The Tiny Life

I from time to time go over to the local botanical garden and do a little work while sitting among the several acres of greenscape.  This company tops that, with having it right there and encouraging its employees to work there.

At a presentation at its Arkansas headquarters, mega-retailer Walmart announced a significant new sustainability goal for its supply chain: Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from the life cycle of its products by 20 million metric tons (22 million US tons) by 2015–a figure roughly equal to the company’s current annual emissions, and about one and a half times the company’s projected carbon footprint growth in the same time period.  This is similar to 2.3 million cars worth of pollution.

In doing so it has collaborated with the Environmental Defense Fund, and with ClearCarbon Inc., the Carbon Disclosure Project, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the University of Arkansas’ Applied Sustainability Center to verify GHG reduction claims.

In determining which product categories to focus on first, Walmart SVP of Sustainability Matt Kistler said:

Over the next five years we’re going to be focusing on certain categories, certain businesses where the biggest opportunity exists, where it’s the most efficient, and most cost-effective to remove that greenhouse gas from that supply chain. Whether it be in apparel, whether it be in food, whether it be in home line products, we’re looking at the category of products where there’s great opportunity, but where its at a low cost to remove.

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1. Use vertical space

After talking with lots of Tiny House folks, I have seen this as a trend: maximize the vertical. Everything above 8 feet is all dead air if you don’t use it, so capitalize on that. You could have a small chest that takes up 2 square feet of floor space. If it is 4 feet tall, you will have around 8 cubic feet of storage. Take that to the ceiling and suddenly you have doubled or tripled your volume, but haven’t given away any more floor space which is a scarcity in a Tiny House.

2. Everything has a place and is in its place

When working with a small space I know that everything needs a place. Without it, your house goes from quaint to cluttered. Make sure every item you have has its own resting place and be sure that it finds its way back once you’re done using it. One lady who lives in a 90 square foot apartment said to me “if it doesn’t have a place, do you really need it?” and that’s a good point. Things that matter and are used are important enough to demand a place.

3. Double duty on items

There are those items which are by their nature, multi functional. You need to capitalize on these types of items. When you consider an item, you should always think if there is something else that can do it already. A perfect example of this is the end table, which transforms to a chair for extra seating. Check it out here.

4. Purpose built – built ins

Built-ins are nice, but built-ins with a purpose are even better. Think specifics. When paring down your possessions, you will identify the 100 or so items that will be contained in your house. Take stock of those items and let them dictate the form of your storage. If you are a ski patrol member, your closet should be able to fit your skis. If you live in colder climates, you will need more room for larger jackets than others might.

5. Go digital / paperless

As if being greener isn’t motivation enough, going digital, as I call it, means that you are able to reduce the tangible items you need. Digital files take up no space if you have them stored online, with the added advantage of being able to access them from anywhere. Combined with backing the files up, they become safer than real world things. The IRS officially accepts all scanned copies of receipts and bank statements. This extends beyond receipts: books on your Kindle, movies on your Roku, music on OpenTape, or recipes in a wiki. See my post about using some of these. Here

6. Less is more

At this point I am preaching to the choir but, the question is not how to organize all your stuff, but on how to reduce the stuff to organize. The mentality needed is the same as you had if/when you went to college. The dorm rooms were tiny and you were broke. You only had what you really needed. Studies have shown that more stuff does not lead to happiness, so focus on the important things in life.

7. One thing in, one thing out

One principle that I like to pull from the Zen/Fung Shui school of thought is this. If you want to add a new item, consider adopting the rule that for every item you bring in, you must give up something else. Now, no cheating – like giving up a pen for an arm chair, but you get the idea. 8. Be intentional Living with intention will have a profound impact on your life. Be thoughtful in your actions and choices. This extends to your organization and stuff. When you consider purchasing an item, you must first evaluate it and decide if you really need it. I often don’t buy it right then, but next time I am in that store (in a week or two). If I still want it then, I usually go for it if it makes sense.

9. Think inside the box

This is a technique that I use when I feel that a certain space is cluttered or if I start stacking stuff. Take a box, fill it up with everything. Then as you need the items pull them out of the box. Six weeks later, if you still have stuff in the box – no, let me rephrase that, you WILL have stuff in the box – you can evaluate what is left. There is rarely an item that I have that I don’t use within 6 weeks that’s worth keeping. Detailed box theory.

10. Most used items easy to access

This seems pretty obvious, but having the most used items in the front means you are able to access them quicker and without disturbing other things. This ties back to being intentional. You should be intense about organizing your items in this manner. If you notice that there are items in the back that haven’t been touched in a while, it’s time to evaluate whether you still need them.

Just got this email from Jay.  In it he talks about his new push to take on the International Code Council.  Here is the email

It has been nearly 14 years since I started, what I like to call, my aggressive pacifist’s campaign to make the built world a smaller place. To date, my approach has been to pretty much just live my life in a small footprint and hope that my example might inspire others to do the same.

On Wednesday, March 3 at roughly 7:00pm at the Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol, CA. I’ll be taking a somewhat more active approach. Ignite Sebastopol 3 is part of Global Ignite Week. Roughly a dozen speakers from the Bay Area will be given just twenty slides and five minutes each to present their subjects. I will be using my time to rip America’s system of imposed excess a new body part. My distain for the building codes that restrict how small a house can be is no secret. On March 3^rd I’ll be making my position all the more clear. All presentations will be recorded and posted for international viewing.

I see this as a great way to kick off a period of more active activism in which I will be working to convince the International Code Council that International Residential Code (sections 304.1,2 &3 in particular) needs revision. I don’t expect this to be easy. The road ahead is likely to be a long one for all opposed to size prohibition- one full of marches and demonstrations, possible jail time and the all the fun stuff seemingly integral to social change. I’m already working on my “I Have a Tiny Dream” speech and bracing for the possibility of my own tiny Waco. I hope everyone else out there in favor of housing rights will start thinking about what they can do to help. I will, of course, be using our website to keep folks posted about marches, sit-ins, stand-offs and other fun ways to get involved.

I’m including a copy of my proposal to amend codes here. It’s still a work in progress, so feedback is very welcome.

Viva la Tiny Revolution!

Jay Shafer

This minimal Tiny House is actually a bathhouse with all the amenities of a house.  it is from Sweden and is designed for people to sit in the sauna and then jump in the cool water of the outside pool.  The best part of this house for me isn’t the house, but the landscaping.  With amazing reed partitions, a natural soaking pool, and a nature all around, I am very jealous of this place.  Not quite sure the size of it is.

Via

A reader sent this into me and I really like how well he laid out each aspect of his housetruck.  I decided to quote his key points here for your review.  He has a lot of practical solutions to many of the “how do I do ______”  questions when it comes to tiny houses.  He is still in progress of building it, his craftsmanship is gorgeous!

• Philosophy: My overall values in designing the housetruck were simplicity, durability, sustainability, and mobility, which combine to liveability. Although I’ve been inspired by the tiny house movement, the biggest breakthrough was discovering the long tradition of gypsy caravans and British ‘living wagons.’ You can peruse a sketch of the overall purpose, structure, and systems of the project at Overview, read a rumination on the values that direct the design at Philosophy, design, values, inspirations, and read the historical background of the architecture at On showman’s vans, living wagons, and gypsy caravans.

• Dimensions: The house itself (not including the truck cab) is 14’ long, 8’ wide, and about 7.5’ tall. Mounted on the truck, the floor is about 3’ from the ground. I’m well under the maximum height for most overpasses and bridges (13’, if I recall), but I’ll still have to be careful on small country roads and the like. There’ll obviously be no parking garages in the housetruck’s future.

• Truck: The vehicle is an Isuzu NPR. This is a medium-weight commercial truck, often used as a delivery truck with either a box or flatbed on the back. I bought mine as a cab-chassis only, so I could build up on it. The NPR has an excellent reputation, has been made for many years, and is quite common around the world. It has a sturdy little 4-cylinder diesel engine, which can be run on biodiesel or even waste vegetable oil (with some modifications). My truck is a 2001 model, with 91k miles on it and a rebuilt transmission. It’s a total blast to drive!

• Shell: The core frame is made entirely of 2″ square-tube steel, solidly welded together. Attached to that on the outside is exterior-grade plywood, for weather protection and added strength. The exterior siding is Port Orford cedar, sourced from local/renewable forests in southern Oregon. The interior is partly fir beadboard, also sourced locally, as well as Homasote (a recycled newsprint product) faced with fabric wallpaper. The finished floor is cork. The insulation is sheep’s wool. The windows are wood and glass.
  Read more about the theory of the steel frame that is the house’s skeleton at The skeleton dance, as well as The skeleton arises, Skeleton becomes structure, and Skeleton becomes structure for the process of building the frame.

• Electricity: The electrical system is simple and flexible. The core is a set of batteries, a charge controller, and an inverter; this will provide me with enough 12VDC and 120VAC power to run lights, computer, phone, etc. The batteries can be charged in several ways: from the truck’s alternator while running, from a solar panel outside the truck (not mounted on the truck — if there’s a lot of solar energy, I want to be parked in the shade!), from ‘shore power’ (plugging in to the grid), and from other generative sources like wind turbines, human-powered bicycle generators, and even fuel cells.

• Water, bathing, etc.: Two large storage tanks provide around 80 gallons of fresh water (and act as ballast to keep the housetruck from floating away). A simple brass handpump fetches me water. For bathing, I use the Japanese method (hot water, a bucket, a washcloth, and a tub) or a portable shower. Because everyone asks: yes, I have a simple composting toilet.

• Cooking & food storage: A relatively large counter gives me plenty of space for preparing food, whether for cooking or preservation. Much of the storage space in the housetruck is designed for long-term storage of food & cooking tools. Cooking itself happens out on the porch of the housetruck, on a stove powered by either charcoal or propane. A small absorption refrigerator keeps the essentials (dairy, beer) cool.

• Heating & cooling: A tiny woodstove provides sufficent heat without noise or dangerous fumes. During hot weather, the upper windows of the mollycroft roof open to vent out warm air. Finally, the wheels of the truck propel me to more comfortable climes.

• Communications & electronics: While the emphasis is on simplicity, my hacking instinct is strong. The housetruck is a kind of mobile research station, where I can measure and analyze such things as the electrical system, water levels, weather data, and positional information like GPS. These are tied together in a small network of motes — tiny computers that each do a particular job. The data is aggregated and published, when possible, to a website where observers can view a ‘dashboard’ of the housetruck. Like the electrical system, the communication system is flexible, depending on setting: cellular broadband, opportunistic wifi, SMS messages, even the narrowband of amateur radio packet networks.

Find out more via

Here are some videos of a lady who read this book Unclutter Your Life in One Week.  Now I should put in a side note, she is a scrapbook / photography blogger, so you will see her drop things about scrap booking.  Regardless of that fact she does a great demonstration of practical tips about how to reduce your stuff and how to organize what is left.

A few key points she mentions:

• All thing have a place and are in their place
• Try to get things off the floor
• Only have things that you love

Via

So why this is called the love shack, I don’t know, but at 371 square feet this renter makes the most of it.  Here is what she says:

This is an exceptionally small apartment – only 371sf! Sized more appropriately for our dog, Lucy, than two adults. There were NO closets provided by the landlord, so we designed and built a unique storage wall that extends from the sleeping area back to the kitchen.  .Each section is sized to hold exactly what we own. The living area is small, yet feels spacious thanks to the modular shelving system which features an entertainment area, bookshelves, and small desk area. All of the furniture is lightweight and easy to take with us to the next (hopefully larger) apartment.

More photos after link

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Seoul take a freeway and brings back the river it was built over to make great public spaces.  Seoul has begun to realize that pedestrian walk ways are key to a successful city.

With many Tiny Houses wanting to live off the grid, many of us dream of all electric cars charged by green energy sources, we get frustrated when our devices only last a scant few hours.  What does all this have in common?  Batteries.  Technology has allowed us to do so many interesting things in today’s world, but batteries are still from the stone age, or so they seem.  They are inefficient, heave, expensive, and have a low mass/volume to power ratio.  I have said to friends many times, want to make millions, make a better battery.

Living off the grid is one of the biggest benefactors of improvements in batteries.  While solar cells aren’t quite there yet, they have made some big strides in making them cheaper and more efficient.   The point is, they are on there way.  The second component to a solar array is storing that energy to have on had at night or when you are in some heavy  usage.  Better batteries will allow us to do this.  Here is a good article from Good.

For those who didn’t pay attention in class: Batteries are typically comprised of three main parts: a cathode (positive electrode), an anode (negative electrode), and an electrolyte (an ion-rich liquid that separates the electrodes). The movement of metal ions between the cathode and the anode through the electrolyte (and back) releases electrons, generating electricity

Lead-acid batteries, found in conventional automobiles, have a low ratio of energy to weight, which means it takes a lot of battery to provide just a little juice. Nickel-metal hydride batteries, the ones powering today’s hybrids like the Toyota Prius, are significantly lighter, but offer only a slight improvement in efficiency. Neither can compete with gasoline-fueled internal combustion.

Several technologies are competing to fuel the next generation of EVs. All of them, however, have serious weaknesses that researchers are still attempting to address. “People are betting on different horses at this point in time,” says Matt Keyser, a senior engineer in energy storage systems at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. “Which one is going to come out and win is anyone’s guess.”

Here’s a look at some of the technologies vying to corner the EV market:

Lithium-Ion

These batteries use lithium ions as the electrolyte. A battery pack made of these cells, while more powerful than lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride batteries, is still 10 times weaker than an internal combustion engine of the same weight. Versions of these batteries are already used in in both the Tesla Roadster and Chevy Volt, as well as many electronic devices, such as laptops and cell phones. The knock on current lithium ion technology: It dispenses its stored energy slowly, so acceleration may be slow, and the batteries take several hours to charge. Also, while lithium is plentiful, it’s not extensively mined, so it’s expensive to obtain. It may take up to 10 years for supply to catch up to projected demand.

Ultracapacitors

Ultracapacitors charge quickly and dispense their charge speedily (curing the slow acceleration problem that plagues some electric cars). They also last much longer than batteries—they can be recharged over and over again, whereas batteries eventually will not recharge. That’s because ultracapacitors use electric fields, instead of slowly depleting chemicals, to get charges. They are already in use in short-run electric buses in Russia and garbage trucks in the United States. The downside: They only hold their charge for a limited time, so it’s unlikely that ultracapacitors will become a viable option for powering a car alone. “I think ultracapacitors are a technology that’s going to work with [battery] systems,” says Savinell. However, one Texas-based company called EEStor says it has solved the storage problem, claiming its ultracapacitors will enable a small car to travel 250 miles on a single charge that only takes five minutes to complete.

Fuel Cells

Like batteries, fuel cells have cathodes and anodes and involve a chemical reaction, specifically making water and electrons (and thus electricity) by combining hydrogen with oxygen. The technology is simple enough, but the safety issues are the drag: The transport and onboard storage of highly explosive (remember the Hindenburg?) hydrogen gas could keep fuel cells from catching on. In addition, the catalysts needed to split hydrogen atoms into protons and electrons (like platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel) are very expensive. “Fuel cells from a mobile standpoint are difficult,” says NREL’s Keyser. “Maybe in twenty five or thirty years down the road, we may be able to deal with all the storage issues, the transport issues, the infrastructure issues, the catalyst itself.” Seemingly agreeing with Keyser’s skepticism is the Obama administration, which cut $100 million from the federal hydrogen fuel cell program in 2009.

Redox Flow

Similar to fuel cells, redox flow batteries would require filling stations rather than plug-in capability. In this case, a charged electrolyte flows through the battery, producing electrons. After a while, the electrolyte loses its charge and needs to be pumped out and replaced. The electrolyte is typically made with vanadium, which is the 22nd most abundant element in the world. It’s also very safe. “If you were to spill this on the road and light a cigarette near it, it’s not going to go off like hydrogen,” says Keyser. “The big thing with [redox flow batteries] is: Are you going to get the energy density or power density that you need for the car itself?” Right now, even lithium ion cells are several times more powerful than redox flow cells. German researchers, however, claim they have a method to increase the distance redox flow batteries can power a car by four to five times, rendering them roughly equal to lithium ion batteries.

Metal Air

Savinell and Keyser both point to metal air batteries as the technology of the future. This battery uses the oxygen in the air as its cathode, which means it doesn’t need as much material and gets more energy for its weight. Depending on what material is used for the anode, metal air batteries could be anywhere from three times more powerful than lithium ion batteries of the same weight to as powerful as an internal combustion engine. IBM intends to bring these to market in five years for smaller electronics. “For lithium air, I think that’s more ten to fifteen years down the road [to power a car],” says Keyser. “We’re just starting to really look at that and understand all the benefits and the costs associated with lithium air batteries.” One major barrier remains: When the oxygen reacts with the electrolyte to form ions, it also creates a solid that can gunk up the air intake, blocking the battery’s function. Researchers are searching for an electrolyte that will produce the necessary ions but avoid the formation of this solid.