LANDSCAPING

LANDSCAPING | 花园 | WEATHERIZING

LANDSCAPING

俄亥俄州生态住宅的LANDSCAPING由居民管理. Past and present residents of the Ecohouse have worked diligently to invest in sustainable agricultural practices on the grounds.

2012年4月, a Permaculture Workshop was hosted at the 俄亥俄州 Ecohouse w在这里 participants planned a permaculture design for the Ecohouse residence one weekend and implemented a portion of that plan the following weekend.  

2015年，Ecohouse被指定为 君主驿站和国家野生动物联合会认证的野生动物栖息地. 这意味着生态屋LANDSCAPING提供了各种各样的寄主植物, 食物来源, and appropriate environmental conditions to support native pollinators and wildlife alike. 这是校园里第一个指定的地点.

In 2019, 一个新的木瓜床沿着后面的挡土墙在地面上建立, along with invasive plant removal in the native beds around the perimeter of the house.

花园

俄亥俄州生态之家的花园几年前开始作为一个住宅项目. 2011年秋季, residents worked with staff in the 可持续发展办公室 to transform the space into a campus community garden. A number of volunteers from across campus assisted with work days to clean up the space and build raised beds for students, 希望“采用”一个情节的教职员工. Plots are offered at no cost to any member of the campus community who is willing to agree to the 花园的规则.

2012年秋天，Ecohouse成为了一个生活实验室 食物循环服务学习系列.  教师 participating in the Common Experience Project on Sustainability were able to bring students to workshops w在这里 students learned how to harvest, 准备和保存自家种植的农产品. 这些罐头食品随后被用于尼尔森维尔的免费社区餐, 由newbb电子平台的学生制作和服务.

俄亥俄州生态住宅社区花园是一个 有机花园; plot adopters are not able to use chemical fertilizers on any of the plots or surrounding area. This rule is put into place to uphold the mission of the 俄亥俄州 Ecohouse as a living learning model on sustainable living. Chemical fertilizers are petroleum-based products that can have devastating impacts on local waterways. 化学农药也被禁止使用.

花园 Manager Graduate Assistant from the 可持续发展办公室 works with garden plot adopters and volunteers to provide proper education on effective sustainable gardening practices. Any individuals or organizations affiliated with the university who are interested in adopting a plot may do so by completing the 园地申请表格 发现 在这里. 不需要经验.

WEATHERIZING

Many college students experience frustration with inefficient rental units during the winter months.  因为大多数学生都是暂时租校外的房子, they are reluctant to make significant financial investments in upgrading their home's efficiencies. 这导致能源账单在冬季达到峰值, 在某些情况下, 让学生在自己家里感到不舒服. 

Ecohouse residents are encouraged to tackle the issue of weatherization each winter by engaging in the following activities:

• 窗户:尽可能安装防雨窗.  Those windows that do not have that capability utilize plastic sheeting to keep cold drafts from entering the home.  Proper installation and sealing (using a hairdryer to "shrink" the sheeting) is necessary for both efficiency and resident comfort (a loose plastic sheet on a drafty window creates a distracting noise and is quite unsightly).  
• 门如果一个居民注意到一扇门让风进入家中, they are encouraged to create a "door draft dodger" by placing a towel along the bottom of the door or installing a simple draft stopper.  
• 壁炉: The fireplace at the Ecohouse is plugged which restricts cold airflow into the home.  If you have a home with a fireplace, be sure that the flue is closed when not in use.
• 绝缘:在生态屋翻新的初期阶段, COAD (Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development) performed an audit on the house in order to determine what efficiency measures would be most effective. 绝缘是需要解决的主要领域之一. The Ecohouse has been insulated with Nu-Wool blown cellulose and R19 in the attic, 胎侧, 爬行的空间, 地下室的墙壁, 哪一种方法显著提高了效率. Another step residents take to insulate the house is to keep the storm windows in at all times and they add shrinking or plain window plastic to the windows in the winter in order to retain heat. 

newbb电子平台's 可持续发展办公室 has partnered with Sugarbush Foundation and COAD to offer 俄亥俄州 students with workshops on energy efficiency practices in the home. These workshops are free to all 俄亥俄州 students and will tackle many issues that renters confront in their homes, 包括上面列出的那些实践. For a full listing of these workshops, check out the calendar of events available at www.俄亥俄州.edu/sustainability.

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太阳能光伏:

俄亥俄州生态屋的太阳能电池板是由 燕尾太阳能 & 风 是2.4千瓦系统. It is a grid-tied photovoltaic array; which means that the energy generated goes back to the energy company. This array provides the equivalent of approximately 25% of the energy for the house, 视乎现时居民的行为及季节变化而定.

在扣除俄亥俄州提供的回扣后，该阵列的成本为2万美元. T在这里 is a subsidy for alternative energy installations that applies to PV, wind, and solar thermal. Many are surprised to learn that the efficiency rates are quite low for PV, approximately 12%. T在这里 are constraints with PV cells associated with losses from transmission and issues with climate.

太阳能热:

The solar thermal system at the 俄亥俄州 Ecohouse was installed by Third Sun Solar and 风 Power (http://www.third-sun.com/). 这些系统的价格通常在4000 - 7000美元之间. 这个面板的价格是4000美元. The system works by utilizing the heat from the sun to heat a glycol solution that is running through the pipes that are visible in the panel. 然后它被泵回屋里加热水. An on-demand water heater can supplement supply from the storage tank in the basement, if needed. 这样一个系统的投资回收期只有5-7年.

太阳能干衣机:

在温暖的天气里, laundry can be dried using the solar dryer - otherwise known as a clothesline - located at the rear of the house.