[Rhodes22-list] alternative energy - poplars

Saroj Gilbert saroj at pathfind.net
Thu May 18 00:20:54 EDT 2006


Thanks for so much detail, Robert.. very helpful... I currently live in 
Virginia where the winters are mild... no land for planting at this time, 
but hopefully that will change.

I would like to build an energy-efficient house... preferably a cement dome 
(for a lot of reasons... one of which is that I love the feel of the space 
in a dome... I prefer round dwellings although I haven't yet been fortunate 
enuf to live in one.  They go up quickly, are very strong, very spacious, 
very well insulated (in fact you really need a heat exchanger to ensure 
sufficient fresh air... not enuf leaky windows), and "feel" organic to me... 
preferred heating would be water or ?? through pipes under the floor mostly 
warmed via solar water heater supplemented by a multi-fuel boiler all tied 
together with the hot water system.  Electricity is so inexpensive here that 
it is hard to justify PV but that will change as fuel gets more expensive... 
Electricity is generated from coal and nuclear in this area, but no 
matter... all fuel costs will be affected by the price of oil.  For sure a 
new house would NOT have the usual incandescent lightbulbs.

It is hot and humid here in the summer... I haven't given too much thought 
about the cooling aspect although a water or air using the coolness of the 
earth would be my preference... just not sure how feasible this would be. 
Maybe I should just be out on the boat when its hot... fending off the 
gnats.  It is possible to partially earth-berm domes... that's another 
alternative.

Saroj

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Skinner" <robert at squirrelhaven.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] alternative energy - poplars


> Saroj Gilbert wrote:
>> Interesting Robert... I've been interested in growing hybrid poplars for
>> years... and you're actually doing it!  I've heard that they can be 
>> cloned
>> quite easily from twigs... have you experienced that?
>
> Yes.  that's how I propagate my variant.  In the
> fall, I cut twigs at the point where they measure
> about 3/8", trim them to about 2' long, and put
> them in a bucket of water over the winter, near a
> window.
>
> When they start to bud out in the spring,
> the rootlets are also forming, and I carefully
> plant them in an 8" pot of good potting soil.  I
> keep them wet while the roots fill out, then in
> late May (last frost up here) I move them outside.
>
> I actually plant them in the early summer, and
> make sure they get enough water while they get
> their feet down.  I wind up giving some of them
> away.
>
> Up here, they need to be planted behind
> a windbreak or in a grove so that a hard winter
> doesn't get them.  I planted two in an open field
> before a really cold winter without much snow
> cover, and they died.  Others came through well.
>
> I'm about as far north as this clone will work.
> Trees planted in 2003 are now about 15' tall.
>
> I have also cloned contorta willow the same way.
> I have a hedge of 10 willows interspersed with
> Norway spruce along the back edge of the yard.
> the willows came to Maine in 2002 as cuttings,
> wrapped in wet paper towel, in a plastic bag,
> in a shoebox.  They are now 10' tall, and I've
> been cutting them back every year to make sure
> their trunks were strong.
>
>> Is your friend's truck a diesel? That's the only engine I've heard of 
>> that
>> can use fry oil... but wondered.
>
> Yup.  Mixes the fry oil with regular diesel.  He's
> going with less and less of the regular petroleum
> diesel, but starting is a problem in cold weather.
>
>> I wonder about wood pellets... how much energy does it take to make them 
>> as
>> opposed to sawing and splitting a tree... it seems a bit too yuppy for 
>> me...
>> although it does manage the issue of not being around to tend the 
>> fire...and
>> I suppose easier to transport to areas where there isn't an abundance of
>> trees... when my family heated a 5 BR house with wood, we installed
>> baseboard electric to (a) satisfy the approval powers-that-be and (b) to
>> keep the pipes from freezing if we happened to be away during the 
>> winter...
>> when properly laid it would hold 12 hours on a low flow of air altho that
>> isn't great for the stove pipe... esp in our installation which had two
>> stories to go through...
>
> It's not just yuppies that buy pellet stoves up here.
> As I happen to be working at an outfit that sells
> them, I can tell you that buyers are from a wide
> socio-economic slice.
>
> While wood is still a common choice for heating
> up here, that is much more common in the northern
> counties.
>
> Ultimately, boilers that can use grass or wood
> pellets interchangeably will become more common.
> Wood pellets can be made from the byproducts of
> our timber industry, grass pellets can be made
> from almost anything, and both are easier to ship
> than cordwood or bales.
>
> While I currently heat with oil and a fireplace,
> I am watching for the coming economic crossover
> point where installing a different boiler will
> pay for itself.
>
> There is a trend line for improving alternative
> fuel boilers, another for price reduction due to
> increasing production, another for availability
> of pelletized fuel, and of course, another for
> the geometric increase of oil prices.  I am
> tracking these curves, looking for the knees and
> sweet spots.
>
> While I'd like to see solar, wind, and tidal energy
> come to fruition more rapidly, I think they will
> lag carbon fuels.  As a society, we may not
> get serious about CO2 emissions until Palm Beach is
> under water, and the Everglades are a memory.
>
> Unfortunately, about that time, I hear that the Gulf
> Stream will weaken and Maine's climate will get
> colder.  That dire prophesy could be wrong, too.
> We watch.
>
> /Robert Skinner
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