Green Daly Team:

Here is a copy of the schematic that came out of our site meeting with Bud (Potential Excavator).

Jeff

Minutes – Conference Call July 16th

8:30-8:50 a.m.

Kevin, Jeff, Hans & Emmanuelle

The front door will be installed Thursday.  The blower test could be scheduled with Chad shortly after.

Hans will contact a solar installer from Vail to obtain another bid.

Cameron, John, Jeff, and Lisa will meet on Monday, July 27^th and 28^th 

^{to design/review the water-catchment and grey-water systems.}

 

 

Minutes – Conference Call July 9th

Conference call July 9th, 8:30 -10:30a.m.

Michael, Jeff, John & Emmanuelle

Survey

The survey will cost about $3,000-3, 500 and will be conducted next Monday and Tuesday, and electronic files provided the following Monday (1foot contour).  The survey areas include the hill around the 1^st infiltration gallery, around the wetlands, above the driveway where the geo fields might be located, the eastern side of the drainage ditch for water catchment purposes –from the cul de sac down the drainage, and around the aspen grove to the east end of where the solar array will be.

Aquaculture Tank

Gerome thinks that a 30inch deep tank will be sufficient to do aquaculture.

Michael believes that the tank will need to be drained and cleaned only every 3 years, and can be done manually by scooping everything out and carrying the slush in buckets to the planting beds.

The fish tank should never smell as the plants and fish balance every thing out.

Constructed wetlands

In drought when water has not be harvested much, we might have the option to manually pump the overflow up from the wetland. A tank below the wetland can be fed by gravity and drain with a spigot in the summer. 

Could the water also be used in the winter if pipes are buried low enough?

Water filtering area:

Behind the aquaculture tank, the rectangular area could be utilized for a filtration system inside the green house (the recessed area is about 4’ by 10’ and 30’’ deep; whereas the tank is 5’ by 17’ and 30’’deep). John suggested using a pond filter kit with a vertical flow constructed wetland and preassembled pump and filter, as in an aquarium.

The area is also sufficient to do a loop system that will keep the tank fresh.  A water feature/fountain could be installed with an aerator using the concept of a natural pool/waterfall with trickling water, which would also sound very nice!

The 4 by 10 area could be segmented, a portion for the waterfall, the other to filter ammonia and fish waste. The pump could be run by a separate solar panel, which would run only when the sun is out, and therefore not interfere with the house electric load.

Michael plans for the tank to have a rubber liner from Growing Spaces. John is also looking at using a spray-on material to line the tank, which can also be used on the green roof.

Climate Battery

The climate batteries transfer energy from the air to the soil beds, including the deeper soil bed under the mezzanine. The color-coated tubes refer to elevation; the yellow tube will be placed first, then backfilled, then the green tubes, the turquoise tubes, etc.  The red tubes go from an intake to an outtake riser with a fan.  In order for the system needs to be balanced, the tubing should not exceed 35 feet to avoid loosing too much heat and moisture.

We will probably use tubing with a mesh cover to avoid soil infiltration, particularly fine sandy soils.

The sound impact from the vents will not be bad- a larger exhaust manifold will reduce the sound.  Generally the fans in the summer will function earlier than in other seasons; we want the fans to turn on and come up to 45F and then when temperature passes 55F, to go down. 

Michael is in the process of revising the views. He will reduce tubing under the mezzanine, add more tubes between west planting beds and mezzanine, and simplify the design and color code.

Irrigation System

The irrigation system will be connected to tap water on an irrigation timer, with valves corresponding to different zones, and will also be tied to supplemental water.

The water catchment system will capture water from the driveway, roof and eastern portion of the property behind the garage. A storage tank out of the septic tank into the wetland infiltration gallery will also provide supplemental water for

irrigation and green house purposes.

Both systems should be connected and overflowing addressed.

A small gravity tank inside the greenhouse could be useful.

Action Items

1. John will keep us updated with his is research on a “green liner” to be used for the tank and for the wetlands.

2. Michael will provide irrigation schematic (details on layout of drip line to be provided by Lisa or Gerome later).

Michael will post a revised design of the climate batteries to view before next conference call.

 

 

 

 

Climate Battery Views

There is a bit of fine-tuning we'll do before we document the tubing layout for the Construction Documents this month, but here are a few views of where the layout is at the moment:

Minutes - Conference call July 07

Conference Call 07-02-09  8:30-9:30a.m.

Kevin, Amy, Jeff, Brent, Michael, Hans & Emmanuelle

Climate Batteries:

Michael has almost completed the climate batteries design, which will require a 12 inch exhaust riser in the island bed or in the floor of the mezzanine with a grate on top so that is doesn’t stick up (Marilyn style!).

Jeff and Michael have visited about the design for a 5feet deep aquaculture, which would require a deeper foundation.  A 30-inch deep tank might be sufficient for a variety of fish species, and the tank is far enough in that it does not get much direct sun and would not overheat.

Insulation:

The house is completely sealed up apart from 2 garage doors, which Hans will insulate while he installs the front door -which should arrive july17th and be ready to install the last week of July.

Chad could come to do a blower door test at the end of July or August 1^st.

Geothermal/Solar:

Brent completed a new energy simulation taking into account all suggestions to shave electrical usage on geothermal equipment, lights -with Ledtronics bulb replacement-, and eliminating the 2 wine units, hot tub, appliances, cutting almost 10,000kw and bringing down the array to 15,000k dual axis.

Brent was able to shave 3-4,000kw with the geo equipment by using a better heat pump and compressor. The simulation does not include any load reduction from the tighter existing envelope.

Brent sent Ledtronics led lamps to Jeff to compare spectrum, color, wattage and luminosity.

Brent thinks that the soils’ values will be within 5 to 10% of estimated values. The final design will be easy to adjust by eliminating a hole or half loop.

The attic has an average of 12inches of cellulose insulation, which provides an R43 value and would not significantly reduce heating loads by adding insulation. Later improvements of electronic equipment might lower the load by 100 to 1,000kw but will not have a large impact.

We need to look at the infrastructure required to go to a battery backup system as a future option –location, size and cost.

Scheduling:

Hans thinks that it is realistic to schedule the foundation for early fall, and thinks it would be beneficial to move forward with construction asap while prices are competitive and contractors are available.

Jeff also thinks that the upstairs should be closed in before winter. The green house should also go up fairly quickly, and could be built soon after.

We should try to obtain bids from 3 different contractors for each major system supplier as soon as plans are finalized.

Watercatchment:

Two large water catchment storage tanks from the southern wetland area and one in the upper area could be installed, with the option to pump from the lower to the upper tank. Runoff from a variety of contaminated sources such as the driveway could also be filtered by an additional filtration pool next to the aquaculture system.

The design and planning for water catchment and heat sink tanks to be coordinated simultaneously in order to maximize excavation time and use of space.

Brent is planning for a 3 to 400gallon tank containing water for the solar thermal system, which could be stored in the mechanical room.  This tank could be as small as 100 gallons.  Final calculations should allow us to determine the optimal size.

Polycarbonate:

Jeff is in the process of restructuring the green house with 32mm panels, which will provide U-Value of .25 and a VLT of 73% –While 40mm has a U-Value of .19 and a VLT of 71%, it is not available in the US.

Action Items:

1. Michael will ask Gerome about the depth of the tank necessary to have several kind of fish. How much more life could it sustain?

2. Jeff will get with Michael Ehrlich and determine the difference in cost between 5’ or 30’’ deep tank.

3. Hans will try to expediate the shipping and installation of the 3point lock on the front door.

4. Hans will price Ledtronics lightbulbs and research rep in the area.

5. Amy and Kevin will look at Ledtronics light sample upon return.

6. Brent and Susan will provide parameters and estimates for a battery bank.

7. Brent and Hans will coordinate to schedule 2^nd blower door test with Chad asap.

8. Emmanuelle and Lisa will schedule for a site visit to design water catchment system mid-July, and provide an estimate for wetland construction system.

9.  Hans/Brent/Jeff will start selecting contractors and obtain 3 bids as soon as survey is obtained and each project design is finalized.

Thanks for the review Jeff!

Agenda Weekly Conference Call 07.02.09 8:30 a.m.

1. Update from Brent on geothermal, LED Lighting, solar thermal, etc.
2.            Update from Jeff on conversation regarding water catchment and grey water systems with Cameron and John, and structural progress.
3.       Update from Michael on subterranean mechanical system. 
4.       Misc.

Action steps from Weekly conference call 06.25.09

Brent needs to finalize the geo numbers to make sure the field fits.

 Find competitive geothermal contractors and equipment.

 Look at Ledtronics led bulbs.

Jeff is pricing the structure including the cost of 25 and 45mm polycarbonate panels.

John, Cameron, Lisa and Emmanuelle will start to design the rain water system.

John, Lisa and Emmanuelle will provide a proposal for the constructed wetland septic system.

Action Steps from 06.26.09

Conversation with John Grove, Cameron Scott, Jeff Gerber, Lisa Benjamin

1.  Jeff will coordinate and modify a 1' contour scaled survey of existing conditions and add in proposed structure and grading so we have a model to work with

2. John and Cameron will coordinate on the hydraulic systems

3. The water and enegry component will be looked at by all