It’s funny how time flies. Even to a positronic brain of an android time can be relative. I can imagine that if someone is waiting for the next post on this blog, and doing nothing else, it can seem ages ago since my last post. In fact it’s been just over a month, which is hardly an age.
To me, the past month has gone by in a flash. We seem to be constantly thinking and talking about the house in one form or another, the design, the passiveness, the power, the labour, the money, all these things (and more) demand attention. We have to be careful not to get overwhelmed by the whole thing, which is quite hard.
Our new creed is: “One step at the time”. One just can’t rush a good thing. So, a month may seem long, but enough happens that I can’t blog about, or is just not interesting enough.
So, what can I share with you about the past month?
The biggest thing, or at least the most formal, is that we set a date to sign the official deed to the land. Now that is good news. The land will be undisputedly (I love that word) ours.
Architect
Our architect has been busy. She’s past her second whatjamacallit in her study. This means she’s on the right track, something we already knew, of course.
She also made a few models for us to look at and I have to say, it looks mighty promising. I won’t post them here, because these are the first tryouts, sketches of ideas. But, the house is going to be magnificent, not in size, but in design, and not the fancy artsy design stuff, but functional, liveable and innovative.
Off the Grid
We’ve also been searching for an energy solution. Obviously we’ll be off the grid, and the idea is to never get hooked on at all, ever. Even during the build we’ll not be connected. It’s an expensive business getting hooked up to the grid and we’ll invest that money else where.
We do have very nice neighbours form whom we could “borrow” some power, but only during the build.
This means we have to find a way to power our future home with alternatives (sun, wind, whatever).
Heating the place is one thing, we’re building a passive home, which means we heat the house with sunlight and insulate it thoroughly, and only use a heater to assist our “passiveness”.
Electricity is a whole different ball game and for now it seems that wind power is the way to go. It’s way, way cheaper than solar power. But, the wind doesn’t always blow, so we might need a few supplementary solar panels.
But the cool thing would be something like the Sunmachine. The idea is brilliant, but unfortunately not applicable for domestic use.
Ah well, this is a quest which is far from over. Seems like we’ll have to face one challenge after another.
Any suggestions a more then welcome.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wind power is a good source of electricity but it also takes up lots of space just like solar power plants.”~’
Indeed. In Belgium, for every meter going up, you need a meter on the ground free of anything, and you’d need to go up 6 meters at the very least.
And most likely, quite a large turbine is needed for any significant power. We’re hoping technology will pick up quickly and seriously.