Practical sustainable living

Chapter 5 – The veggie garden

acoulstock — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:48:56 +0000

Now that the essential items had been carried out such as heating, rain water hot water and PV I could think about getting a little veggie garden going. I have mixed results from veggie gardens. As I am working full time I have very little time to manage and care for them properly. In addition I am not keen on using synthetic man made pesticides to keep bugs off. After all we are going to be eating the plants at the end and there is no way on earth it can be good for you to eat plants that have been sprayed constantly with chemicals. Even if the chemicals do wash off the leaves and fruit, it only goes into the ground and plants are very good at re-mediating soils by absorbing various chemicals. During my past experiences with growing, which is very little, I had more time. I was working as a personal trainer. We also did not have any children then either. We managed to grow lots of zuchinni capsicum and chillis. The chilli’s did so well it is now 4 years later and we still have some frozen ones and some dried ones left. Aftera while the zucinni’s succumbed to a white mould on the leafs. After researching the only cure i could find was chemicals so we replanted with something the capiscum.

We started off by allocating a 3m x 5m plot on the lower terrace of the garden. It is in a relatively sunny spot and as the ground is sloping should be able to drain fairly well. The first job was to remove the turf and loosen up the soil. This was a back breaking task. The grass is some kind of buffalo grass and very tough. Moreover the soil below was very clay based and compact. It took a great deal to cut the turf out and loosen all the soil. After two afternoons of digging the garden was ready for mixing in some soil conditioner and cow manure. We got about 5 bags of each although could probably easily double this. As the soil had bulked up a little and we were adding more i used branches of a tree that we cut from the front garden to make the raised bed. As the garden sloped by about 5 degrees we only had to build up the sides and lower edge. We left a grassy border on the back two sides to be able to walk around the garden and not stand in the dirt. It was still winter when we were ready to plant so we bought some carrot seeds, broccoli, kale and a large tomato plant. They all grew well. We only had to water them infrequently as we were receiving quite a bit of rain throughout their early life.

After a couple of months we were starting to harvest some leaves from the kale plants. Kale is a super food. It is very rich in a variety of vitamins and minerals including calcium. Unfortunately the cabbage white butterfly’s also liked kale and within a few weeks the few plants we had in the garden were decimated. We picked out a caterpillars but without a significant more amount of time spent out there it was a losing battle. Trying to renovate as well as find time for the children, work full time and look after the veggie garden meant the veggie garden came last. Luckily the kale became the sacrifice to the broccoli as the butterfly’s seemed to ignore these other plants. Around 16-18 weeks after planting, the carrots were ready. It was a great crop and we pulled around 3kg out of the ground.

One thing to note about the garden is that the shallower side is definitely not growing as well as the lower side. This is probably for two reasons. It is up against the retaining wall to the upper terrace of the garden and therefore not gaining quite as much sun as the rest of the garden. The second reason would be that the soil is not as good on that side. In order for the garden to be level the lower side has more soil added. Therefore there is less original clay base that is in the ground. The other thing that we would will do differently when the garden is revamped is the sides. As they are made of old branches from the tree out front the weeds and grass grow through next to the branches and are difficult to keep in check.
The tomato plant has not really produced many tomatoes. I think this is because the part of the plot it is in is more shaded by the trees to the west and so does not get ass much sun. There is however, a rogue cherry tomato plant growing in another part of the plot. This has produced continuously since it was large enough to. This has proved very successful with the kids. Every time they are out in the garden now they go looking for ripened tomatoes pick pick and eat immediately.

Over the next few weeks I’ll look at redoing the garden now that the carrots have been pulled and there’s not much in there. A house up the road was getting rid of some bricks from an old wall. I will use them to make a low wall on which to run some timber sleepers bought cheap from a friend. The aim to make a deeper soil bed above the base soil. This should make it possible to get richer soils and drain better.

Creating Sustainable Districts

acoulstock — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:27:12 +0000

The aim of a sustainable city is to produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible; to use land efficiently; compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste-to-energy and reduce the city’s overall contribution to reducing its carbon footprint. I believe a systems thinking approach will maximise untapped resources and turn waste streams into energy outputs for communities.

The current way we live in terms of resource use has not changed since the industrial revolution. We take resources from non-rejuvenating sources or renewable sources at a faster rate than they can replenish. These raw materials are processed into the goods and services that we use and consume that often cannot be reused or broken down at the end of its life.

During consumption, the services either produce waste products – such as grid electricity producing CO₂ or thrown into landfill.

Existing Communities – The alternative resource

A systems thinking approach starts to utilise resources that are previously left unconsidered within existing cities. It maximises resources and turns waste streams into inputs for other processes.

There are many brown field sites within existing cities that can be utilised for the new processes required in the systems model. Every city has a significant number of housing suburbs with single residence households with garden plots. The number of people within cities who would like to grow plants is significant, but many don’t. The reasons preventing people from growing fruit and vegetables within their gardens is varied but for many there is a distinct lack of time to either set up a garden in the first place or learn the skills to do so.

The systems approach is based around the following main ideas:

Shared gardens for localised food production.
Turning waste streams into useful sources
Provision of Biomass digesters for energy generation within city boundaries
Provision of trigeneration systems to provide heating and cooling for mixed use precincts in the regional centres.

Benefits:

Reduced carbon emissions
Local electricity generation
Local heating and cooling
Reduced waste to landfill
Increased efficiency for utilities
Localised food production
Greater social integration
Healthy living education

This concept coupled with distributed energy generation including solar hot water and solar electric could reduce dependence on the non rejuvenating sources of energy by up to as much as 40%.

Potential Energy Generation

Optimising Resources

A professional gardener is hired to promote and assist local residents to modify a section of garden to agricultural use. This area does not need to be huge, 10-20 m2 could be sufficient. If enough residents are interested in the scheme then a significant amount of land can be found to provide for inner city food production.

The professional gardener can teach residents the skills to grow produce on the land in sustainable ways and provide education to the younger generations in terms of food production and healthy choices. The residents can take some of their produce for themselves and the surplus goes to the local markets for sale. Proceeds from the produce are then passed on to the market seller to pay for their wages and the professional gardener.

In addition to this local scheme, a new waste stream service is set up in addition to the paper tins and plastics service already in place in most city areas. An organic bin collection system is provided that allows people to sort their food scraps from their general refuse. All this waste goes to the local bio digester located in close proximity to the trigeneration plant that provides power, hot and cold water to the local shopping centre.

The bio digester produces methane and fertiliser as products of the digestion process. A clear example of this technology within city boundaries is Earth Power in inner western Sydney.

The methane is utilised in the running of the cogeneration plant, which in turn produces electricity and hot water. The hot water can be used for domestic water uses, heating and also as an input into an absorption chiller. The absorption chiller produces chilled water for cooling processes. As a bi-product of the absorption process low grade heat is produced. This normally cannot be used anywhere and generally used more energy via rejection through cooling towers. As the trigeneration plant is located in close proximity to the bio digester it can be used to keep the bio digester at a constant temperature of approximately 38°C as required, thus further increasing efficiency of the systems.

The products of the trigeneration systems are utilised locally as electricity is provided to the grid and the heating and cooling is used for local uses within the precincts as required. The other bi product of the bio digester, the fertiliser can be reused on the gardens in the surrounding area and the process continues.

In addition to the organic waste that is now utilised, the sewerage from households can also be used to produce methane and fertiliser.

This addresses one of the major issues with the sanitary system provided in western civilisations. The invention of the sewer was revolutionary idea in the 1800s and wiped out the fatal disease that went by the name miasma, today known as cholera. However the major down side to this invention is that it has now broken the nutrient cycle. The current estimate is that phosphorus deposits are sufficient for between 50 and 100 years of food production – and given that a significant amount of phosphorus is flushed down the toilet and enters our waterways – it would seem prudent to capture this valuable source of fertiliser and reuse it for food production.

Potential Fruit and Veg

All of these ideas individually are not new, however what is not being carried out to my knowledge is an integrated approach to this valuable resource management that can significantly reduce our impact on the environment.

Demonstration projects of each individual element of the initiative in various countries and locations around the world.

Further advanced solutions can be reached via additional inputs such as solar thermal injecting more heat into the absorption chiller process ensuring sufficient energy on hot days to assist the cooling demand in inner city areas.

Such integrated approach reduces our dependence on transporting goods long distances, reduce our consumption of non-renewable sources such as electricity produced from coal and creates an enhance social structure around the local market experience and promotion of healthy living through families and children from the gardening aspect.

Chapter 4 – Heating

acoulstock — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:39:16 +0000

After moving in we realised just how cold it was in the house. We had just one radiant heater that we had not used in the last place we lived due to the reverse cycle air conditioning. This was probably around a 1kw equivalent heater and was not any where near sufficient for heating a 3 bedroom house. To make things worse our youngest son was suffering from mild pneumonia at the time of moving in so we had to borrow an oil heater from a friend who was on holiday for a couple of weeks until we sorted out the heating problem. I have always loved the look of the wood burning stoves, something is very homely about them. So I started to look into that types of heater. There were a few on the market of varying prices. I also looked up other types of gas heater as primarily we just wanted to get at least some heating into the place. We could buy a flue-less heater for around $600 which would get us through the winter until we understood a little more about what we wanted to do as the grand plan for the place. However, we weren’t overly sold on the idea of breathing NOx and SOx. We finally found a Rhinnai gas fired heater that looked like a wood burning heater. It had good output and a reasonable efficiency rating. I worked out where it could fit into the lounge, part way on the north wall between the lounge and dining room. We had to worked out exactly where it would fit due to the size of the heater and our TV side board and how the vertical flue would go through the roof and not hit the apex.
After we identified the heater that we wanted we also had to look out for the best price as this differed significantly from place to place. We got four quotes ranging from $3,700 to $4,300 and obviously went for the cheaper quote considering this was just supply only cost. After getting ready to place the order we were told that there were issues in getting stock as these were a new product to the Australian market. The distributor could not get hold of the engines until the middle of August as they were being shipped from Japan. It was only the start of June! That was almost two months away. I now needed to ring around to see if there were any of the engines and chassis in the country.
As luck would have it the AGL shop had an engine in stock but no flue parts. I called Rhinnai to check to see if the flue parts were in the country. We were in luck. We placed a deposit for the engine at AGL. It was a couple of hundred dollars more than the best quote we had but we were willing to pay the extra to get some heating in the house. The additional parts were delivered to the AGL shop within a few days and subsequently AGL shop delivered the heater to us.
That weekend i tracked down a lead tile to install the flue in the roof and spent the time installing the heater and flue ready for the plumber to connect and commission the appliance.
This was by far an easy exercise. In order to ensure the correct location of the heater i needed to see where i could go through the roof between the rafters and tile battens and also line up to miss the hanging beams and ceiling joists below. In addition the location had to work with the interior placement of our furniture. As I was installing on my own i firstly had to take the tiles off, and offer a plumb line down to the ceiling below. I could then cut a hole in the ceiling and line up the engine below. Once the engine was in the approximate place i could then stack the flue on top up through the ceiling and again through the roof. Now that it was in line I had to mark the position and then take the flue off by going back onto the roof, in the ceiling and the room to remove the engine from its plynth. The reason for this is that the plynth is required to be fixed to the floor. Now that it is fixed I then needed to rebuild the flue. As you can imagine this exercise involved numerous trips onto the roof and into the roof space. Once finished a had a look at the clearance of the flue above the roof line. Unfortunately it was approximately 200mm short of Australian standard requirements for safety. The flue needs to be 500mm clear of the roof in case of wind blowing hot gases towards the roof and causing combustion. I called the AGL shop on the Sunday and they had a spare extension piece in the shop.

Chapter 3 – Water and Renewables

acoulstock — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:32:23 +0000

The six week count down of the settlement period was shortened upon our request to five weeks and went very fast it seemed. We settled on the Tuesday 7th Junes and had the removalists move all our belongings on the following Saturday.
During settlement period I started drawing up the property in a 3D software program called Ecotect. This program can be used to provide analysis for sun and shading. It is also useful to be able to visualise in 3D internal spaces and the program allows you to make section cuts and look at the inside of the house over the course of the day. You can see how the internal space is affected by the sun at different times of the year.
I also spent a lot of this waiting period putting together a costing exercise in relation to all the things we wanted to do with the place. I built up a spreadsheet with all the items associated with the renewables, the kitchen, bathroom, potential extension, development of the undercroft etc. and works out an approximate budget for the works. The total came in at around $130,000, but although we did not have this amount of money now the upgrade would take a few years to complete and therefore we would be spending money gradually.
The weeks prior were spent not only packing up the place we were renting in and the modelling and budgeting, but also trying to organise the renewable energy options for the house, gas lines and rain tanks,
The house did not have any gas and the neighbour had told us that the previous tenant had spent over a $1,000 on heating over the winter. We thought about the options, whether just to stay electric and add a larger PV array on the roof or to go with gas. We both prefer cooking on gas and so we decided to get a gas line in. In addition when the undercroft was to be converted to living space the intention was to heat the areas using in-slab hydronic heating. The only way to do this cheaply and efficiently is via solar gas boost. We applied for a gas line and electricity connection through the same utilities provider.
In relation to the renewables, the NSW rebates were coming to an end on the 30 June. Moreover, the federal rebate on the Renewable energy Credits (RECS), or Small scale Technology Certificates (STC’s) as they are now known, were being cut back from a 5x multiplier on the first 1.5kW PV to a 3x multiplier, and these amounted to around $2,200 in total so I was determined not to miss out.
I started researching companies for solar hot water and PV. Ideally I wanted to find a company that had reasonable Green credentials in the way they operate their business, so the first ones that came to mind we Kyocera Photo voltaic panels. Kyocera have been manufacturing solar panels since the 80’s and carry out their business in a very sustainable way. Each panel is said to pay back its carbon footprint from manufacturing within the first year of operation. Luckily at that time of year there were a couple of trade shows on at Sydney convention centre, Design build and the Home show. I picked up information regarding systems and carried out some research into the different types.
At the same time Barry O’Farrell had come into power and decided to scrap the Solar Bonus Scheme with the gross feed in Tariff in NSW. This caused chaos in the solar industry and a couple of the companies that I was interested in were for some reason finding it very difficult to provide me a quote for a system. I even left a message on one answer phone saying I have a deposit now if someone will just contact me! I couldn’t understand it. When O’Farrell was putting the brakes on the whole industry no one would give me a system. Eventually a breakthrough came round in the most unexpected place. At the Sydney Home show I visited the Stratco Stall. Whilst there is found out that they also provide solar electric systems and solar gas boost hot water systems. I did some research into the solar electric system and found out that they could provide a 3kW system for a reasonable price and install it before 30 June. I also found out that the panels were made by one the largest manufacturers of electronics in the world who also made panels for Conergy. This gave me some confidence in the panel quality and with an Aurora inverter I was happy that this would be a good system. The only issue was that the orientation was not ideal. Our roof faces West North West on a 22.5 degree pitch. Optimum is around 35 degrees true north. I selected a 3kw system as in the last place we only had an electricity connection. We were running efficient appliances such as fridge, freezer and washing machine but we had an old electric emersion heater. We also had a dx split air conditioning system in the lounge. With all this we used approximately 12kWhr of electricity a day. I anticipated that if I took the hot water, cooktop and heating off electric and onto gas then we should be generating more than we were using on average over the year. This should help to offset the additional network charges associated with the additional gas connection.
In relation to the hot water we had a 320 litre tank in the place that we were renting and we never ran out. I was very keen on trying to find a system that would provide the in-slab heating and the hot water together. However, there are really only two systems that are available in the Australian market place, Rotex and Comfort Heat. I managed to get a quote out of Rotex which amounted to $19,000 for just solar panels, tank and associated pumps. This cost was supply only and did not include any of the items that would be required for the in-slab heating. All I could get from Comfort heat was a verbal quote over the phone in the region of $50,000. This to me seemed ridiculous coming from the UK when hydronic heating systems are cheap as chips and in every house. Everyone kept telling me that if I wanted to provide in-slab heating and domestic hot water I was better off to provide two separate tanks, one for each system. This seemed ludicrous to me as the whole point is to use the hot water as efficiently as possible. If you have not used all the hot water generated from the sun during the day through shower use, then you would want to use that water for heating instead so the free energy is all used up before the gas boost is required. My understanding of the problem with the systems on the market is that the gas burner keeps the tank up to temperature. Therefore the only time you would get any benefit out of the solar panels is when you are drawing heat out of the tank and the sun is up. Typically you would have showers in the morning and the tank would be kept hot by the burner because the solar panels were not generating sufficient hot water at that time.
What you really want to happen is to make sure the tank draws as much hot water out of it through the night and when the sun gets onto the panels the tank is at its coolest point of the day. Then the sun heats up the tank and during the cooler nights the water is drawn off for heating or showers until it is all gone. In this scenario you need to separate temperature sensors. One for sensing the tank temperature and one for the flow temperature when water is being drawn off.
I eventually narrowed the search down to a preferred supplier. This was Chromagen panels and a Solarlord Tank. I chose these for the following reasons. Chromagen are a high quality supplier well known in Europe and have been supplying high quality products to that market since 1962. The tank supplied I was told was the thickest tank supplied in the Australian market.
I oversized the tank to a 450 litre vessel to take into account the future expansion of the heating system in the undercroft. Providing a solution this way amounted to a significant amount of money saved.
The difference between a standard Chromagen system with a larger tank and the same burner, and the Rotex system was in the order of $14,000. This was laughable. The Chromagen system came with 26 litre 6 Star Gas boiler. And so should provide very efficient hot water to the house. The supplier tried to talk me out of getting a gas boost system as he said I would not need it and the cost difference would not be justified over an electric boost. I did not tell him that I intended to install a flow and return loop from the tank and a heat exchanger from which I was going to provide the inslab hydronic heating at a later date.
Now that these items were arranged and times booked in for installation the only thing left was for the rain tanks. I found a local supplier and used the same plumber as the gas line. Ideally I would have like to provide a 4,000 litre rain tank to provide water for irrigation, laundry and toilet flushing. Unfortunately, the only place I could conveniently locate the tanks was on the north side of the house near the boundary. The space between the house and the boundary was only 950mm. The 4,000 litre tanks were 680mm wide. This was too wide as by planning law you need to keep items such as these at least 450mm from the boundary. Not that the neighbour would have minded as she is a very friendly and accommodating person. I chose two 1,000 litre tanks and made arrangements for 28 bags of ready mix concrete, and a wheel barrow to be delivered a day before we moved in. We were also having built in wardrobes installed in two bedrooms the few days before we moved in. This was lucky in a way as the driver was supposed to be delivering the bags of concrete first thing on the Friday morning, when i would be there to take the order. Instead of delaying the delivery for one day as requested they sent it out on the Thursday. The only person to take the delivery was the guy installing the wardrobes and the only access he had was to the house, not the garage or laundry below. So that night after returning from work, I tell my wife that I will be out early the next day to meet the delivery guy before work. She replied there is no need it’s already delivered. What? Where I said. In the lounge she replied calmly and oblivious to the issue. I almost was lost for words. Are you kidding I said! They’ve delivered half a tonne of concrete an unloaded it on a suspended wooden floor… I grabbed the keys and drove as quickly as possible to the house. Sure enough piled neatly in three stacks together was 560kg of ready mix concrete in the middle of the lounge floor!
I had to carry each bag one at a time down the front stairs, through the garage and into the laundry. It was not until half way before I dared look up at the underside of the garage ceiling where the remaining bags were to still see a significant bow in the floor. When telling the structural guys at work the next day they calmly reminded me that wood carries load well for a long period before catastrophically breaking.
We moved in on the following Saturday which took over seven hours even with a removalist company. As the plumber was lined up to come in on the Monday to work on fitting the rain tanks I had to start on the concrete slabs on the Sunday, rain hail or shine. It so happened to be rain. I started early, around 7am if i recall. I wheeled the newly purchased barrow around the corner, found a reasonable measuring jug for the water and started moving the ready mix concrete bags around to the side of the house. one by one. Due to the tightness of hte corner and step through the garden bed it was impossible to use the barrow to move the bags around so all 28 of them had to be moved by hand. I ran the hose round to the side of the house and then leveled the ground with a spade by cutting and filling where neccesary. I stamped down the fill as best as possible to compact it and leveled it out using a line and level. I needed to lay two slabs around 2.3m by 400 wide by 100 deep. The old wardrobe that was ripped out from the children’s bedroom had a 100mm high plynth all round. As this wardrobe was 3 m long and 800 deep i had enough timber to use as the formwork for the two tanks. The formwork was prevented from moving in part by two halves being cut into the ground. The other halves I piled some of the cut up on the outside to stop it moving when the concrete was poured in. We had bought a new mattress a few months ago and still had the bag it came in as we knew we would move in the near future and so kept it to protect the mattress. Now we had moved and had no intention of moving in the near future we could use this to line the formwork to prevent the water from seeping out of the cement quicker. Letting the concrete cure in this way i believe prolongs the curing process and makes a stronger slab.
After an hour and a half or so i was ready to start mixing concrete. It had been lightly drizzling all morning but now started to rain a little harder. This was not so much of an issue as the gable end stuck out by 200-300mm giving some protection down the side of the house and the wind was coming from the other direction.After about half of the first slab being laid, by mixing a couple of bags at a time in the barrow and using a spade to carry it up to the formwork I had a new appreciation for tradies ands builders who do this sort of labour for a living. It was probably one of hte hardest things i have done. At around 11am i was three quarters of the way to finishing and was starting to feel a little damp from the rain and more than a little tired. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and started coming down harder. More to my consternation the wind dropped and it started to come down vertically. Now this was not too much of a problem fort the slab as it was hard up against the house and only 400 wide. For me though who was standing around 400-800 away from the side of the house, this was becoming an issue. I was getting soaked but could not stop half way through a slab. I had to finish that day anyway as Michael the plumber was coming round on the Monday to fit the tanks. I persevered cussing and swearing until i had finally smoothed off the final slab at around 1.30pm.
Michael came round the next day to fit the tanks and plumb them in to the laundry and toilet. After thinking about the connections we quickly realised that i would lose about 200 mm in height of water out of the highest tank due to the sloping nature of the ground and that the tanks were connected together. We decided to get 12 concrete blocks ordered and sat them on top of the lower slab. They were prefect in raising the tank to the right level.The roof had 4 downpipes at each corner on a pitched roof. As both the tanks were at one end we got one downpipe feeding each tank. This equated to around 50 sqm of approximately 100 sqm rof feeding into the tanks. Using Manly Hydraulics laboratory rainfall data, we estimated that around 100mm of rain would fall per sqm on the roof per month. Therefore tanking into account for run off coefficients and first flush diversions approximately 3.5 -4 cubic metres of water was available for collection and use depending on frequency and intensity of rainfall and of course collection volume. For indoor use the tanks should be fine. If we used the tanks for watering the garden then we may run low quite quickly as 4-5 cubic metres of volume and collection of the whole roof would be more adequate.
So far (we have been in the house now for 6 months) we have only run out of water in the tanks once for a couple of days. We could tell by the strange noises coming from the toilet cistern as the tanks sucked air into the pipe when the water fell low enough before switching over the town water.

Chapter 2 – Negotations

acoulstock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:40:17 +0000

Negotiations that are personal can be an emotional roller coaster. This was no different. Exacerbated by the Easter weekend our planned trip to rural NSW, the real estate’s holiday, the lack of a telephone number for the owner, who was also in Perth and of course lack of telephone reception where we were staying.

The property was listed as offers over $770,000, which was already pushing close to the upper limit of our budget. There were a number of people who were interested after the first visit who were after a second viewing. But luckily for us these visits were hampered by the tenant who was not willing to let the Estate agent in before they had moved out. This moving date for the tenant was the Thursday following the Saturday viewing. We managed to book a second viewing on the morning of Good Friday as the agent lived close to the property in question. By the time the second visiting time came around our minds had gone to town on our first feelings about the place and we were now not so sure.

We parked outside at 10.00 am on a nice sunny day. The street was quiet, being on Good Friday. The agent was late, which turned out to be a good thing because we could sit on the grass out front and get a sense of the atmosphere of the street. It was quiet and leafy and although not a no through road was off the main bus route. There were only a couple of roads that were at the end of the street which skirted along a steep ravine. Therefore we guessed, rightly that it would remain fairly quiet In terms of traffic. We met the neighbour who came out of the house while we were there and had a quick chat. He was very friendly and gave us a good feeling for the location.

We called the agent after 15 minutes of waiting to find she had got her times wrong. Luckily she lived round the corner and turned up relatively quickly. After another quick tour of the property, through the house, down into the garage and under croft and through the back yard, our original thoughts about the place were confirmed.

We thanked the agent for coming out on the holiday weekend and said we’d be in touch early next week if we were going to put in an offer. The agent advised us that she would be away for the weekend and not be back until the Wednesday, after Easter weekend and ANZAC day. She gave us the name her business partner who would be looking after the property over the few days. She also made us aware that there were others who were interested in the property but no offers that the owner was willing to take as yet.

We went away with renewed interest about the property and spent the Saturday and Sunday of the Easter weekend with Kaz’ family in the South of Sydney.

When the Monday rolls around on the Long weekend and ANZAC day we had thought long and hard about the second viewing of the property. We thought about the positives and negatives of the place and location and after much thought we were leaning towards putting in an offer.

This was not as easy as it sounds. Early on the Monday morning, we were jumping in the car to travel inland to Sandy Hollows just outside Denman in the North Hunter region for a couple of nights before heading to Pilliga Pottery, just outside Coonabarabran. We left early on a wet and miserable Sydney day, a typical Easter weekend in Sydney. Monday we were already on the Golden Highway, a road that winds its way through some stunning scenery to the North and West of the Hawkesbury region of NSW. Phone Reception was limited at the very best, not to mention the contract with Vodafone service which was practically non-existent outside of any major metropolitan area. So we had to watch intently at the reception indicator to find a place to stop with a few bars on the phone to make any phone calls. We were aiming to catch up with friends during the break who were also away. Broke was the first place with even an inkling of phone reception was to be had. As we passed through the lower Hunter the rain eased and the clouds started thinning. By the time we reached Denman the sky was a patchwork of clouds and blue sky, a stark contrast to the typical rainy weather to be had on the coast every Easter Holiday. A few minutes passed Denman we reached the caravan park where we were staying at Sandy Hollows, a few hours before sunset. We checked in and settled down for the night. There was no phone reception at the caravan park and so we had to find a place next day in order to put in an offer to the agent.

The next day we planned to go and explore the region. WE headed to the front desk of the caravan park to gain information from the owner who was a very helpful English Expat who had moved to Sandy Hollows 20 years ago. The lady was very friendly and pointed us in a couple of directions for short walks with young children and good scenery. We headed off to a point where we had mobile reception we found on the way in to the town. This was a few miles down the road. The stand in agent was not available at the time so we left a message to be passed on to the agent. We carried on driving, wondering whether the message would be picked up and if anyone else had put in an offer. As we drove through the beautiful scenery we would continually be checking if there were any bars on the phone to see if any messages had been left. Eventually we got through to the agent only to find that they did not have a telephone number for the owner, and that the owner was in Perth. They had relayed the offer by email but apparently the owner was also away for a few days and may not be back until later in the week. We had to play the waiting game whether we liked it or not. The property was a pitched at ‘Offers Over $770,000’, therefore we made an offer of $780,000, $10,000 over the asking price. We told the agent we would call back in the morning to find out whether there was any contact from the owner and told him of our travelling situation over the next few days

We settled down for the second night wondering whether we were close on the offer or not, or whether anyone else was going to be bidding.

The next day broke with a beautifully sunny day and blue skies. We checked out of the caravan park and hit the road to the place with reception. Again the agent was not there and we had to leave a message.

We made our way across beautiful rolling countryside that looked browner and browner. It was easy to see how farmers out that way would be struggling to produce crop as the land look so dry. As we headed further to the north west of NSW towards Coonabarabran finding we were more out of reception than in and only getting snippets of signal here and there.

We finally got a strong enough signal just before Coolah, sufficient to call the agent again and found out that there had been no answer from the owner as yet. We stopped at Coolah for lunch suspecting delaying tactics as the property had only been shown for the first time on the weekend we viewed it.

We arrived at Pilliga Pottery mid-afternoon on a beautiful warm afternoon with clear blue skies and checked in to the School house, an amazing building within a compound of eclectic building structures next to a pottery shed and café/restaurant, built over the last 25 years by a German family who emigrated here in the 80’s. The living spaces and buildings were constructed of mainly materials recycled or harvested from the 8,500 hectare property. There we large timber structures and single storey mud brick buildings. There were properties that slept up to 8 made with straw bale and render and flag stone floors using stones collected from the surrounding land. It was a very interesting place to see how sustainable buildings can be built. There were two under construction at the time. There was also a hobby farm with hens, pigs, goats, sheep and ducks and a pony. In addition there was a large vegetable garden that helped to feed the workers on the property and went towards the food sold in the café.

During the following few days at Pilliga Pottery we kept hearing various excuses to stall and our offer not being accepted or dismissed. Eventually the following weekend was upon us. The place was going to be open for another viewing and we were starting think we might be outbid.

After a fantastic break, we checked back in with the agent on the Monday. The agent told us that there had been another offer but the people were a long way off from settling as they still had to sell their property first. She told us that the offer was more than ours and asked what we could do to secure the sale. We offered $5,000 more and said that was as far as we were prepared to go.

Whilst all this was going on and to add to the stress of the situation we did not have our pre-approval from the bank in place. We were frantically trying to tie these loose ends up as well and our mortgage broker was also away for a few critical days in the middle of the collection of the information required from the bank. In addition, we had sold our apartment approximately 7 weeks before and were awaiting settlement and subsequent release of the deposit from the Agent involved in the sale of the apartment. Luckily we managed to arrange for the agent of the apartment to write a cheque directly to the new agent to fast track the process.

Through the conveyancer we organised a pest inspection. This took place on the Tuesday and by Tuesday afternoon we found out another complication. Termite damage had been found. We had not exchanged contracts at this time and called the agent to have another look at where the damage was. It was located in a temporary partition wall that a tenant had installed in the garage and did not appear to have any recent activity. This was later confirmed by the building inspector and the agent who admitted that it had been there for a while and as they managed the property for the owner for some years they regularly carried out yearly inspections.

After much thought and discussions with various people we were told that probably 60-70% of Sydney houses have termite damage of some description or another. As this did not look structural and that all the Ant-caps on the piers were intact and the majority of the timber in the frame was hardwood we decided to bite the bullet and go through with the exchange of contracts. Our full loan approval came through within the 5 day cooling off period we requested and we were on the long road to settlement 6 weeks following.

We exchanged contracts on the Wednesday morning, two and a half weeks after seeing the property for the first time, a relatively fast turnaround in the scheme of things.

‘Don’t risk our jobs’… Well don’t risk my children’s lives

acoulstock — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:38:11 +0000

Sceptics are rife. They even populate pro carbon and climate change websites trying to influence with their lack of substantial evidence and poorly constructed criticisms.

What is fact is this:

We are polluting our waterways, lakes and seas at an unprecedented rate.

We are clearing forests at an unprecedented rate.

Our fish stocks are at an all-time low

We are losing species on flora and fauna at an unprecedented rate and probably faster than we can document

We are losing growing land at an unprecedented rate.

If you believe any of these are true, then just perhaps, just maybe you could stretch your imagination to the fact that a by-product of the major cause of all these losses above – human activity and economic growth – could be negatively impacting our environment.

And if you were to get this far then you could also see it plausible that a polluter to our environment should be accountable for this damage in the same way as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) in the 90′s and therefore phased out.

Chapter 1- The search

acoulstock — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:41:37 +0000

It has been a major desire if mine to own a house and be able to refurbish the place in a sustainable manner.

The change of job in 2010 was the start of the manifestation if this dream. Since September of that year I have been thinking hard about what could possibly be in terms the project.

I am a big believer in creation of your destiny. In order for you to have what you want you firstly need to think about it, or it will never be able to manifest itself in your life. If you think about something regularly you will be more likely to spot opportunities that arise. Have you ever thought about buying a new car for example. When you do start thinking about a certain make of car you start seeing them all the time. You are tuned into and more aware of your surroundings in relation to that aspect of your life. Therefore in order to bring something about there needs to be sufficient time for the thought process. Vision boards can help this process, as can images on your wallpaper or phone back ground. To keep you thinking about what you want.

In order to help this process and almost inadvertently, I took time out every Saturday morning to read the real estate section of the local paper. This kept me tuned in to the thoughts. I had been reading the Saturday papers for almost a year before we were ready to start looking for a property. During this time we were thinking of all the things we wanted for a house. A reasonably sized private back yard, district views, three bedrooms the ability to extend, an established garden.

We started organizing our loan pre approval and decided to start looking in person at properties around March. We thought that we would spend a couple of months traipsing around the suburbs before we found what we were looking for.

It didn’t play out that way and as we found ourselves scrambling to get the full approval in place in time.

On Saturday March 19th we saw a couple of properties in the newspaper that were worth a personal visit, so we planned a few more visits to properties into the day and set off.

The first property we wanted to see was second in line due to the time of showings. As we walked through we checked off the items on our wish list and couldn’t believe it as we kept ticking them off.

The house is located in a quiet street and on a medium sized plot of approximately 560m². A brick veneer 3 bedroom home, with outside decking area, and large combined dining/living. The block slopes away to the back of the house and onwards down a two tiered gardenThis allows the rear deck to be elevated gaining districted views across the neighbouring houses behind. The back yard is extremely private with minimal windows looking in.

The garden has been planted well with large succulents and a mix of plants including two mandarin trees. The clear benefit of a previous tenant being a landscape gardener.

Due to the slope of the land there is a large space under the house. Currently there is only a two car garage space and dirt and brick piers under the remainder of hte house . This area under the house has the potential to be renovated to increase floor space.

These were all the things we were looking for in a house and after walking around at the first viewing we were very intrigued.

After the first viewing we carried on looking at the other properties on our list that day but nothing came close to ticking the boxes like the second house. They were either two small, on busy roads, no access to sunlight, or just in the wrong location to be appealing to us.

After a long day of house hunting, we discussed our findings that night. We decided that we would have a second look and call the real estate agent on the Monday. We were told that the tenant in the property was being difficult and we would not be able to access the property until she had moved out. That was the Thursday before Good Friday.

During the week we started thinking too hard about the place and our minds started working against us. We looked for things wrong with the situation. By the time the arranged second visit with the real estate agent came around om the morning of Good Friday, we were starting to doubt what we had felt during the first viewing. A second look reignited our connection to the property and we decided we would put in an offer.

Shared meaning and the internet

acoulstock — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:32:42 +0000

Watching SBS’s Virtual revolution got me thinking about shared meaning in a completely different sense. Up until now I have been concentrating on the eminent late scientist David Bohm’s descriptions of shared meaning. That is through the use of dialogue with a group of actively involved people. To suspend our assumptions and therefore judgement of others’ ideas to explore a deeper meaning or trend in ideas and concepts.

During the documentary ‘Virtual Revolution’ it outlined the growth of the web from its routes to the highly complex interconnectivity of groups such as facebook and online social networks. Now I hear you say there may be connectivity but no real value in the way this media is utilised.

But perhaps if we were to explore in a little more detail what is actually happening through the use of the web.

People tend to flick from one site to another scanning maybe a few pages but never really reading in depth. As outlined in the documentary, these characters – labelled as foxes (easy to adapt and learn from little and varied information sources) – still have the ability to learn to a deep extent as do those who emerse themeselves in books (hedge hogs who need to rely on the same information an connections to survive).

When we utilise the social networking spaces we share our ideas thoughts and feelings to a greater audience – just as I am doing now. This thought will be read by others and influence their thought processes that may result in a larger trend spreading to others. There are so many people on this planet that I believe it is almost impossible to have unique thoughts that are truely innovative without someone else thinking along similar lines. The success stories we hear about are the people with the confidence, tenacity and determination and timing to see the idea through until it becomes a success.

Therefore as I am formulating this idea spawned by others ideas – David Bohm and the creators of the documentary, I am influencing and spreading an idea which allows us to share the meaning of this perception. And I’m sure others are thinking in a similar way.

So perhaps as it is seemingly impossible to bring about a group of significant thinkers into a room for the requirements of proper engagement of dialogue over a long period in Bohms true sense of the word, then perhaps a virtual world in the near future can provide similar results.

We are seeing an interconnection of like minded people all over the world. Green or socially similar groups coming together and reading/borrowing/sharing ideas from other web sites and blog pages. The benefits of sharing meaning in this sense is that if a comment is made about a particular issue the reader of that comment has time to digest and consider the route thought process of the idea before responding regardless of whehter they agree or not. Hopefully the reader would also suspend their assumptions whilst considering the comment before adding to the process, whether directly as a reply to the oringinal comment, or indirectly in their own conversations/web uploads. In an ideal world the true understanding of the perspective of the author would be sought before responding.

Now there are obviously many areas for consideration as a persons true meaning in a comment can be misinterpreted so very easily from written text. This may be the danger of this type of process for shared meaning. But just perhaps in a few years we can get passed this. We have gone from telephones and faxes to global connectivity in just 20 years.

Who’s to say we can’t address the areas for improvement in the next 5?

We shape the tools and then the tools shape us.

Einstein said ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them’.

Well we can’t think as we did yesterday because our tools have already changed the way we think so we no longer think as we did yesterday. Could this be the answer to Einsteins statement?

Talk to text, or even thought to text will help to mitigate incorrect interpretation of peoples ideas and comments. and that with current advancements in technology, must be just around the corner.

Then with significant volume of traffic in communication, the underlying trends of feelings for addressing sustainable issues will break through the control vested interest groups and real progress can be made.

Shared meaning

acoulstock — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 11:55:50 +0000

It is apparent that there needs to be significant changes in the major systems that form the workings of our society. There are significant disconnects between young and old, rich and poor, and the gap between people and nature is becoming greater and greater. The trouble is although a large portion of the population knows there is something wrong, it is such a complex issue to deal with that people cannot comprehend what exactly is the issue never mind what the solution is.

David Bohm explains the route of the issue accurately and succinctly in his book, On Dialogue. This essay discusses the inherent built in issue of the human mind viewing paradoxes as problems and as such trying to solve the ‘problem’. He goes on to explain that this is due to the basic psychological functioning of how the primitive brain has developed. When actual fact, due to the problems being paradoxes rather than problems, means we require a different approach. As we typically are not consciously aware of this issue we continue to try to solve the ‘problems’ of the world, which in turn provides more frustration and confusion as the initiatives implemented do not work and potentially confound the situations.

Bohm discusses the use of dialogue in order to span the chasms between different sectors of society, and reconnect humans with the environment in which we live, interact and are part of.

It wasn’t until the 1970′s some say, that the environmental movement was brought about. When the first images of the earth were beamed back from the first space voyages was the realization that the earth was a finite resource in a mass of space. The realization that we, as supposedly the most intelligent life on earth, are causing more damage and destruction than the earth can sustain without severe if not catastrophic collapse of major ecosystems. It is only now, 40 years on, a realization by more than just the scientific community that this is the case, and that if we do not do something then we are in for a rough ride ahead.

A problem is that there is much mis-information out in the media sufficient to cause confusion for those who are easily dissuaded into thinking that they can happily go on with their high consuming lifestyles. The problem is too big for people to comprehend, therefore it freezes people into doing nothing. ‘It’s too big a problem therefore what difference will I make?’ The mis-information is spread by vested interests who perceive they have a significant amount to lose. Little do they realise that if they embrace the change they will as with everyone else be beneficiaries in the changes that they bring about.

Another driver is the ‘shareholder’. How can big businesses be to blame if the masses are happy to buy shares in the successful businesses. Without true transparency in these organisations highlighting the indirect or direct environment damage that equates as a result of the organistations operations, people will be lured into investing in these companies. Again people would rather turn a blind eye and get a piece of the action in these companies than carry out due diligence and invest in an area which meets their true moral ethical values. The rational against the moral decision making process.

The issue is compounded by almost every government of every country, state and sovereignty around the globe promoting the idea that economic growth is good Economic growth is only possible by a larger workforce, greater production and higher use of resources. It is clear that the resources for many industries or processes are depleted, or in the case of food production, the area available for arable land is becoming compromised by pollution, population, and desertification and reduced water supplies.

Each government requires a change of direction in policy, to recognize that continual economic growth is both a) unrealistic and b) unsustainable. But if we dig deeper we see that governments only follow the major trends or desires of the people. Mainly the commercial environment that lobbies, provides party subsidies and generally funds the political systems of many countries around the world. It’s easy to say those global commercial organizations with their huge lobbying power are to blame for the way governments operate. But let’s break this down further.

People have some basic desires; that is food and water, shelter, social connection and sexual/ procreation desires. The capitalist market place allows people to rise above those basic needs and to provide more for themselves than the basics. A runaway effect is now in place due to some creating the ‘seemingly’ enviable position to most of having built the ability for others to work for them and amassing significant material wealth. This is exacerbated by the media which is in turn driven by another basic human drive of curiosity. But the basic desire to have what is perceived that neighbours have (which may actually be missing the basic level of happiness), causes a great many – including me – to trigger the desire to want more for me and my family. We have all heard the saying money can’t buy happiness, but again a basic sense for most people is to experience firsthand everything. Therefore most will not truly believe this saying deep down unless they have experienced both sides of the story. Unfortunately for the majority, it takes skill, tenacity and drive that most do not have to make it materially successful in this life. Not to mention the significant sacrifices required by providing a successful business , that those looking in from the outside do not see. This leaves many striving for this perceived happiness but never attaining it, leading to more frustrations in their life and society as a whole.

The answer as Bohm, so eminently puts it, lies in shared meaning. Through the use of dialogue, we can explore shared meaning. Some of these issues, and barriers could be broken down if only people across sectors of society talked with each other and suspended their assumptions whilst relating in a common narrative.

Book Summary – Plan B3.0 Mobilising to save civilisation, by Lester R. Brown

acoulstock — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:48:52 +0000

Looking at the state of the environment, ecosystems, natural cycles, land management, pollution levels and fisheries, it is clear humanity’s impact on the world is untenable. In this shocking book Lester R. Brown highlights the many locations of the world where people have used unstainable farming techniques, taken too much water from rivers, water tables, polluted the air and run the majority of fisheries to collapse. The deserts are increasing at an unprecedented level, the glaciers melting, population levels are creating pressures not seen before and a significant threat in the future will be from failing states and environmental refugees.

The outlook for the future does not look good unless a significant collaborative effort is undertaken and in record time. Lester R. Brown has provided an answer in this thoroughly researched book that outlines a plan to turn around the destructive processes that are in play today.

Drawing on current technologies, and lessons learnt throughout the world Lester R. Brown builds a comprehensive plan that promotes a credible way to solve the issues and problems that face the world.

Iran’s leader in the 70’s – the Ayatollah Khomeini advocated large families and brought population growth close to the biologic maximum at 4.2%. This brought an enormous burden to the economy, environment and social framework. In 1989 the government did an about face and within 10 years, through major family planning initiatives and improved female literacy, growth rate was slowed to 1.3% just above the U.S level. This is one of the slowest population growth rates in the developing world.

South Korea provides an example of large scale reforestation. After the Korean War the mountainous country was largely deforested. Under the dedicated leadership of the President Park Chung Hee the government launched a reforestation initiative relying on the formation of village cooperatives. Hundreds of thousands of people were mobilised to dig trenches and plant trees on barren mountains. Today over 65% of the country is covered by forest.

A snapper fishery of the coast of New England has seen an increase of snapper 40 fold after a much opposed reserve was imposed. This ultimately prevented the collapse of the fishery and saved many livelihoods depending on these fish stocks.

A Swedish firm, Vattenfall, has calculated that there is 1.86 billion hectares of degraded land in the world – land that was once forest, crop or grassland. They estimate that 930 million hectares can be profitably reclaimed for sequestration and use of timber for production. This would be capable of absorbing 21 billion tons of CO₂ per year.

This book is a wealth of examples and initiatives that will help to get the world back on track, but we need to act now. The cost of this will be sizeable but, Lester R. Brown estimates it as less than 1/6^th of the world’s current military budget per year. With a threat to civilization of the magnitude that climate change is posing we should not wait for governments to lead the way. We all need to look at our own existence and act now.

Alistair Coulstock