RAIN Appropriate Technology· Recycling· Video· Community· Energy· Wind •Solar, Land Use• Energy Conserving Lifestyles DECEMBER, 1975 VOLUME II, NO. 3 INSIDE: P.4 P. 9 P. 11 Wood Heat Stove Buyers Guide Thinking About Land E. F. Schumacher Solar Water Heater Plans 75 CENTS
Page 2 RAIN Dec 1975 RAIN is supported by your subscriptions and a grant from the N.W. Area Foundation, administered through the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. For subscription prices, see subscription blank on next-to-last page. This blank can also be used to send us change of address messages. RA/N's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Phone 503227-5110. RAIN I Full Circle Staff Tom Bender Lane de Moll Lee Johnson Steve Johnson Nancy Lee Anne McLaughlin Mary Wells Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Li tho Cover Photo: Oregon Historical Society The deadline for material is approximately the 28th of each month. We are selling RAIN through retail outlets. If you have some suggestions, please send them along. Maybe you could distribute in your area? Corrections to last month's RAIN: Joyce Schowalter's address in the letters section should have been P.O. Box 172, Ellensberg, WA 98926. The Family Energy Watch Calendar is available for 75</-, not $2.95, from the Dept. of Energy, 528 Cottage St., N.W., Salem, OR 97310. Corrections to "Northwest Energy Map," p. 17: 1) 0. J. Lougheed is also part of TILTH, Olympia, Washington, working mainly with Mark Musick on the research, writing and editing of the TILTH Newsletter. 2) Bill Kingrey, Carol Costello, Larry Diamond of the Washington State Ener- ,gy Office in Olympia got separated from their address. Oddly enough, even fortuitously, they were placed under Keith Sherman, their new director and one of our hardest workers at the Soap Lake Solar Workshop (see "Connect Pipe Assembly" photo, pg. 12). 3) Bob Benson, a local cartographer, •did the excellent map, which we will also use to display other networks. RAIN DROPS WHY THERE IS FREE RAIN SOMETIMES If you have no idea why this copy of RAIN came to you in the mail, what probably happened is that a friend sent us your name and asked that we send you a couple of copies. Since any friend of theirs is a friend of ours, here's your sample RAIN. (Hint: There's a subscription blank inside the back cover.) If, on the other hand, you expected RAIN to come to you free for the asking, you would have been right last year. We then had support money from HEW as RAIN was a part of Portland State University's Environmental Education Center. The EEC exists no more, but RAIN does and is struggling to continue. Part of our struggle is charging for subscriptions, while last year RAIN was sent free to anyone who requested it. So, if you wrote asking to be put on our free mailing list, we're sending you this copy as a sample and asking that you subscribe if you'd like to stay on the list. WHAT ABOUT BACK ISSUES? For you who are wondering what past issues exist and how to get them, RAIN's first volume consisted of Issues 1-9, plus a four-page flyer. We are out of issues 1-6, except for a couple of precious copies. We use these copies as masters ~· Natural Sounds Primitive 69% Cultures Medieval, Renaissance and 34% Pre-Industrial Cultures Post-Industrial 9% Cultures Today 6% when someone wants an excerpt badly enough to pay 25¢/page for us to copy and mail it. Issues 7, 8 and 9 are available at 75¢ apiece. The yellow flyer is just about gone. (It was a reminder to subscribe and noted our change of address to Irving Street from PSU. It didn't really include any of RA/N's usual meaty stuff.) Last year's RAINs between February and June were wrapped around some essay-suggestionhow-to sheets called Roughdrafts. These were 4-6 pages, each on a particular topic. Here are what they were about and what they would cost you (again at 25¢/page) if you'd like some. No. 1, Brainstorming ($1) No. 2, Funding ($1.25) No. 3, Centers ($1.25) No. 4, Networking ($1) No. 5, Creative Instability ($1.50) We're now into Volume II, consisting of Issue No. 1 for September/October, Issue No. 2 for November, and the one you 're reading. They're all available WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MOVE Let us know ahead of time, or else you lose a copy of RAIN and RAIN loses 10¢, and maybe a copy of RAIN too. Last month's issue explains why, if you'd like to know. The Post Office eats them is the short version of the explanation. Human Sounds The Sounds of Tools and Technology 26% 5% 52% 14% 25% 66% 26% 68% 4. The table shows the increase in technological sounds and the decrease in natural sounds throughout human history. It is based on the study of many accounts in art, literature and anthropology of the kinds of sounds heard during d°ifferent historical periods.
' ·· €GRICULTURE·.FOO~ !IJ, '.i,:f !:!. ( I · ., Dec 1975 RAIN Page 3 Should Trees Have Standing: Towards Legal Rights for Natural Objects, by Christopher Stone, Avon Paperback, ,1973, $1.50. Survival Journal 5 3 West Angelo Salt Lake City, UT 84115 $6/yr. The] ournal is a pretty sensible balance of pessimism and preparedness. Articles and sourc;:e listings on food storage, food preparation, outdoor survival skills, organic gardening. Some coverage, with a mild tone of "Plain Truth," of why there's good reason to be prepared (coming Dark Ages, fall of Rome parallels, etc.). But lots of good, useful information for urban or rural homesteaders interested in getting out of the1 • , everyday-to-the-store routine. They.are also connected with distributors of survival hardware:.The Great Northern Distributing Co., 325 W. Pierpont Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84iOl. Ask for pro- , ducts list. Abundant Life Seed Foundation 3826 Eastern Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103 , Forest Glen Roth has been traveling around since the 1974 Alternative Agriculture conference giving g.ood workshops on seed growing, based on his ex-- perience with starting the Abundant Life Seed Company-and now he and Karl Gaskill are trying to raise money to buy some }and of a departed friend in order to expand their seed propagation research. They are asking for donations through memberships in the foundation. For details write to them. And, while you're at it, -send a dollar for the mushroom-shaped seed catalog. . International Food Storage Association 5806 114th Ave. N.E. Kirkland WA 980 33 We mentioned their initial package, which is now expanded and has some .other.general shortages/survival information. Free if you send self-addressed, stamped envelope, 4x9. Or join the , association for $2/year. The Cultivator Federation of Cooperatives, Inc. Box 107 15 Central Street Hallowell, ME 04347 Another ~egional co-op magazine, this one for Maine. Articles on individual co-ops, the New England Co-Op Loan Fund, recipes, cartoons and a diagram for building an inexpensive storage cellar. The group now sends a truck once a week to Boston to bring back produce for most of the co-ops in Southeastern Maine. Looks good.'(Couldn't· fiQd any p_rice on it.) );W-=+RiiU/ .; -.. Arbor Lib has reminded·us of our un= pardonable omissiol). of this classic from last month's Free Tree Energy Section. A brilliant case for granting legal rights to natural objects, which has already •had impact on our legal system. Resource limits require protecting our resources, and Stone I develops persuasive legal reasoning for allowing groups or individuals to act as guardians for trees 1 • and other living things. CALENDAR Jan. 21-24 Jan. 24-25 Feb. _2-6 Mar. 1-5 Apr. 19-23 Consumer Assembly. Consumer Federation of America, 1012 14th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20005. $50 registration. At Statler Hilton, Washington, DC. . Ways of Healing, Ancient, Modem. San Francisco. Weekend symposium. Details: Mae Ling Yee, Rm. C-135-G, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143. NTIS ~olar Seminar. Houston, Texas. Seminar. $350, Workshop $125, both $475. Write New York Management Center, P.O. Box 2049, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10017 or call 212-953-7266. NTIS Solar Seminar. New York. (See above for address and phone.) 2nd S~utheastern Conference·on Application of Solar Energy. Tutorial sessions, contributed and invited papers at Hilton . Inn, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Write Dr. Ozer A. Amas, Prof. of Mech. Engineering, General Chairman, 2nd S.C.O.A.S.E., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. Payne Hollow, by Harlan Hubbard, The Eakins Press, 1974, $5.95; and Sbantyboat, same author, Dodd, 1953. ln the late '40s, Harlan and Anna Hubbard lived on a shantyboat floating-down the Ohib and Mississippi Rivers in the winter and tied up for the summer months in coves and bayous along the way. At the end of their journey they went back to one of the coves called Payne Hollow and built themselves a house along the river bank. And they live there today-"on the fringe of society"-raising almost all their own food, playing vi:olin and cello duets and · pairiting. They/are as close to being self-sufficient as one can be. Really delightful b'ooks. The first (which I fear is out of print-I found it in the Salem library) is full of the joys and adventures of wandering, the second is peaceful and settled. Both are warmly illustrated with nice pen· and ink sketches. I'm giving them to my sister, who lives on a houseboat on the Mississippi, for Christmas.
Page 4 ~NEW WOOD HEATING STOVES A Guide to Selecting Your New Heat Source At the same time that more people are starting to use wood as a fuel, older wood heating equipment has become difficult to get. In fact, central heating furnaces are virtually non-existent. New wood stoves are being manufactured at an ever-increasing pace to keep up with the "new" demand. Many of the new stoves incorporate versions of the many efficiency oriented patents granted from 1800 to 1870 by the U.S. Patent Office. Some of these are: pre-heated air inlets, automatic drafts, and baffle arrangements inside the wood burner to increase heat transfer. Most manufacturers tout their own stoves as having the finest design, producing the greatest combustion efficiency. In truth, there are a great many new wood stoves whose efficiency is good. There are also a great many inefficient, over-priced monstrosities being produced by inept, unknowledgeable or'greedy people. It is sad that, with the huge public demand, many of these poorly designed energy-shortage expediencies have been distributed so widely. Even some of the older manufacturers ,have decreased their quality by using cheaper door gaskets, aluminum door handles, lighter grates, painted finishes (instead of porcelain), lighter weight jackets and more spot-welding. Safety should also be considered as a major factor in picking a stove. Small children are most easily injured by contact· with sheet steel stoves. When an arm or hand is removed from the hot stove, some skin may be left in place. Skin is less likely to stick to cast iron. The safest stove is obviously one with a jacket extending around the firebox: A stove with an exterior Jacket can also be placed closer to combustible materials, such as walls, furniture and inside woodboxes. Franklin-style "Olympic," Washington Stove Works In addition to efficiency and safety, there are other important considerations in the choice .of your new stove. If you have an abundance of fuel, perhaps the best stove for you would be a pseudo-"Franklin" style heater. This stove is one of the least efficient styles available. Two manufacturers still produce good quality Franklin-s: Portland Stove Works, Portland, Maine, and Washington Stove Works, Everett, Washington. All other manufacturers produce units of lesser quality. _Tlie poorest quality Franklins are distributed by Hearthcraft Industries, Sears-Roebuck and Montgomery Wa.rd. If nostalgia is an important factor, but efficiency is an • existing need, perhaps you might consider the cast iron parlor stoves being produced by Portland Stovt; Works or Washington Stove Works. These are both basically good units, having pleasing nickel ornamentation. Recently, Washington Stove Works has allowed Hearthcraft Industries to assemble some of them.·This disaster likely will not be repeafed,' but I suggest checking closely to make sure you don't get one 0£ these shoddy units. Box Heater "King," Martin Industries Another basic stove style is .the box heater. As in the Franklin and parl,or stoves, these stoves should be made of cast iron. Cast iron does n_ot warp or change shape under heat as does sheet or plate. Washington Stove Works and Portland Stove ' Works again make the best; Martin Industries units are passable; Montgomery Ward, Sears, Hearthcraft Industries and some other imports are useful as scrap iron. Another highly available heater is the lightweight sheet metal airtight heater. These oval, flat-topped stoves boast low cost and quick radiative heating. They tend to last only a season or two, but may be preferable to a four-hundreddollar oil bill. The King and Ashley radiant heaters are more sophisticated airtight heaters with an iron top, bottom, door and door frame. They use an automatic draft control to maintain a slowburning, efficient fire. Medium price is a big factor for most people choosing these stoves. The most popular modern heating stove seems to be the "circulator," incorporating an automatic draft control. A circulator is any stove with an external shell or jacket enclosing the firebox in such a way as to produce a convection air current for increased transfer of heat into the room. The famous Ashley of thie late 1940s was the first of this type of heater. Few real improvements have been made on Ashley's original stove. Actually, time'seems to have eroded the quality in all bf the new circulators except for the "Warm Morning" produced by Locke Stove Company. In picking a new wood circulator, I would recommend avoiding Wards and Sears as well as units made by United States Stove Company. The external shells of these stoves ate only slightly heavier than painted foil. Sometimes they don't even have cast iron doors and frames. Another group of heating stoves is the electrically-welded units, which have arrived on the market during the last few
years. Most of these stoves resemble the primitive box heaters produced by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s. For. a while, as oil scarcity and higher fuel prices hit th~ news, it seemed that every energetic welder with an empty garage was turning out stoves. As competition increases, more of these people are disappearing. Ludicrous claims such as "100 Year Guarantee," "Lifetime Warranty" and "the most efficient stove in the world" lead knowledgeable people to look elsewhere fo~ quality stoves. It is interesting to note that some of the "100 Year Guarantee" stoves already have warped sides, leaky-doors, inoperable draft controls and no guarantor · in sight. Qne major consideration for any heating stove should be that the firebox be large enough to accommodate the wood you have available. To use ~ower grade wood (i.e., woods with lower BTU per cord heating values, such as fir, pine and • alder), a very large firebox is nece~sary if you plan to keep the fire burning all night. Attention to this when buying will ,keep you from having to restart the fire every mornin~ in a - cold home. • Efficie~cy of all wood heaters depends heavily upon having airtight door openings. This is usually accomplished by using cast doors, door frames and asbestos gaskets. I would suggest ·being leery of any stove having sheet steel doors or welded do@r frames. They tend to warp and develop unco_ntrollable air leaks which lower a stove's efficiency. ·' In all of the above, I have ignored the finest quality wood Dec 1975 RAIN Page 5 • heating stoves. The various Scandinavian stoves boast the best looks and highest quality of any stoves in the world. For the Pacific Northwest, these stoves have a limited use as their fireboxes are.very small. We would need higher quality woods, such as oak, maple, hickory or ash, or smaller houses to heat, or both, in order realistically to select these fine heaters. Availability is not good as no importer dr jobber has been set up with a regularly purchasable inventory. One of the most confusing facets of the wood stove business is the lack of reliable quality and efficiency statistics. This means you must rely upori the knowledge and honesty of the person selling you a stove. Normally, a person who sells only one kind of stove, or who specializes in modern decorative cone fireplaces, is less likely to be able to advise you about heating equipment. Perhaps, if you're lucky, a.traditional hardware store might have a variety to show you. A point to think-about in making your final decision about your 'new stove should be, "What's the_:ivailability of parts for the 20-year-old st'ove?" Some companies such as Ashley, Wash- _, ington Stove Works and Locke Stove Company take good care of their old customers. Some stove manufacturers did not exist five years'ago, and there is no way to tell. The price of the stove ypu buy should include access to the help, knowledge and acc~ssories necessary for a safe stove in- : stallation. In other words, it's more.important to pick the' • place to buy before settling upori a particular ·stove. • Bill Day. WOOD HEAT STOVE COMPARISON CHART Ratings go f{om a lo~ 'of one star to a'liigh of five. Firebox Dimensions Firebox Manufacturer Bran~ Model# HxWxD Liners Finish Price _Rating Comments Martin Ashley C60 23 X 14 X 29 1" Brick' Paint $430 ••• Good quality stove, sold through Industries I a reliable distribution system, parts available, well engin_eered Martin Ashley \ ·,.C62 19-1/2 X 13-1/2 Cast iron Paint $370 ••• Same as above, but smaller Industries X 23 United States Wonderwood 726 Not available 1" Brick Patit $330 • Poorly assembled stove, sheet Stove Co. I steel door and frame,; lightweight construction, similar to Sears 8405N J Autocrat Autocrat 6724 22-7 /8 X 14-1/2 1''. Brick Paint $314 ••• Medium quality stove, uses Corporation X 25-1/4 Ashley type th~rmostat • I Autocrat Autocrat FF65 22 X 15-1/2 X 28-1/4 Cast iron Paint $380 •• Same as above. Loads from Corporation front, develops main\ena,nce • problems with front-loading:' door hinge Martin King 7801B 18-3/4 X 14-?/8 1" Brick Porcelain $325 •••• Good quality stove, will mainIndustries X 25-1/4 tain appearance for long period, I parts available ? Sears Roebuck 8405N 24-1 /2 X 10-1/2 1" Brick Paint $230 • Poor-quality stove, sheet steel X 24-1/2 door and door frame, lightweight construction, poorly assembled ? Montgomery 5710 ? X 1 3 X 2 5-1 /2 Cast iron Paint $270 • Poor quality stove, rough castWard ings, front loading door, poorly assembled ? X 13-3/4 X 123-1/2 Cast iron Paint $235 • . Same as above, but end loading ? Montgomery 5718 ! Ward / I Locke Stove Warm 701B i3-1/2 X 10-1/2 2" Brick Porcelain $4~0 ••••• Excellent quality, extra heavy . . Morning X 29-1/2 grates and firebox liners, finest doors and gaskets, long lasting . appearance, automatic thermg~ stat is easier to adjust
Page 6 RAIN Dec 1975 ( AP.PROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ) • I Appropriate Technology Sourcebook, by Kenneth parrow and Rick Pam, Appropriate Technology Project, 1975, $1.50. • Volunteers in Asia Box 4543 Stanford, CA 94395 A 74-page preliminary edition of a sourcebook for techniques and equipment appropriate to Asian conditions. Listings 9f publications by U.S., British ' and other groups, but as yet little ·input from indigenous devel'opments in Asian ~ountries or philosophical, economic or institutional overyiew of the conditions • • they are attempting to change or establish. Sources' for Chinese Barefoot Doctors' Manual, Farm Shop and Equipment, Waterproofing Soil Construction and other hard-to-find information. Suggestions·for listings.in an expanded edition would be welcome. • Appropriate Technology at Habitat, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, June 1976. Contact: William N. Ellis, A.T. Coordinator 7410 Vernon Square Alexandria, VA 22306 703-768-2524 A.T. groups from all p~ts of the world ¥e being invited to participate in an expositipn to be held_in conjunction with HABITAT, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. Exhibits are to be equipment or working models that demonstrate the success of small technology in solving problems identified by local communities. Groups wishing to enter displays should submit their suggested format to the coordinator before January 30, 1976. A'ppropriate ·Technology Bibliographry: Tools and H,ardware Section Millenia of experience has given us a grand lega~y of tools, techniques and wisdom to draw upon in developing simpler, yet wiser ways of doing things. We have the whole earth to draw upon. Our enthusiasm for unprecedented energy-intensive technology has caused us to forget the wealth of simpler and • more ingenious technology that has long exist~d and is being greatly expanded today. Traditional Crafts of Persia, by H;ms Wulff, MIT Press, 1966, $7.95. Records in readable yet technically clear language the wide range of technologies of the traditional Persian culture: metallurgy and metal working, jewelry, lockmaking, woodworking, comb making, building, brickmaking, tiles and glazing, textiles, carpet weaving, irrigation, agricultural methods, windmills and oil milling. A wealth of valuable information. Science and Civilization in China, by Joseph Needham, Cambridge University Press, 1962 A vast goldmine of information on ways of thought different from our own and the incredible technologies developed over 4000 years in one of the most productive cultures on our planet. The . volumes produced so far include introductory orientations, history of scientific thought, mathematics, sciences of the heavens and the earth, physics, mechanical engineering and building; chemistry and medicine. The volumes are very expensive ($30-$50 each), so get them at the library (or through inter-library loan). ' Science and Civilization in Islam, by Seyyed H. Nasr, Harvard University' Press, t'968, $15 • Far less comprehensive than Needham's masterpiece, but contains an extremely • thought-provoking introductory section explaining.the underlying purposes and practice of Islamic sciences-conceiving of science as a means for spiritual growth and considering an individual who specialized in one aspect of science or life to the detriment of others to be unbalanced and a danger to so'ciety and oneself. The basis of Islamic sciences can offer a valuable yardstick with which to evaluate our own. Appropriate Technology Intermediate Technology , Development Publications 9 King Street . London, England $7/yr. ($10.50 airmail). An excellent technical journal (quarterly) geared mostly towards A.T. for developing countries. However, most of the tools and processes could be applied to overdeveloped countries. Hydraulic rams, metal bending machines, sugar mills and agricultural tools and processes. Tashiro Hardware 109 Prefontain Place Seattle, WA 98104 . Wonderful store in Seattle where it is possible to get (and learn how to use and take care of) traditional Japanese tools. Write for their catalog. Spectrum Alternative Sources of Energy Rt. 2, Box 90A Milaca, MN 56353 Catalog of tools and processes for smallscale use of solar, wind, water & other forms of income energy. Shoe Patch, an adhesive liquid for running shoes, tennie-runners, deck shoes, sneakers. $3.50'per tube postpaid from: One More Company, Inc. 540 Santa Cruz Ave. Menlo Park, CA 94025 It works! Non-skid too. An economically st;nsible product,t;hat encourages recycling (now I can buy all my ·shoes at the flea market, shoe-patch them and save money while extending the life of one of life's material goodies). Packed in a cardboard mailing tube that is also useful as a tiny wastebasket (if you're a good shot), or pencil holder, a Raparound No. 1 newsktter-user's guideBriarpatch catalog comes with it, tellin you the story of this humble product, sharing Briarpatch economics and business practices and asking for•your comments. All you food co-opers out there might find this a hot item to carry.
€0NSC10USNE➔ Queuing and Waiting, by Barry Schwartz U. of Chicago Press 5801 Ellis Ave. . Chicago, IL 60637 We wait for unscheduled service at the supermarket, post office, theater, stoplights, gasoline stations; we wait for peopl1e to repair our houses and o_ur bodies. This is a _sociological study (with _the assets and deficits that implies) of a variety of waiting and delay processes; religious variations in client impatience; intentional delays as means of establishing hierarchy (15 minutes' wait for a full professor before students leave a class); an odd sticking out chapter on manuscript review in scholarly journals. Overall, the study is disappointing to me; not sure why-I was maybe expecting a wider perspective.-Maybe if Studs Terkel and Marshall McLuhan added interviews and photo montage. It is important perspective, and surely the most complete study I've ~een so far. Brain Mind Journal P.O. Box 42492 Los Angeles, CA 90042 . Marilyn Ferguson, auf~or of The Brain Revolution (see RAIN, Vol. II, No. 1), has begun issuing this newsletter every first and third Monday. It is a selection of concise articles on frontiers of mind/ consciousness research. Reaches a whole other area than either Psychology' Today or East West Journal. $15/yr. Transpersonal Psychology in Education is Fastback No. 53 in an admirable series of little books published by Phi Delta ·Kappa's educational foundation. Thomas Roberts and Frances Vaughan note in their preface that "a revolution in psychology usually foreshadows a revolutian in education." They ask pertinent questions about human capabilities, describe innovative approaches ~m- , ploying altered states of consciousness in learning and describe emerging psychologies. The fastbacks, subsidized by the founda- . ,tion, are extremely cheap: eight titles for $4, $15 for the first 58; cheaper in bulk and to members. Sixty-six titles are now in print. For information, Special Publications, Phi Delta Kappa, 8th and Union, Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47401. • BIOFEEDBACK: Another innovative approach to getting the word out quickly. Biomonitoring Applications puts out a program of cassettes featuring not only many fai:nous biofeedback researchers discussing their latest. findings but also those who are putting the research to work in hospitals, private offices and other clinical settings. Headache, stress, weight control, cardiology, depression, rehabilitation, behavior mo~, relaxation and instrumentation are among the topics covered. The tapes are expensive ($9 .95 each, 10 for $90) but will be less under a subscription plan to begin in January. BMA, 2 70 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. Q.I u C: c,I • z PSYCHIATRY: The splendid new edition o~ Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry II, edited by Alfred Freedman, Harold Kaplan and Benjamin Sadock, is almost twice the length of the 1967 edition. The editors blame the "explosive expansion of psychiatric knowledge" for the size of the $65, twovolume, 2,609-page set. This is a truly com- • prehensive approach, with 226 contributors, including many of the best-known contemporary theorists, researchers, and authors in the field. The increasingly broad spectrum of approaches is evident in the inclusion of such topics as biofeedback, meditation, parapsychology and synchronicity. A large section details new therapies. Encyclopedic, readable, generously illustrated. Publisher: Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore. Hawaii Health Net 1629 Wilde·r Ave., #802 Honolulu, Hawaii 96882 808-949-3642 Someone asked us awhile back what's happenirig in Hawaii environmentally. Well, as health relates to environment, this is a good growing network of persons from a wide variety of backgrounds who sponsor eclectic workshops/conferences/gatherings from play tb ESP to natural living. An ongoing directory of involved individuals. Synthesis 150 Doherty Way Redwood City, CA 9406 l Similar to Human Dimensions (RAIN No. 6) .. This is an intellectual journal containing fairly-long to long essays on self-realization, meeting of east and west, inner wisdom, spiritual journeys, planetary -consciousness. Done in a high class way-heavy book stock, glossy cover, etc. It is very "astral" in appearance-not like the funky, newsprint East West Journal arid New Age Journal Dec 1975 RAIN Page 7 and not orie~ted as those toward practical living skills. The center section is a self-instruction manual which didn't seem to have an integral reason for existing separately. The essays are good. Recommend'ed for those needing to work their way through intellectual karmas and in need of soft long sound· introductions tQ varieties of religious and self-realization possibilities. / (EDUCATiON ) Seed Catalog, $5.95 from: Beacon Press 2 5 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02108 . Whether you 're a teache.r, hermit, parent, administrator or librarian, you should look this one over. 3 5 0-plus pages of materials, organizations, ideas, devices. Emphasis is on the simpler, less expensive teaching tools. And of course they let their prejudices show. AstOllnding to think of the.percentage of groups and materials listed here that didn't exist exist, say, 6 or 7 years ago. Highly reccommended. Even though 2 years oldI'd probably still recommend it even 3 or 4 years from·now. Continued on page 8
Page 8 RAIN Dec 1975 EDUCATION continued from page 7 School Library Journal R.R. Bowker Co. , . 1180 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 We may find a way eventually to review more materials for schools (any volunteers?), but we feel rather swamped/lost for now. If you -mted access to a broad spectrum of materials, look through the • Journal. Basically same structure as Library journal and Publisher's Weekly -a nationwide network of revie 1 wers from schools and libraries in paragraph size reviews of books, audio visual, curriculum materials. $10.80/yr. For good 'introduction to teacher stuff, see Seed Catalog ih this issue. • .~NERGY The Best Present_ofAll, by Oliver Houck, 15ct each frQm: ) The National Wildlife Federation 1412 Sixteenth St., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 The best elementary school level story of the best present-Energy-from various sources, such as: Mr. Gas and Mr. Oil, Mr. Coal, Mr. Atom, General Water, Mr. Geothermal, and Ms. Sun. One of many "Ranger Rick" nature• magazine reprints, this one is colorfully illustrated with lively writing to explain energy resource facts and explore their meaning in ways that maintain one's interest. Well-balanced presentations of advantages/disadvantages of each energy source .are presented. Development ofan Ene-rgy Information Retrieval System, by Donald Mazziotti and Ilene Wright, Nov. 1975 Single copies $5.00 from:· Portland Planning Bureau Library 424 S.W. Main • Portland, OR 97204 503-248-425 3 A good, useful attempt at using simple and inexpensive methods-optical coincidence retrieval (OCR)-to keep track of energy-related publications in such a way that small towns and cities can afford and manage (i.e., non-computerized). This first product of the·Portland Energy Conservation Project is an excellent example of appropriate technology which bows ~o human nature as represented by the ubiquitous KISS • rule ... "Keep it simple, stupid!" Yet it is one level more sophisticated than - your usual key-sort card system. Continued on page 10 DeKorne's Survival-Greenhouse The Survival Greenhouse: An EcoSystem Approach to Home Food Production, by Jim DeKorne, $7.50 from: The Walden Foundation P.O. Box 5 , El Rito, N.M. 87530 Last issue we promised you more on Jim DeKorne's long-awaited book, The Survival Greenhouse. In 150 pages, 30 ,drawings and charts, and 20 photos, the detail of an integrated solar, wind, fishfarming, rabbit-growing, organic hydroponic greenhouse are explained by the designer-builder. This is the kind of work that needs to _be done and widely shared. We highly recommend Jim's first publishing effort and hope to be able to share his fuq1re efforts with you. The following are excerpts from the introduction to Jim's book. Communism, invented to counter the inhumane excesses of the 19th century capitalist "robber baron," is no improvement, s_ince it only replaces one form ·of tyranny with another in its cynical (though coldbloodedly pragmatic) assumption that moral individualism is impossible. Capitalism insists on the individual's "right" to be a predator. Communism, in .correctly curbing this "right," insists that the individual cease being an individual entirely. (The choice between being eaten alive by a lion or by a million fire ants is not much of,a choice.) In addition, communism is essentially "people's capitalism"-and, as an economic system, it is not inherently more "ecological" or less damaging to nat~ral systems than capitalism is, though because of its totalitarian nature it could conceivably enforce ecologically sound P.ractices. Neither system is adequate to cope with the real problems we face. What the world needs desperately is a philosophy of natural economics. Both the words ecology and economy have the same root and, if one meditates long e,nough on· the meaning of each, it becomes obvious that they are in a very real sense synonyms. What the world has now is an economy of consumption, not an economy of conservation, and in capitalism and communism we have two economic dinosaurs struggling for control of a technological tar pit. History may yet prove that high technology has negative survival value for any civilization which embraces it ... . The Decentrali;t ideal of a civilization made up of autonomous agrarian communities is often advocated as a solution to our present problems, but what would it be like in actuality? Without some form of centralized control, it is not difficult to imagine the emergence of a pet 1 ty provincialism not unlike·the feqdal system of the Middle 'Ages: Oakland makes raids on San Francisco; the Duke of Chicago begins machinations for an alliance of all the Great Lakes fiefdoms to declare war against Cleveland; Arizona and New Mexico agree to cooperate in a scheme to exact tribute from all those who wish to travel and trade between Texas and California. While the examples are exaggerated, it is not difficult to imagine the problems a decentralized society would engender.
Dec 1975 RAIN Page 9 1hink About Land E. F·. Schumacher For quite some time I have been particularly interested in the questjon of the proper scale of things. This question seems to me to be the most neglected subject in modern society. "To the size of states," said Aristotle two thousand three hundred ye~rs ag~, "there is a limit as there is to other things, plants, ammals, implements; for none of these retain their natural power when th~y are too large or too small, but they either wholly lose their i;iature or are spoilt." It's hard to equal the language of the ancients. Imagine a small island, a small island community of two thousand people. One day a·boat arrives and un!oads a man who has just been rekased from prison on the mainland. The discharged prisoner returns home. Will this c?~mui:iity h~ve any difficulty in looking after this one man, g1vmg him a bit of human contact, finding him work and re- ~ntegrating him into society? Hardly. And now imagine an 1~land ~oi:nmunity twenty-five thousand times as big, of some fifty million people, and every year twenty-five thousand discharged prisonrrs return home. It is then the task ofvarious ministries to get them back into normal life together with a number of harassed and over-worked probation officers. What a problem! In fact a problem that has never yet been satisfactorily dealt.with. . Now it seems to me that somehow, somewhere, there is a very big lesson to be learned here. Or imagine that instead of one solitary discharged prisoner presenting his problem to a s~all island community of 2,000 people, a homeless family of !1ve people appeared-or even two such families of ten people m all..'Surely the community would find ways and means to ensure adequak ~helt~r for these two families. But multiply . the scale of the situation by twenty-five thousand: a community of fifty million people trying to cope with two hundred and fifty thousand homeless people. What a problem! Ministries, officials, rules, regulations, financial arrangements, immense ef!orts to cope with immense difficulties, and (going by experience) never an adequate solution. I have just published a book with the title Small Is Beautiful , and _I received a letter which explains this strange and c~allengmg problem of scale from a mathematical point of view. I quote: The crucial point is that as a monolithic organisation increases in size, the problems of communicating between its components go up exponentially. It is generally reckoned that the maximum size of a productive scientific research team is twelve; over that size everyone spends all his time finding out what everyone else is doing. Some twenty years ago, working for the National Coal Board, I became int'erested in the problem of accidents in the pits. At that time we had two hundred and fifty thousand accidents a year. Someone drew my attention to a mine outside the National Coal Board which did not actually produce coal • but some other mineral- by exactly the same methods of-extraction as we applied in the c·oal mines. The accident rate at that mine wa~ much the same as in the coal pits. One day the manage~ent m charge of this one single mine decided to do somethmg ~bout ~hese accidents and virtually abolished them. So we studied t~eir methods, which were perfectly straightforward, and said to ourselves: "What they can do we can do." They had one mine, we had six hundred; but,then our resources, staffs, etc. were certainly in proportion the same as ~ theirs. So the National Coal Board said, "When it is a matter S ~f people getting hurt or killed, we cannot afford to lose any t~me._ Let u~ apply these proven methods of accident prevention mall six hundred collieries right away." We did not succeed- although of course, in the twenty years since then, the saf~~y record of the coal mines has improved beyond _ recogmt10n. But at that time, I repeat, we did not succeed the way this outside firm with only one mine to worry about had, in fact, succeeded. I~ took_me a long time to understand this strange and paradoxical thmg. If one able safety engineer with his team can s1:1cceed i1:1 one ~ine, why can't six hundred able safety engmeers with their teams succeed in six hundred mines. The . answer is th~J one man r~quires no administrative superstruc- .• ture to do his ~ork; he himself, as team leader, is the superstructure; but 'six h_undred team leaders do require (or everybody appears to thmk they do) an administrative superstructure. And now let me make this point: administration to be well ?one _is a very ~ifficult job which requires a very high level of 11:1-telhgence. It 1s much more difficult than .accident prevent10n undergrou~d._It fo_llows th~t only the best t;,alent is good enough fat admm1strat10n; and 1f yop need an :fdministrative superstructure because of the scale of the operation (six ,hundred mines instead of one) then you simply cannot avoid your best people being sucked into administrative posts; and then only the second or third rate people remain to do the job itself. I am making this point very seriously against the people who say, "Yes, we set up a big structure, but of course it must not be bureaucratic." If it is not to be bureaucratic it wi~l ~bsorb all the best talents you have at your disposal. And this 1s not all. Once you need an elaborate administrative s1:1perstructure', ·the people who actually do the work cannot give the best that is in them because they are being administered.(and this is nobody's fault) by people far away whom they _have probably never met except at impersonal briefing meetmgs. This expe.rience, reinforced by many similar ones in the last twenty odd years, has led me to the conviction that small is beautiful-where small, of course, does not mean infinitely or absurdly small but th,e order of size, or scale, which the mind can fully encompass,-so that large administrative superstructures can be dispensed with. Good ad~inis_tration, let me repeat, demands superlative tale,nts and mtelhgence-; and bad administration is the worst of all evils. So this whole question of scale I consider to be absolutely central and one of the most neglected questions in th~ modern debate. I quoted Aristotle and repeat: "When th1~gs become too.large or too small they either wholly lose their nature or are spoilt," or, as my grandmother used to say "Everything too is of evil." ' From Think About Land, by E. F. Schumacher, $1 airmail, from: Catholic Housing Aid Society, 189a Old Brampton Road, London, SW5 OAR, England.
Page 10 RAIN Dec 1975 ENERGY continued from page 8 Natural Energy, ed. by Robin Clarke, quarterly, subscriptions via: Conservation Tools & Technology ( CTT) Association 143 Maple Road Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4BH England 01-549 5888 This secq,nd issue of Alternative Energy Sources, tfortunately renamed so as not to be confused with Alternative Sources of Energy in Milaca, MN, USA, features articles by the Vale duo on the autonomous house; on BRAD's do-it-yourself solar collector, on solar collector testing, and windmill costs-benefits. Perceptive book reviews, news items and letters to the editor round out this handy publication. The Enrrgy Index, free monthly from: Energy Index Sen. Mike Gravel 3317 Dirksen Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 As news stories, debates, votes and transcripts are entered in the Congressional Record, Sen. Gravel and his st'.aff will compile an index to nuclear and alternative energy information. Gitizens can subscribe to th'e Record ($45 per year) or read their public library's copy. Sen-. Gravel asks for citizens to send him any important energy items they see so that others a·cross the U.S. can learn about them quickly. Hopefully, we'll see much more on energy conservation. Energy Conservation Task Force " Report to Governor Straub, Nov. 24, 1975, available from: . Oregon Energy Office 528 Cottage St., N.E. Salem, OR 97 310 • 503-378-4040, -8445 Excellent suggestions by a 21-member citizen task force on the establishment of a·state energy conservation plan for the various sectors: residential, commercial-industrial, transportation, communications and agriculture. Full oJ good ideas and implementable, priactical methods. Vermont Firewood A task force led by R. Sam Lloyd (DVermont) has.released findings that there,is enough annual growth of cull or unmarketable wood in Vermont to •supply all the state's fuel requi~ements. On a prac!ical basis, wood burning would only supply 25% of the state's • energy needs. It would be an economical move to use wood as a fuel, as it would use 4.7 million tons of cull wood that otherwise rots. There is a test case now being planned. The state hospital at Waterbury will be converting to a wood-burning system. (No/ Man Apart) Solar Extended Abstracts of the 1915 International Solar Energy Congress & .Exposition will be available in the near future. To be put on the list to receive notification, write: ISES '7 5 Abstracts American Section, ISES c/o Smithsonian Radiation Biology Lab 12441 Parklawn Drive Rockville, MD 20852 Catalog of Solar Energy Heating and Cooling Projects, ERDA-75, Oct. 1975, single copies free from: _ ERDA Technical Information Center . P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37830' 251 solar equipment manufacturers listed by services/systems supplied, by state -and alphabetically. Bill Church, AIA Arch., Portland, OR; Long, Maxwell & Assoc., Tigard, OR; Steve Baer, Zomeworks, -Albuquerque, NM; and Malcolm Wells, Solar Service Corp., 306 Cranford Rd., Cherry Hills, NJ 08003, hopefully will be in the next revised issue. / SOUTtt Proceedings of Pre-Submission Con~ ference on Program Opportunity Announcement, DSE-75-1, and Program Opportunity Notice, DSE-75-2, Oct. 1975, free from: Solar POA/PON Conference Transcript Division of Solar Energy US-ERDA Washington, DC 20545 This unedited question and answer session will be very useful to any architect, engineer, city planner or solaroriented individual who is trying to figure out how all this solar energy ' demonstration-project money·at ERDA and.HUD will be spent. Financing costsharing, government procurement of solar equipment, ownership, retrofitting ... most of the questions are asked, and the answers are clearly stated. Vital for the solar library; also useful for its list of small and large solar firm/consultant attendees at the back. • Solar Energy and Building, by S. V. Szokolay, 1975, 148 pp.,_from Halsted Press Division John, Wiley & Sons, Inc. 605 Third Ave. New York, NY 10016 One of the better introductions to solar architecture, noteworthy for its welldone layout and design, which gets a lot of information across to the reader by excellent use of visuals: drawings, map~, designs. Even the graphs are unoppressiye. !tis comprehensive, with sections called: context and principles, collection methods, uses, sun and building, solar houses, planning impli·cations, economics & prospects, solar heat industry, design guide. Includes a gloss;uy and index. . NORTH Solstice EAST SUNS PATH
Dec 1975 RAIN Page 11 Solar Workshops In two weekend workshops at Soap Lake, Washington (June 27-28, 1975), and Twin Falls, Idaho (October 30-31, 1975), Ken Smith and Lee Johnson taught over 100 people how to build solar collectors. County energy affairs assistants, community action agency winterization crews and private citizens in Washington and Idaho learned the history and theory of solar energy and then built flat-plate collector hot water systems. The three built at Soap Lake are now located at the Washington State Energy Office in Olympia, the Energy Information Center in Spokane and in Soap Lake. Of the four in Idaho, one is at the Idaho Economic Opportunity Office in Boise, another in Twin Falls, and the others we haven't heard about yet. But more important than the devices are the people, who are listed by location on the following pages, in case you've any questions. Teaching and observing them build, it became delightfully obvious that a rapid transition toward a solar society will not only be much easier than many people would believe, but it will be one of the most popular and politically acceptable events that will occur between now and the year 2000. People want to relate to peaceful technologies they can understand; to sciences which are as basically grounded in human experience as sunrise, sunset and the changing seasons; and to energy systems of which they need have no fear. They always say "Why, this is so simple! Why aren't there more of these around?" Then they realize that there are now seven where there were none, and that there are now 100 people who know how to go beyond those seven devices. And they see that a great many things are possible under the sun. The instructions, materials and tool lists on the next few pages cover the system we built: a 4'x8' panel heating water by gravity circulation (no pumps). Three to four of these panels would provide enough hot water for a family of four. Depending on your particular situation and personal needs, such a system might supply all your requirements or might simply, by means of a heat exchanger, assist your existing electric or gas water heater, lowering your bills. Check with Photos by Maggi Sullivan your local utility, building, electrical and plumbing inspectors, and with your local plumbing store handyman for local information before you build ... mostly they'll be intrigued and helpful. You start by making out a tool and materials list. You finish by adding water and pointing the collector south at 45°. INSTRUCTIONS BUILD BOX: Cut one 2x4 in half, build 4x8 rectangle by gluenailing 2x4s together with # 12 box, gluenailing 4x8 sheet to 2x4s with #4 common, caulking seams before nailing to prevent heat leaks. Paint all over. INSTALL INSULATION: Measure box interior and insulation to fit bottom, glue foil to insulation, lay insulation in box shiny foil side up. MATERIALS One 1/2"x'1-'x8' exterior plywood sheet, three 8'x2"x4" utility or better, 1/2 lb. # 12 box nails, 1/2 lb. #4 common nails, 1 qt. white wood glue, 1 tube latex caulking, 1 gal. white latex paint. One sheet 2"x4'x8' rigid fiberglass, styrofoam or other rigid substitute. Household aluminum foil, wood glue. TOOLS 1 sharp hand saw, carpenter's square, 2 hammers, 2 sawhorses, 1 caulking gun with tube of caulk, tape measure. Cardboard box knife or upholstery knife, t;tpe measure. Continued next page
Page 12 RAIN Dec 1975 BUILD MANIFOLDS: Measure center-to-center distance between every other valley on corrugated sheet. Build manifolds (headers) into which runner pipers (header pipes) fit at each end of collector. CUT PIPE RUNS: Cut and thread runner pipes (header pipes). Use pipe vise to hold pipe. CONNECT PIPE ASSEMBLY: Assemble runner pipes into manifolds. Wipe oil on inside of heater hose and on pipe ends to ease hose over pipe. RIVET COLLECTOR SHEETS: Size corrugated sheets to fit inside box, resting on insulation. Drill holes and rivet sheets together along the long edge. This is the absorber plare . WIRE PIPE ASSEMBLY TO ABSORBER PLATE: Lay runner pipe and manifold assembly onto absorber plate which is still outside box. Hammer holes in absorber plate about every foot near pipes. Run wire through holes and twist tight, cutting off excess and bending wire away from foil to prevent puncture. If the storage tank can be located higher than the solar collector, and the collector top connected to the tank top, then no circulation pump is normally needed. When water is heated, it expands and thus weighs less per unit volume. Thus, the heavier cool water in the storage tank flows down into the bottom of the collector, pushing the lighter heated water up into the storage tank. 16- 3/4"x3/4"xl/2" tees, 143/4"x4" nipples, 1/2 pint can pipe joint compound, 8-1/2"x5" nipples cut in half. 8 pieces 1/2"x7'3" galvanized iron pipe (60' total), 1 pint pipe threading compound. 3' of 3/4" I.D. automotive heater hose, cut in 3" lengths, 16-1" • stainless steel hose clamps, pipe threading oil. 2 pieces corrugated galvanized steel roofing 26"x84", 1 box 3/16"xl/4" pop rivets. 10 feet galvanized bailing wire 2- 12" pipe wrenches, 1 pipe vise on portable stand (rent), tape measure. 1 pipe cutter, on 1/2" pipe threading die with handle (rent). 2 screwdrivers (for hose clamps). Use pipe wrenches again. Tape measure, 1 hand pop rivet gun, 1-3/16" metal drill bit, 1 hand drill with shoulder brace 1 nail, pointed punch or awl (use hammer again). Vise-grips, diagonal sidecutting pliers, plain pliers. 1 j
Drawings by Rollin Francisco, Ecotope Group Additional copies of this 4-page section on solar hot water construction and solar resource people will be available from RAIN and from Ecotope Group (Box 618, Snohomish, WA 98290), after January 15, 1976. Send $1 and a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope. APPLY MASTIC: Apply thermal transfer mastic and paint. BOLT ASSEMBLY IN BOX: Bolt assembled absorber platepipe/manifold configuration into box with fender washers top and bottom. DRILL PIPE HOLES: Oriti holes for cold water inlet and hot water outlet nipples, insert nipples, insert manifold end plugs. Caulk to seal around inlet and outlet nipples between wood and pipe. FRAME GLAZING: Build frame for glazing material, staple vinyl to frame, running greenhouse tape between stapler and vinyl sheet. Apply weather-stripping. Lay glazed frame onto 2x4 box, drill holes and screw frame to box. ATTACH THERMOMETERS: Attach thermometers. CONNECT STORAGE: Connect collector to hot water heater storage storage for natural (gravity circulation) thermosiphon effect. Use gates valves at inlet and outlet. Wrap insulation around pipes and fasten with duct tape.at ends and as needed in between. CROSS SE.C.T\ON 1-1/2 gallons "Thermon," from Set-Point Control, Seattle and Portland. Must be done in a dry place. 1 pint flat black barbecue paint. 4-1/4"x3-1/2" bolts with nuts and 8 fender washers. 2-3/4"x6" nipples, 2-3/4" pipe plugs. 1-25' roll 4' wide Sears vinyl, 1 box 3/8" staples, 30' adhesive felt weatherstripping, 30' greenhouse tape, 30' 1"x2" wood molding, 24-#l0x3" wood screws and washers (galvanized). 2 dial face thermometers with 2" stems and 1/2" NPT (National Pipe Thread). 1 ro 2" wide duct tape, 20' 3/4" pipe insulation, one 30-gal., used, non-leaking hot water heater (buy salvaged from local plumber, working element not needed, gas models also OK). Two 3/4" pipe unions, 20' 3/4" galvanized iron pipe, 43/4" 45° elbows, 4-3/4" Tees (3/4"x3/4"x3/4"), 8-3/4" 90° elbows, 2- 3/4" compact bronze gate valves, 1 dial thermometer with 7" stem (minimum length, longer is OK). 1 large and 1 small putty knife, 2" paint brush. 1/4" metal drill bits (use hand drill again). 1 brace, 1-1-1/8" wood bit, wrenches, dope, caulk. 1 building stapler, 1 screwdriver, 1 hand drill with 3/16" bit and 1/32" bit (reuse wood glue). Crescent wrench, dope. Wrenches, dope, threading vise. Dec 1975 RAIN Page 13
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