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food, this unit can be used to centri–
fuge honey, sharpen knives, and do
severa) other chorcs. Rather than
plug into a wall socket, 1 get exercise
while doing useful work."
Everywhere in the house the idea
of using sun. wind. a nd muscle en–
ergy rather than electricity pre–
dominated. In the backyard
J
saw a
windmill fashioned from oil drums,
called a Savonius rotor construction,
pumping water for the food-fish
pond. constantly aerating and filter–
ing the water. The windmiU can
turn under very low wind veloci ties
that prevail in the flatlands area
whcre the house is located.
On the south side of the house 1
saw a large solar collector heating
water. "We pul a thousand dollars
into the materials for our solar col–
lector." said Javits.
"lt
heats water
to 160 degrees. far h igher than the
120 degrees needed. In the first year
of our experience. it worked to pro–
vide 95 percent of our hot water
nccds."
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1978
In winter. when the sun stays bc–
hind clouds for severa ( days. they
use a small backup e lectric water
heater.
J
asked Javits how energy
costs are distributed in the average
American house a nd how this infor–
mation atfected planning the In –
te gral Urban House. His best
es timate is that the average all-elec–
tric house devo tes 52 percent of its
energy cost to space heating. 18 per–
cent to space cooling. 18 percent to
water heating. and 3.5 percent to
food heating.
Consequently. much planning for
the house focused on "passive" solar
heating and cooling. The windows
can be shuttered from the outside to
keep out the sun and cool the house
or keep the heat of the house from
escaping at night. The shutters of
sorne windows can be held rigid to
act as reftectors. bouncing the sun's
rays to containers holding liquids.
The containers warm during the day
and slowly radiate their heat at
night. Because of such strategics.
plus the complete insulation of the
house. the only heat source needed
in the rela tively benevolent Bay
Area climate is a wood-burning Jo–
tul stove. The stove is prized for its
efficiency rating a t converting wood
to hea t that can be used rather than
be allowed t o escape up the
chimney. A handful of scra p lumber
in the Jotul burns for a long time.
On the ground ftoor a greenhouse
room serves as a nursery for young
vegetables and opens out to hea t
two downstairs rooms in winter. On
the cool north side of the house a
"cool closet" in the kitchen keeps
vege tables cool and aired by using
convection drafts in the shade. re–
ducing the need for refrigerator
space.
Conserving water was stressed as
muchas saving electricity.
"Even beyond the recent concern
in California about the drought."
said Javi ts. "we have to realize that
delivering a gallon of water to our
houses requires energy. Our estí–
ma te is that a delivered gallon of
water, after you build the dam. pu–
rify the water, and pump it to the
site. costs the energy cquivalent of
burning a 60-watt light bulb for 10
minutes.' '
The amount of water used al the
house is only a fraction of what th c
usual house consumes. "We use
about 50 gallons per person per
day," said J avi ts, "as compared with
140 gallons per day in !he average
house."
The figure is evcn more striking
when you considcr that the 50 gal–
lons includes thc water required to
raise all of thcir vegetables. "The
average person may require as
much as 3,000 gallons of water per
day if you includc the water to raise
his food." said J avits. "We cut down
on that water requi rement sub–
stantially."
The housc has no drains. All the
water used in thc housc is piped to
the garden through a gray-wa ter
sys tem. T his includes water from the
shower, kitchcn sink, and urinal.
The residents of the house hold
human urine in high regard because
it is rich in nitrogen and normally
free of pathogens. No water is re–
quired for the toilet. a dry com–
posting toilet ca lled the Cl ivus
Multrum a nd made in Sweden.
Human wastes and kitchen scraps
enter the toilet and come out two
years later thoroughly composted
and usable in the garden. Drip irri–
gation also cuts down the water re–
quirements for the vegetables.
"All these resource-saving tech–
niques a re importan!," said
J avit~.
" But the most importan! of all
i~
raising our own food. That's where
we save the most energy."
Along with raising all of their
own vegetables by cultivating 2.500
feet of their 6.000-square-foot space.
they compost a ll vegetable and ani–
mal wastes. creating the new soil in
which they can grow more vegeta–
bies. Sorne crops. such as wintcr
squash. are stored on drying racks in
the basement.
In the backyard 1 met Helga 01-
kowski squashing aphids on th c
cabbagc by hand. She a nd her hus–
band William are well known in the
field of biological control of insect
pests. Thcy have also authored the
bible of urban self-reliant food rais–
ing.
The
Ci~r
People's Book of Rais–
ing Food.
"We think of the ga rdc n
as a zoo." she said. "We keep the
little animals divcrsified. so they can
keep each other in check. We con–
trol insects directly by hand picking
and by physical barriers. Seldom do
(Conrinued on page 43)
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