As we begin to approach colder weather (it's only a couple months away), I
find energy conservation coming more and more to mind.

I'm curious to know how some others are using
gardening/landscaping/horticulture to further energy conservation. Of
course, planting a tree to shade a house is one way but what else have
others found gives a beneficial impact?

JNJ wrote:
As we begin to approach colder weather (it's only a couple months
away), I
find energy conservation coming more and more to mind.

I'm curious to know how some others are using
gardening/landscaping/horticulture to further energy conservation. Of
course, planting a tree to shade a house is one way but what else have
others found gives a beneficial impact?


Behind my house were two vacant lots overlooking a bluff. They were
heavily wooded. Last year they cleared the lots to build, and the wind
and cold was noticeable. (The houses are built now, and privacy fences
have gone up, so it won't be quite as cold this winter.)

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug:
Support me at: http://www.holzemville.com/mall/

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 12:15:24 -0400, "JNJ" wrote:

I'm curious to know how some others are using
gardening/landscaping/horticulture to further energy conservation. Of
course, planting a tree to shade a house is one way but what else have
others found gives a beneficial impact?

I divert all the house rain gutters to rain barrels for garden water
and it keeps the electric bill down (we have an electric pump to a
private well). Just 3/4 inches of rain can fill each of 3 40-gallon
trash barrels. The water isn't pretty so it only goes to the garden
and peach tree. Any excess runs over the barrel and into irrigation
ditches which I dug into the garden. Last year we had a drought,
about one small thunderstorm every 3 to 4 weeks...so every drop
counted.

The rain barrels are covered with a 1/2" thick wood plate, with a
8"dia hole drilled in the center. The hole is covered with two layers
of window-screening to keep out mosquitos, then covered with a single
1/2" hardware cloth to keep mice from chewing out the screening. It
has worked extremely well the past 6 months in keeping pests out of
the water, although in once occurrence I left the barrel open for 5
minutes and a mouse got in.

Dan

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 19:51:19 GMT, "Warren"
wrote:

Behind my house were two vacant lots overlooking a bluff. They were
heavily wooded. Last year they cleared the lots to build, and the wind
and cold was noticeable. (The houses are built now, and privacy fences
have gone up, so it won't be quite as cold this winter.)

I had that happen around here just 2 weeks ago...a developer clear cut
150-year old oaks and other hardwoods....absolutely trashed 2 acres of
forest. The place now looks like a poster-child for the amazon rain
forest advocates. I wouldn't be suprised if he compacted the soil
too, bringing in 8-ton trucks to haul the wood away. There should be
township codes banning outright deforestation of all hardwoods,
especially older ones. I'm definetly gonna complain about this.

Dan

Do Dan, do! There must be some kind of conservation laws the @*^&%$ has
broached.
If I'd been there I probably would have tied myself to a tree or laid in
front of his damned cats!
--
Jayel
"dstvns" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 19:51:19 GMT, "Warren"
wrote:

Behind my house were two vacant lots overlooking a bluff. They were
heavily wooded. Last year they cleared the lots to build, and the wind
and cold was noticeable. (The houses are built now, and privacy fences
have gone up, so it won't be quite as cold this winter.)

I had that happen around here just 2 weeks ago...a developer clear cut
150-year old oaks and other hardwoods....absolutely trashed 2 acres of
forest. The place now looks like a poster-child for the amazon rain
forest advocates. I wouldn't be suprised if he compacted the soil
too, bringing in 8-ton trucks to haul the wood away. There should be
township codes banning outright deforestation of all hardwoods,
especially older ones. I'm definetly gonna complain about this.

Dan

I divert all the house rain gutters to rain barrels for garden water
and it keeps the electric bill down (we have an electric pump to a
private well). Just 3/4 inches of rain can fill each of 3 40-gallon
trash barrels. The water isn't pretty so it only goes to the garden
and peach tree. Any excess runs over the barrel and into irrigation
ditches which I dug into the garden. Last year we had a drought,
about one small thunderstorm every 3 to 4 weeks...so every drop
counted.

I'll be redirecting our downspouts here soon as well. The house has a
typical pitched roof as well as a small roof on an add-on (only a couple
hundred square feet). From what I've read, the typical home can capture
enough rainfall on the roof to account from a large chunk of the typical
water usage a 2 or 3 family needs in a year. Some interesting numbers. I'm
also looking into water purification systems -- would be nice to grab the
runoff from the roof and bring it into the house for things like laundry,
toilets, showers, and so forth.

James

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 19:44:27 -0400, "JNJ" wrote:

I'll be redirecting our downspouts here soon as well. The house has a
typical pitched roof as well as a small roof on an add-on (only a couple
hundred square feet). From what I've read, the typical home can capture
enough rainfall on the roof to account from a large chunk of the typical
water usage a 2 or 3 family needs in a year. Some interesting numbers. I'm
also looking into water purification systems -- would be nice to grab the
runoff from the roof and bring it into the house for things like laundry,
toilets, showers, and so forth.

James

The next large project we are going to do is have a cistern installed with a
filter system. That way, no water from the city need be used. I don't drink it
now. What the hell is chloramine? Anyway, in Texas where we live, we have an
average yearly rainfall of 31 inches. It's enough to fill a ten thousand gallon
cistern many times. As little as a quarter inch of water can fill all of my
current 75 gallon rain barrels. The City of Austin sells them for 45 dollars.
They are the ones in the Gardeners Supply Catalog which otherwise cost 130
dollars each. Maybe even a bit more.

Victoria

The next large project we are going to do is have a cistern installed with
a
filter system. That way, no water from the city need be used. I don't
drink it
now. What the hell is chloramine? Anyway, in Texas where we live, we have
an
average yearly rainfall of 31 inches. It's enough to fill a ten thousand
gallon
cistern many times. As little as a quarter inch of water can fill all of
my
current 75 gallon rain barrels. The City of Austin sells them for 45
dollars.
They are the ones in the Gardeners Supply Catalog which otherwise cost 130
dollars each. Maybe even a bit more.

I originally wanted to dig a well -- my basement is forever flooding from
the ever rising water table so I figured why not? Well, the City is why
not -- if city water is available one cannot dig a well. This redirected my
interests to rainwater.

I already run a water filter on my tap water before drinking or cooking. I
wonder how much more costly it would be to filter rainwater instead.

James

Just out of curiousity (and an interest in land use rights) I'm curious if
you could point me towards a website or citation that states that one may
not drill a well on one's property in your city..... thanks,

Dave

"JNJ" wrote in message
...
The next large project we are going to do is have a cistern installed
with
a
filter system. That way, no water from the city need be used. I don't
drink it
now. What the hell is chloramine? Anyway, in Texas where we live, we
have
an
average yearly rainfall of 31 inches. It's enough to fill a ten
thousand
gallon
cistern many times. As little as a quarter inch of water can fill all
of
my
current 75 gallon rain barrels. The City of Austin sells them for 45
dollars.
They are the ones in the Gardeners Supply Catalog which otherwise cost
130
dollars each. Maybe even a bit more.

I originally wanted to dig a well -- my basement is forever flooding from
the ever rising water table so I figured why not? Well, the City is why
not -- if city water is available one cannot dig a well. This redirected
my
interests to rainwater.

I already run a water filter on my tap water before drinking or cooking.
I
wonder how much more costly it would be to filter rainwater instead.

James

Just out of curiousity (and an interest in land use rights) I'm curious if
you could point me towards a website or citation that states that one may
not drill a well on one's property in your city..... thanks,

Sigh You WOULD ask -- I don't have the actual cite here. A fellow down
at city hall was good enough to send me a copy of the chapter of municipal
code but the cite was incomplete. The verbage was fairly straightforward --
it stated the guidelines for having a well or a cistern, how it was to be
maintained and who governed it (health department) then followed up with....

"(H) When water from the municipal system becomes available to any
dwelling, the owner shall provide water from that system and immediately
abandon the private supply."

Under this chapter I likely cannot even create a large receptacle for
capturing rainwater for use in anything but gardening/agriculture and even
then there are further regulations. I'm still going to find a way to use it
for laundry and toilets and such (call me a rebel).

A local energy consultant and I have been corresponding and he's made it
clear in no uncertain terms that Cincinnati's government is not conservation
friendly.

James

Our county (Harris, Houston) has a subsidence district that all well
permits go through. We paying for all the evil deeds we did pulling out
well water in the past years. Leave it in the ground and recycle your
roof water. Work with nature and not against by depleting the well/water
table.

JK


David J Bockman wrote:
=

Just out of curiousity (and an interest in land use rights) I'm curious=
if
you could point me towards a website or citation that states that one m=
ay
not drill a well on one's property in your city..... thanks,
=

Dave
=

"JNJ" wrote in message
...
The next large project we are going to do is have a cistern install=
ed
with
a
filter system. That way, no water from the city need be used. I d=
on't
drink it
now. What the hell is chloramine? Anyway, in Texas where we live, =
we
have
an
average yearly rainfall of 31 inches. It's enough to fill a ten
thousand
gallon
cistern many times. As little as a quarter inch of water can fill =
all
of
my
current 75 gallon rain barrels. The City of Austin sells them for 4=
5
dollars.
They are the ones in the Gardeners Supply Catalog which otherwise c=
ost
130
dollars each. Maybe even a bit more.

I originally wanted to dig a well -- my basement is forever flooding =
from
the ever rising water table so I figured why not? Well, the City is =
why
not -- if city water is available one cannot dig a well. This redire=
cted
my
interests to rainwater.

I already run a water filter on my tap water before drinking or cooki=
ng.
I
wonder how much more costly it would be to filter rainwater instead.

James




-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

"JNJ" wrote in message ...
The next large project we are going to do is have a cistern installed with
a
filter system. That way, no water from the city need be used. I don't
drink it
now. What the hell is chloramine? Anyway, in Texas where we live, we have
an
average yearly rainfall of 31 inches. It's enough to fill a ten thousand
gallon
cistern many times. As little as a quarter inch of water can fill all of
my
current 75 gallon rain barrels. The City of Austin sells them for 45
dollars.
They are the ones in the Gardeners Supply Catalog which otherwise cost 130
dollars each. Maybe even a bit more.

I originally wanted to dig a well -- my basement is forever flooding from
the ever rising water table so I figured why not? Well, the City is why
not -- if city water is available one cannot dig a well. This redirected my
interests to rainwater.

I already run a water filter on my tap water before drinking or cooking. I
wonder how much more costly it would be to filter rainwater instead.

James


Dig the well inside the basement where it's cool and shady and out of
sight of the nosey village idiots and minor apparatchiks.
Only call it a sump .

Dig the well inside the basement where it's cool and shady and out of
sight of the nosey village idiots and minor apparatchiks.
Only call it a sump .

Actually, we will be putting in a sump pump in the near future in an effort
to at least BEGIN to control the water in the basement. We're also looking
at apply a type of rubber (SaniTred) to the walls to help there. At the
moment, it's pretty damp, musty, and humid down there -- t'ain't healthy.

James

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 10:11:27 -0400, "JNJ" wrote:

I originally wanted to dig a well -- my basement is forever flooding from
the ever rising water table so I figured why not? Well, the City is why
not -- if city water is available one cannot dig a well. This redirected my
interests to rainwater.

I already run a water filter on my tap water before drinking or cooking. I
wonder how much more costly it would be to filter rainwater instead.

James



I don't know specific prices for each element, but to have a ten thousand gallon
cistern buried or placed on the property, with the plumbing for house water,
filtration so it's potable, we're looking at around $5,000.00 to $7,000.00.

To filter it, you'd have to call some of the people in your area to find out
how to do that. I don't want well water. There are any number of toxins in it
at any given time. At least with rainwater, it comes from the sky, over the
roof and into the system. Filtering out the sediment from the roof is far
easier than filtering the 70+ toxins found in tap water, on any given day.

I don't know specific prices for each element, but to have a ten thousand
gallon
cistern buried or placed on the property, with the plumbing for house
water,
filtration so it's potable, we're looking at around $5,000.00 to
$7,000.00.

After a review of relevant code, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
Municipal code specifically prohibits anyone within the city limits from
having an operating cistern or well where city water is available. Needless
to say, that puts a bit of a kink in the works. Might need to do a little
political activism on this 'un.

BTW, did I mention that the water utility is owned and operated as a
department of the city?

To filter it, you'd have to call some of the people in your area to find
out
how to do that. I don't want well water. There are any number of toxins
in it
at any given time. At least with rainwater, it comes from the sky, over
the
roof and into the system. Filtering out the sediment from the roof is far
easier than filtering the 70+ toxins found in tap water, on any given day.

We're fortunate that our water is actually pretty good quality as far as
city water goes, but I'd still prefer to get it myself and save the $$$.