DIY Solar Space Heating

October 9, 2013

...thern hemisphere it’s time to consider heating. The always useful Build-It Solar blog has a detailed link to a DIY solar space heating system in Virginia (pdf). Collector panels mounted on the roof heat a reservoir which is circulated through a floor-based radiant heating system. It even has an Arduino based data acquisition component that tracks performance. There should be a DIY Nobel Prize for this project! If you live in a place that’s both co...

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On the 100th Birthday of Our House: The Past and Future of Housing in the U.S.

Mr. Homegrown

January 8, 2020

Design

10 Comments

...onnie Maas Morrison points out in a paper, “Ninety Years of U.S. Household Energy History,” household energy savings have been more than offset by increases in consumption elsewhere in our lives. Think of the conveniences required for today’s dual-earner, single-parent/multi-job holding households. Think of the eating-out phenomenon, think of the pre-packaged, pre-prepared meals (from freezer, to micro-wave, to table, to garbage can, all in one co...

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Permaculture Design Course at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

Mr. Homegrown

March 14, 2014

Events

...r design, walk through an energy audit, how to read a utility bill, ‘going solar,’ tour of energy-efficient home, design an alternative energy plan for your own energy-efficient home / home-scale energy audit MAY 31 / DESIGN OFF-SITE – Perform client interview/determine clients needs/wants; budget considerations; site walk; sector analysis; mapping of space; create a design + plan, group design time with guided mentoring JUNE 1 / ALTERNATIVE FUTUR...

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Deep Frying in a SolSource Solar Cooker

Mr. Homegrown

November 11, 2016

Food, Solar, Solar Oven Summer, Videos, Water and Power

3 Comments

...made us some beignets this morning. As Kelly says in the video, a little known fact is that solar cooked deep fried dough pillows won’t make you gain weight. Never! Really!! (Not.) But they are mighty good! The test worked out really well and now we want to do something fun with it, like take the solar cooker to the streets and make donuts for The People! We’re also really pleased to find that we can hit deep frying temperatures with the cooker,...

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Camping and Solar Cooking

Mr. Homegrown

September 15, 2008

Bikes, Solar

7 Comments

...n at home, are the perfect occasion to deploy a solar cooker. Best of all you can build a solar cooker yourself for pennies out of cardboard and aluminum foil. For some foods, such as rice, it’s actually easier to cook with a solar cooker than it is on a stovetop. Put some rice in a pot, place the pot in the solar panel cooker, stick it out in the sun and two hours later you have lunch. Read the rest at The Cleanest Line via the Patagonia Company....

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