casa ti: The Kitchen, Dining Area, Heat.

I'm ruminating on the kitchen.
Maybe I'm just hungry.

For our kitchen, we decided to move it from David Day's west placement to the center. This really is how our family lives and I see that island being central to breakfast requests, snacks, and pipsqueaks and guests keeping me company while I cook.

We sit down for dinner each night, so it made sense to put the dining table in a nice area by itself where we could linger and recount the exciting adventures of the day. Romantically I envision the sun setting west as we pop open a nice bottle of wine and prepare to enjoy a seasonal meal with friends and family.

But let's get back to the kitchen.

We struggled over honestly asking ourselves how we really would use the stove/oven systems. I imagined balancing out a wood cook stove that would provide a secondary source of heat for the house (solar being primary) yet could be cooked upon in the cool months with the solar cooker in the warm months. But the reality was not so apt- as much as I adore solar cooking, I have yet to successfully make pasta in the solar cooker, and honeychile, we eat a LOT o' pasta. Despite the free wood fallen on the land, burning wood is not the most efficient, green solution.

Scott Kyle of Full Scale Architecture points out that really, "Using raw wood is not desired. Instead, consider propane and solar alternatives for heating. If you must burn, pelletized fuel is more efficient than raw wood. For cooking, I recommend propane for the range, and electric for the oven. Whole house heating off grid can be accomplished of course by solar hot water/radiant heat."

My nimble sailor side asked, "Well why not just reuse a marine stove?" Marine stoves are modernly minimalist, in my mind would be efficient *and* quite stylish in a casa ti. And, dur, being made for a boat, they run off grid.

But free, fallen wood is a hard option to bypass. Plus I was in LOVE, in love with the wood burning Amish-made Baker's Choice cook stoves. So practical, happy, homey, so efficient, so... me, I want it I want it I want it and I want it NOW! I would wear an apron for that stove!

But it seems not to be.

My always-too-sensible husband pointed out that with the efficiency of design and construction materials in our zero energy home, my kitchen dream would easily overheat the house. Kitchen dreams dashed by prefab efficiency! DAG!

So here's a compromise: See that area on the right for a modest but efficient wood stove? Let me tell ya about that stove. Growing up, it was in the rec room of our home, helping to heat but also dry our ice and snow drenched selves, coats, and mittens after a rosy-cheeked day of play. It will be recycled into the casa ti, reused for another generation in our family, and converted to burn pellets.

I guess I shouldn't complain- instead of a choice, I will have it all! The recycled, converted wood stove will be a secondary source of heat on which to simmer stews as I please, the solar oven used seasonally when it's appropriate, and the marine stove to fall back on for quick breakfasts or pasta.

Coming soon: The Kitchen Part 2: The Fridge, Freezer, Philosophy.

 

Solar Air Conditioning

As they say here in the south: "Myyyyyyyyyy it's hot!"

For weeks I've been ruminating over how to really cool an off grid house on those hot, dog day stretches of heat we get in Virginia. Despite the fact that our house kits are super insulated, passive solar and utilize the cross breeze, well, heck. Until you've spent a summer in the south, well, until you've spent a stifling, still, searing summer languishing on the cool floor 'cause you were too hot to stand... listlessly spraying little bursts of misted water towards yourself out of an old hairspray bottle 'cause that was the closest you could get to cool, where even the fans blew hot... where the still farm fields were so heavy with heat it knocked the air outta you and even the grasshoppers wouldn't even leap, where the... oh, ahem. Did I digress? Ok, fine. It's frickin' hot here, 'K? : )

So you see why I aspire to a cooler solution.

Today, when I heard about Sun Utility Network's California Dream System- Solar Electric Cooling and Heating Sunstation, I was intrigued.

Reading through, it makes sense! For our off grid house it could still work despite the electric piece as really, we wouldn't be aggressively cooling at night/when the sun was low. I will post more information on this system as I get it/have an opportunity to speak with them; in the meantime enjoy their website- http://www.sunutility.com, and...
I hope you all stay cool!

 

Final Green Building Pre-Pour Meeting For Net Zero Casa Ti, Our Modern Prefab House Kit.

Final 9 a.m. meeting with the contractor before pouring the casa ti foundation!

We delayed the pouring of the house foundation a bit because we had to really review all of our systems decisions because, honeychile', once that concrete is poured... that's it! So we really wanted to audit our choices to make sure they would be appropriate for our family longterm.

The one thing I regret is that I know solar technology is going to rapidly change and become more affordable in the next 18 months. But what can ya do when you need to purchase your system now? I certainly can't let the casa ti concrete foundation sit and crack in the winter cold now, can I? So nope, gotta buy the net zero / off grid systems now, regardless of great technological advancements in the near future.

Pictures coming soon...

In the meantime here's a pic of our cute lil' tractor-- I feel very sorry for my husband, he has to bush hogg in 100 degree heat after the meeting... Happy Father's Day, sweetie! : (

 

Just in the nick of time! Automatically Preheat Water to Save Energy

Just in the nick of time!
Not only do we recycle our gray water, but now we can recycle the heat!

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/29/automatically-preheat-water-to-save-energy/

Just in time to evaluate and add to our modern prefab house kit prototype - we are pouring the foundation any day, just waiting on one thing from our systems analyst (tweaking systems that have nothing to do with the kit itself) before the pour.

Phew!

 

Systems Design

We have been working on systems design for the past weeks.

Unfortunately, as perfect as the casa ti is, it is not designed to house off grid systems. We *may* have to tweak it a tad to fit in everything...

Keep your fingers crossed...