STAND ALONE: STRIVING FOR ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
(Page 2 of 3)
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Unfortunately, although the sun supplies our electricity,
we haven't yet figured out how to completely
eliminate our need for nonrenewable sources of energy. Much
of our cooking is done on the propane stove in the trailer
(though we do rely on an outdoor barbecue to a great extent
in the summer). Our bottled fuel also provides our space
heating in the wintertime and runs the tankless water
heater that backs up the solar unit from November through
March. Even with those demands, however, we stretch about
six weeks from a single six-gallon bottle of propane during
the cold months.
By early spring, we can extinguish the pilot light of that
on-demand water warmer and rely solely on the sun until the
following autumn. And in the summer (when we have no
space-heating needs), we can go a full four months between
refuelings. To keep us posted-year round-on the amount of
hot water available in our breadbox collector, we have a
Solar Thermo gauge located in the kitchen. When the device
shows ten lights, I know that we have lots of hot water ..
. when four are lit up, there's enough for a shower . . .
and two lights indicate that I'll have to content myself
with just washing my face.
LIFE UNDER THE SUN
After living for a year in our 24-foot trailer, we're more
than eager to move into roomier quarters . . . but
we're also glad to report that 160 square feet has sufficed
for even our intensive demands. Our computer and its
accessories have pretty much driven us from the dining
area, but in the spring, summer, and fall we can dine on
the deck that Bill added last year, enjoying the
spectacular scenery from our perch above the San Fernando
Valley.
The wooden lattice overhanging the deck provides needed
shading for the trailer in the summer. On hot days, we
further cool our home by running the electric fan. Then,
when the mercury really zooms upward (as it did last
August, with temperatures reaching above 105 °F), we
turn on our swamp cooler . . . which draws only 5 amps at
12 volts.
We're also blessed with good soil, a rarity in this region
of hills and giant rocks. With the double digging
techniques MOTHER introduced us to-and a lot of grumbling
and groaning as we dislodged (and then heaved over the
hill) huge boulders and hunks of broken
pavement-we've created an abundant, pest-free garden.
Grateful honeybees, butterflies, and toads (as well as a
lizard with her offspring) have settled in, thereby
increasing our compatibility with the land. (And, of
course, raising vegetables as we do is another way
of tapping the sun's energy. After all, plants are
excellent solar collectors!)
Bill and I are very pleased with our life here . . . one
that's rich with nature's power and beauty, complemented by
human ingenuity. From our stay in the trailer, we've
learned a lot about trying to achieve energy independence,
and we hope our completed passively heated and cooled solar
home will bring us even closer to that goal. But we're not
sitting on our photovoltaic duffs just yet. Bill is
currently testing an 11-cubic-foot Sanyo refrigerator and
some new Gould sealed-battery units . . . planning a system
that will provide all electric cooking . . . and even
scheming on how to rig up a solar-powered dish antenna
.
