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Hypoallergenic and biodegradable, these are the cleaning products we use at Green Trust. For everything from washing floors to washing clothes, even washing our bodies, Vermont Soap Organics keeps us clean and smelling nice!

My son Steven, who is in the National Guard, won second place in the Chevrolet Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge Race with Randy LaJoie in Lake Placid this weekend. Randy was on steering, Steven was on brakes. More pics are coming. See http://www.bodynbobsled.com/ for more info.

This past weekend our local Peak Oil Action Group got together at Patricia Greene’s home for a potluck dinner, a movie on sustainable agriculture, and discussion. Someone brought a delicious squash soup, we saw “The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil“, and had some wonderful discussion. Jim Juczak of Woodhenge had this to say:

There were some major topics and minor topics discussed. Major ones included the fact that there are other groups that are overlapping some of our efforts and it would be good to combine forces to reinforce and take advantage of our mutual interests. Cooperative extension was one example, the historical societies and hands on museums were another. Minor ones included a sign up sheet at Richard and Aimee’s Arc neighborhood party later this month. The list would include topics people would feel comfortable teaching to small groups and topics that you wanted to learn about. Patricia also wanted to get a women’s skill study group started that would cover topics such as woodworking, home repair, home wiring, plumbing and welding. I offered to teach them with her.

At Church this morning, Pastor Ken was talking about watching out for our fellow man, instead of being centered on ourselves, in a sermon called “Live and Let Live“, part of his “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America” series. This section was called “COMMUNITY TRUMPS INDIVIDUALITY”, and I saw a lot of parallels between the religious and the secular concepts we try to promote in our sustainable circles.

Melvin was over today for some help on his website, and to tell me about their new oil press. It’s a Chinese unit with a Changfa engine. His brother also picked up 3 new Hatz diesel engines. He related some stories about their veggie oil filtering experiences, and their ice house. I helped them cut ice from the pond last winter and it was a fun experience. Read about their experiences in their quarterly newsletter, The Boys Bugle.

DJ MacIntyre and Josée Guénette founded Le Boise Alternatives with the intent of making alternative energy more accessible.

The Le Boisé Alternatives company is based in the Gatineau Hills of Québec, one hour North of Ottawa, Ontario. We service all of Canada and can ship to the United States. Travel fees may apply.

DJ and Josée live in a home where alternative power is the only source of electricity.

In the year 2000, DJ MacIntyre and his wife purchased land in the Gatineau Hills, North of Ottawa, Ontario. Their intention was to build a comfortable home, where they could enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods and commute to their careers in the city.

Since the cost of installing conventional hydro was in excess of $100,000, they discovered surprisingly, DJ and Josee examined others options and concluded that the most cost-effective method (without sacrificing the beauty and peacefulness of the natural surroundings) was alternative energy. Currently, their home operates a 2.4 kW Jakobs wind turbine on a 100-foot tower, with a large battery storage system and mainly propane appliances.

DJ MacIntyre is a journeyman millwright, certified competent in the maintenance and installation of all stationary machinery, including power generation equipment, and trained in all aspects of plumbing, instrumentation, and welding. DJ’s main work interest is in prototype design and customized set-up and installation of electrical and mechanical systems. There are no problems, he believes, just challenges. Learn how to build a log home? No problem! Build an electrical generation system from scratch? No problem!

Josée Guénette is trained in a technical field, one of the rare “hands-on” type that doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty; actually, she seems to enjoy it! With her canine menagerie, she lives in a log home she and her husband built from scratch, in a wooded area due North of Ottawa, Ontario, about two kilometres away from the nearest hydro pole. “Work Smart, Not Hard!” is her motto!

Josée’s interest in alternative energy stems from a desire to live comfortably off the grid. Alternative living measures involving a significant degree of loss in standard of living are not to her liking, and when something is not to her liking, her sharp engineering mind and creativity are brought to bear, and with her aptitude for project management, things happen. As a result, the system powering her home allows her to live with the modern conveniences.

From Conergy:

Water well pumping can be the largest load on a remote home power system. There are several ways to minimize its energy consumption. Here is another technique that applies to any pressurizing system, especially if it uses an AC pump.

If you look at the performance curve of any centrifugal-type pump (including all AC submersibles and jet pumps) you will see that as the pressure increases past a certain point, the flow drops drastically. Here is an easy way to detect this situation at the job site. Release some water, just until the pump switches on. Watch the system’s pressure gauge and observe its rate of rise (this indicates flow rate). Does it rise to a certain point and then slow way down? If so, then that is the pressure at which the pump “slips” and loses efficiency.

We had a customer in Colorado whose cut-out pressure had been set to the typical 50 PSI (pounds per square inch). As the pressure got past 40, the flow rate slowed way down. There seemed to be more than enough pressure at the faucets, so we reduced the cut-out to 36 PSI. In doing so, we cut the energy use of the pump nearly in HALF. The owner couldn’t detect a change in the water delivery but, as it was gardening season, she saw an immediate increase in the amount of energy available from her PV power system!

Why do most Americans want more than 35 PSI at their home? It’s because of undersized plumbing! Most houses in the U.S.A. are plumbed to the legal minimum requirements of the plumbing codes (1/2″ and 3/4″ pipe). At the end of a long pipe run, the dynamic pressure may be diminished by 30%. Where a house has not yet been plumbed, we recommend using one size larger than minimum, for all cold water lines.

Similarly, when using garden hose, 3/4″ hose will cause far less pressure drop than 1/2″ or 5/8″ hose. When these measures are taken, a pressure setting of 25-35 PSI will please anybody. Where a house is already plumbed, observe water delivery at the faucets. If water flow is satisfying without opening faucets all of the way, then a reduction in pressure may be acceptable.

How to reduce water pressure

Pressure adjustments are made at the pressure switch. On a standard switch there are two adjustment nuts, with a spring under each one. Turning counterclockwise will lower the settings. You will see the result by watching the pressure gauge as the pump cycles on and off. First, loosen the nut on the longer screw. This will reduce both cut-in and cut-out pressure. Set it for the CUT-IN that you desire. Second, adjust the nut on the shorter screw. It adjusts the CUT-OUT only. Cut-out pressure should be around 2/3 of the cut-in pressure.

Once the pressure is set and everyone is satisfied, reset the precharge air in the pressure tank. This will maximize its storage and minimize on/off cycling. To reset the precharge, first make note of the cut-in pressure. Now shut off the power to the pump. Release water until the pressure gauge drops to zero. Measure the pressure of the tank’s air bladder using a tire pressure gauge at the fitting on top of the tank. Set the air pressure to 2 or 3 PSI less than the cut-in pressure. Restart the pump. Finally, write down the running time per cycle. Write it on the wall, so the performance can be checked later to detect pump wear or other problems.

Donate to Green-Trust

DJ MacIntyre from Leboise.com donated an 6/1 listeroid diesel engine to us. Jim Juczak from Woodhenge and I will be traveling to Belleghuan to pick it up in a couple of weeks. We will be building a 3kw Axial Flux permanent magnet alternator for the engine, which will charge our battery bank. This engine will also heat our hot domestic water. Fuel usage will be approximately 1/4 gallon per hour of used fryer oil.

At the suggestion of our readers, we are re-instating our outgoing newsletter for those who do not want to participate in the discussion forums. This means you will get email from Green-trust without the additional commentary from our readers. You can manage your subscriptions to our newsletter at http://www.green-trust.org/newsletter/.

Today we are getting together with family to celebrate the new year. Last night we had friends over for snacks, games and fellowship. We discussed building community, sustainability, and our different ethnic backgrounds, tried new foods, and had a wonderful time.