Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil June 23, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Green Building, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown, survivalism , 1 comment so farBook Review
Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil
by Zachary Nowak
Green Door Publishing 2008
Peak Oil is upon us, and collective action on a large scale seems unlikely. Technical solutions are chimerical. Each of us must decide what the future may hold and begin working on a plan to face that future.
When Zachary Nowak began drafting this essential resource list oil was pushing $70 a barrel. Now nearly double that, peak oil seems ever more of a reality and its consequences are being felt even in the oil-guzzling west with an growing sense of urgency: the party really is over and all the chickens are coming home to roost (to mix metaphors): food riots, truckers strikes, inflation, rising unemployment, bankruptcies and the looming shadow of global recession.
It increasingly looks as if the time to prepare may have been yesterday, but as the title suggests, a crash course of emergency and more long-term preparation is still possible and Nowak provides an entertaining primer in the basics. (more…)
Pizza Oven! December 31, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Food, Green Building , 1 comment so farI am proud to present the brand new Earth Oven recently completed at Derryduff.
Just last night Sherry and Andy joined me for the first trial run pizza making session, which was a great success and resulted in much happy chomping. We also enjoyed sitting around the ultra-hot oven for some hours afterwards and watching the remarkable patterns of the flames inside curling around the oven while discussing the finer points of Quantum Theory. (more…)
Help needed on Cord-wood House September 21, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Green Building , add a commentUpdate October 7th 2007: Jackie and Emma are now close to completing the walls on the house and have enough help at the moment, so thanks to all those who responded, but they may still need a hand in November.
Jackie and Emma, friends of mine in North Mayo, are urgently looking for volunteers to help with the completion of the cob/cordwood walls in their new house.
They have been doing most of the work themselves over the last four months but now with the weather turning and the days for drying getting shorter they would appreciate some extra hands for the last few weeks. Once the walls are completed they can be protected for the winter. If anyone is able to go up there and work for your keep please phone Jackie and Emma on 096 45353
The construction technique is the same as for my own roundhouse Anyone can learn it and its great fun!
DIY Solar Panel September 6, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Green Building, Renewable Energy , 2commentsI have recently installed a DIY solar panel on the Permacabin (Timber framed cabin with all perma-cons):
This has been constructed using clip-fins from CAT and following instructions in their booklet Solar Water Heating- A DIY Guide by Paul Trimby. (more…)
Timber-framed Cabin April 29, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Green Building , 2commentsLast summer I started the construction of a small timber-framed cabin here at Derryduff. Aided and abetted by specialist Sustainable Builder Dave Simmonds, we put the frame up and had the tin roof on in about three weeks work. A couple of months ago we started again, Dave doing most of the building with me passing him screws and cups of tea when I’ve been around. The past couple of weeks we have been joined by Vasco who is visiting from Italy and has also been doing great work.
The project has been progressing well. The internal dimensions are 5meters long by 3.6m wide for the main living space which will be fully insulated; and another 4.5m by 3.6m for the adjoining workshop area which will not be insulated to such a high degree. This makes a total indoor area of about 33.2 square meters downstairs; and the same again upstairs in a “half loft” (1m65cms high at the ridge); so a total of 66square meters for an expected total cost of 25,000 euros. I feel this is good value for what is essentially a very high quality and low-impact “mini-house”. The final coat will depend on when I actually stop adding bit- eg i plan to build a “lean-to” extension the entire length of the back of the building, which will also house compost toilet and showers. It also doesn’t include my own labour.
Design features include: raised footings on concrete blocks with threaded bar bolting the fame to the blocks; 
split angled roof to provide 1m overhang for extra protection to the building; a steeper pitch to the front of the roof which is more suitable for solar panels; sufficient windows and a skylight for passive solar gain; and plenty of insulation: Warmcell (loose recycled paper product) insulation in the floor; 5inches of polystyrene in the roof; and loose, washed wool in the walls:
I bought a bale of washed wool (industrially washed in the UK- Im not actually sure where the wool itself came from) -230kgs for 230 euros (plus 72 euros delivery); I expect that to do the whole of the downstairs walls in the main cabin, and the thinner (3 inch) walls in the worklshop area, with some left over. This makes it one of the cheapest and most cost-effective materials used in the whole cabin, far cheaper that wool-insulation products, and easy to install if you first zig-zag string or cord of some kind across the studs using staples to hold it in and then fill in behind. The wool is a really nice material to work with (in constrats to the quite unpleasant polystyrene and foam!) and addsa really nice soft and , well, feminine feel to the inside of the building.
The walls will be covered in SasmoX sheeting, which will also add racking strength.
The exterior will be clad in larch boards cut from the Manch estate near Dunmanway.
