My house is going green...

[rpcrowe]

Not green in color - "green" meaning it is easy on the environment.

I generate my electricity with solar paneling and produce more than I use. I actually contribute power to the power grid.

I have removed my lawn and replaced it with a Xeriscape landscaping using decomposed granite and river rock for a "dry-stream bed. The vegetation is watered using drip irrigation.



It looks sparse now but, it will fill out eventually. I have reduced my water use by 71% over last year's consumption.

My next project is to strategically place barrels (commercially made - not just spare barrels) to collect the water flowing off my roof (when it eventually does rain), and use that collected water to save even more of the precious (in this heavy drought area) commodity.

[chauncey]

Aah Richard...haven't you heard...'Godzilla' El Nino May Be on the Way...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/godzilla-el...ry?id=33089713..

[xpatUSA]

Well done!

My only movement in that direction is to power my barn's workbench off a four-panel solar array via a small 300W sine-wave inverter. As they say in Yorkshire: "owt's better than nowt, lad"

My next move in that direction is for my DC-powered toilet system. Biggest problem for me is lots of tall trees everywhere on the property.

[rpcrowe]

Yep! The El Nino (for those of you who are not SOCAL oriented - an El Nino is the Pacific Ocean warming considerably which brings rain - often heavy rains to our area) may very well be coming. The rains often happen in November to January. It is called El Nino ("the boy") which refers to the Christ Child.

That doesn't mean that we are not living in a desert which through irrigation, we try to make green. The water barrels will help catch and distribute the rainwater from my roof if and when we get the El Nino rains...

We did not expect San Diego to grow as it has! Our forefathers never planned for such a large population with water hungry lawns. Therefore we have little infrastructure to make use of the rain we get here. About 95% of the rain that falls in the San Diego area runs off into the Pacific Ocean. We depend on water from Northern California, from the Sierras and from the Colorado River...

Ted, I don't have batteries in my system. The electricity I generate goes directly into the power grid and I draw my power from that grid. Since I generate more electricity than I use, the power company settles up with me once a year. If the power grid goes down, I can disconnect my system from that grid and then have two 1,500 watt a/c connections to use while the sun is shining. That will keep my freezer and refrigerator running during the day and keep my batteries charged as well as power my TV. If I keep the fridge and the freezer going all day and don't open them at night - my food should not spoil! Especially, since I don't foresee any lengthy power outages!

[csa mt]

That is absolutely a beautiful yard! I really love it. Gives me ideas, as I have to haul every drop of water I use!

[Ziggy]

Good for you. It looks very nice.

BTW, there might be one rock out of place on the lower right.

[Shadowman]

Very cool.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice garden

[chauncey]

A while back there was a cartoon showing your Governor Jerry Brown with a straw in Lake Michigan
with one of us putting a clamp on that straw.

[IzzieK]

What a nice garden you have Richard!!!

[ST1]

I do like your garden design and planting Richard. Well done on your conservation measures that's a tremendous saving

[rpcrowe]

The solar addition has been wonderful. We have had some very hot weather for a few days. The thermometer hit 111 F. (about 43.9 C.) in our yard... With the solar, I had no reservations about putting my air conditioning down to 72 F. (about 22.22 C.) because it wasn't costing me anything and I was still putting more power back into the power grid that I was using.