Angel's Nest - World's Nest: Tesla Sustainable Homes »
Posted by: CactusAnnie 6 months, 4 weeks ago"Our beautiful world is awash with clean energy - more energy than we could ever hope to use. It is all around us...Renewable technology is quickly becoming so efficient that the old, centralized ways of making power and fuel are doomed."
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
This is some of the quiet stuff that is actually happening. Remember Dennis Weaver? He was part of this group of scientist and inventors who are doing something practical, instead of sitting around pontificating and trying to figure out how to rope Americans into a "world tax". This is science in action, not pseudo-scientific philosophical exercises in sophistry. One of the founders spent decades creating the self containment of space capsules/labs, another was a designer of amusement parks. The team of contributors is ever expanding.
Here is a link to the Angel's Nest websiste: http://www.angels-nest.org/
Scroll down to the very bottom if you would like to see links to videos of some very talented members and contributors to the effort.
These people are doing something, not just sitting around talking about what "other people" ought to be doing...
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
While this group might not be designing the prettiest web sites, or have a slick PR firm, they are almost silently bringing a new energy era into reality. They have been working with third world countries designing habitats built from the natural resources available locally, and designed to withstand the natural enemies like hurricanes and tornados. There is not much profit to it, the energy is free, the water is in the humidity in the air, the resources are available and at hand. Their energy solutions that might send a lot of big power/fuel companies into the dilemma the blacksmiths faced at the turn of the last century.
And the fun? Here is a link to a Shelby Cobra hydrogen conversion car: http://www.hydrogencommerce.com/Movies/Cobra/co...
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Thanks Puppy! I agree, it's not an easy task, but they are doing it in real life, changing those ideas into action.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Thanks Puppy! I agree, it's not an easy task, but they are doing it in real life, changing those ideas into action and reality.
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ecotourusa6 months, 4 weeks ago
we're talking "comepletely off the grid"...gotta have its own water source for starters. (I can grow sprouts and herbs, btw.)
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Hi Mdiar, they have it down. An ice storm would wouldn't put out the water source also, like in southern MO last year.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Wouldn't it be cool if we did not have to put up with utility companies, or their bills. Energy we could count on, whether someone hit a pole a couple of miles away or not.
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Candida6 months, 4 weeks ago
Uncle Dave: "This reminds me of a book I bought about 30 years ago entitled "Shelter"."
It was probably about the Taos area. It's a strange and wonderful place with quite a few homes built more or less underground. I believe most of them were built in the 70s. The people of Taos seem to be very laid back too. A sign in a shop window said when I visited the city: "Closed. Gone skiing. Will be back when the snow melts."
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Good to see you reviewer! I think these folks are remarkable. Some of the video links at the bottom of the main website page are very impressive. There are a lot of very impressive developments going on.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Hi BB, you can convert your car, add a solar panel to a unit about the size of a dishwasher, and feed the hydrogen right into the car's storage unit. Water, just take out the oxygen..
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Isoparm6 months, 4 weeks ago
Great video. The colors are not disagreeable to me. They seem designed to sooth. While more modest, I have done some conservation steps such as switched to cfl's, added extra insulation to my house, walk whenever possible, among others. Coincidently, I had thought about moving to northern AZ., or New Mexico.
I watched the video, and though I might have missed it, I didn't see any reference to Tesla, N. Was this just a hook to get some of us to check this out? I feel so used!
(was worth checking out though)
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texangelwings6 months, 4 weeks ago
Excellent, great information! I have been checking into the earthship homes; http://www.earthship.net/ Interesting ideas and I am all for saving energy!
Thanks CactusAnnie!
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Thats a wonderful link Angel-girl! I really enjoyed this video that was in it: http://www.earthship.net/modules.php?name=Conte...
This is a remarkable home builder. Everything from pre-fab earthships, to custom designed mansions. And the best part is no utility bills, or dependence on outside power or water agencies.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
From Texasangelwings link:
Water: Earthships catch water from the sky (rain & snow melt) and uses it four times. Water is heated from the sun and/or natural gas. Earthships can have city water as backup.
Electricity: Earthships produce their own electricity with a prepackaged photovoltaic / wind power system. This energy is stored in batteries and supplied to your electrical outlets. Earthships can have multiple sources of power, all automated, including grid-intertie.
Sewage: Earthships contain use and reuse all household sewage in indoor and outdoor treatment cells resulting in food production and landscaping with no pollution of aquifers. Toilets flush with greywater that does not smell.
Comfort: Earthships maintain comfortable temperatures in any climate. The planet Earth is a thermally stabilizing mass that delivers temperature without wire or pipes. The sun is a nuclear power plant that also delivers without wires or pipes.
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jimdoze6 months, 4 weeks ago
This is but one of many very laudable, but very small incremental steps. Getting hydrogen from Paulownia leaves is a red herring, however. Even at today's energy prices, obtaining hydrogen (from natural gas... the best source) for fuel cells remains at least 2 to 3 times as expensive per BTU as oil or coal.
His comment about women not wanting to live like cavemen is key, but I would expand that to include both genders. To maintain a standard of living that is not caveman like, our economy will continue to require industrial sources of energy for at least another century, if not forever.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Great observation jimdoze.
I don't know if you noticed among all the article at the bottom of their home page. ( http://www.angels-nest.org/ ), But in one of the videos on the very bottom row is an address by David Freeman, Chairman California Power Authority and his take on the conversion expense in the "Hydrogen Revolution".
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greenmac6 months, 4 weeks ago
Thaanks Ca I just got around to looking at the article today. These people remind me of the "Harrowsmith' crowd of the 70's except they are using new technology to live in harmony with the land....smart move.
The buildings are unique and practical. A building that is being overlooked today, in my opinion, is the Geodesic Dome. This type of construction would be great in hurricane plagued areas. The Monolithic Dome takes this one step further still.
Besides the superior strength in comparison to a normal home....their design also allows for adapting solar panels with ease.
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Hi there skipper! I remember the Harrowsmith folks, if I am not mistaken they "parented" the 'Country Living' magazine that bacame popular in the states.
The Geodesic Dome principle is something mentioned in the video from the link TexasAngel posted above.
The video link: http://www.earthship.net/modules.php?name=Conte...
One of the multitude of projects they show is when they went down to Honduras a few years ago after the hurricane wiped everything out and helped them rebuild. They incorporated the dome shapes there, also. It is a great video, and thanks again to TexasAngelWings for that!
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Hi Cowboy, glad you liked the video!
One of the benefits of harnessing all this energy that surrounds us is that it is free once it is up and running.
Using readily available materials for creating the structures is a great bonus too. From trash, into treasure...
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
Tchef, it is pretty cool, I think. You posted this before I found that link in TexasAngel's comment. The video in her article is great!
OK, once more:
http://www.earthship.net/modules.php?name=Conte...
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CactusAnnie6 months, 4 weeks ago
That is one of the things they do, design things to take advantage of the natural resources available in whatever area of the world they are working in. (Like the solar powered toilets they installed in the Himalayas.)
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Candida6 months, 4 weeks ago
simonsez: "I particularly like the design of the wind generators."
I agree. They are beautiful. They would be quite attractive even if they generated no power.
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sotiris-k6 months, 4 weeks ago
It all comes back to the sun. At surface level an area vertical to the sun during most of the day receives about 1300 W/m^2 . Even if one could take only 10% of that and convert it to electricity you would have 130 W per square meter. If every new house built had in the roof proper equipment to retrieve that fraction of solar radiation you would have amazing amount of free energy daily. The typical house has an average (over the 24h) power consumption of anywhere between 500-1000 w. Lets say 500W per person for a very luxurious lifestyle (lights, computers, kitchen , heating etc) . All you need therefore is an area that follows the sun controlled by computers to the level of say 12 m^2 per person at the roof during the good hours of the day (say 3 times the average power to complensate for the rest of the day ). You effectively send excess energy to the electric network when you dont need it (instead of expensive not practical storing)or use it to produce H2 and borrow from it later.
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sotiris-k6 months, 4 weeks ago
A typical house has a huge roof area. Most of it not even visible unless from very high position (aesthetic considerations). Try something like 100-200m^2 . This is easily 10 times the above per person requirement of power. Now not all days will be the same. But if you send the extra energy to the network and then get back what you need from it later (night, rainy days etc) you can easily have if designed to the maximum specifications a positive energy flow over the year . You become an energy producer actually. Sure the cost to install is substantial today (although not crazy) but if we focus technology into improvements that will make the design very cheap over time we have the solution for a huge % of our energy needs. The H2 produced can also be used for cars etc . Bioengineered photosystem 2 type enhancement of bacteria may even lead to more H2 production than current solar cells). If we decide to focus on better priorities as a society than we have today we will get there.
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ekklesiawarrior6 months, 4 weeks ago
Would these folks want to document a building of such, in a forest with minus 30 degree temps most of winter and roof level snows?
Any follow up to this please e-mail , much appreciated.
Such has been upon our minds for many years. Build an 'earth home' virtually free as to the traditional banking mortgage system. PROVE young couples can at last have a low cost to maintain home.
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sotiris-k6 months, 4 weeks ago
Just a simple web search gave me links like that;
http://www.adobesolar.com/Success_Stories.Aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-plus_house
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_buildings
http://www.thegbi.org/home.asp
etc
Clearly building green is practical and people do it already at reasonable levels. Those examples show how doable all those things are if designed upfront.
If we emphasized scientific reasoning in designing homes elementary principles and observations could lead to stuctures that exploit their environment in intelligent non destructive ways. Clearly every place has its own properties and the design has to accomodate for maximizing local advantages to minimize energy usage and introduce production.
I am tempted to speculate that before we achieve controlled theromnuclear fusion or some ingenius cold fusion that works, bio-engineering advancements will first manage to exploit sun for energy production (H2).
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lestparker6 months, 4 weeks ago
Alot of very cool technology. I also like the idea of making the home at least as comfortable as most peoples homes today. That has been the problem with earth friendly homes in the past... no one wanted to live in one ;)
I dont know if I could live in this house for very long, but some of the stuff in it I could certainly find a use for.
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CactusAnnie
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