February 4, 2006
natural building, ethanol, christopher alexander
I’m really interested in natural building these days. Nice to see people trying to make information about natural building (most of which is just forgotten knowledge, as many traditional cultures have had it figured out for millennia) more available.
The Natural Building Network is a non-profit organization, visible through a website and personal phone contact, where Natural Builders can gather to share ideas, announce events and opportunities, and where the public can find skilled help and accurate and up-to-date information.
Soon, through your support, we will be able to provide the most comprehensive resource on Natural Building available in one place. With your help, we will have tools available where you might enter your zip code into a search engine and find a listing of trained builders, contractors, teachers, workshops or skilled volunteers near you with whom you can build, learn or collaborate
They have a good page comparing the features of various natural building materials/techniques.
I’d like to do a cob building workshop this summer.
Robert Warren has been distilling his own ethanol for the last 25 years (since the OPEC oil embargo), and has powered many vehicles over those years on ethanol. I didn’t know that most gasoline-based cars can run on ethanol with few modifications, and that now many new cars are built to run perfectly on a high-ethanol blend like E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline), and just need a different fuel-injection chip (i.e. different software) to use it. His website is very, very informative.
Pres. Bush was all about the ethanol in his State Of The Union Address the other day. It’s nice to at least hear an oilman and honorary Saudi admit America’s oil addiction and offer up some alternatives. Facts that have been in the public consciousness for 30+ years are finally getting some traction in the upper echelons - yay. Hopefully it’s not all talk.
Courtesy of SFGate.com: A two-part series in which Art Critic Kenneth Baker sizes up the content and impact of architect Christopher Alexander’s monumental four-volume series “The Nature of Order.” Christopher Alexander (father of “pattern language”) is one cool cat! This is on my to-read list.
Here are links to part 1 and part 2.
Transition Culture, which is a kickass blog, has a series about “Top Five Trees for Life Beyond Oil”. They are: the Walnut, the Myrtus Ugni, the Red Alder, the Apple, and the Sweet Chestnut. Makes ya wanna plant a tree!
tags: agroforestry, christopher alexander, ecovillage, energydescent, ethanol, natural building, permaculture, renewable energy
posted: 10:32 am
