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Monday, February 17, 2014

Off-grid, handcrafted life on Oregon farm & workshop // Sustainable living // Adventure Living // Designing a low-consumption home with sustainable energy and materials //

When you think of the concept of Permaculture, there are various elements interconnected. The home or shelter; the environment surrounding; the soil and water; and the way one connects with their surroundings. This video shows home designs using solar powered energy, and how homes can be built using recycled and natural materials.


[Sustainable living off the grid in Oregon, United States, Authors notes]

The farm is completely off the grid and Schulz points out that this doesn't mean they rely on propane or lots of photovoltaics. Nearly all their tools for living have been adapted to fit the off-grid lifestyle. For his prototype solar-powered bathhouse Schulz used recycled solar hot water panels, salvaged hot water tanks (from the dump), a solar thermal window and a recycled soaking tub. Indoors, Schulz has adapted a chest freezer to create a low-consuming refrigerator (using a tenth of the electricity of a regular fridge) and a 1940s wood-fired stove to cook, heat and as a heat-exchanger, harvesting waste heat and thermo-syphoning water to heat up the home's hot water.

They do have a limited number of photovoltaic panels which produce about 1000 watts of electricity when the sun is shining (for the entire farm), as well as a micro hydro generator in the creek and solar thermal panels.

Schulz models much of what he builds on the Japanese aesthetic and tries to make everything in his life not just functional, but beautiful (e.g. his bathhouse was designed not just as a shower, but as a way to de-stress). 

Schulz is an avid kayaker and for his day job, he builds skin-on-frame kayaks (as well as teach others to build their own).

Cape Falcon Kayak: http://capefalconkayak.com/

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