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| Just found this site. http://www.envirolink.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18719 |
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| Author: | Milton Banana [ Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Just found this site. |
Hello everyone. |
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| Author: | Ann Vole [ Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
Welcome. I love your nick but then I also love bananas. Maybe some day I can be like Amory Lovins and grow bananas here in the frozen north of Saskatchewan. Your profile does not say much, tell us about yourself. |
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| Author: | Besoeker [ Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
| Author: | Johhny Electriglide [ Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
Amory isn't that far from me, and uses Earthship type gardens for the miniature banana trees. I could grow them, too, but don't have the 4000 square feet he has. He is 800 feet lower than me, too. I'm still a member of RMI, and get the reports. There are some Earthships in Canada. Use a higher percentage of insulated glass to the square footage, super insulate with straw bales, and have insulated rolling steel shutters with a supplemental heat system for winter. Make sure the garden ceiling where you want to grow miniature bananas has 9-12 feet of height above the garden. |
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| Author: | Ann Vole [ Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
| Author: | Johhny Electriglide [ Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
High thermal mass and super insulation work with any for of heat. Passive solar is nice, where available, because it is free. The data I have read on super insulated straw bale homes is that they use 1/4 to 1/3 the energy to heat. Like you say, depending on heat losing windows. That is why the expensive (R-7) insulated steel shutters are nice, plus they add security(very difficult to break in) and can be automatic (on a timer or thermal switch + or -). In Arizona I built some million dollar+ homes with them(in the 1980s). There they were used to stop thermal solar gain! Earthships there face north! Ground temp is 70*F year around (why do they build on the surface, except for quick profit? and flash floods to non-waterproof basements, so even basements there are rare) Thermal mass it good because it mitigates and stabilizes the indoor climate, and adds insulation (but not as well as straw bales. Plastic foam is also used for super insulation, but is a petro chemical product and not re-used/recycled like rammed earth tires or straw bales. I did use R-8 foam on the outside of my rammed earth tire walls to insulate against the 50*F ground temperature, straw bales were just too big (I could only over-dig a foot because of tree roots). |
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| Author: | Ann Vole [ Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
| Author: | knightofalbion [ Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Just found this site. |
Welcome to the forum! |
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