Game change, name change

Original blog header photo. This name no longer accurately describes our "odyssey" 

Interim blog header photo

As you can see from the partially completed new header there are some changes to talk about. All exuberant plans need to be reviewed and revised every so often. Ours are no exception.

If this turtle isn't careful, he will fall too!

When we first stumbled upon the trillium-covered terrain we now know as Turtle Falls our initial thoughts were to build a cottage in the truest sense of the word. More a cabin really...only seasonal use was the idea...a place to escape the crazy-making city and relax by the water's edge with a good book and a great margarita, all while soaking up a little bit of sunshine. Aaah...life at its simple best.

Then our simple little idea grew. Our first revision incorporated the idea of passive solar design. What a great concept, using the sun to heat your cabin for free. Then came the idea to go solar and get off the grid. And I must add somewhere in here that the cottage plan has now morphed into an all-season home. Lots of dreaming and studying ensued. The real benefit from all of that effort was becoming much more energy efficient humans as we practiced for the eventual living in an off grid home. We ridded our house of phantom power consumption, got our electricity bill down to a reasonable monthly dollar amount, and became aware of the incredible opportunity we all have with the renewable energy sources available to us.

Just when we thought we were getting close to finalizing our want list for our new "retirement home" by the lake Passive House hits us square in the face. Never heard of it before. More studying ensued. Result of all the studying...must build Passive House! With the efficiency that is inherent in a passive house it only seemed logical to build this kind of house for our off grid odyssey. Full speed ahead with plans, architect on board, passive house planners on board, contractor on board.

But something still doesn't seem right. I have many sleepless nights wondering how I will coax Ras into complying with the "minimize then energize" mindset necessary to live in an off grid house. She did say, after all the study and discussion of energy efficiency and solar and off grid stuff, "maybe we can have a wine fridge in the new house!" I chalk that up to her overwhelming exuberance and a momentary lapse into rose-coloured glasses land. My reply: "21 years we've survived without a wine fridge and you want to put one in the off grid house?" Off came her rose-coloured glasses. I still chuckle about that to this day.

This many solar panels the budget does not afford!

The thought of the football-field-sized solar array keeps dancing in my head! I keep wondering how to power my woodworking shop on those days...or weeks...when the sun doesn't shine. The fact that we will run over our initially targeted budget makes for the very possible reality that I will be building the kitchen and pantry cabinets. One needs a shop with power tools to do that in a timely fashion. Large woodworking tools need large amounts of electricity to run. Only with a football-field-sized solar array would this be possible. And for this, the budget certainly does not allow.

What to do? What to do? What about net metering?

Net metering seems to satisfy all our needs - power the house from the grid, produce enough electricity with our solar array to send back to the grid and therefore offset our electricity usage/bill while still having a battery back-up for those days when the grid goes down. We still have incentive to keep our consumption low to keep the size of the solar array as small as possible (hence no football field...) and we are still self sufficient in the event of a power outage. I've never been a fan of the micro-fit idea purely from the standpoint that if the power goes out you're still sitting in the dark, even with all those solar panels up on the roof. The monthly check is a nice idea but sitting in the dark...not so nice. Net metering is looking real good to us...even without the rose coloured glasses.

So this is where I am stuck at the moment. I started this blog when the plan was in its infancy and came up with the goofy name of Ohm Free: Our Off Grid Odyssey. The name reflected our goals at that time to be more energy efficient and self sufficient. Many revisions later finds us on a slightly different path and now the blog name needs a revision as well. We are still striving to be as energy efficient as possible, as well as self sufficient. We're just going to come at it from a different perspective...one that suits our lifestyle a little better. The ohms might still be free but only after we've received our credit from the hydro utility for the energy we produce. The "off grid" got revised right out of the plan. The odyssey? Oh...it still remains!

With this game change I now need a blog name change. I got as far as sketching out a little scene for the header but I'm stuck for a new name at the moment. I'm still working on it but no luck yet. I seriously need your help.  This is all I've got and, quite honestly, they're pitiful!
Passive House Casa Tortuga...blah
Turtle Falls Tales...nah
Ras & Mimi's Big Building Adventure...not
Net Metering Nerds...hmmm
Musings of an Energy Nerd...taken
Passive House For (By) Dummies...possible...

Got any suggestions? Sure could use the help! Please jot your thoughts down in the comment box. Hopefully, by the next post I will have a new name and a completed header...with your assistance.

Ciao for now!
Mimi

Can't see the sun for the forest

Removing the pine needle carpet from Priscilla's rooftop

This past weekend at Turtle Falls we experienced the trees with almost no leaves for the very first time. There's a totally different feel to the place when the trees are bare. While there, I took the opportunity to sweep said leaves and pine needles from Priscilla's roof. We were there primarily to look at how much sun shines on the proposed house location at this time of the year. The sun sits very low in the sky right now and there are so many trees on the lot. This is a blessing and a curse all at the same time. It's a blessing because of all the reasons we know trees to be important to the environment and, of course, the character of the lot that we fell in love with has much to do with all these tall, mature trees. It's a curse, obviously, because of the tremendous amount of shade these beautiful trees provide. Not a good scenario when looking to power a house with solar panels, but definitely beneficial for passive cooling of the house in the summer. Blessing, curse, blessing...you see my dilemma here. And Ras is already stressing over the fate of certain trees.

To be perfectly honest, our heads are spinning from the little bit of research we have done so far. The first steps have us delving into the fields of passive solar design and the basics behind powering a house with solar energy. At first glance, the Keep It Simple theory, to which I fully subscribe, gets lost amongst all the compulsory calculations and the long list of essential energy-producing equipment. I can only hope that further investigation into this renewable energy lifestyle will calm the "Holy smokes! This seems complicated" fears!

Passive solar design definitely has its two camps: those who think it's the be-all and end-all and that there will not be much need for any further heating or cooling if done properly, and those who think it's a crock. This little divide in the passive solar debate has me somewhat concerned.

South-facing windows...too cold, too hot, or just right? Which is it?

Orient the house in the right direction, add thermal mass, insulate, insulate, insulate and use the correct number of south-facing windows and roof overhang. Add some properly placed deciduous shade trees on the sunny side and some strategically placed wind blocks on the north side and you're good to go. Although grossly simplified, this is the proponents side of passive solar design.

The other side of it goes something like this: windows are a big hole in the wall and no amount of insulation will make up for all those holes in the wall, regardless of any windows' high-tech qualities. As well, a wall of windows on the south side in the summer will overheat the house, increasing the need for air conditioning. Simply stated, the opponents think the house will be too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer and the blame falls squarely on the glass.

We are looking to squeeze as much free energy from the sun as we possibly can. By reducing the need for active heating and cooling, we will be able to reduce the total amount of electricity we will have to produce. This, in turn, will allow us to build a smaller (read less expensive) solar energy system for our off-grid home. Minimize, then energize...what a great concept!

I am looking for real-life examples, rather than book theory, of your experiences with passive solar design. Have you encountered times of "too cold" and/or "too hot" or something more consistent? Maybe you know a good passive solar design professional, preferably in Ontario, that you can refer us to? Please click the "comments" link in the grey box below this post to leave your stories, ideas, advice, suggestions, links, or referrals. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Seeking assistance...from you and the sun,
Mimi

Giving phantom load the boot

Now that summer is over, our focus will turn from outdoor projects to the larger task of choosing the type of house we want to build and sizing a renewable energy system for it. Our goal is to build an off grid home with all the modern conveniences we have grown accustomed to over the years. The thought of this was a bit daunting at first having read that the typical off grid home runs on the same amount of electricity per day as the typical clothes dryer uses to dry one full load of towels. Having a look at our hydro bill, I thought it can't be done. If this little house we live in averages between 17 kWh/day in the summer to 39 kWh/day in the winter, there's no way we will ever reach our goal to have a self-sufficient renewable energy home.

A little research and a little knowledge can go a long way in taming fear. Doing more with less is the driving force behind living off-the-grid. Doing more with less does not mean doing without; it means being more efficient. A few months ago I started the exercise of determining the amount of energy each electricity-sucking item in our house consumes and where we could trim some excesses. I was nicely shocked to find out how easy it was to reduce 6,336 watts or 6.3 kWh per day without reducing the quality of our lives or adding extra workloads. Our last hydro bill, compared to the same billing period from last year, showed a reduction of 399 kWh, bringing our summertime daily average to just over 11.5 kWh/day.

The following chart lists what I changed and how many watts were saved each day. The yellow high-lighted items are strictly phantom loads that were reduced simply by switching things off or plugging into power bars that can be switched off. The next biggest reduction came from changing the type of light bulbs used in the rooms where we spend most of our time. I have the small added task of hanging one, maybe two, loads of laundry on a drying rack once a week...no biggie. The two question marks in the chart are there because my energy meter cannot be used to find the usage of the oven because of the oven's plug size.

Having seen the results of using energy more efficiently, and taking into consideration our house was built in 1938 with its lack of insulation in the walls and terribly inefficient duct work, I'm starting to believe that it will be possible to run a properly built, energy efficient house with the same amount of electricity our dryer uses for one load of laundry.

Some may look at a daily reduction of 6.3 kWh as a drop in the bucket and why such a big deal is made about saving approximately $200 per year. It's about taking a step in the right direction to reduce the amount we consume unnecessarily. If every household in North America were to take steps to eliminate just the phantom loads in their homes then there would be no more need to build new coal-fired or nuclear generating stations. These steps are easy and the benefit to homeowners is immediately measurable. The benefit to the environment will be massive.

Read this CBC article about the difference using electricity more efficiently can make.

"Studies show time and again that for every dollar spent on conservation there will be a $2 or $3 return," says Ben Chin, formerly vice-president of communications at the Ontario Power Authority. "Since 2006, we have spent $1.7 billion on conservation programs — and that has saved $3.8 billion in generation costs and has saved 1,700  megawatts."                                                                                               -CBC News, March 2011

Enthusiastically eliminating phantom loads everywhere,
Mimi