Does Ida Rose think we should “blow up” our current education system? Mark Brodie, co-host of The Show on KJZZ (NPR in Phoenix) wanted to know! Find out what Ida Rose had to say about that in her recent interview with Mark.
What does evolutionary biologist and popular play advocate Dr. Peter Gray think about The End of Education as We Know It? If you haven’t yet read Peter’s foreword to The End of Education, check it out in this recent Substack letter. He beautifully describes how differentiating between complexity and complication can help us better understand how education as we know it harms learners and what we can do instead.
Nestled in the stunning landscapes of Northern Arizona, our passive solar home is designed to thrive in a region where municipal water supply is absent, and drilling a well is impractical and costly. As people that value sustainable living, we’ve embraced rainwater harvesting as our primary water source, turning the challenge of scarce resources into an opportunity for self-sufficiency. We also conserve the precious water we collect. Our showers have built in timers, and we use low-flow faucets and dual flush toilets. We also have a HydroLoop residential greywater recycling system that you can read about below.
Why Consider Rainwater Harvesting Even with Municipal Water Supply?
Rainwater harvesting isn’t just for off-grid homesteads. Even in areas served by municipal water, establishing a rainwater harvesting system is advantageous:
Mitigation of Municipal Failures: In recent years significant municipal water supply failures due to lead contamination and aging infrastructure have left neighborhoods and even entire cities without clean, potable water. By harvesting rainwater, you can ensure a reliable source of water.
Natural Disaster Preparedness: Water supply systems are particularly vulnerable during natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes. An onsite rainwater catchment, storage, and treatment system provides peace of mind, ensuring water availability during emergencies.
Enhanced Fire Protection: A substantial onsite water supply enables property owners to safeguard their homes and provide first responders with additional water resources during fire emergencies.
Components of Our Rainwater Harvesting System
With over 4,000 square feet of metal roofing, our home captures precious rainwater, supplemented by collection from outbuildings that support our micro farm. Our state-of-the-science water harvesting, storage, and purification system ensures that we have a reliable domestic water source. We treat our harvested rainwater using a multi-stage filtration process, including sediment and carbon filters, followed by UV treatment, making it safe for all household needs.
Metal Roofing: Our system begins with a metal roof, the ideal choice for potable rainwater harvesting. Unlike asphalt or treated wood shingles that may introduce harmful chemicals, metal roofing allows for clean water collection, minimizing contaminants in our water supply.
Strategic Water Collection: Equipped with six-inch gutters, our collection system efficiently captures rainwater from all roof surfaces. During Arizona’s monsoon season—from mid-June through September—intense storms can deliver significant rainfall quickly. Larger gutters prevent overflow and optimize our water capture during these critical periods.
Ample Water Storage: Given the cyclical drought conditions in our region, our water storage system is designed to hold a minimum six-month supply. With nine connected cisterns, we store approximately 23,000 gallons of water, ensuring we are well-prepared for dry spells.
By harnessing the power of rainwater, we not only tackle the challenges of our beautiful but arid environment, but also contribute to sustainable living and water conservation. Join us in embracing this eco-friendly solution and discover the benefits of rainwater harvesting today!
We’ve installed 6″ gutters that maximize water capture during heavy seasonal monsoon rains.
Rainwater whole house water filtration and purification system.
Greywater Recycling: Making Every Drop Count – Twice
On our sustainable homestead, we embrace innovative water conservation practices to create a thriving ecosystem. Our commitment to water sustainability is guided by two Simple Rules:
Reuse Water: We maximize the use of every drop, ensuring that most of our water supply is used more than once.
Conserve Resources: We don’t flush poop with drinking water. We time our showers. We turn off water while brushing our teeth or washing our hands.
At the heart of our approach is greywater recycling. We employ two effective approaches:
The Hydraloop System: Utilizing cutting-edge technology from The Netherlands, the Hydraloop reduces potable water use by up to 40%. This advanced greywater recycling machine transforms water from showers, baths, and laundry into clean, non-potable water suitable for toilet flushing, laundry, and irrigation. You can learn more about HydroLoop on their website: https://www.hydraloop.com
Greywater Irrigation: Greywater from our bathroom sinks and overflow from the HydroLoop is directed to irrigate a variety of plants, including fruit trees, berry bushes, and edible perennials.
Learn more about how we make every drop count – more than once! Check back regularly as we add resources to support your journey to water-wise living.
At Red Lake Valley Regenerative Homestead we are committed to harnessing solar energy through our advanced photovoltaic (PV) solar generation system, also known as “active solar.” Our system efficiently converts sunlight into electricity, drastically reducing our reliance on external power sources.
System Overview
Our PV solar system was installed in two phases:
Phase One: We began with the installation of 12 high-efficiency 365-watt monocrystalline solar panels, utilizing Bluetti batteries and inverters for temporary energy storage.
Phase Two: Two years later we expanded our system by adding 36 400-watt bi-facial monocrystalline solar panels, bringing our total to 48 panels with a maximum capacity of just under 19 kW. Bifacial panels collect sunlight from both sides of the panel – both the side facing the sun and the side facing the ground, capturing the sun’s energy that reflects off surfaces beneath the panels.
This comprehensive setup features a storage capacity of 27 kWh, sufficient to power all our domestic electrical needs, including our two electric vehicles.
Sustainable Living Goals
Our vision for this robust solar system is to achieve energy self-sufficiency by utilizing the energy generated on our land, eliminating reliance on external power sources that require expensive and vulnerable infrastructure, and often use ancient fuels for electricity generation.
While our system primarily operates independently, it is also a hybrid setup, connected to the grid as a backup. This grid tie-in not only ensures a secondary power source, if needed, but also allows any excess energy we produce to flow back into the local grid. This feature is particularly beneficial for stabilizing the electrical infrastructure in our neighborhood, which often experiences outages, especially during colder months.
By investing in our photovoltaic solar generation system, we are taking a proactive step towards living sustainably and contributing positively to our community’s energy resilience.
Designed by Thad Johnson of Solar Terra (Williams, AZ) and built by Isaac Page of Bristlecone Builders (Flagstaff, AZ), our home is designed to stay cool in summer and warm in winter. Our passive solar home design incorporates a variety of features that enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. Some key elements include:
Orientation, Window Placement, and U Values: The house is oriented with the longest side facing south, maximizing exposure to sunlight, which is crucial for winter heating. Strategic window placement allows for maximum solar gain in the winter and minimizes heat entry in the summer. Further, our south-facing windows have low U-values that allow for high solar heat gain, something we needed special permitting permission to do. The south-facing walls are tall, accommodating clerestory windows that allow light all the way to the back (north) side of the interior in chilly winter months.
Sustainable Building Materials: The use of insulating composite concrete forms (ICCF) blocks, made from recycled materials, contributes to the home’s resilience and sustainability. Manufactured by The Perfect Block in Gilbert, AZ, these blocks provide excellent insulation and are resistant to fire, storms, and earthquakes.
Thermal Mass: Materials that absorb, store, and evenly distribute heat help regulate indoor temperatures by absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night. Our home has concrete floors throughout, and several concrete block walls strategically placed to act as thermal mass. The ICCF block walls also capture, store, and distribute heat.
Shading and Overhangs: Overhangs provide shade during the summer months, reducing cooling needs by preventing excessive sunlight from entering the house. The size and placement of the overhangs also allows sunlight to penetrate the south-facing windows in winter and are strategically placed so that sunlight heats up the concrete floors and thermal mass block walls.
White Metal Roof: Although a gray roof might enhance our home’s aesthetic appeal, a white roof offers significant benefits in terms of energy efficiency. Its high reflectivity can lower indoor temperatures up to seven degrees, which is particularly advantageous during the summer months, potentially reducing cooling costs and improving comfort. Installing a metal roof allows us to harvest rainwater and snowmelt (see my January 16 post on rainwater harvesting).
Airtight Building Envelope and Insulation: Creating an airtight seal and using highly rated insulation ensures that our home maintains its temperature, reducing the need for additional heating or cooling.
Passive solar design orients the longest dimension of the house so that it faces south and strategically places many windows on the south side to capture solar heat in the winter. Long overhangs on the southside shade windows in summer. The white metal roof reflects summer heat, keeping the home cool when it the hot summer sun shines on the roof all day.
Inside the house several block walls provide additional thermal mass.
The large windows on the southside plus the clerestory windows up high allow light to penetrate all the way to the back (north) wall of the building, reducing the need for electrical lighting during the day, and keeping the main living spaces of the house warm even in winter.
A solid concrete floor acts as thermal mass throughout the house helping to regulate indoor temperature even in extreme outdoor weather conditions.
The ICCF is reinforced with rebar both vertically and horizontally before it is filled with concrete. The walls create a building highly resilient to wind, fire, and pests, while also providing one of the highest wall insulation values available.
