Suburban Conversion Project

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Comment by Eric Koch on November 11, 2008 at 10:13pm

for pics and details, on what we are getting at here,
google> pit greenhouse < (you'll see stuff from rough to refined)....the desighn process is somewhat intensive but basicly you start by figureing out wich end of your house is south and figure the angle of the glazeings for perpendicular to the suns rays at the winter solstice at your lattitude....(for example: i'm at about 44 degrees north latatude so a glace at a solor chart says the sun is 23.5 degrees above the horizon on the solstice so i subtract from 90 and get 66.5 degrees from horizontal....then i buge it down to 65 degees to get a wider "sweet spot".

Comment by Eric Koch on November 11, 2008 at 10:10pm

thanks for your show of support....that's allot. Buying an item at the grocery store represents a long chain of power hungry infrastructure, from the field, to the processing, to the packaging,to the transport... and onto the lighting climate control and refrigeration of the store itself (from there you know the rest)...

Anyway, there are allot of things to talk about on this topic before the ball starts rolling....the first issue of course being the establishment of a precedence (an example,if you will) that others can look too.

Comment by Eric Koch on November 4, 2008 at 5:57pm

Ok there's this new masonry product called Grancrete.....among other wonderful properties are..very little thermal expansion and contraction, it can be sprayed like a shotcrete, it adheres to itself even after fully cured,And it's waterproof !!!!....

so yeah, there's your basement liner/ reinforcement for an Aquaponics version of the suburban conversion.

Comment by Eric Koch on October 24, 2008 at 10:50am

Ooooh, now i get it........Thanks Daniel....Aquaponics (IPA: /ˈækwəˈpɒnɪks/) is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment. Alternate definition: An integrated hydroponics (growing plants in water) and aquaculture (growing fish) system.

Comment by Eric Koch on October 23, 2008 at 8:28am

WOW!...i'm so happy...i was worried no one would show up,Thanks to all.

Kimberly,
tell your hubby your doing more than just saving money...your also practicing resource conservation,and reducing your carbon foot print!!! congrats.

Daniel,

long time practitioner of Aquaponics here....i used my 20% fish tank water change to wet my plants for years....

thanks for the reminder though....i was considering catching rain water and storing it in tanks on the north wall for a solar water preheat/irrigation/thermal ballast.

but NOW..i'm thinking FISH!!! Yeah,i wonder if any one makes large diameter clear tubing, as a tube makes for a nicely engineered pressure containment vessel.....and a worm farm for composting and Fish Food...

Comment by Kimberly J Gray on October 22, 2008 at 11:57am

I do not have a full basement to use but I have converted one side of basement to grow food, start trees to plant for nuts and fruit. My husband thought I was nuts, until he saw the amount of money I have been saving by doing my little things.

Comment by Daniel Quale on October 22, 2008 at 10:59am

Are you familiar with aquaponics? Using fish wastewater to supply nutrients to the plants instead of fertilizer. I am all for more production of food at local levels. Food availability is something that we Americans take for granted, and it may be a mistake in the future to assume that food will always be easily available. With necessities like water, electricity, and now money, taking things for granted is usually met by a wake up call someday. I believe that housing codes and zoning laws will need to be changed to accommodate your concept. But that is only a minor hurdle. I believe that aquaponic greenhouses should be established in every community to provide jobs, fresh food and local income to offset large agribusiness control of our food supply and to limit imports and increase the safety of our food.

Comment by Eric Koch on October 22, 2008 at 10:01am

So...does anyone know of any suitable donor houses?....ya know, crappy house/full basement.

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