We're building a Lo-Grid home in the form of that classic Kiwi Villa.
We plan to insulate by exceeding NZ standards and using a 150mm stud depth. Heat will come from that hot round thing in the sky, backed up by a woodburner supplied by those tall things that will grow out of the ground to the rear of our section.
Potable water will be pre and post-tank filtered from that wet stuff that falls on your head all year round and stored in two big tanks.
All our poo and wotnot will be flushed into an onsite holding tank and periodically pumped to a nearby micro sewage treatment facility that supplies the 30 or so sections in our subdivision.
This project was formerly known as "Wairarapa Off Grid", but for family reasons we have decided to build in Kapiti instead.
Updates can more usually be found at: http://www.theruss.com/blog/ as it's a pain in the arse to have to update two websites at once.
Thanks for stopping by :-)
Wow, quite some time since I've posted here. The best place to go is my personal blog: http://theruss.com/blog. We;ve been int he house about 9 months and are really happy here.
Lots of space and fantastic views around us, lots to do (Solar PV install, more networking mini-projects etc)
We've had a number of teething problems that has required the return of some tradesmen to get the central heating working properly, ensure the water filter doesn't leak (Search for 'rainline' on ecobob you'll see the issue detailed there) and fix leaks in pipes hidden in the wall.
That's all done now and there's just a bit of painting to do which we can do in our own time.
There are always mini-projects going on in the background, at the moment: Chook house (Complete, just add chooks), 49m2 No-Dig veggie garden, retaining walls, garage build, blah blah as well as my starting small with a self/micro-gen setup.
It's all good fun, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!
Yup we're still here and still planning our Lo Grid home. Note that the Solar PV, wind generator, inverter etc will only come on board once the house itself is completed. The solar thermal heating and woodburner system will be built-in at the outset, as will a solid fuel, wood burning stove ala Aga, Rayburn or one of the newer manufacturers we've seen around.
We'll not be doing anything more than further research however until we finish the renovations on our current place in Brooklyn, which we'll be putting up for sale in March '09. Have a squiz at: http://www.25harland.co.nz.
Keep yer eyes peeled though, cos 2009 is the year :-)
Like I say, I don't updated here any longer (A historical fact regarding how the Celsias Project site *used* to look and function like)
So rather than maintain two "blogs" or updates if you will there is only one: http://www.theruss.com/blog. Last update was July 28, 2008.
Later :-)
The completed house, Summer 2010
West to Kapiti Island
East to the Tararua's
Elizabeth M. 102°
Meg A. 89°
This is a cool project, we foresee to do a similar thing in the next couple of years, probably in Canada and make it as lo-grid as we can stand it! I am going to be following this project to help us make our plans and learn. I wish you good luck on your project!
Hi Marcel and thanks for your support. I have dug out your website URL and sent you an email with some info you might find of interest. Thanks again!
For all those interested in the technologies and research we're doing and have done, check out the continually updated Wiki where you can register for updates: http://kapiti-off-grid.pbwiki.com/
Why not have composting toilets? Surely that is better than all that extra processing? The compost can go on the garden or on the firewood trees.
How is the project going? I just noticed it on the Kiwi version of Celsias, just launched this week. Give us an update!