sign up.

You may have heard me talk about tiny houses (also known as pocket pads). Now I hear there’s at least one person out there designing pocket neighborhoods.

The development of tiny homes sold out quickly. This reminds me of a quote I’ve heard, to the effect that people who say that some venture is impossible should get out of the way of those who are doing it!

My dream home is about 8 by 12, and has a sleeping loft and a porch. It’s built on wheels or skids for easy transport.

Yesterday I was pedaling home from somewhere. When I was within a couple of blocks of home, I happened to look down and see a telltale small, orange-yellow oval shape on the pavement. A hallmark of April in central Texas, those little squashed ovals. About the size of a huge olive or a little lime. I screeched my bike to a halt and looked all around me for the mothership. In a few seconds I found it: A loquat tree, with nearly-ripe-looking fruit hanging over the sidewalk.

“Loquaaaaaaaaaaaats!” I hollered, as I usually do when I spot the tasty, prolific globes. And walked over to sample them. As I’d suspected, they’re not quite ripe, but they’re only about a week away, and I’ve got my eye on that tree. Later, not far away, I found another specimen, whose fruits were a bit farther along. (Microclimate variations are a boon in terms of staggering ripening times, which allows us grazers an extended period to enjoy a given fruit.)

Then this morning on the way to the coffee shop RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHERE I LIVE, I noticed for the first time a loquat tree growing discreetly beyond the field of vision of the typical pedestrian locomoting intently down the sidewalk. And THAT tree was festooned with super-big, super-ripe loquats!

Loquaaaaaaaaaaaats! I brake for them. Look for them in your creator’s garden (I’ve never seen them in your grocer’s freezer).

In Florida, where I spend a lot of time delivering the Avatar Course, loquats ripen around late February through March.

A couple of years ago in another neighborhood here in South Austin, I spotted a huge loquat tree. Since none of the fruit was hanging over the public right-of-way, I went and knocked on the homeowner’s door for permission to pick some. “Sure, take them all!” he said, apparently indifferent to his juicy orange-gold riches.

So which tasty treats are ripe in your area right now? And which ones are going to be ripe before long?

An interesting trend has hit our South Austin neighborhood. Seems that some super-wealthy, eccentric, and very GREEN old geezer has been buying up one big, boxy mega-mansion after another, as fast as they can build ‘em. You know the mansions I’m talking about: the massive, shiny cubes that have been replacing modest old bungalows. They scrape the bungalow off the land as easily and carelessly as if they were flicking a cockroach off a kitchen counter. They scrape the plants and the soil and everything away, leaving bare ground. You can’t even call it “soil” – every microbe that gave it life has been scraped away along with the offending old house. Then, over the course of a few weeks, a huge steel-and-concrete box, which extends right up to the edges of the lot, goes up. The gleaming structure could adorn the cover of Tres Chic Moderne Architecture Journal. And given the target market, the utter lack of space for declasse’ activities such as growing vegetables, sitting outdoors with the family, and so on is not seen as a problem. The ratty old bungalow occupied by some family of modest means has been replaced by a property-tax-revenue-generating palace for one post-industrial mogul and his wife, and maybe an obscenely large dog or two.

Well, enter this eccentric Grandpa Moneybags, who has started buying up these concrete megamansions and then – are you ready for this? – demolishing them. Sometimes he puts up a little cottage in their place, but the past four lots he’s purchased, he’s left the lot free of all manmade structures save for a garden shed. The rest of the lot is occupied by a food garden. As you can imagine, the old Austin neighbors are delighted, while the yuppie arriviste neighbors are up in arms about property values. Well, at least they’re up in arms until the old man visits them with a luscious home-grown tomato or a bunch of tangy arugula. The fresh veggies lure them over to the dark side.

And, in the latest twist, some of the occupants of neighboring mega-mansions have been spotted tearing down parts of their houses to make room for gardens.

Local scroungers have been delighted by the infusion of practically-new building materials that have begun appearing at curbs alongside the trash and recycling.

Naturally the city is worried about how the decline in property values will affect its property-tax revenue. But since the mayor himself has hoisted the banner of making Austin the #1 city in terms of conquering global warming, it doesn’t really look good for city officials to be seen speaking out against making more room for gardens. So lately, they haven’t been speaking out against it. Lately, they just shut up and savor the wagonloads of fresh-grown veggies that somehow find their way to City Hall.

If you’re thinking, “This is major news! Why haven’t I heard about it?” … Well, that’s because I just made it up. Sorry! But anything the human mind can imagine, we can create. So let’s get busy!