and one of those peelers(not the british kind)
Sustainable building: Cordwood masonry
- Thread starter sebastien haff
- Start date
They look good definitely, if you don't log your own material a kit log home runs between $130-225 SQFT. Cordwood shouldn't be above $50 tops, closer to around $15 if you do the work yourself
these guys are building a post and beam barn with cord wood infill
a cob and cordwood building in wales
a cob and cordwood building in wales
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Garbage Warrior. Documentary on the inventor of earthships, earth sheltered dwellings built with tires and rammed earth. A friend is building one of these in southern Colorado.
Seminars
Seminars
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Rocket mass stove. Fire burns ultra hot heating up the masonry mass which then radiates the heat into the room for the next 10-12 hours resulting in only needing two small fires a day, cutting wood consumption by 70%. My parents had a fireplace like this in the farm house that was called a "russian" fireplace.
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Mike Oehlers earth sheltered PSP housing. He used to conduct design seminars and workshops that were awesome
Big in the North east where we went to Subschool. Loved New London's feel.
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Oh yes
In late but my type of thread....Look forward to watching progress buddy.
In late but my type of thread....Look forward to watching progress buddy.
It will be a while on the progress, i haven't began cutting osage orange for the cordwood infill yet, once winter gets here for good and the saps as low as it will go I'll start sawing.
^ Nice. Seems like in video one it would have been a good idea to disconnect the unit from the line to the batteries (that are fully charged and currently receiving power from the solar panels) BEFORE messing with the metal impeller with wet hands, but he lived to tell the tale.
Now that battery storage is getting cheaper, solar and micro hydro like this is more feasible for the average joe.
Now that battery storage is getting cheaper, solar and micro hydro like this is more feasible for the average joe.
I wonder what ever became of the fuel cell electric generators that were supposed to come on the market about 15 years ago. I read a article about a team of 4 engineers who had lived in a house powered by the prototype cell for the previous year and where a rural elec co-op in GA was setting the cells instead of stringing wire to rural homes. Shortly thereafter,they seemed to just vanish.
There are still fuel cell generators avalible, but they are still hamstrung by extremely high cost. Every few years there is another article about a team that has "nearly completed" a new design that is far more economical, but they never pan out (so far...)
these were selling for 8k i think and the co-op was already using them
Big fan of Rob Roy's, I called him back in the early 90's when we were planning our home and spent about an hour on the phone with him. Probably one of my favorite examples of the stack wood corner is up here in Maine.
Cordwood Castle in Maine | Cordwood Construction
Cordwood Castle in Maine | Cordwood Construction
That's impressiveBig fan of Rob Roy's, I called him back in the early 90's when we were planning our home and spent about an hour on the phone with him. Probably one of my favorite examples of the stack wood corner is up here in Maine.
Cordwood Castle in Maine | Cordwood Construction
neat, how long is this project going to take?
That depends, i haven't started cutting the cordwood yet. After it's cut, I'm going to let it season for 6 months. Once i start the actual building it won't take very long. Will be using power poles for posts and squaring the beams from trees i log.
cob and cord wood house in Penzance, Cornwall. The hippy chick capering with the cigarette would get it good
Not the article I was remembering, pretty interesting though.
These fuel cells can be utilized for various off-the-grid purposes.
Photo courtesy MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors
Going off-grid is about to get a whole lot easier. A handful of companies across the nation and around the globe are racing to bring to market dishwasher-sized appliances capable of meeting all of a home's electrical needs. Remarkably reliable, cost-competitive, energy efficient, environmentally friendly, virtually noiseless and as easy to install as a new furnace, these units will change forever the way we think about — and generate — power.
This is no pipe dream, nor is it some futuristic technology still light-years away. In fact, the science behind these new wonder units is more than 150 years old and fairly basic. We're talking here about fuel cells, devices that make electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, emitting as byproducts pure water and heat. Fuel cells have for years been on the minds and drawing boards of big-name automakers seeking to produce a near zero-emissions passenger car. But the technology remains too bulky and expensive for widespread automotive use.
Which is why, though a latecomer to the fuel cell field, stationary power systems will be first to go commercial, as soon as January 2001. And while the initial units will likely sell for $7,500 or more, that price is expected to quickly tumble below $4,000 as manufacturers move into mass production.
"There are no fundamental technology breakthroughs [still] required to make this product; they've all been done." says Dr. William P. Acker, vice president of product development and commercialization for the Latham, New York-based Plug Power, a leading developer of fuel cells. "Now it's just good, roll-up-your-sleeves engineering, designing, building, testing and product development."
Fuel Cells 101
Like batteries, fuel cells create electricity through a rather simple electrochemical process. Generally, a fuel cell consists of a positive electrode (cathode), a negative electrode (anode) and an electrolyte that conducts ions between the two. There are at least five kinds of fuel cells under investigation for various applications, each using a different electrolyte, but the type garnering the most attention for residential use is called Proton-Exchange Membrane (PEM).
A PEM fuel cell employs as its electrolyte a polymeric membrane — it looks, says Acker, much like a piece of Saran Wrap — coated with a catalyst. Hydrogen is introduced at the anode, then passes to the membrane, where the catalyst splits the hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons. The protons then pass through the membrane to the cathode, where they react with oxygen to form water and heat. The electrons, unable to pass through the membrane, are forced to travel around it, creating DC electricity in the process. The fuel cell systems being developed by Plug Power and others will come equipped with a conditioner to turn this DC current into usable AC power.
Rest of article
Fuel Cells: Power to the People - Renewable Energy - MOTHER EARTH NEWS
These fuel cells can be utilized for various off-the-grid purposes.
Photo courtesy MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors
Going off-grid is about to get a whole lot easier. A handful of companies across the nation and around the globe are racing to bring to market dishwasher-sized appliances capable of meeting all of a home's electrical needs. Remarkably reliable, cost-competitive, energy efficient, environmentally friendly, virtually noiseless and as easy to install as a new furnace, these units will change forever the way we think about — and generate — power.
This is no pipe dream, nor is it some futuristic technology still light-years away. In fact, the science behind these new wonder units is more than 150 years old and fairly basic. We're talking here about fuel cells, devices that make electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, emitting as byproducts pure water and heat. Fuel cells have for years been on the minds and drawing boards of big-name automakers seeking to produce a near zero-emissions passenger car. But the technology remains too bulky and expensive for widespread automotive use.
Which is why, though a latecomer to the fuel cell field, stationary power systems will be first to go commercial, as soon as January 2001. And while the initial units will likely sell for $7,500 or more, that price is expected to quickly tumble below $4,000 as manufacturers move into mass production.
"There are no fundamental technology breakthroughs [still] required to make this product; they've all been done." says Dr. William P. Acker, vice president of product development and commercialization for the Latham, New York-based Plug Power, a leading developer of fuel cells. "Now it's just good, roll-up-your-sleeves engineering, designing, building, testing and product development."
Fuel Cells 101
Like batteries, fuel cells create electricity through a rather simple electrochemical process. Generally, a fuel cell consists of a positive electrode (cathode), a negative electrode (anode) and an electrolyte that conducts ions between the two. There are at least five kinds of fuel cells under investigation for various applications, each using a different electrolyte, but the type garnering the most attention for residential use is called Proton-Exchange Membrane (PEM).
A PEM fuel cell employs as its electrolyte a polymeric membrane — it looks, says Acker, much like a piece of Saran Wrap — coated with a catalyst. Hydrogen is introduced at the anode, then passes to the membrane, where the catalyst splits the hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons. The protons then pass through the membrane to the cathode, where they react with oxygen to form water and heat. The electrons, unable to pass through the membrane, are forced to travel around it, creating DC electricity in the process. The fuel cell systems being developed by Plug Power and others will come equipped with a conditioner to turn this DC current into usable AC power.
Rest of article
Fuel Cells: Power to the People - Renewable Energy - MOTHER EARTH NEWS
Low head micro hydro