permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

In the September 2009 issue of National Geographic, there is an excellent 
needs/yields analysis for beaver on pages 134-135, called "Making 
Connections."  This would be a great addition to the trusty old chicken 
analysis from the Designer's Manual.
 
Actually, the whole article, "Before New York," is a great introduction to 
reading the landscape and ecosystem design.  I recommend it to all 
permaculturists.
 
Rain



>From raincascadia@yahoo.com  Sat Aug 29 15:26:54 2009
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From: Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>
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        Bill Quirk <BillQuirkForHayward@Comcast.net>
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Subject: [permaculture] rural vs urban design
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The September/October 2009 edition of Sierra magazine has a very telling pair 
of images on page 21 that shows greenhouse gas emissions per acre versus 
emissions per household for the Phoenix, Arizona area.  The first image shows 
the highest density of emissions in the urban cores, as you'd expect.  
However, the second image shows the highest levels of emissions coming from 
the rural areas.  The fact is, with current consumption habits, rural 
dwellers use way more energy than urban dwellers, an idea that has been 
floating around a lot lately as folks start looking at their carbon 
footprints.
 
However, the kneejerk reaction is to start supporting "smart growth" 
planning, which emphasizes increased density, in addition to integrated 
residential/business zoning and good mass transit and bicycle lane systems.  
I would argue that if we are planning to avoid global warming and to 
anticipate energy descent, increased density has a limit.  In order to have 
enough space for rainwater catchment, greywater distribution, solar and wind 
energy harvesting, biomass energy production, food production, and composting 
within residential areas, I would guess that most buildings cannot be higher 
than 2 or 3 stories and that there needs to be enough open space around these 
buildings to grow around 50% of the population's food requirements.  This, 
incidentally, is what older neighborhoods and the much-maligned suburbs used 
to look like.  Higher density structures also have less access to ventilation 
and contain more thermal mass, resulting in more energy
 required for cooling.
 
Higher density zoning only outcompetes lower density zoning in energy 
efficiency when it comes to building materials, heating needs, consumption 
patterns, and transportation, with transportation being the main weak point 
of lower density designs.
 
It takes less material to create higher density buildings because of all the 
shared walls.  However, the materials must be of a higher quality, and often 
more massive, due to the taller designs.  This results in a trade-off in 
energy savings.  In smaller and shorter structures, on-site and more basic 
materials may be utilized to a greater extent, possibly resulting in less 
embedded energy overall.
 
As for heating requirements, higher density structures require less heating 
overall due to the insulating effects of shared walls, floors, and ceilings.  
However, it is harder to include passive solar design in structures that are 
deeper than one room north to south, and taller structures block solar access 
to the buildings next to them.  
 
Consumption patterns are probably more sensitive to culture than the other 
factors mentioned here, but there is a potential for less consumption of 
goods in denser areas than in rural areas.  The ability to share laundry 
facilities, food processing equipment, energy technology, farming and 
landscaping equipment, entertainment, etc., is greater where the population 
density is highest.  However, an individualist culture prevents this to a 
large extent.  Regardless, as prices go up, we should expect more sharing, 
and designs should encourage this.
 
Transportation is the Achilles' heal of low density zoning.  Since personal 
transportation accounts for over 40% of the energy currently used by the 
average person in the US (see www.coolcalifornia.org), it is easy to see how 
smart growth got its name.  However, this will have to change (and already 
is) as energy prices go up.  As an example of what personal behavior and 
technology improvements can do, my partner and I use 87% less energy for 
transportation than the average US household of two, and our transportation 
sector is only 22% of our total.  This is true even though we live about six 
miles out of town and our closest neighbors are half a mile away.  We are 
able to do this through personal restraint and the use of a Prius and 
electric bicycle.  However, I realize that few will be this committed to 
energy conservation in the near future and this is why I believe that no 
settlement designs will be successful without a serious consideration
 of transportation needs.  Siting work areas next to housing and providing 
abundant opportunities for walking, bicycling, and mass transit are essential 
for a low energy future.  Permaculture homesteads spread out over rural land 
are definitely not a sustainable design.  (Unfortunately, the price of land, 
current zoning and building rules, and idiotic cultural practices make it 
very difficult to live a permaculture lifestyle in most urban areas, today.)
 
All this is to say that sustainable settlement designs are likely to look 
more like a neighborhood or village than a big city or rural country.  City 
councils and planning departments that focus on increasing density, rather 
than on encouraging things like local rainwater and energy harvesting and 
conservation, biomass and food production, and composting are creating 
communities that will continue to be dependent on vast hinterlands and 
massive energy inputs.  There may be some economies of scale realized in 
centralized projects outside of the urban zones, but I believe that cities 
will need to be more self-reliant in the future, as has happened in Cuba.  
Beyond this, the quality of life is much better where there is open space 
integrated into the places where we live, and where our needs are being met 
within the local community.
 
 



>From sramspare@bigfoot.com  Sat Aug 29 16:44:07 2009
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Subject: [permaculture] Passive Solar Home,  Lorton, VA
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Sunday, September 6, Open House at State of Art Passive Solar Home, Lorton,
VA
Rare viewing now available for innovative local passive solar home, now for
sale. For address and times contact Selling Agent Mary Wharton of Long and
Foster Springfield. 703-795-0587. To read about passive solar features, incl
'trombe wall' and 'ice-roof' you can go to
http://www.lortonvalleystar.com/Content6/Features.html


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