Some recipes for a more sustainable lifestyle

One Step Beyond 2010

Energy Recipes

Energy > Cogeneration

In Svanholm community, the wood pellet furnace is coupled to a Stirling engine, which needs a hot source and a cold source to produce electricity. The hot source is the hot water for heating the houses, the cold source is the same water coming back to the circuit when its heat has been transmitted to the houses: it is now cold!

It is only one example of the many technologies available for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation. The idea is to take the maximum benefit of any energy produced!

You will need:– a hot source: hot water– a cold source: cold water– a technician!

At Svanholm the cogenerated electricity is used to charge the batteries of the electric cars of the shared car pool! The technology is sold by Stirling DK

Ovens, furnaces, engines produce heat from the Joule effect. Why not using this heat to produce electricity as well?

Energy > Passive Passive buildings

In Oslo, Frederica Miller (Gaïa Arkitekter) and Andrew Holt (Architectopia) explained us their secrets: good orientation brings natural heat, good isolation keeps the heat in, and a clever disposition of windows naturally ventilates the air inside the building: high windows will be an exit for warm air rising up, giving room for cold air to come in from the bottom.

Isolation and ventilation are actually going together, as the building needs to “breathe!”. Natural materials like wood or strawbale are perfect for that.

You will need:– the sun– a south orientation– a visit to Frederica and Andy

“Passive Passive” stands for “Passive heating and Passive ventilation”. It works fine even in the high latitudes of Scandinavia – so why not trying it?

Imagine a building where heating and ventilation are automatic and free: the sun is taking care of it! We met the architects who design such buildings.

Energy > Retrofit insulation and heating

Cob is a mixture of soil, clay, sand, and straw that dries to a strong finish with high thermal mass, regulating temperature extremes

Cob or bricks made from other materials are a key ingredient in mass stoves, one of the most efficient types available, built by the Danish architect Fleming Abrahamsen.

Strawbale building is complementary to cob, and equally good at providing insulation.

You will need:-Clay, Straw, Sand-Some time and help from friends-Very little money

The ecological inspiration house in Copenhagen shows that it is possible to use natural materials and ecological building in the middle of a large city!

Natural materials are cheap and very convenient to improve the insulation of a house or build heating stoves. We´ve seen great examples in Denmark.

source: byoko.dk

Transport Recipes

Transport > Car Pooling

Munksøgård owns 6 shared cars. The residents pay a membership to the car pooling association (valid in any similar association in Denmark) and a fee per hour and per km.

The insurance and maintenance costs are covered by the car pooling association. The car pool is updated every 3-4 years.

Many of these people living in the suburbs of Copenhagen do not need a car for their daily life. When they do, they just book one!

You will need:– a membership to a car pooling

association– to forget about insurance and repair

Car pooling associations exist everywhere. Check out the nearest one!

The 250 people living in Munksøgård community have only 50 cars in the parking: that is 5 person/car, compared to the average of 2.6 person/car in Denmark...

Transport > Bikes

For the “One Step Beyond” project in the summer 2009 we tried all sorts of bikes. In Suderbyn Ecovillage, a Velomobile: lay down to bike, protected from the rain and the wind in a drop shaped glassfiber roof. In Svanholm, a Christiana bike: put all your family in the wooden box between the two front wheels! In Copenhagen, a Cargo bike able to carry 100 kg!

How to attract more people to bikes? Start by building safe, separated bike lanes instead of installing pick up bikes like in many cities…

You will need:– a bike with lights and a horn– your legs– that’s it!

Many associations collect used bikes and revamp them to sell them for cheap. They also run workshops to help you fix your bike. Check them out !

It is maybe not a surprise, but it is true: bikes are still the ultimate transport solution: cheap, flexible, fast, fun, and clean. Here are our bike stories.

Transport > Go Collective!

In Karlstad, Sweden, every habitation´s kitchen waste is collected, composted and used to power the city busses.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, there is a free, wireless internet connection in all city busses, metro and trains.

We enjoyed so much our time traveling that we tried to edit a movie clip in the ferry boat in Sweden but we all got seasick…

You will need:- kitchen waste- hybrid busses- a convincing mayor in your town

If you can give a second life to your potato skin while surfing on the internet for free, why not reconsidering using collective transports more often?

Bus, ferry boat and trains are so convenient…and cheap! The 1300 km we travelled costed us only 0.10 € / person/ km. Try to compete with that!

Waste Recipes

Waste > Compost, Separating Toilet

By mixing feces and urine with clean drinking water, we are wasting two precious resources: water, and nutrients which could be put back into the food chain and used as fertilizer.

Separating toilets separates urine from feces before composting both. In Utsikten ecovillage, they are sold to local farmers. The toilets use a centrifuge and UV treatments. Simpler technologies can be used: a separating toilet seat, a Gerry can for urine and a bucket for feces, like in Suderbyn ecovillage.

When compared to the price of a septic system installation, a composting toilet system is anywhere from 25-75% less expensive.

You will need:- a separating seat/ centrifuge system- a composting unit- a garden to use your fertilizers

The waste from water toilets represents 90% of the individual household’s pollution. A flush toilet uses as much as 100,000 liters of water a year.

We’ve been brought up to think that the water closet is the most modern and hygienic solution to treating our human waste. Here is another point of view…

Waste > Rain water collection

On the top of one of the 5 community houses in Munksøgård, the roof is covered with blue mussels shells.

The shells are trapping air to provide insulation, and trapping water when it´s raining: the water run-off is slowed down, and the water harvest improved.

All the gutters lead to a tank where the rainwater is collected. Then the water is mechanically filtered and ready to be used in the shared washing machines. Having 1 machine for 3 households saves electricity as well!

You will need:- a roof with gutters- a tank connected to the gutters- a filter connected to the tank

When resources are falling from the sky, why not harvesting them?

In Munksøgård community, rain water is harvested and used in shared washing machines. Such a simple idea - why is not more common then?

COMING SOON !!

Waste > Compost

Food Recipes

Food > Green Roofs

The first motivation to growing plants on a building roof is to absorb the storm waters from important rainfall. The plants also provide natural insulation, cooling the warm air rising inside the building, as well as protecting from UVs. In addition, complete ecosystems can be recreated to host species losing their habitat at the ground level.

Soil is disposed on top of a curly net and a drainage mat. Depending on the strength of the building, the soil layer can be 2 to 15 cm thick: 5 cm is good enough for chives, 10 cm for strawberries!

You will need:– a drainage mat (made of

recycled car seats in Malmö!)– a net to keep the soil in place– soil, seeds and 2 min. to pick

up the strawberries!

Visit the Augustenborgs Botanical Roof Garden to learn everything about green roofs!

A Roof is much more than a Roof! In Malmö there is a real botanical garden on a roof demonstrating new uses for a roof – like growing Strawberries…

Food > Herb Spiral

Mark off a circle with a 2m diameter. Collect stones and bricks to build up a spiral to 0.5m height. Your spiral will probably wrap around about three times.

All your cooking herbs (Thyme, Rosemary, Mint, Chives, Basil, Sage, etc.) will grow happily there, with an easy access, some shady spots, natural water flow and heat from the stones.

We built a herb spiral during our stay in Suderbyn ecovillage – read more on the construction here

You will need: -Materials good for stacking: rocks,

bricks, old cement -Sand and Soil

Build it as close as possible to your kitchen!

Grow your herbs upward – this one spiral bed gives much more growing space, and a variety of climate conditions (dry, wet, shaded, sunny).

Food > Horse shoe

Build an earthen horse shoe shape oriented south to focus the sun's heat and provide a shelter from strong winds.

Plant inside and on the horse shoe: the natural slope will ease the watering and seeding.

Over time, the horse shoe will fill in with vegetation, and the area protected by them will benefit.

Together with the herb spiral, the horse shoe is a classic of Permaculture, a branch of agriculture interested in sustainable and self-sufficient ecosystems.

Adapt the horse shoes size to your needs. In Suderbyn, the aim is to feed several households with the vegetable production. The more the merrier!

In Suderbyn ecovillage, earth mounts shaped like horse shoes are providing the plants with wind shelter and warm pockets. A simple and beautiful recipe!

You will need: -Earth-moving equipment -Seeds and Seedlings -Some Patience...

Social Recipes

SOCIAL > Sharing a meal

All the communities we visited are sharing some meals. In addition to the social aspect of eating together, it is a simple way to create a lot of free time.

In Hurdal ecovillage, the evening meals are taken together. 2-3 people cook for 15 – 20, but only once a week, and are free the other evenings. And if someone doesn´t feel like eating with the others, he can still eat the “collective food”…at home!

You will need:– friends, family, neighbours,…– delicious yet simple food– a nice table with solid chairs

The question “What will I cook tonight?” becomes “What will I do with my free time when someone else is cooking for me ?”

Sharing a meal also means you can cook less often. In Svanholm community, you would cook only once a month and be free the rest of the time!

COMING SOON !!

Social > Working groups

COMING SOON !!

Social > Common House

Some recipes for a more sustainable lifestyle

One Step Beyond 2010