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The New Independent Home
by Michael Potts
from chapter 9 :
Integrated Response |
The secret of an independent home's success is the integration of separate systems into a coherent, responsive machine. Where a conventional state-of-the-art device (like a heat pump, which incorporates electrical, plumbing, and mechanical subsystems) offers an opportunity for the electrician, plumber, and mechanical engineer to point their fingers at each other, the independent homesteader seeks a more holistic approach. The dependent home's conventional systems are meant to be stuffed inside walls and ignored, but attentive independent homeowners expect to be involved in the day-by-day and hour-by-hour management of home systems. This hands-on approach to shelter thrives when humans enthusiastically incorporate themselves in the management loop. Modern power-gathering, heating/cooling, lighting, and control systems work well enough without much supervision, but they run best when they are being steadily harmonized and adapted by a critical and interested user. It is hard to know if Laf Young is prouder of his house or of his family's ability to operate it happily in his absence. In my view, only part of the credit for the success of renewable energy goes to improved systems; the pioneers have been heroic in their dedication, and their years of conscientious caretaking show that a family can learn what it has taken generations of on-the-gridders to unlearn through neglect.
Several conditions contribute to "bulletproof" residential systems: The system must be well designed, durable, and intuitively understandable, and the home's resident collaborators must comprehend what must be done to optimize energy production and conservation. This design should include metering that clearly shows current system status. Parts requiring maintenance should be presented in a sensible arrangement. Seasonal adjustments and periodic servicing requirements should be documented, manageable, and self-explanatory, so the operators will be eager to take an active hand in operations. And the owner-operators need to know that competent, dedicated help is available, so they are encouraged to be curious, ask questions, and develop the sound judgment they need to negotiate new situations. Good design, lucid metering, and decent transfer of technology from installer to operators will satisfy many of these requirements, but it may take another decade before responsible local support is available everywhere it is needed. Many pioneers take their expertise into the marketplace, adapting their own techniques to the needs of more recent settlers, resulting in a happy and thriving energy-self-sufficient communities.
Knowing what I do about the trials and travails of independent homesteading, the homes that appeal to me most were built with serious, stubborn consideration for the long term, not the quick gain. In these places I could tell without asking that important, easily overlooked details had been well handled: details such as comfort in all seasons (minimizing infiltration, cost-effective heating and cooling, reasonably mud-free access). I feel at home in these places, because I know that health, safety, and disaster planning have been careful considered. I can see that the home is sustainable, and that family members are cross-trained and the system documented, so the principal operator can go away overnight without the house crashing.
A pioneering shelter may be little more than a lean-to for protecting dry goods from the storm. Jim Loomis, who lives in Maui's jungle and considers himself a water ape, asks only this of his shelters: that they keep most things mostly dry most of the time. For explorers breaking trail into new territory, it may be this kind of deprivation that keeps the pioneering edge honed, and I admire them for their fortitude. I consider myself a settler, and demand for myself and my family a more convenient standard.
As I visited pioneers on the technological frontier, I noticed again and again that the work was so consuming that it inevitably spilled over into the life, to the point where work threatens to overwhelm life without an almost epic effort to find a balance with more traditional endeavors. As these energy frontiers are tamed by the pioneers, however, the renewable energy life becomes possible for settlers like myself.
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