19 Nov Permaculture 101: Simple DIY Passive Solar Home Retro-fits

Permaculture design emphasizes simple, low-tech, inexpensive things that ordinary people can do to meet everyday needs more sustainably. Without installing a single solar panel, there are many things you can do in your home to collect and use more of the sun's energy. (And if you make some of these simple passive solar retrofits, then if/when you do get around to installing those solar panels, they will be able to meet a larger share of your home electricity needs. Maybe all!)

With cooler weather on the way, I thought I'd emphasize one of my pet subjects: using passive solar to keep your house warm. Even in winter, just about any given spot in Austin gets a lot of sun. Why not take maximum advantage of this ultimate renewable energy source. Many tips you've heard time and time again, but still bear repeating. For example:

— INSULATE, INSULATE, INSULATE. Your attic especially. (Don't forget to also ventilate that attic.) And the walls. Seriously, if you haven't got substantial insulation in your home, find a way to do it now, before winter sets in. All homes collect heat from the sun; insulated homes retain more of that heat.

Also:

— Build a sun-porch on the south side of your place. Use lots of glass or other transparent material for maximum solar gain. (If you make the windows removable, the space can be a screened sleeping porch in summer.) On cold sunny winter days, the porch will be quite warm.

— To boost heat-retention, put some black barrels or tanks in the porch. Fill them with water and position them so that the sun hits the tanks. The water will act as a thermal battery, collecting the sun's heat during the day and radiating it at night. Some people raise tilapia or other heat-loving fish in sun-heated fishtanks, thus deriving an additional benefit of home-raised protein.

— Collect even more heat by giving the sun porch or sunny room a black (or dark-colored) floor. You can use black tile or (if the floor is concrete or wood) paint it black. 

— A small pond on the south side can bounce additional sunlight into your living space.

— On the north side of your place, build some kind of natural buffer against those harsh "norther" winds. The buffer could be a room (think storage room/mud room). Or it could be exterior: shrubbery, trees, or (a personal favorite of mine) a "mulch cage wall". This is a wall composed of hollow cylinders which you make from chicken-wire or fence-panel. You fill the cylinders with leaves or other mulchy material. Not only does the wall act as a wind- and cold-barrier, it also serves as a mulch-farm and mulch storage unit. (This dual benefit is an excellent example of the permaculture design principle of "stacking functions.") 

— If you're an apartment dweller with a north-facing balcony, you could wall the balcony in with polycarb in winter. Plants on the balcony also help.

— Open the curtains to let sun in; close them at night to keep heat in the house. Put blankets or decorative rugs over northern windows or other windows that get no sun. 

— Be flexible with use of space in the home. Use the sunnier, warmer room(s) as your living areas in winter. If a room is cold or shady, use it as your sleeping quarters.

— Don't forget good old rugs. They make a house feel warmer.

— Bring plants into the house. Being living creatures, they give off a certain amount of warmth, just as humans and their pets do. Transmuting sunlight into food, plants are the ultimate solar collectors!

— Get tuned in to the sun. As you rely less on forced-air heating and more on passive solar, you will naturally find yourself gravitating toward the warmest spot in the house at any given time. (And if you need help finding the most comfortable spot, just look where your dog or cat is sleeping! Pets always know the spots that are coolest in summer and warmest in winter.)

Some of the best home energy retrofits are low-tech, DIY, and inexpensive or even free. Definitely take maximum advantage of these natural devices, which are a hallmark of permaculture design. You can save lots of money while also dramatically reducing your consumption of nonrenewable energy. Plus which, there's a certain satisfaction gained from Doing It Yourself. Enjoy!

Energy is just one area of basic human needs that permaculture design is intended to address. The other areas are food, water, shelter, transportation, and community. To find out more about permaculture, visit the Austin Permaculture Guild at www.austinperm.com

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

A Permaculture Retrofit for an Older Dwelling : Permaculture teacher/designer Bob Waldrop, based in Oklahoma City, describes how he and his wife took a permaculture approach to collecting and using the sun's energy to make their 1920s home more comfortable while saving thousands of dollars. (By the way, they live happily in Oklahoma City without air conditioning!)

DIY solar window-unit heater (imagine a heater version of an A/C window unit): a passive solar heater made of coke cans! Super fun for all you diehard DIY-ers!

Passive solar greenhouses, heated only by sun-warmed barrels of water, grow food year-round even in very cold climates.