Design with Energy in Mind
Building, Energy Systems, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water — by Robyn Francis
Permaculture designer, Robyn Francis, looks at a variety of design strategies for using energy responsibly and sustainably.
The practical ‘down-to-earth’ farmer, gardener and layperson will often find the theories surrounding ecology and energy very heavy going, if not downright confusing. What I would like to do is offer some practical perspectives on how we can use resources responsibly.
Energy, in a holistic sense, involves much more than electricity and the use of fossil fuels, although these are certainly central to the energy issue. In permaculture design, energy and resource management are virtually synonymous and it is often difficult, if not impossible, to separate the two.
Comments (0)Posted on: November 18, 2008
Humanure Handbook - Free Download
Compost, Conservation, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Potable Water, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
With chapters like ‘Crap Happens’, ‘Deep Shit’ and ‘A Day in the Life of a Turd’, this is sure to be an interesting book, albeit possibly not one to read over lunch?
With this wonderful substance piling up in all the wrong places (after all, we’re running out of clean water, and yet we’re crapping in it…), this taboo topic deserves a lot more attention than it gets. Enjoy the book - and special thanks to the author Joseph Jenkins for making this freely available (warning: 22mb PDF - if you want to download chapter by chapter, scroll down on this page, or just read online here).
Comments (1)Posted on: September 18, 2008
Water Worries
Biological Cleaning, Conservation, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Structure, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink. - Samuel Coleridge (1772-1834). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, II
If you look down on our earth from space, the predominant colour is blue. The surface of our earth is approximately 70% water. In that respect, perhaps our planet would have been better called the Ocean, than the Earth. Yet, excepting expensive, energy intensive and environmentally problematic desalinisation techniques (PDF), we cannot use it for our daily personal water intake requirements.
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