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Jun 2022
4:45pm, 21 Jun 2022
17,347 posts
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rf_fozzy
That's not a reason to go off grid.
By all means look at water saving/conservation/harvesting (as long as it's not taking from local non-replenishable sources or sources that would usually go to feeding reservoirs), but I'm not sure you need to be totally offgrid.
Particularly with sewage.
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Jun 2022
5:50pm, 21 Jun 2022
12,767 posts
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jda
Off grid is primarily to save on connection costs I’d have thought. Which can be ruinous for remote properties.
For power, it’s not just total demand over a year that matters but also storage for the lean periods. Easier if there’s wood to burn for heat and you can cope with not much more than a couple of LEDs for light!
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Jun 2022
7:08pm, 21 Jun 2022
5,041 posts
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run free
Makes sense if you want to be off grid on all utilities and housing can be reimagined to be totally circular.
- very little real waste generated.
Assume hanake is going for total zero waste + net zero carbon (am envious) There are a number of houses in Wales that are all of that + of course Ben the woodsman whose place was shown on grand design. Awesome hanake
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Jun 2022
7:08pm, 21 Jun 2022
5,042 posts
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run free
Hanneke even!
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Jun 2022
10:34pm, 21 Jun 2022
19,299 posts
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Chrisull
Quick q - Solar panel efficiency with regards to battery storage? You'd want your solar panels to be more efficient right? How much does it matter?
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Jun 2022
11:20pm, 21 Jun 2022
12,770 posts
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jda
I don’t know what you mean by efficiency in that context. You want your battery to be able to store a decent chunk of output and then return it to be used when the sun isn’t shining (enough), on a daily cycle. If you aren’t cycling it daily (more or less) then you aren’t getting much return on your investment.
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Jun 2022
12:04am, 22 Jun 2022
90,329 posts
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Hanneke
Makes sense if you want to be off grid on all utilities and housing can be reimagined to be totally circular. - very little real waste generated. Assume hanake is going for total zero waste + net zero carbon (am envious) There are a number of houses in Wales that are all of that + of course Ben the woodsman whose place was shown on grand design. Awesome hanake
I am indeed... Rather than it being awesome, it is bliddy hard work!!!
Not least because I am in a continuing battle over being allowed to do what I do on my own land!
Today as was having lunch (from the garden) at home when someone knocked on the door. A rather intimidating passive agressive bloke from Balfour Beatty. First thing he said: in an accusatory manner: I was here last month on my inspection round and you were not here!
Me: oh, did you write to me to say you were coming? Him: no, it was an unannounced visit.
Me: oh, well, I work for a living so unless you announce your visit, I am not going to be sitting at home as you could potentially want to see me...
Him: come outside and have a look at this! Me: let me put my shoes on. Him: NO!
So he points at my entrance, completely overflowing with wild flowers. Then says: you need to remove this mess!
I threw an extremely polite but firm hissy fit. I spent 3 years and £38 on a special wild flower mix for this site that is pollinator and bird friendly!!! I mean: my land! Nothing to do with him!!! Balfour Beatty maintains, or rather doesn't, the roads for Herefordshire Council.
Then he pointed at the microscopic verge alongside my building and had a go at me about that: I can see what you are trying to do here, incorporate the verge into your property by making it look nice...
I interrupt: let me stop you right there! I do own the verge but it is Highways that has authority over it. It therefore is up to YOU to cut the verge if you want it cut. I do not want this verge. I have enough land to satisfy my needs. It is only giving me work I can do without, keeping it safe.
Him: but you are not supposed to plant flowers.
Me: I didn't. This is ground elder. It was there when I moved here in 2006 which makes ohhhh 16 years of you not cutting the verge???
On and on it goes: you need to remove this verge... WHAT THE ACTUAL???
You have put a fence here, it needs to go.
Errrrr that was stipulated by your employers the Highway agency.
Him: but you blocked your entrance???
Me: yes, as per my planning application.
Him: but, I had a complaint that you blocked this entrance so people cannot get through.
This is when I realised it must have been my impossible neighbours that complained. They cut their verge to within an inch of its life and hate my "mess". They also hate not being able to walk onto my land any more. A story for another day!
I am currently taking some advice because I'll be damned if I strim my wildflowers!!! Or dig up my verge. It is barely half a metre wide anyway... And pedestrians need somewhere to jump.out of the path of speeding cars!
So the end of the story was: I remove my verge, I cut down the "grass" and keep cutting it and he drops off four plastic "verge protectors" to put in front of the stone pillars so people do not drive into.them after I have taken away the verge 😱😱😱😱😱
Anyway, I am experimenting with how long it takes me to fill my green recycling wheelie bin. 9 weeks and counting. It is just over half full!
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Jun 2022
12:15am, 22 Jun 2022
90,330 posts
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Hanneke
And that is because I have been slacking on the nut milks. In stead of making my own, I have been buying oat milk in cartons. Oops!
I stand for the way I live and will not bow to the powers that be. He didn't know what he was talking about anyway so I will be taking some legal advice and some advice from a nature conservation organisation. Last thing I want to do is destroy this biodiverse habitat! It is not my problem my neighbour hates flowers and hates me for allowing them to grow!
Him: surely, you planted these flowers?
Me: nope! This is what happens when you stop cutting the grass. Eventually, flowers take over...
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
I will take a photo of said "mess" for you tomorrow!
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Jun 2022
12:31am, 22 Jun 2022
90,331 posts
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Hanneke
Fozzy: I think we should all be responsible for the impact we have on our environment.
I intend to decrease my footprint to the lightest possible that is achievable.
This includes a stand alone, off grid power system. Bearing in mind I do not actually need (much) power to live comfortably if I am no longer pressurised into having a mobile phone and computer. I do have a solar charger though...
I like to include myself into my closed biodynamic permaculture system by pumping, with solar piwer, my sewage to the food forest, into a swale/long thin reed bed. This achieves 3 things:
no use of chemicals needed to deal with my effluent and grey water.
Grey water gets used to water the food forest.
Effluent gets used to feed the soil in the food forest. This then reduces the need for actively feeding the soil.
I am in a position to be able to do this. I see it as my duty to the planet to do EVERYTHING I can to make a positive impact. It is not about convenience or monetary gain! Although this system will, in a modest way, achieve both.
Agroforestry is all about growing food and medicine in my case in as sustainable a way possible. Ideally I do not mulch or water it. If balanced, it looks after itself but when it is young, it needs some input from me. Currently this means walking up and down with watering cans from the front, where I harvest rain water, to the back until things establish themselves and are better able to cope with drought. Grey water seeping into the soil every time I use water in my buildings or flush the loo is mega helpful!
This afternoon I had a shower, in the bath, plug in, then tonight I used the water collected in the bath to water the pots and greenhouse... If this happens automatically, it is better, surely?
Lastly: yes, it will save a fair amount of money too. My water bill has doubled while my consumption has gone down! So putting a pipe in from buildings to garden will be earnt back in about 6 months! I already have the pump...
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Jun 2022
12:46am, 22 Jun 2022
90,332 posts
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Hanneke
I remembered I took some photos of the garden a couple of weeks ago, including the offensive, weedy mess that is my entrance and verge...
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Ethical choices
Apr 2021