Here is a great composting crock for your kitchen
No heating or cooling systems in our straw bale house. According to the bank, this is true. However, we have a wood stove and we have two 5' x 6' windows facing south, which is all we need. We oriented the house 10 degrees off south, so these windows would get proper solar gain in the winter, yet they'll be shaded by the roof overhang in the summer. In the winter, the sun pours onto our concrete floor, which absorbs the heat and radiates it out throughout the evening. We also have heat sources like a washer/dryer, dishwasher and people taking showers. Finally, since we didn't really know how warm our house would stay, we had the house wired for baseboard heaters in a few rooms, just in case. However, we have learned, they are totally not needed.
You can see the tarps through the windows in the pic below. Again, this is normal for straw bale house construction.
For cooling, we aren't people who like a cold house. Our goal is to keep our house somewhere in the upper 70's in the summer. We have a very open floorplan which allows for excellent south to north ventilation. We have only two small windows on the west side which are exposed to afternoon sun. South to north winds prevail here, so, in the summer we leave windows open at night to get our "pocket" of cool air. In the mornings, we close the windows and enjoy the cool air inside while it gets to 100 degrees outside. This house truly locks in the air. During the muggy monsoon season, the house does get a little stuffy during the day, but we keep ceiling fans on and for the most part, the house remains rather comfortable.
Our hot water heater is a solar hot water system with electric back up. It is actually a "drain back" type solar system, which has a 10' x 4' water panel on the roof. There are basically two systems: Heating Water and the Useable Water. Heating water goes up into the panel and gets heated by the sun. Then it comes down and circulates through pipes which are wrapped around the water we want heated for use. This process continues to keep our water hot. So far, it allows us to take showers at night and still have plenty of hot water for showers in the morning, should we need them. However, as we do have some cloudy days in the winter, we do have electric back up which kicks on automatically if the Heating Water doesn't get hot enough.
We were originally going to install a solar electric system sized so that we would save ourselves from having to pay electric bills. However, our local electric utility did not offer net metering. Unfortunately, our system would have had to be so large and with such a large battery bank, it did not make financial sense to install it.
Update 2011: Our local utility company began offering net metering and a substantial rebate to homeowners installing Solar PV systems. We have installed a 4140 watt Solar PV System which is designed to offset all of our electrical usage. We are still connected to the electric company, so we always have whatever electricity we need. Our system is designed, size-wise, so that at the end of the month, we have produced the same amount of power that we've consumed. So, our monthly electric bill generally just consists of the monthly acct fees, which keeps it under$20/month. We had a patio covering built along the entire back side of the home (West Facing) for the solar to attach to. The covering also provides a very nice place to eat and hang out.
At the same that we added the Solar PV System, we added a back up generator so that if the electric grid does ever go down, we will still have enough power for our refrigerator, hot water heater and various communication devices.
We get our water from a well. We have a septic system for our waste and so there is no direct cost for this. We do use all natural cleaners and add microbes regularly to keep the system functioning, but their cost is minimal.
Although our straw bale house plans did not call for it, we have added a rain catch system. We have purchased two rain water tanks; one is 1500 gallon and one is 1100 gallon. They are both too small. We should have bought larger and we are going to purchase an additional 1500-2000 gallon tank. These tanks are being used to water our outdoor landscaping. Additionally, our greywater will be used to water outdoor landscaping. We want an area in the front and in the back that attracts lots of hummingbirds, birds and butterflies. This area is known for its birding and hummingirds, so we're taking full advantage of that! These tanks are hooked up to our gutter downspouts coming off our metal roof. Due to the small size of these tanks, they easily fill up in just a couple of monsoon rains.
We wanted a straw bale house that was as self sufficient as possible. With no direct cost for water, no cost for waste, a very light electric load (all appliances are Energy Star rated, we use CFL bulbs, hot water is solar supported, no heating or cooling costs other than wood and ceiling fans, we use a solar oven as much as possible) which is offset by our Solar PV System, we feel quite successful. So far, we've passed all the tests!
