Small Green Project - Composting

If you grow your own garden, or grow any kind of plant, you can benefit from compost. Compost is decomposed organic matter. All organic matter decomposes and those materials provide nutrients and growing medium for plants. In a compost pile we are trying to speed up the natural process of decomposition. By providing an optimal environment for the microorganisms, insects and worms the material can be decomposed in a few months rather than a year or more in the natural decompostion process. The decomposition we want in our compost pile is aerobic decompostion. That is, we want our materials to decompose in the presence of air. anaerobic decomposition is more useful in biodigestors for the production of methane gas. Anaerobic decomposition is what is responsible for the foul smell that can come from a compost pile if not properly maintained. In order to maintain your compost pile you need three things: 1. organic material 2. water 3. air. The ratio of carbon and nitrogen is  important in your organic material and can be maintained by putting a variety of materials into your compost pile. If you put mostly yard wastes that are high in nitrogen as I do, you can add high carbon materials, such as shredded paper (think junk mail) or paper roll tubes to balance things out and keep the pile healthy and decomposing quickly. You need to also keep the pile moist. The air come from turning the compost pile on a regular basis. If you don't have the room for compost piles in your yard, barrel composters and small worm bin composters are available to buy or build and all provide valuable nutrients for your plants!

Here are some links if you are thinking about a composting too:

http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/solwaste/branch_technical/compost.htm  - Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality site on composting

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/basic.htm - EPA composting site

http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/composting.htm - UA's Cooperative Extension composting site

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm - Build your own worm bin composter

http://www.solidwastedistrict.com/projects/bin_barrel.htm - Build your own barrel composter

Large Green Project - Energy Efficient Heat Pump Replacement

During August the first year we lived in the country our undersized heat pump failed. It was hot, we were unhappy, it wasn't fun! Small holes throughout the system prevented keeping a refrigerant charge. The coil was rusted and had to be replaced. It was going to be a costly repair, and the system was undersized for the house and wasn't very efficient. I decided we should upgrade the existing heat pump with a new more energy efficient model and add an extra vent and return air duct. We chose a lennox XP 16 heat pump. What is a heat pump? It's an air conditioner and furnace all-in-one. During the summer it extracts the heat from the inside air to make it cooler and in the winter it extracts the heat from the outside air to heat the inside air. Yes, even in the winter there is still enough heat in the air to extract to heat your home. It just gets less efficient the colder it gets. But in moderate climates they can be more energy efficient than a separate air conditioner and furnace. We also have a wood burning stove that offsets the demand from the heat pump in the winter. Having dual sources for heat or a constant temperature source such as geothermal makes a heat pump a good choice for heating and cooling your home. Our unit has a SEER rating of 17. SEER is the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The higher the number the more energy efficient the system is or the more money you save when using the system. The system cost about $5100 installed and included a new duct and air return in another part of our home. The heat pump qualified for the energy efficiency tax credit and has lowered our energy usage by an average of 400 kWh per month.

Here are some links if you are thinking of an energy efficient heat pump:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/heating-and-cooling/heat-pump.htm - How heat pumps work.

http://www.lennox.com/products/heat-pumps/XP16/ - here is the heat pump we got.

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US43F&re=1&ee=1 - residential tax credit information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump - information on geothermal heat pump systems. Geothermal is an attractive option for a heat pump especially if you don't have a supplemental heat source and they are available in our area!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_energy_efficiency_ratio - SEER info.