Button-Up Notes

John Ashton, of Ashton Thermal, gave a powerpoint presentation and showed samples of insulation and air sealing materials.

Here are margin notes from the presentation and questions:

• It is usually not desirable to insulating heating pipes. Insulate hot and cold domestic water pipes with foam -- its a generic product so it does not matter what brand you use. Miter the corners and tape with Typar tape.
• It is not usually advisable to insulate between a basement and the first floor. Do seal and insulate the sill & foundation joint.
• Only wrap electric hot water tanks. Combustion-heated tanks should generally not be wrapped. Venting and fire safety are the issue.
• Conditioned space relative humidity should be not more than 35% in the winter. Close a basement in the summer to prevent moisture condensation. Open it during dry autumn days.
• Front-loading washers are very effective and use little water. Use cold water wash and the correct detergent.
• Take care to properly seal chimney penetrations with the correct fire-resistant materials and high temperature caulk.
  

Suggested Suppliers:

• Jerihill Hardware
  
• Sticks & Stuff
  
• efi.org
  

Get an Energy Audit!

Additional Information

Auditors:
www.efficiencyvermont.com/homeperformance

DIY tips:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/publications/pubdocs/DIY_Guide_May_2008.pdf

Tax Credits:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits

Tight Done Right:
http://www.efficiencyvermont.com/pages/BBBD2004/docs/Hamilton%20&%20Hulstrunk%20-%20Tight%20Done%20Right.pdf

Yestermorrow

Yestermorrow is a leading institution for learning about the design-build process -- with energy and environmental awareness.

View the course offerings at yestermorrow.org

Thank You

Thank you to the many businesses and volunteers who helped organize Energy Night and Energy Day: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Underhill Country Store, Price Chopper, Cathy McNamara, Rob Sleamaker, Dan Clayton, Sally Duval. Rebecca Schwarz installed her Tower of Power and John Koier, Maura Duval, Courtney Rose, Matt Thompson, and John Treybal created projects for Energy Night. Bob Murphy and George Hoguet gave valuable presentations, while Efficiency Vermont, Firefly Solar Store, Union Bank and Spafford & Sons exhibited during Energy Day. Thank you all for making it fun and interesting.

See you at Button-Up Day, 10:00-12 noon October 18 at Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.

-- The Underhill Energy Committee: Tom Moore, Irene Linde, Roger Frey, Peter Duval, Shelley Jurkiewicz, Jerry Adams, Bob Murphy.

UPDATED 14 October 2008: The site of Button-Up Day has been changed to Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.

Hold the Carbon, Please

Here is the song that George Hoguet sang at the end of his Underhill Energy Day presentation.

Hold the Carbon, Please …………..George Hoguet 12/2006.

(to the tune of The Weight by J.R.Robertson. Album: Music from Big Pink
© 1968, 1970 Dwarf Music

G Bm C G

CO2 is rising, the temperature's beginning to climb;

Bm C G

the oceans soon will follow, wreaking havoc on all mankind.

Bm C G

Polar bears and coral are already feeling the heat,

Bm C G

And 200 species a day are dying at my feet.

(chorus)

G D C G D C

Take a load off the Planet, Take a load off please,

G D C G D C G C

Take a load off the Planet, and get below -2.3!

Fanny, can you tell me how we pumped up this CO2?
We're at 20 tons per person in this land of Red, White & Blue
Call the cops, pull all the stops, get your Congressman on the line,
We need to get below 2.3 to help save all of mankind.
(chorus)

Never understood this tune the first time it came around.

Some guys going to Nazareth, but it had a really cool sound.

Now it's tons of carbon, and we're toking those fossil fuels.

We've got 6 billion ship mates and we're acting like fossil fools.

(chorus)

I'm doing my best to get myself down below 2.3;

Tons of CO2 that is from all my living needs.

These boots are made for walking, not driving a big SUV,

I'll shut the light, set the thermostat right, gonna get myself carbon free.

(chorus)

Take a load off the Planet, Take a load off please,
Take a load off the Planet, and get below (3x)- 2.3!

Recent Press

On the front page of the August 21, 2008 Mountain Gazette, Ted Tedford wrote Underhill to hold energy fair

In the Community section of the September 11, 2008 Burlington Free Press, Joel Banner Baird wrote about how Underhill Energizes with Weekend Festival

More BYO Projects

Energy Night is fast approaching, but there is still plenty of opportunity to get involved. While many fun things are scheduled, the event will be vastly improved with addition of your project -- whatever it is: music, sculpture, research poster, constructed machine, poem, etc.

Any group, or individual can participate. No registration. No fees. No age limits... No one will be turned away! Just show up and show off your project.

Earlier, we gave some Bring Your Own Project suggestions.

Here are some more ideas:

Sculpt some sculpture

Paint a painting

Make a solar pizza box oven (s'mores, meringue cookies)

Make a dutch oven sized solar oven (stews & soups)

Make a solar marshmallow roaster

Build a parabolic trough cooker (hot dogs, marshmallows)

Construct a solar ice-maker

Make a sundial
http://www.sundials.co.uk/projects.htm

Explain how a digital sundial works

Write a poem

Sing a song

Elbow Rocket Stove Number 1

While strolling through the yard at Recycle North's Building Materials Center, I spied some double wall stove pipe. Three pieces were $5; I didn't haggle. This is nice stuff: a heat resistant stainless steel inner liner, suspended inside a galvanized outer wall. There was a good sized pile, with plenty of elbows -- the critical component of a rocket stove.

For the first firing, I found a piece of stainless sheet in a scrap bucket and hammered a fold to make it fit in the pipe as a fuel shelf. Three concrete blocks arranged on end provided a prop for the elbow and a support for the cooking pot, a brick underneath raised the pipe close to the bottom of the pot.

The second firing added a short section of regular stove pipe to lengthen the vertical flue. A few extra bricks were needed to support the cooking pot at the right height. We roasted hot dogs on skewers, made s'mores, pan fried hamburgers and popped popcorn using perhaps 2 kilograms of wood, finely split poplar and some apple branches and twigs. Once the fire was started (using dry leaves and a couple of used paper towels), the fire burned hot and clean. The fire was easy to douse with water.

This photograph shows the onion shaped refractory fireplace that we have used in the past for the same sort of meal. We would have used three or four times as much fuel and it would have taken careful tending to keep the fire going.

This version does a reasonable job of satisfying the Ten Stove Design Principles. Its shortcomings can be resolved: lack of insulationg around the combustion chamber and flue, and uncontrolled flow around the cook pot. I am going to keep this prototype. It is portable, the construction is visible, and it is a significant improvement over the fireplace.
In the next generation based on this double wall elbow, I would replace the flue extension with an integrated pot skirt and make three metal pot supports that would slip onto the liner pipe. The air gap would be filled with perlite or vermiculite, and the whole thing would sit on a bike rim layed horizontally and cobbed together to ballast the stove. Sections of the bike rim would be exposed as carrying handles.

Design Principles for Wood Burning Cook Stoves is a nice reference. Read all about rocket stoves at the Aprovecho Research Center's Publications & Reports. Two videos illustrate the original Aprovecho Rocket Stove and its predecessor, the VITA Stove.

Kids enjoy chasing popcorn popping in an open pan. Note the unpopped kernels and drops of hot oil that are flying out of the pan. We'll take care to use less cooking oil next time.

Cycle the Tower of Power

Rebecca Schwarz's Cycle the Tower of Power sculpture will be on display at Energy Night, which starts at 5:30, 12 September at the Underhill Town Hall.

Cycle the Tower of Power harness the power of three cyclist to energize elements of the sculpture. Come ready to ride, and bring your bike!

Meeting Minutes, Underhill Energy Committee 26 Aug 2008

DRAFT
Underhill Energy Committee

Meeting Minutes ,7:00 p.m. August 26, 2008

Members Present: Tom Moore, Irene Linde, Jerry Adams(7:45), Peter Duval.

Guest: Roger Frei

7:25 p.m.

Call to Order

Energy Day/Night

Members gave updates on their activities in preparation up to the event.

Tom is organizing the Energy Fair. An announcement was placed in the
St. Thomas church bulletin.

Jerry is organizing the recruitment of volunteers and identification
of persons who will need help this winter. He has a booth plan, with
cards to fill in for contacts, which go in sap buckets.

Irene is working on supplies and food. Compostable

Peter is working on the Energy Night activities and a bookmark/program
to promote the events. Kid films, potluck, energy projects, more
films. The more people who show up, the more food, projects, and
organizing help will be available. The bookmark will be distributed
to Underhill schools and Rawson Library.

We discussed the budget, and arrived at $250 for the whole event:

$70 Energy Night (DVDs)

$30 Bookmarks

$100 Energy Day Food

$40 Speakers Gift

$10 Contingency

Recruitment

Roger Frei discussed his interest in being a member of the Energy
Committee.

Motion: Tom Nominated Roger Frei to the open position on the
committee. Irene seconded. Passed unanimously.

Button-Up Vermont

Button-up Vermont is asking for local organizers for their do-it-
yourself efficiency/weatherization project training program. Tom will
contact Button-up to begin arranging for the training date..

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be 7:00 p.m. September 9, at the Town Hall
Kitchen.

8:35 p.m.

Motion: Gerry moved to adjourn. Seconded by Irene. Motion passed
unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter Duval

Read and Approved as submitted/amended

___________________________________________________________

Tom Moore, Chair Date

BYO Project Ideas

During Energy Night there will be demonstrations and displays of interesting energy projects. We will be popping popcorn on a rocket stove, tasting some solar-baked beans, and seeing the projects designed by you.

Here are some ideas:

Cooking

• Rocket Stove: There are many different designs. search YouTube for "Rocket Stove", or get started by looking at the videos on the underhillenergy channel.
  

aprovecho.org
stoversource.com

• Twig Stoves, which might also be called Rocket Stoves. Again, search YouTube.

• Solar Oven. Here again, there are many variations. The basic cardboard box stove seems to be the most cost-effective. Can you cook meringue cookies in a pizza box version of the solar oven?

• Solar Hot Dog Cooker

solarcooking.org
solarovens.org

Mechanical

• Kites and other flying things
  
• Pinwheels, Wind driven machines
  

Posters, Reports

• How does the Town Pond work?
• How does the Trash Sticker work?

Energy Night and Day

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 28, 2008

Contact: Peter Duval, 899-1132, underhillenergycommittee@gmail.com

UNDERHILL ENERGY NIGHT AND DAY

Energy Night
Have you built a "twig stove" -- a lightweight wood gasifying camp stove made from a couple of metal cans? Did you write a research paper about recycling? Perhaps you know how to bake cookies using a pizza box, aluminum foil, bubble wrap and a bit of sunshine. Or, maybe you authored a pleasant poem about anaerobic digestion. You are invited to bring your energy project -- whatever it is -- to Energy Night, Friday, September 12 at the Underhill Town Hall.

Energy Night is a film fest, potluck supper and project display. It begins at 5:30 with some short animated films, "The Energy Carol" and "What on Earth".

At 6:00, we break for an hour of potluck and project demonstrations. Help fire up the rocket stove to cook some fresh popcorn. Taste the solar bean stew, slow-cooked in a solar box oven. Crank up a human-powered generator. Measure your power output on a rowing ergometer.

Around 7:00 the film fest continues with the themes of human power and energy. See some excellent films, including "Return of the Scorcher" and "We are Traffic," about bicycle culture and history. After the movies, hurry home to sleep so that you are wide awake for Energy Day.



Energy Day
Saturday, September 13. At 9:00 AM, George Hoguet will talk about climate change from a local perspective. Doughnuts and coffee provided.

At 10:30, Bob Murphy will explain Efficiency Vermont and the incentives that are available for energy efficiency projects.

11:30-1:00 There will be an Energy Fair, with exhibits by contractors and retailers, including The Solar Store and Bugbee Insulation.

Remember to buy a composter at the Town Clerk's Office; proceeds support the Underhill Energy Committee and this free event. For more information, google "underhillenergycommittee", email underhillenergycommittee@gmail.com, or call 899-1132.

Composter Sale

Available now at the Underhill Town Hall...

The Soilsaver Classic Composter.  

It is a really good deal at $50.

Proceeds support the Underhill Energy Committee.

Energy Day: Think Global, Act Local!

Energy Day, Saturday, 13 September
9:00-10:15
George Hoguet, "Think Global, Act Local!"
10:30-11:15
Bob Murphy, "Saving Money Through Energy Efficiency"
11:30-1:00
Energy Fair (tables and booths)

All events at Underhill Town Hall.

Click the poster image to download a printable .pdf file.






Our Keynote speaker is George Hoguet, who will be speaking about climate change, our local contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, and local action that can be taken to reduce emissions.

George F. Hoguet
Director of Product Marketing
NativeEnergy, Inc

Mr. Hoguet is located at NativeEnergy’s headquarters in Vermont, where he is responsible for strategic planning and developing and managing the company’s product and service offering. In August 2007, he relocated from Pennsylvania where he was developing the market for renewable energy from animal waste on family dairy farms.

George holds a BSEE from the University of Dayton, Ohio, and worked in the electrical power and controls industry from the 1970’s - 1990’s advancing from field sales engineer through Director of Marketing roles. In 2001, he shifted into the environmental field as Coordinator for the Million Solar Roofs and Cool Pennsylvania programs.

He is a member of The Climate Project, the 1000 U.S. trained presenters for Al Gore’s slideshow from the film, An Inconvenient Truth, and has been a member of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, Penn Environment, and a Steering Committee member of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

Energy Night Film Fest

Friday, 12 September 2008
Tentative schedule...
5:30-6:00 Kid-friendly films
6:00-7:00 Potluck
7:00-10:00 Increasingly adult films

Our film fest will feature films with energy and human power themes. There will be some audience choice.

Some likely titles include:

"What on Earth", a 9-minute animation in the form of a Martian naturalist interpreting the behavior of earth creatures;
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=10502

"Automania"
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=31051

"The Energy Carol"
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=31051

"Energy and Matter"
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=11369

"Return of the Scorcher", a bike culture and invention film;
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105248/ http://www.tedwhitegreenlight.com/

"Velorution: One City's Solution to the Automobile"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118067/


"Global Warming Collection"
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=54219


Add you recommendations as a comment to this post.

Underhill Energy Day

Underhill Energy Day will be held at the Underhill Town Hall,

 Saturday 13 September 2008.