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Cheap & efficient web hosting
Mark - Our friendly plumber for Solar panel and heatpump
installation as well as conventional plumbing work
www.rapidplumb.co.uk |
This
site exists to follow the progress of our applying
energy and water saving ideas to our house here in
Clacton-on-sea in Essex UK.
Our mission statement:
- We want to as self
sufficient as possible without being fanatical about it.
- We try to structure
our garden on Permaculture principles
- We aim to
recycle
our rainwater and grey water through a reed bed.
- We plan to use
solar
energy and waste wood wood to heat our water and home and
solar electricity to lower our use of mains power.
- We want to consume
less and recycle more
- We want to grow and eat our
own vegetables, fruit, eggs and honey
- We hope to create all of
this ourselves (DIY) where possible from recycled materials.
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Chris,
Rosie, Merri (11) and Robin (20 and away at Uni') moved to Clacton
in July 2007. We soon added Zero a Labrador puppy (born in
July 2007) to the family as well as eleven chickens (I won't list
their names!)
The plan is to put Rosie's and Chris's passion for recycling and
green living together with Chris's experience of self sufficiency
and alternative engineering to create a 'green' dwelling near the
sea with enough space to offer experiential 'Eco' holidays to
people with similar passions to ourselves. The result is lots of
work and a fair bit of chaos!
Things are starting
to take shape. If you want to visit us as a working or as a
paying guest get in touch. We have a three room unit to
rent or trade, we are members of
WWOOF and you
can visit us through that organisation as well. We can offer a friendly place to
stay close to the sea where the focus is on low consumption and a
return to some of the greener ways of living. We try to live
closer to growing things and with an awareness of the connection
between the way we live and the rest of the world, both human and
natural. We are having an open long weekend 11th to 14th
of September as part of the
Heritage Homes
open weekends when people can come and look round and see our
progress. |
This Winters work
- We have installed a
wood-fired central heating stove to make use of the plentiful
supply of waste wood available in the nearby industrial estate.
- We have installed a
solar panel kit (20 vacuum tubes 1700mm long) from
Solarsavings
on eBay (Around
£1000 for the complete kit, half the cost advertised by other suppliers!).
- I have found a
source of insulation off cuts in the industrial estate and the
skip company are saving me flat panel radiators so watch this
space for progress on a home made flat panel solar panel!
- We have just taken
delivery of 30 willow cuttings from
Willowbank
- 4 varieties for comparison - 3 sorts of super willow and one
for making baskets etc. These arrived as unrooted lengths
of willow shoots and have been planted at 1 meter spacing.
I will pass on a review of how they grow.
- We
have built a
rain water harvesting system
and a
grey water recycling system consisting of:
- A surge tank to collect the water from the bath, washing machine and
vegetable washing sink.
- The reed bed: a combination horizontal and vertical gravel filter
planted with reeds and rushes.
These systems feed:
- A leaky pipe watering system watering the polytunnel, dipping ponds
and fishpond.
- A series of vegetable deep beds made from scrounged turf & soil, horse
manure & scrounged roofing tiles for edging.
- Now completed a lean-to
greenhouse obtained from
Freecycle and using recycled concrete blocks from a demolition
next door to give us solar gain and
plant growing space, including a rock storage for excess heat
recycling.
Upcoming projects
- 1.6 Kw
solar PV (electricity
generating) system - under way
- DIY solar water panel system
- Rainwater flushing system for
the WC (see this article)
- Making our own bio fuel from
re-cycled chip oil (we have a supply of oil already).
- Continuing to insulate the
roof and floor with insulation off cuts from the industrial
estate.
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Contact: Chris Southall
email |
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