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The Institute For Desert Living is now in the planning stages. It will be located on property that will also house our corporate offices. The intent of the Institute For Desert Living is to demonstrate "small footprint" living in the delicate environment of the Southwestern United States desert. Concepts such as passive solar architecture with appropriate building techniques and materials for both heating and cooling will be featured as well as solar energy systems for heating water and pools and for making electricity. Visitors will be able to see, touch and feel all the various solar systems and watch while appliances and equipment actually perform daily functions powered by solar energy. Institute grounds will be open and accessible daily during business hours and guided tours which will highlight all the solar systems will be provided for architects, engineers, city planners, home builders and students. Unlike the first little piggy's inappropriate, lightweight straw bale house which came to a sad, sudden end, the Institute's truly passive solar structures will be massive. The heavy, sturdy construction materials which store either heat or cold will greatly reduce the amount of auxiliary energy required during both heating and cooling seasons. Also planned as features will be a solar powered greenhouse able to raise 80 percent or more of food items required for a healthy diet. Fish ponds and mushroom cultivation for protein... water catchment... water purification... gray water reuse... all demonstrated in a city setting, suggesting that independence and safety and a long commute to a remote home site are not necessarily compatible. When individual energy consumption includes all the resources required for commercial production, cleaning, storage, packaging, delivery and display of food, the result is shocking. Added to this calculation would be the energy consumed in traveling to and from your local market. In today's sophisticated, high-tech version of the Victory Garden, a product of another war in another time when our Country also faced great peril, the safety and wholesomeness of your family's food supply in ensured. Contrary to popular belief, production of most of our nutritional needs can easily be provided on the average city lot with the help of a Mr Solar home greenhouse system, especially when a small fruit orchard is included. It is often a surprise to discover the amount of food produced from just a single tree. The Institute for Desert Living will demonstrate that a simple lifestyle change can pull in the reins of today's energy hogging lifestyle to which far too many have now have grown accustomed. It is our hope and intention that the systems showcased at the Institute will become standard for both residential and commercial construction in the not too distant future. We believe that our homes, offices, and grounds can actually be put to work to make living in the desert less expensive, more comfortable, responsible as well as healthier, and all at the same time. |
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