Rocket Mass Heaters
A rocket mass heater (also known as a rocket stove mass heater) is an innovative and efficient space heating system. Developed by combining the technology of a rocket wood stove and a masonry heater, the rocket mass heater uses a ‘J shaped’ combustion chamber and heat exchange that then feeds the hot gases along a horizontal metal ducting embedded within a massive cob thermal store that can retain heat for hours, and even days, and is typically built as part of the building.
The way that it works is that as the chimney like pipe (depicted above) heats up, it draws the fire to actually burn sideways where the pipe acts as a combustion chamber that maximally uses your fuel and then circulates the heat through the piping/thermal store where it is slowly released. The more the system heats up, the more efficient the entire system becomes.
BENEFITS OF A ROCKET MASS HEATER
- Simple to build
- Moderate to low-cost to build
- Heat from one fire can last for days
- Heat a home with 80% to 90% less wood
- Can be built by an individual in less than two days
- Exhaust is only steam and CO2 once it is up and running
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Energetic vs Monetary Exchange
This was figured out by one of our Community Pioneers.
“1. If one person contributes 40 hours per week for 50 weeks a year and we were to “pay” them $20/hour, that’s a $40,000 salary. Multiply that by 40 people and we’ve got a workforce worth $1,600,000. That’s $1,600,000 that we don’t have to pay outside contractors to build for us.
2. If we go to 3 classes per day for $15/class times 40 people times 365 days, that’s $657,000 worth of education! Its also $16,425 per person, as much as being a full-time student at many universities!
3. If we received 2 hour long sessions of healing/bodywork per week for $75 a session times 40 people times 50 weeks, that’s $300,000 worth of high quality holistic care. That’s $7,500 per person, a number I would only dream of being able to put into self care in the outside world.
Wow. Over 2.5 million bucks a year if we we’re doing this in the old paradigm. Look at how much value each and everyone of us bring. And that’s just putting it lightly. The emotional and spiritual value that we are creating and receiving isn’t able to be measured because its simply everflowing and unlimited.
Cool, huh?”
Garbage Warrior
Michael Reynolds builds living spaces out of garbage. He takes all of the things that are thrown out locally and turns them into houses. But not only are they houses, they are each unique, beautiful living structures, enviroartistically designed and completely self-sufficient.
These incredible pieces of art, called Earthships are all completely different. Each one is specifically designed for it’s specific climate and situation. And most of it is experimental and experiential, exploring new terrain in sustainable design and awe-inspiring architecture.
All of the Earthships that Reynolds has designed are completely self-sufficient, using techniques that include harnessing the rainwater from the roofs for drinking water and using plants and aquaponics in the design for sewage/septic and food production. Through passive solar, his houses tend to stay a comfortable 70-75 degrees year round despite location using no energy. The Earthships are even designed to be earthquake and tsunami resistant. Reynolds believes that most of his buildings could withstand a 9.0 richter earthquake.
