Introduction:
Living Easily In Unpredictable Times

Why these webpages?

These pages arose because of my interest in a solar-powered house built by Pat and Chuck Potter of Ontario. I visited the house when it was barely begun in October 1995.

The house demonstrated a comprehensive system for providing the necessities of life--food, heat, water, sewage disposal, etc--but one that was very different from the North American suburban life I grew up in. Because of the way it was designed and built, the house provided all these things, plus electricity, at a cost tens or hundreds of times less than the usual North American way.

I was fascinated. This was a way to break away from the constraints of my own life, and it brought back my high-school interest in ecological design. But it also had deeper implications for the way things were.

Time marched on. I kept in contact with the Potters as they completed their house.

I began to hear of things called "global warming" and "peak oil", "permaculture" and "nanotechnology", and they began to seem things of the near future rather than distant possibilities. There were wars, disease outbreaks, blackouts, catastrophic storms. It seems that both the dangers and the possibilities of the future are increasing.

How are we to navigate through our future?

These web pages explore methods for us all to make our lives more secure. Living easily means:Fewer bills, few headaches, less need for money. A house that provides food and heat.

Sections:

The Potters' House: the inexpensive solar-powered house that began this whole thing.

Website News and Updates

2008-07-23:
Presentations about the house are now available. In Powerpoint, Keynote, and PDF!

2008-06-01:
More details about upcoming workshops. Introduction to the house on Youtube!

2008-05-25:
Minor updates. Mention of Pat's classes.

2007-07-15
Major updates and simplification

2006-10-30:
Added link to the Alternative Construction discussion boards.

2006-08-28:
Added review of Photovoltaics Design And Installation Manual.

2006-08-26:
Added review of The Hand-Sculpted House. Added a link to the Toronto Public Library.

2006-08-13:
New links to the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and some resources on degree-days.

2006-08-13:
Text description and calculations for heat storage and insulation in a simple wall. Three tech pages.

2006-08-07:
Text description of the working of the planter. Link to Canadian weather and climate data.

2006-08-06:
A new book review in the library! Building Science for a Cold Climate

Photographs of the installation of rocks, soil, and plants in a planter at the Potters'.

More links! The National Research Council of Canada, Sun-Mar composting toilets, and more.

2006-07-07:
I've added two new courses at the Potters' house: one about tire packing, and the other about greywater systems.

2006-02-26:
I have added a link to the Permaculture Activist article about how Cuba survived its time of shortages after the end of Soviet aid.

2006-02-19:
I have removed the email adresses webmaster (at) sunspace.org and sd (at) sunspace.org because of the flood of spam they are receiving. These addresses no longer work.

Now, the contact address for English-speakers is contact (at) sunspace.org