Strawbale House

I changed a desk lamp I already had to use LEDs instead of the CFL tube. I mainly did that because I wanted to do something “crafty” and because I like LEDs and how their light comes with almost no heat.

Of course the LEDs also use less power than the original CFL did. The CFL was using 9W while LEDs now are only using 2.4W and still giving comparable light output.

Anyone interested on what I used and how I did it, have a look at my Instructable where I detailed all the steps. To read the step by step account go to: http://www.instructables.com/id/Retro_Fit_a_Desk_Lamp_with_LEDs/

Just a quick message to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I reckon 2009 will be a most interesting year for all.

On the house front: Our house plans have gone to a certifier and we hope that early in the new year we will get approval to start building our new home.

The Australian federal government announced today that it would scrap the unpopular means-test for the rebate for installation on solar panels. This means-test restricted the rebate to households earning less than $100,000.

The means-tested rebate was worth up to $8,000 where as the maximum rebate under the new system will be about $7,500. This small decrease in the available rebate comes with a bit of a sweetener as the new rebate will now also be available to businesses and community groups.

The maximum rebate, for an average-sized 1.5 kilowatt system, will be about $7,500 and a smaller-sized 1.0 kilowatt system will attract a rebate of about $5,000.

Disappointingly, the value of the rebate will fluctuate and it will decline from 2012.

The current system will stay in place until July, when the new system will take over.

Source: The Canberra Times

Rosalba and I attended a one day event organised by the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre (S.E.A.C.) about Transition Town initiatives in South East Queensland. The Transition Town movement aims to provide solutions for dealing with peak-oil and climate change. Even if you don’t believe in peak-oil or climate change, the Transition Town movement still paints a path to sustainable and re-generative living.

The venue was the Eumundi Bamboo Forest, a most tranquil and inspiring setting as can be seen by the pictures.

The day especially highlighted what we as individuals can contribute towards building a supportive and resilient community without needing to wait for governments on any level.

We went into this day with a vague feeling what the Transition Town movement is about. By the end of the day we had a good understanding and felt empowered to take action to bring awareness to our local community of the need for change.

Bob Cameron of ROCKCOTE gave a very insightful talk about how his business reflects the permaculture principles. “There is no waste in Nature”, says Bob. So if we are to have true sustainability we must imitate nature. ROCKCOTE has taken this model and built a factory and showroom on the Gold Coast which is able to manufacture paints and renders while being energy positive and using only rain water harvested of the roofs of the company buildings.

What was also very inspiring was the ability to network and meet with like minded people who truely care about our only planet and have commitied their time and efforts towards creating resilient communities.

Kin on the Aussie Bloggers Forum was so kind to organise a Secret Santa for forum participants.

Yesterday my secret Santa present arrived and it is an absolute hoot. The bits I received were pretty cool (see image on the right), but the message, which I share with you below, made me laugh and chuckle all the way to the end.

“Buying for a man, who is in on “office” swap, is HARD! So I asked my husband “What do all men want in their office?” He told me …

1. Something topless. (check √)
2. Something to keep track of all those numbers offered to him at the christmas party. (little black book - check √)
3. Something to keep his tip protected. (whatever that means???!) (liquid paper - check √)
4. The opportunity for something ’sticky’ (notes - check √)
5. Something to label home made movies with, so they are not distributed around the office. (DVD marker - check √)
6. A supply of plastics, scented + glow in the dark. ( check √ - I hope small is ok?
7. Office Bullsh!t … (will reindeer sh!t do?) - √ check

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are not easily offended, if so … I apologogise now :(, if not, enjoy

Not so secret Santa
(I am a string red vegetable - can you guess?)”

Well, now I have to work out what a “string red vegetable is”. Can you guys help me please and leave me a comment with your guess who my secret santa is.

Just a very quick update. I managed to get a lot of recycled hardwood floor joists and some recycled hardwood tongue and groove hardwood flooring.

We are currently planning to use the hardwood flooring in the master bedroom, Study, Sewing Room, and Media Room.

The hardwood floor joists will be used for the deck.

We’ve also had the first feedback from the engineer which has prompted us to make some further small changes to the position of some doors. I’ll show you all the new floor plan once it has been updated.

Last weekend Rosalba and I attended a Strawbale Building Workshop in Yandina. This workshop was part sponsored by our Architect WD Architects. Other supporters included Rockcote, Wildlife Warriors, and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

Our tutors where Lance Kairl, and Chris and Colin Newton.

Lance is South Australia’s most experienced straw bale builder with 11 years of experience building strawbale homes.

Chris’ experience is in all sorts of earthen clay and lime renders to finish of a strawbale home. Chris’ husband Colin is a structural engineer.

The workshop was held over a long weekend from Saturday to Monday and was packed full with information and great hands on experience.

During the workshop we built a load bearing strawbale wall of a tea house for the Yandina Community Permaculture Gardens.

We had quite a bit of fun stacking the bales on the first day and found out pretty quick that it is a bit harder than stacking Lego blocks as you can see in the picture in the right. We ended up disassembling and re-building this corner 2 times until we were happy with the result.

The main lesson to be learned on this corner was that you should not try and cut corners by trying to kick and shove bales into a tight spot if the bale is to big. You should actually make the bale smaller by the appropriate amount.

On the second day we made cob out of “waste” straw and clay. We used this cob to patch any gaps or holes in the strawbale walls before we applied any of the render.

When making cob it is important not to make the mixture to wet and heavy as otherwise the cob just falls of the wall instead of sticking to the wall. Also, for larger patches, cob should be applied in thinner layers and let dry a bit before applying further layers.

On the third and last day we applied the first coat of render onto the strawbale wall. The render on a strawbale wall is normally applied in three coats with a finished thickness of between 35mm to 50mm.

Unfortunately three days was not long enough to finish the wall and apply the second and third coat of render as each coat needs to dry and cure for a few days before applying the next coat.

The result of our three day workshop can be seen in the picture on the right.

Both Rosalba and I have had a really good time during this workshop. The tutors were very knowledgeable and open and all participants in the workshop were a pleasure to work with. Rosalba and I have made some great connections during the workshop and we are both keen and eager to get some more experience.

For people in the south-east corner of QLD, Chris and Colin Newton intend to have a workshop at the beginning of January 2009 to finish their own home built with straw bales. So if you are interested in the process of building a strawbale home contact Chris to confirm dates and availability.

A side benefit for us of attending this workshop is that we have met many people that are interested in building homes as a community and many are willing to help each other out building each others strawbale structures.

Rosalba and I have been rather lucky as we have found about 87 m² of used slate tiles.

Last weekend I went to pick them up with our 1 tonne ute and a trailer.

I have to say that I seriously underestimated the weight of the slate tiles and I had to take it slowly up the Blackall range (at times I only managed second gear).

I even managed to ‘break’ the trailer just before unloading by driving over a sharp stone in the driveway and flattening one tyre.

The 87 m² of slate didn’t even all fit in the ute and trailer. I reckon I managed about 70-75% of the slate in the first trip. I’ll be picking up the rest of the slate tiles this Friday and luckily will be able to fit them in the ute only and won’t need the trailer.

We’ll use the slate tiles on the floor in the kitchen, dining, lounge, and the bathrooms.

Has anyone used slate tiles in the bathroom before and is there anything that you need to be mindful of?

During the weekend before last, Rosalba and I attended a course put on by the Rainbow Power Company titled “Living with Solar”

The course covered pretty much anything to do with solar power generation, from solar panels and cable sizing to battery care.

The course was presented in an easy going two days and aimed at giving anyone a good understanding on solar power generation and it’s impacts on your life style.

One of the most interesting things I picked up from the course is that you can still use a bread maker but you just need to be careful when you use it. As a bread maker uses quite a lot of electricity you should only use it when you have excess energy being generated by your solar panels and your battery bank is already full.

Personally I believe that this course is very worth while for anyone interested in generating electricity from the sun, be that a grid connect system or an autonomous remote area power system (RAPS).

Wanting to go fully solar not only for our hot water needs but also for our electricity needs we have purchased the book “Solar Success” by Collyn Rivers recently. The subtitle of the book “Getting It Right Every Time - The Complete Guide To Home & Property Systems” really got us interested.

I have just recently finished reading this book and have to say that it was a quite easy to read considering the topic and the book covers many aspects.

I really like how the book looks at the whole solar power system from a more holistic point than just from a technical point of view.

In the first part of the book Collyn discusses all sorts of energy consuming appliances that we have in our households nowadays with a view of highlighting where it makes sense to improve the efficiency of the appliance before installing the solar power system.

The second part covers the basics of any solar power system while also listing other alternative power sources and their feasibility.

Part three covers the design and scaling of a power system, highlighting the need for an energy audit to be able to work out how big your system needs to be.

Part four covers the basics of installing a solar power system. Interesting in this part I found the section about what you are allowed to do yourself and what you need to get a licensed electrician to do.

Part five covers the actual installation of a power system with lots of tips on how to make your system more effective and secure.

Part six describes some typical examples based on actual installations. This part of the book gives you a rough feel of the likely costs to set-up a solar power system. As this book has only been released in June this year the pricing is still quite applicable.

Part seven in the book talks about financing a solar power system and the various rebate schemes available in Australia.

In the last part Collyn then describes the solar power system he has got on his property. Collyn also describes living with solar power and that the biggest challenge for Collyn is dealing with visitors that are not used to conserving energy and that one visitor can basically double their daily power consumption easily.

All in all I heartily recommend this book to anyone that is interested in getting their own solar power installation. The book is not just easy to read but I can see it also becoming a little bit of a reference book for myself. It contains some simple formulas to work out electrical properties of various parts of a solar power system.