2001 Jon Haeme - Baubiologie

Recommendations

Info

Straw Bale ConstructionAN RE SystemTops It All OffHome Power #81 • February / March <strong>2001</strong>I used my solar-powered workshoptrailer (see HP47) to provide all thepower for construction. We tore downthe old farmhouse and salvaged asmuch of the old materials as waspractical. We set posts in the late fall of1994 and started construction in earlyspring of 1995. We moved into our newhouse in early spring of 1996 withmany details yet to be completed, butit was ours. We are still working on it.We have installed a 1 KW solar arrayconsisting of sixteen Solarex panels,eight MSX-60s and eight MSX-64s,mounted on the roof of the house, andan AIR 403 wind generator mounted inour son’s playground. These combineto charge twelve Concorde 4-Dbatteries wired for 1,260 amp-hours ofcapacity at 24 volts. The solar array iscontrolled by a Trace C-40 chargecontroller, and the inverter is a TraceSW4024, connected to the batteriesthrough a Trace DC-250 disconnect. AnE-Meter is used to monitor the system.The house also has grid poweravailable. We use it for backupcharging of the batteries and to runbaseboard electric heaters as neededin the winter.The passive solar design provides alarge portion of our heating needs, anda woodstove does most of the heatingduring cloudy periods. We have burnedone cord of mixed hardwood perwinter for the past four winters. Ourbills from the electric company runabout US$10 a month in the summer,US$8 of which is the service charge,and approximately US$50 a month inthe winter months, November throughMarch.We use propane for hot water, cooking,and a clothes dryer, which costsUS$175 for a year’s supply. We use anAquastar tankless water heater anddry our clothes outside when theweather is good. So our total annualenergy costs average approximatelyUS$650.37
Straw Bale ConstructionFor wiring in the straw, we used BXcable and metal boxes screwed towooden stakes. Main wire runs are inthe attic.Plastic and the first sheet ofinsulation laid over foundation gravel.A 7 inch (18 cm) thick slab waspoured over 2 inches (5 cm) ofextruded foam insulation for thethermal mass in the passive solarmain room.The finished home with the RE system.38 Home Power #81 • February / March <strong>2001</strong>
Page 3 and 4: Straw Bale ConstructionThe framed h
Page 5 and 6: Straw Bale ConstructionStacking bal
Page 7: Straw Bale ConstructionThe stucco g
Page 11 and 12: You have invested in an alternative
Page 13: SMA, the leading inverter company i

2001 Jon Haeme - Baubiologie

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?