February-March 1980 RAIN Page 11 Folks, When I read in your November issue that you'd netted only $822 in donations over a year's time I asked myself, " Is that all7" Since then I've been trying to come up with something. When I read 10 minutes ago that you needed a typewriter ... well, here it is. I buught it six months ago for reasons I won't go into, but in any event haven' t been able to justify owning it. Especially now that I know of a good use to which it can be put. Keep up the good work. Regards, Bruce Campbell Seattle, WA New typewriters do not in th e mail everyday come-we're still a little overwhelmed. We've been using it steadily since it first waltzed in the door with our mailman. It's hard to believe we got along with our one old one up until now' A million thanks from all of us! -RAIN Dear Rain Staff, I was pleased to learn that you had decided that the best way to introduce Mark Roseland to your readers was to sneak him by. While he was here in the College of Science in Society we genera Il y tried to keep him hidden, too, so as not to give the wrung impression about our program. As for his being a " new face from the east," I wish to assure you that not all faces in the east are like his . But then perhaps you were merely suggesting that he needed one. My sympathies, Jeffrey J. W Baker Wesleyan UniversityiCSiS Middletown , CT A HarderLook Dear RAIN , I think Lloyd Kahn's comments are very typical of the comments made by people who have not seen well-deSigned earthsheltered houses in terms of the desirability as places to live. As for the psychological effects, most earth-sheltered houses have at least as much window area as normal houses although this may be grouped on one window wall (as in any passive solar house or typical apartment or cundominium). Only the blank areas are covered with earth . His points on do-it-yourself earth-sheltered houses are well taken. This can be a dangerous area for the non-professional sincr earth loads are heavy and waterproofing must be given careful attention. Nevertheless, it is possible to build earth-sheltered houses which are dry, quil:'t, comfurtable, blend in with the environment, have very low energy consumptions (1.0-1.5 BTU/sq. ft. /Heating Degree Day for well-deSigned houses) and have a high thermal mass which works well with interruptible sources of energy such as passive and active solar. This energy performance is natural and will continue for the life of the structure. Such structures have very low maintenance requirements and are relatively immune from normal natural hazards such as tornadoes, hail damage, etc. This results in reduced insurance costs often being available. Our center presently has temperature monitoring equipment in an empty earthsheltered house in Minnesota . This house has only a refrigerator turned on in a 2400square-foot house. After the house had been empty for over a week in sub-zero temperatures the house ranged in temperature from 50° to 56°F at approximately midday . The previous three days had also been cloudy. I believe this kind of performance without any supplied heat in the northern climate changes the question of the availability of heating fuel from a question of survival to a question of comfort. Earth sheltered housing is not without its problems, but to dismiss it in the fashion of Lloyd Kahn's comments does not do the concept (nor his perceptions) Justice. Ray Sterling Director, The Underbround Space Center 11 Mines & Metallurgy 221 Church St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 This letter is in response to Lloyd Kahn's artide " A Hard Look at How-To." Some years ago I visited the domes he helped build , that launched his Domebook windfall , and it was evident that he should have taken a harder look at how-to. It was a rather bizarre experience to be sitting in our home (which is a 24' diameter 3/4 geodesic dome) reading about how domes were found to be unacceptable. We have experienced winds in excess of 110 mph without a budge, winters with more than 100 inches of rain and snow without a leak. We've stayed warm on the coldest nights and relatively cool when summer days were above 110°. But this is what you'd expect of a well-designed, well-built home, whatever its type. The dome skin went together quickly and allowed us to get in and finish it when we had the time and materials. It was a difficult structure to shingle, flash , fenestrate and finish , but that's not surprising since it's ruund. It forms a beautiful, secure, warm and enlightening space that is certainly worth all the hard work that went into it. We have a small orchard, vineyard and garden which supply most all of our lll'eds, year-round , and our strawberry patch (rl' member the strawbrrries) produced as much as 40 qts. at a good picking. This food is raised organically on remote, hilly land, fertilized with manure frOIll our poultry and livestock . We have two milk cows, some sheep and beef cattle and raise meat for ourselves, some relativ('s, and sell the rest to pay fur land taxes, feed, etc. By growing a broad variety of fruits , vegetables, meat, milk and eggs, there is always a good crop uf some things and often a poor crop of others. This year, for example, no pears or peaches, but loads of grapes, apples , plums, almonds and berries. Water is tight, so we learned frum Israel ways of stretching it using drip irrigation techniques ; we developed our own springs to supply it powered only by gravity . In the summer when the grasshopper plague was devouring our plants and trees, we achieved a balance by turning loose 100 'baby chickens and ducklings to feed on them . I don't know, there's nothing new about this, for us it's what a farm is all about . . self-sufficiency through hard work and harmony with natural furn's. We produce our own hot water with a coil in our woodstove and a solar panel, both systems driven by thermosiphon . We drain the panel when the nights get frosty. We forgot one night, and popped a small hole in it. Copper is easy to solder. In summer a solar oven which we built produces 415°F and bakes our food ou tdoors. We live in a rrmote mountain area and have provided our uwn electricity for 71h years with a wind-driven gelll'rator. We have a good site for wind power and , like building a home or a garden, it takes active participation ; in other word s, hard work and for some, like me, mastt'ry (If the fear of being atop high towl'rs. But our experience is that windmills are an awesome, inspiring and beautiful source of power, in the proper context Batt('ril's store our power and motors with brushes, in AC-DC. Tools and appliances USl' it directly , as do lights . An inverter is only used with our record player. Our winddriven generator has supplied us with most of the power to do cabinetry, paneling, flooring, rtc. in our dome, as most of uur power tools are AC-DC. It has lit our hOllle thrse many years and providrd thl" light for my drawing board . Quality, enduring construction wh's good design, guod detailmg, good Jl13terials and good execution. It always has. Thl'rl' are no universal answers, each problem generates its own solution. And "it's the singrr, not the song." Jonathan and 0' Malley Stoumcl1 Miranda, CA Tht.' author notrs that he is all orsallie arcllitat. His projects incillde barns (llld residenC!' s in New Ens/and , the N(}rthwest and Hawaii. He received two desigll awards ill tile '/978 passive solar awards [(},lIpctitioll from th e Departmcllt of Ellcrgy £llld .From HOI/sillS alld Urban Developmcllt.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz