Building Ecotopia: Intentional Communities, Part 2

by Chuck Hall

If you are interested in joining an intentional community, you might want to first meet as many of the people there as possible. Make sure you can get along with everyone first before making a commitment. Over half of intentional communities fail within a year of their founding, largely because of differences among members, so a little tolerance goes a long way. When shopping for communities, watch out for people who don’t seem to respect the opinions and rights of others. As the saying goes, “You don’t really know someone until you’ve lived with them.”
In many, if not all, intentional communities, members share resources and responsibilities. They usually are self-governing and have some sort of democratic governmental body. Many are communal in nature, not holding individual property. In most cases, all members of the community own the land on which the community is built in trust, and there are no individual property rights in terms of sale or ownership. The usual formula is that the homeowner leases the property from the community if the community doesn’t own all housing outright.
All members of an intentional community are expected to share the workload and to contribute to the community. Some are stricter than others regarding these rules. Before joining a community, it’s a good idea to know exactly what’s expected of you so there are no later.
These days, living in a community whose primary focus is sustainability is seen as the domain of aging hippies or religious cultists or social outcasts. The roots of the movement in its current incarnation began in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, so perhaps there is an element of truth to this perception. I think sometimes that the more conservative-minded people of the world see intentional communities as some sort of political statement or an idealistic dream rather than anything that could be put to practical use. That's unfortunate. People tend to forget that barely more than a century ago, most of the communities in this country were sustainable in part if not as a whole. In fact, some conservative groups, like the Amish, still live sustainably in intentional communities to this day. If our ancestors could manage to live in a sustainable way with the technology they had a century ago, surely we could manage to do so much more comfortably now, regardless of our political or religious affiliation.
I don't see sustainable living as the exclusive domain of people with a more liberal leaning, either. I know that such a lifestyle is often seen that way in America, but I think that's unfortunate. Granted, sustainability is more likely to be favored by those who tend to be more liberal (and I count myself among them), but since that is the case at this point in our history, I think liberals have the responsibility of demonstrating to the more conservative elements of society that caring for the planet isn't a political agenda, but a more practical and necessary way of life. Environmentalism shouldn’t be a partisan issue. So if you’re thinking about an intentional community, try to keep an open mind as you investigate the possibilities.

Building Ecotopia: Intentional Communities, Part 1

by Chuck Hall

"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank." - Chief Maquinna, Nootka Tribe

At its most basic level, an Intentional Community is simply a group of people who come together in one place with a shared vision of what living in a community means. In the opening quote for this chapter, Chief Maquinna has nicely summed up the idea behind intentional communities. It’s about caring for one another as one big family.
The term ‘intentional community’ comes from the 1944 article The Small Community by Arthur Morgan. Morgan saw the small community as the ‘seedbed of society,’ and he felt that America was at risk of losing its core values if the small community disappeared. Shortly after World War II, communities began to form across the United States with the intention of preserving those small town values. The rapid industrialization after the war had led many to feel disenfranchised, so they began to come together to preserve a way of life they felt was beginning to fade. At first these groups were known as ‘cooperative communities,’ because of the cooperative nature of their organization, but Morgan felt that the name ‘intentional community’ was more appropriate because these communities were founded intentionally, with a shared vision. The term has since expanded to include co-housing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and ecovillages. Since this series of columns deals with building an Ecotopia, and one of the characteristics of an Ecotopia is sustainability, I’ll be focusing mainly on ecovillages.
There are 186 communities listed in the Intentional Communities directory of the Federation of Intentional Communities (FIC) at: www.ic.org. According to this directory, there are over 8,000 people, including 2,000 children, currently living in those intentional communities listed publicly with the FIC. There are also at least 700 other intentional communities listed with the FIC that have not given their permission for a public listing, so the number of people living in intentional communities in the United States could in reality number in the tens of thousands. If you factor in communities of a religious nature, such as monasteries, ashrams and kibbutzes, the number is even higher. While people aren’t yet fleeing cities and urban centers in droves, the movement is growing steadily. For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing how these communities work, what it means to be a part of one, and how to choose an intentional community or start one yourself.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 6

by Chuck Hall

When living without electricity, one of the most basic needs is home lighting. There are many options for home lighting that don’t rely on electricity from the grid. The oldest of these options are, of course, lamps and candles. While the amount of light emitted from the average candle hasn’t changed much over the centuries, there are propane lamps on the market now that give off far more light than their older kerosene counterparts. If the small amount of illumination available from kerosene lamps is an issue for you, you might want to step up to a propane lantern. A Coleman lantern generates about as much light as a 100-watt light bulb. I’ve used Coleman (www.coleman.com) lanterns for years, and have been satisfied with their quality and performance.
The final option for lighting a home without electricity is battery-powered lighting. This requires a little homework and a lot of planning. There are a wide variety of choices in battery-powered lighting. Some of these will work better than others, so it’s better to investigate the quality of the products you intend to buy before furnishing your entire home with them. In order to avoid going broke buying batteries, I would suggest purchasing rechargeable batteries. These may be recharged using a solar powered charger. Several companies offer solar powered battery chargers. A good place to start would be Battery Stuff’s line of products at: www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers. The method I have used in the past is to buy two sets of batteries for each light; one to use and one to recharge. That way you’ll always have fresh batteries available. If you have children, you might want to buy some extras to hide around the house as well. For some reason, batteries seem to grow legs and walk off when kids are around!
A great resource for electricity-free living is Lehman’s Products for Simple and Self-Sufficient Living at: www.lehmans.com. This company caters primarily to Amish communities and carries a wide variety of products for people interested in a simpler lifestyle.
You don’t have to go totally without electricity to benefit from any of the ideas listed above. You can use as many of them as you think you will be comfortable with. The more you can do, the more you’ll save on your energy bill. Minimizing your energy consumption will also make it easier to install an off-the-grid power system. The less wattage you need, the less your alternative power system will cost.
So would it be possible to live your life totally without electricity? Two-thirds of the Earth’s population already does. With the technology available today, going electricity-free doesn’t have to be an ordeal. In fact, it can be quite rewarding. I think back on my little cabin in the woods and I remember the nights most of all. I’ve always had a bit of insomnia, but it wasn’t as much of a problem when I lived without electricity. There were no appliances humming through the night; in fact, there were no electronic noises at all. I fell asleep listening to the crickets and the wind in the trees. There was also no monthly electric bill to worry about. After about a month or so, I really didn’t miss the electricity much at all.
We live our lives according to what we’re accustomed to. We’re accustomed to the convenience of electric appliances, but what have we sacrificed for that convenience? How much freedom and independence have we traded away when we chain ourselves to the power company? Maybe it’s time to grow accustomed to something better.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 5

by Chuck Hall

About the only major electricity-using device that we haven’t covered yet is lighting. There are several approaches to dealing with lighting in an electricity-free home. For daytime lighting needs, you can always make strategic use of skylights. Even on cloudy days, skylights can supplement your lighting needs. Until recently, skylights were a problem for homes with more than one floor; however, a new product is being researched that would use fiber optics to redirect sunlight to the lower floors of a multi-story building. In these units, a solar collector reflects sunlight into a bundle of fiber optics. This bundle terminates on the ceiling of an interior floor. The sunlight is conducted by the fiber optics to a fixture placed over the end of the bundle. The fixture functions to diffuse the light evenly. The problem so far with these systems is that the sun has to be at the proper angle for them to work at all. One approach to solving this problem to add a motor-driven reflector to track the sun as it moves across the sky. The motor would be solar powered as well, so no external energy source would be required. The problem with any sort of sunlight-driven system is that it will only work during daylight hours, so if you need lighting in the evenings, you’ll have to come up with an alternative plan.
An approach that lies halfway between candles and regular incandescent bulbs in terms of electricity requirements is compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). CFLs still require electricity, but at a fraction of the cost of an incandescent. A 15-watt CFL produces as much light as a 100-watt incandescent! Recent modifications in design have vastly improved the CFLs of today. If you’ve used CFLs in the past and set them aside because of the harsh light and short life, now’s the time to try them again. I switched my home lighting to CFLs almost a year ago, and I haven’t had to replace a bulb yet. Not only that, but the lighting is indistinguishable from the incandescent bulbs I previously used, at a fraction of the energy cost. While the up-front cost for CFLs is more, savings over the life of the lamp can be between $35 and $80 or even more.
If you intend to use a CFL in a dimmer switch, be sure that it is dimmer compatible. If it doesn’t specify ‘dimmer compatible’ on the package, it can’t be used with a dimmer switch. Don’t attempt to dim a CFL that isn’t rated dimmer-compatible. Dimmer switches work by varying the amount of voltage supplied to the lamp. Each CFL has its own ballast that regulates the voltage going to the bulb, so using a non-dimmable CFL will overwork the ballast as it tries to supply a steady level of voltage to the lamp. So, using a CFL not dimmer-compatible could greatly shorten the life of the bulb. While some varieties of CFL will dim to a limited degree, the range is nowhere near as great as that of a dimmable CFL.
CFLs still need electricity in order to operate, so if you’re planning a totally electricity-free lifestyle, they’re not for you. I mention them here for those of you who want to minimize electricity use, but aren’t ready to do without electricity completely. If you are trying to minimize your electricity use so that a solar, wind, or other alternative energy source is more viable and affordable, or if you’re just trying to decrease your monthly power bill, CFLs might be a wise lighting choice for you. If, however, you are striving to be a purist, and wish to live completely without electricity, there are still a few lighting options. We’ll examine those options next week.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 4

by Chuck Hall

If you're planning an off-the-grid home, one of the considerations is water usage. Getting water to your home without electricity doesn't have to be a problem. If you have a well, you can use a good old-fashioned hand pump. Another alternative would be to install a cistern and a rainwater catch system. With a cistern, all the rainwater that usually goes through the gutters and out into the ditch is instead captured for later use. By installing a filtration system, this captured rainwater can be used in the home. Such a system is gravity-fed by installing a valve in the bottom of the cistern. This means that the bottom of the cistern would have to be situated above the water tap.
Using a cistern as your primary water supply would require careful planning and conservation. If you have a garden or plan to water your lawn, it helps to route the gray water from your showers, baths, and sinks into the ground by installing a piping irrigation system. That way you're using the water twice. I wouldn't recommend using a cistern without a well or city water backup unless you live in an area with a lot of annual rainfall. Even then I'd be cautious. As global warming continues, weather patterns are changing all over the world. Regions that have had a lot of rainfall in the past may no longer be as wet in the future.
Would you like to get rid of that electric washing machine without having to by a washtub and a scrub board? The Laundry Alternative (www.laundry-alternative.com) has a solution that doesn't require scrubbing by hand. Their portable washing machine, the Wonder Wash, is hand-operated and can wash five pounds of clothes in minutes. The secret is its pressurized laundry compartment. The pressure forces the detergent through the fibers in the fabric, getting them clean in record time. It uses a fraction of the water a traditional washing machine uses, so a Wonder Wash is indispensable if you're practicing water conservation. The best part is that the Wonder Wash can be had for less than $50!
There are still quite a few electronic gadgets in the average home, but many can be substituted for battery-operated alternatives. Battery-powered radios have been around for decades. Even televisions and computers have become compact, portable, and battery-operated. Cell phones have virtually eliminated the need for a home telephone. If you're living electricity-free, you can always charge your cell phone in the car. If you go to the extreme of living without a car as well, you can buy a charger for your cell phone that works on solar power. Solar Style offers one for less than $60 at: www.solarstyle.com.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 3

by Chuck Hall

If you’re planning to live without electricity from the grid, then what about home heating? Is it possible to forego electricity without freezing in the winter? If you’re building your own home, you can use passive solar to help to some extent. ‘Passive solar’ means aligning your home so that you have a lot of glass facing to the south during the winter months (assuming you live in the northern hemisphere) to maximize heat from the winter sun. Planting deciduous trees on the south side of the house will help in this regard. When the leaves are on the trees in the summer, they provide shade. In the winter, when more sunlight is needed for warmth, the trees have shed their leaves, allowing for more sunlight. Overhangs can also be strategically placed to block the summer sun while maximizing the winter sun.
Passive solar design can go a long way towards meeting your heating needs, but what do you do when it isn’t enough? One option is a wood-fired heating stove or fireplace. You can’t beat a warm hearth fire for coziness and romantic atmosphere! Today’s wood-fired heating stoves and fireboxes are much more energy efficient and less polluting than your grandparents’ wood stoves. Since they are designed to burn hotter than their counterparts of yesteryear, more of the wood burns, so less carbon and other pollutants are released into the atmosphere. Of course, you’d have to have a ready wood supply and now mind chopping wood on occasion. If that’s not a problem for you, visit the Wood Heat Organization at: www.woodheat.org.
A newer home heating alternative is the biodiesel stove. These stoves can burn either biodiesel or regular diesel fuel if biodiesel isn’t available in your area. And as with the biodiesel cooking stove, you can always make your own fuel. For more information on biodiesel heating stoves, visit Kuma Stoves at: www.kumastoves.com/bio_diesel.
If you have a biodiesel heater, you may also want to consider attaching a water line to it to heat water for showers and baths during the winter months. In many cases, such a system will supply all of your hot water needs when it’s cold outside. During the summer months you can place a solar collector on a south-facing roof. Such collectors can be made inexpensively yourself using PVC pipe painted black. You can find detailed instructions on how to build a collector at Build it Solar: www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm. The water can be heated the roof solar collector during the summer and by the home heating system during the winter, eliminating the need for an electric water heater altogether.
If such a system seems too elaborate for you, you might also consider tankless water heating systems. Such systems attach to the water line and heat the water as it flows, eliminating the need for a tank. While some of these run on electricity, most run on propane or natural gas. If you’re interested, House Needs offers a wide variety at: www.houseneeds.com. So far I haven’t been able to find a manufacturer that offers a biodiesel tankless water heater, but as demand for green products continues to increase, rest assured that there’s probably one on the horizon.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 2

by Chuck Hall

One way to live off-the-grid is to do without a source of AC power altogether. This doesn’t necessarily mean living completely without appliances. It could mean using rechargeable appliances or appliances powered by sources other than electricity. For example, major energy guzzler in any home is your kitchen range. Before the days of electric ranges, people cooked on an open fire or in a wood-fired stove. Unless you live near a forest, you probably won’t have a ready supply of kindling for a wood-fired stove. Then of course there’s the work of chopping wood and lighting a fire every time you want to cook. But there is a new alternative. Aga Cookers of Telford, Shropshire, Great Britain, manufactures a cook stove that can be run on biodiesel (http://www.aga-web.co.uk/index_334.htm). Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning alternative to wood-fired stoves. As biofuels become more readily available, these stoves will be more convenient to operate using a sustainable fuel source. In the meantime, they can be operated using regular diesel fuel or by making your own biodiesel. If you’re interested in the latter option, you can learn the details of making your own biofuels at Journey to Forever’s Web site: Handmade Projects. Make Your Own Biodiesel!
On the other hand, if you don’t mind a little extra work on occasion, maybe an earth oven would be right for you. Earth ovens are just what they sound like: ovens made of earth. Such ovens are made of a mixture of clay and sand. You can make coils to shape the oven, or alternately you can stack balls of the mixture in a circular pattern to form a dome. Some people have also made such ovens out of cob: a mixture of clay, sand and straw. The straw adds structural support and makes it possible to actually sculpt an oven into an ornamental piece for your lawn that is both attractive and functional. As fires are built inside, the oven solidifies, much like pottery being fired. For instructions on building an earth oven, visit: http://katipo.co.nz/gallery/oven. If you’re interested in the sculptural effects that can be achieved by using cob to build an oven, and don’t mind cooking outdoors on occasion, the Low-Impact Living Initiative site has some interesting photos.
There is also the option of using a propane cook stove, but propane isn’t a sustainable fuel. I once read about a hydrogen-powered cook stove, but I can’t seem to find any more information about it. If such a stove is ever offered to the public, it would have the advantage of operating on a sustainable fuel. If such a device is offered in the near future, I’ll be sure to let you know!
Next week, we’ll look at the energy saving that can be had by using passive solar design In building your new home.