Sketches of Cabins

Cabin Dream Continued: Combining Solar, Wind, Hydro

There are micro-energy systems that capture solar, wind, or hydro power. Each technology is cool and effective in its own way. Using a battery array, it would be quite feasible to combine a couple of systems and create a stable source of power.

The satellite image below is where our property is located in northern Ontario. The exciting aspect of building here, besides the regular logistics of finding a good location and a lot that is suitable for building, is to accept the fact that there will be no connection to the hydro grid. The only power on site is power that is captured or generated on the spot. The two streams that flow through the property basically dry up during the summer. This spring we will discover what kind of flow they have during the thaw.

But the other part of the challenge is that you must have a very well-insulated structure that doesn't leak heat. The standard of construction would have to be a super-insulated, airtight building envelope using passive energy capture. For example, maximizing the gathering of solar energy through windows. Using a super-efficient cold air heat pump that can run on the battery system. Possibly combining a wood-burning rocket stove as well.

The thing about using a wood-burning stove or furnace is that the flow of air into the system would disrupt the controlled exchange of air in the dwelling. A conventional wood burning pot belly stove would not be possible. In the winter you can't open a window to let air in to feed the fire. 

What is needed is a sort of foyer or mud-room that is protected from the elements, but is not part of the building envelope. The fire would be tended in the mud room and have its air intake basically outside, but the heat from the fire would be captured through the chimney flow and drawn into the system of the rocket heater which would be inside the dwelling. So the heat is radiated into the interior of the dwelling and stored in the material of the rocket heater. The fire could be a wood pellet burner, and there could be an automatic or remotely controlled pellet feeder. 

For me, once the battery array is in place, and is big enough to deliver the maximum amount of energy needed at any given time, the only problem is to figure out how to get the battery array charged. 

A micro-hydro system may be possible. If rainwater were captured in a tank, then a small turbine could be run to charge the batteries. 

If it's windy, a silent wind turbine would deliver electricity to the batteries.

If it's sunny, the solar panels charge the batteries.

Heck, if push comes to shove, a human powered generator can kick into play. Maybe a human powered water pump can fill up the rainwater tank to generate more hydro power.

I think it's possible as long as you're not relying on electricity to do big work. For example, running a washing machine or an electric dryer is out of the question. Baseboard heaters out of the question. A fan in the heat pump would be the maximum. Small water pumps would be okay. A small room fan, no problem. Small and focused lights no problem. Running electronics, no problem.

Another Cabin Dream

Once again I'm dreaming about building a cabin in the woods. This time it is all about building an off grid structure that is self-reliant for energy.

I bought a license to manage a half acre of land in the boreal forest of northern Ontario. I did this with about 75 other people. We collectively have formed a not-for-profit organization called Boreal Forest Off-Grid Association – BFOGA. Together we will write our own by-laws and we will each commit to managing our piece of forest as we please, in a way that honours a very loose version of medieval thinking.

The idea of medieval thinking is invoked for a couple of reasons.

1. First, in medieval times people lived in groups and were co-dependent on their neighbours. There was a local economy of bartering and small enterprise based on manual labour and handmade craftwork. 
2. Second, they had no electricity or running water. They had to figure out how to work with nature to get clean and get rid of their poo.

The medieval idea only goes so far. We still will use our battery technology. Solar power is on the table, so we can use electric lights. We won't be running around lighting candles and burning the house down, thank god. However, the idea of using running water has to be completely reimagined. There will be no well with a pumping station, and no septic system to pollute the ground water or the runoff into Long Lake. So, if I want to have pressurized water that, say, squirts through a shower head to make me clean I must figure out a way to not only get water into a storage tank, but I need a way to pressurize it and heat it.

This is one example of the challenge which is my present fascination. How do you get your own water? First you need to collect rainwater. Then you need to store it. How about a water tower or elevated cistern? Then you need to heat it. So maybe you can figure out a way to bring water into an indoor tank and heat it using your stored solar power. Maybe you could heat it with small amounts of firewood, like a sort of rocket heater system?

You have to also think about washing dishes. I'm painfully aware of how much water I use to keep my kitchen area clean at home. But when water is limited, you don't just endlessly splash and pour water over your pots to clean them, you've got to rethink everything and become a minimalist. This is also part of my obsession: rethinking how I would do things like bake or wash dishes with a limited supply of water.


The other part of redesigning water systems is that you have to have a way to get rid of grey water. Grey water is what comes from the kitchen sink, and what comes from the shower drain. Grey water has soap, human skin and hair, random dirt and bits of food in it. I think if the choice of soap is done right, then you could basically use all of your grey water to do two things within the home: First you could recapture the heat from your grey water using a heat exchange system around the drain pipes. Then you would send the heat back into the air in the dwelling. Second, you would have a simple filtration stage and then use the grey water to water your indoor plants.

I think that having plants indoors is a cool feature. Plants can help the indoor environment. They clean the water and put it back into the air. The help moderate the temperature and humidity. And of course they look beautiful.

I can imagine having a collection tank for grey water that is filtered. A small pumping system could automatically switch on and send water to a gravity fed tubing network that would keep all the plants watered.

The idea of keeping the grey water inside the dwelling is important, especially in the winter time. When we put hot water down the drain, the heat goes with it. Basically we're heating the underground which is useless. The only thing to really be careful about is what happens to pee and poo.

There are toilet systems that separate pee and poo. You have to sit down to use them.

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