Suburban Permaculture
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Solar works. After ten years living here with passive solar heating in three different locations, solar water heater, cold frames, more recently green house, the conclusion is that solar works. One can only imagine the how our lives, economy, culture and global relations would be different is we had made intelligent use of solar energy for the past fifty years.

My place has excellent solar access. I had two trees removed at the beginning that both shaded the back yard. One made space for five fruit trees and the chicken coop, the other made room for the bungalow.

Early on, the car port was remodeled into a living space with the wooden south wall replaced with an eight foot slider. There was a sunroom when I moved in, a closed in patio but it needed rebuilding. During that rebuilding, 8 sliding glass doors were put in the ceiling. The sunroom receives no supplemental heating. Its record low temperature, about 40 degrees. Its cool most of the time in January but sunny winter days can become warm enough to use a fan for helping warm the rest of the house. The sun room solar assist for the rest of the house is significant by late February and well into November.

The bungalow was designed with ceiling windows like the sunroom along with two large south facing windows. The solar part of the bungalow remains unheated in the winter time, separated by insulated curtains, which are taken down in May, creating one open space.

Early on, a solar water heater was installed, thanks to a very attractive solar program offered by the local utility. The solar water heating system can take care of virtually all hot water needs from early May to early November while its an important pre heat the rest of the year.

In the garden, cold frames have been used with great results. In the Spring of 2011, a 20 foot by 17 foot plastic covered green house was installed. This will become a great tool for extending the growing season.

Food grown on site is often solar dried. Tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, pears, peaches and more.

Experiences gained from this suburban renewal project have lead to an enormous appreciation for our good friend the sun.

Please contact me with questions and comments.