A Garden in Bali

A Garden in Bali Part 2

The Renovations continue!
August 2011 and back from another trip over to see Friends and family. The transformation has been astonishing. From The delapidated old girl i first saw the house has been transformed into an attractive and comfortably habitable home.

From this...

To this!

Special Thanks to my Good friends and Dynamic Team, I Wayan Joni Eka putra and his Father 

It has been a painless excercise for me and i owe this all to my good Balinese friends. It has also been very cost effective! Well in comparison to getting any work done in Australia its has been cheap.

Thanks to a Government scheme coming through after the renovation there is now a 900W electricity supply to the House. It is a prepaid electrical meterbox, one goes to the local shop and buys a voucher for electricity. This number is entered using a keypad on the electrical box in the kitchen and the display them shows the credit of kilowatt hours remaining which slowly winds backwards. No service fee, no nasty surprises at the end of the quarter! I think it is an excellent means for encouraging efficiency and avoiding debt traps for low income communities.

the 900W supply gives us a modest energy budget to work within that really is ample for our needs. Currently we have Compact fluorescent lights installed but we will plan for eventual replacemnet with LED lighting to cut consumption even further. A 75Watt Refrigerator will be purchased and set up off the ground with good airflow to optimize its efficiency.
These days i dont own a Television. Media content streams in via the internet to be watched on laptops, tablets or other mobile devices. If a TV was required there are several LCD TV units with a modest 44W  power consumption - yes, both fridge and TV each using less than an old incandescent light bulb!

During the Day there is no need for lighting indoors as glass tiles placed in the roof act as skylights.

We are installing a gas hot water system purchased on ebay in Australia. 10L a minute instant gas hot water system, the AGA 7635.
supercheapaussies ebay
Despite the abundance of local water we seek to maintain our use within preset budgets. A shower head brought from Australia using 8L a minute should provide sustainable comfort. A future project is to remodel the septic and greywater systems to accomodate expected flows, filter and discharge water into the gardens around specially selected fuel and timber trees.

Gas hot water for cleaning and showers is fueled by elpigi (LPG). In future a solar hybrid system might be installed if a unit can be made or modified locally. The problem with Solar hot water systems on the market now is the built-in lifespan. They are not made of materials designed to last more than 8 years. Tweaking this with better materials could extend this lifespan considerably.

"These days solar water heater tanks are usually made from ordinary mild steel coated with vitreous enamel coating (the manufacturers call it glass lining). The tank has a sacrificial anode to prevent rusting and the anodes are designed to last about 8 years. Once the anode is gone the tank will probably rust out. A company from Perth used to manufacture heaters with stainless steel tanks, sadly they were bought out by one of the larger Australian manufacturers and the stainless steel was replaced by enamelled steel. 

... takeup of solar heater has been disappointing but is probably due to the fact that the better quality imported units (Rheem, Solarhart and now Ariston) are very expensive (Rp25 to Rp30 million), a substantial investment. Cheaper units (such as Wika) can cost anything from Rp11 to Rp20 million. A solar water heater will save between 2 and 3 million rupiah a year in water heating costs. Solar water heaters tend to rust out and in tests I was involved in many years ago this was usually after about 8 years only just after they had paid for themselves.

If manufacturers of standard solar water heaters were to take a more ethical approach in their manufacturing design and methods solar water heaters could last much longer and probably more people would by them. "

http://www.mrfixitbali.com/articles/article83.html

A twin tub washing machine is a possible future addition. We find it worthwhile to outsource laundry in an economy like Bali. We would like to work with local providers to see if any appropriate technologies and inovations can reduce their toil and mitigate any pollution caused by the process. This might be contributions towards technology like a washing machine, infrastructure and design for purifying waste water before discharge to the environment and the selection of biodegradable and minimally polluting detergents.

And that is Zone zero for now. Zone Zero? Its permaculture speak for the House :)

Zone 0

The house, or home center. Here permaculture principles would be applied in terms of aiming to reduce energy and water needs, harnessing natural resources such as sunlight, and generally creating a harmonious, sustainable environment in which to live and work.

And now we move into Zone 1, the immediate surrounds, in my case the remainder of the 200m2 plot after the footprint of my 6 x 9 m house is deducted.


,  ,