The Real Know How

How-Tos, Videos, Tutorials — Ramping Up for the 21st Century

Archive for the category “heating”

10 Mar 2012

Straw Bale, Adobe and Post and Beam House in New Mexico

The following videos feature a small (800 sq ft) “hybrid” house built by designer Ted Owens in Corallis, New Mexico, near Albuquerque. His house uses post and beam construction (he got the lumber from salvage yards and home renos), straw bale and adobe with mud used as plaster. The house draws its electricity from photovoltaic solar panels.

The house also uses sunlight, heavy materials (adobe walls and concrete floors) and shifts in temperature (passive solar concepts) to keep the inside temperatures comfortable. Windows are also carefully placed to maximize comfort in the house.

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Posted in adobe, alternative materials, buildings, construction, energy, heating, house, new mexico, passive solar, straw bale, success story, the southwest and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
09 Mar 2012

Compost Heater How-To

Chris Towerton, in Australia, shows us an experimental compost heater he build to provide heat for at least two hours per day for up to 9 weeks. He’s using his system to heat one room in his house with a hot water radiator.

Happily, he talks in detail about what he did – so if you’re interested in doing something similar, this is a good starting point.

Helpful here too are Chris’ comments about how long the process took to ramp up, how long the effects lasted, etc.

Posted in australia, compost, compost heating, energy, heating, save money, waste and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
07 Mar 2012

How (Commercial) Biodiesel is Made

A step-by-step explanation of how the folks at Tristate Biodiesel take used cooking oil from around NYC and transform it into biodiesel heating oil that heats New Yorkers’ homes

Posted in biodiesel, energy, heating, new york, success story and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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