BRAIN STORMING DISCUSSION CHARTS -
PLAN C FOR OKC WORKSHOP
Better Times Cookbook | Justpeace | Better Times | BobWaldrop.net |Access to Energy Conservation
For information about our plans for adapting our"urban homestead" to meet the looming challenges of peak oil,
climate instability, and economic irrationality, see Gatewood Urban Homestead, the permaculture design for
our home.
September 20, 2008
PERFECT STORM
- Economic Irrationality
- Climate
- Energy
WATER
- OKC water can supply 50% of winter domestic demand without grid power.
- Conserve
- Oklahoma River
- Lakes
- Rain
- Wells
- Ponds
EXPEDIENT CISTERNS/WATER STORAGES
- Ponds
- Holes in the ground
- Wading pools
- Swimming pools
- Bath tubs
- Hot water heaters
- Truck-bed liners
- Trash cans
- Tarps
- Street
- Fish tanks
- Soda bottles
- Totes
- Ice chests
- Refrigerators
- Chest freezers
- Cattle water containers
- Cellars/basements
- Built cisterns (ferrocement)
- Waterbeds
CULINARY WATER STORAGE NEEDS
Assumptions:
Household size = 12 people, plus dozen chickens
Rain: 8 inches of rain over 3 months, followed by 2 months without rain
Culinary water needs for 3 rainy months:
4 gal day 4,374
3 gal day 3,294
2 gal day 2,214
Water storage needed for 2 months without rain
4/gal day 2,916
3/gal day 2,196
2/gal day 1,476
Total Water Storage capacity needed
4 gal/day 7,290
3 5,490
2 3,690
EIGHT INCHES RAIN 3 MONTHS
Live for 5 months on 3 months rain (typical Oklahoma rain in spring, drought in summer scenario)
4500 sq feet of roofs 7500 sq feet of roofs
(1500 sq ft avg roof, 3 small houses) (2500 sq ft avg roof, 3 larger houses
Water harvest calculation:
Rain in feet TIMES sq feet of building EQUALS cubic feet of rain water
Cubic feet of rain water TIMES 7.48 EQUALS gallons of rain water
POTENTIAL WATER HARVEST, 2 SCENARIOS 8 inches of rain in 3 months
4500 sq ft roofs, 3 small houses = 22,805 gallons
7500 sq ft roofs, 3 larger houses = 38,008 gallons
GARDEN IRRIGATION
12,000 sq ft garden
6 inches of irrigation water desired during the 2 months without rain for 12K sq ft = 45K gallons.
WATER NEED - People, Chickens, Garden
12 people, 12 chickens, 12K sq ft garden
# of 2500 gal storage tanks needed
4 gal/day 49,254 gal - 19.7
3 48,174 gal - 19.27
2 47,094 gal - 18.838
WATER AVAILABLE FOR IRRIGATION AFTER ALL CULINARY USES ARE SATISFIED (People and Chickens
Smaller Houses |
% of req available |
Larger Houses |
% of Req available |
Culinary Usage |
| 15,515 |
35% |
30,718 |
68% |
at 4 gal day |
| 17,315 |
39% |
32,518 |
72% |
at 3 gal day |
| 19,115 |
43% |
34,318 |
205% |
at 2 gal day |
| 44,880 |
|
44,880 |
|
2 months irrigation req @
3 inches/month
|
Hope for more rain?
WATER PURIFICATION
- Boiling
- Distillation
- Chemical (bleach, iodine)
- Filter
- Pasteurization/solarization
- Settling required for turbid water
- Slow sand filter
OTHER WATER RUN-OFF SOURCES
- Swales
- Pavement
- Berms
- Streets
- Water harvest potential at Waldrop urban side from sidewalks and driveway = water harvest potential of his 2250 sq ft of roofs on two
buildings.
FOOD SOURCES
- Gardens
- Fruit and nut trees
- Grain elevators in rural areas (wheat and soybeans, some oats, barley)
- Feed mills
- Livestock - feedlots, mother cow herd, stocker cattle, pigs, sheep
- Rabbits, squirrels, pets
- Insects
- Weeds
- Food storage
- Market gardens
- Mushrooms
- Fish
- Cotton seed oil mills
EMERGENCY RATION PER PERSON
- Flour, 2 lbs day = 6 cups = about 18 biscuits or 1 loaf bread
- Soybeans, 2 lbs (dry)/week = 4 cups dry = 10 cups cooked = 1.43 cooked soybeans/day
FOR 1.1 MILLION PEOPLE IN OKC METROPOLITAN AREA
- 2.2 million lbs flour/day
- 2.2 million lbs of soybeans/week
ONE YEAR EMERGENCY RATION FOOD, OKC METRO AREA
- 803 million lbs Wheat (flour),
- 114.4 million lbs soybeans,
- 917.4 million lbs total
- 2.5 million lbs/today to be hauled into Oklahoma City every day (360 hauling day/year)
- 2.9 million including feed for chickens imported from rural areas for egg/meat production,
EMERGENCY RATION TRANSPORTATION REQUIREMENTS
- 2,920,093 lbs food must enter OKC metro area every day (360 day year)
- 58 semi-trucks/day
- 70 trains/year (6/month)
- 11,680 bicycle carts hauling 250 lbs each
- 350,411 cart trips/month
- Requires 23,361 bicycle carts (assuming 2 day turn-around), requires 46,721 bicycles - each cart requires 2 bikes, 1 to be the tractor,
1 to give up its wheels for the carts)
- 35,041 carts if 3 day turn-around
- 345 neighborhood associations in OKC metro area, avg neighborhood population = 3,188
- 68 carts/neighborhood (2 day turnaround), 102 carts/neighborhood (3 day turnaround)
- Boats/barges floating down the Oklahoma river? Can river locks be opened without electricity?
- "Rail-bikes" engineered into "bicycle trains" operating on train tracks = best alternative if bicycle carts are only hauling transportation
FOOD HAULING FUEL REQUIREMENTS
- Trucks - 928 gallons/diesel/day (assume 80 miles round trip) (334,880 gallons/year)
- Trains - 7,884 gallons/diesel/month (94,611 gal diesel/year)
- 1 train equals 300 trucks,
- Train can move 1 ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon/diesel
EMERGENCY SEED SOURCES
- Existing stocks (home and commercial)
- Seed storage (mitigation proposal)
- Seeds from food in stores
- Potatoes/sweet potatoes
- Squash
- Dried peas/beans
- Stone fruit
- Other fruit seeds
FOOD SUMMARY
- Grain/soybeans
- Cattle, hogs, chickens
- Urban ag
- Catfish/aquaculture/aquaponics
- Container gardens on pavement
- Fish in lakes and rivers
- Cold frames, hoop houses
- Community kitchens for preparation/distributoin
- Storage
- Distribution?
- Ducks, geese, pigeons
NUTRITIONAL SUFFICIENCY OF PROPOSED EMERGENCY RATION
| Nutrition value |
Whole Wheat Flour |
Soybeans |
Daily Ration |
| protein, grams |
96 |
41.47 |
137.47 |
|
| |
Percent of RDA |
Percent of RDA |
Total Ration % of RDA |
|
Vitamins |
6 cups/day |
1.43 cups/day |
7.43 cup/day |
| E |
30% |
7% |
37% |
| K |
18% |
4% |
22% |
| Thiamin |
216% |
59% |
275% |
| Riboflavin |
90% |
26% |
116% |
| Niacin |
228% |
41% |
269% |
| B6 |
120% |
4% |
124% |
| Folate |
78% |
29% |
107% |
| Pantothenic Acid |
72% |
33% |
105% |
| Calories |
2400 |
426.14 |
2826 |
| Adequate protein, Good B vitamins (except B 12), 1/3 of rda of Vit E, Not much A, C, or D, Good calories |
|
|
|
|
SHELTER
Necessary retrofits and issues
- Water harvesting structures
- Food production
- Insulation
- Passive solar
- Wood stoves
- Sleeping issues
- Cooking areas
- Ventilation
- Human waste
- Cellars
- Kids
- Elderly
- community
- Lighting
- Hygiene issues
- Hand washing
- Safety/Security
- Fire
- If 3 households moved in together, they could scavenge materials from 2 houses to fix up one central living house.
- If financial system has collapsed, mortgages will be meaningless.
ENERGY (General Ideas)
- Wood/biomass/cow chips
- Solar
- Wind
- Hydro
- Biodiesel
- Alcohol
- Human/animal traction
- Methane
- Producer Wood Gas
- Propane
- Wind alternators
- Bike generating
- Compost
- Geo-thermal
- Conservation
TRANSPORTATION ENERGY
- Walk
- Bike
- Alcohol
- Biodiesel
- Wood gas
- Animal traction
- Water
- Solar mopes
- Dog carts
- Vehicle share
- Public transportation
- Trains
- Rail bikes
- Pedicabs
- Handcarts
COOKING ENERGY
- Wood (efficient wood, e.g. rocket stoves)
- Solar
- Community kitchens
- Outdoor ovens, mud and pit ovens
- Outdoor cooking
- Stored propane
- Methane (from human waste)
- Hot pots/retained heat cooking
- Alcohol foods
- Raw foods
- Pressure cooking
- Simpler meals
- Candles
- Buddy burners
HOUSE ENERGY
- Passive solar
- Thermosiphon solar
- Blankets/clothing
- Bubble insulation over windows
- Insulated window shutters
- Thermal mass - water, dirt, concrete
- Retaining other heats (hot water, cooking)
- Alcohol stoves
- People (100 watts per person, radiating heat)
- Heat less of the house
- CO2 and smoke issues
- Avoid incoming air drafts (weatherize)
- Canopy beds
- Pets
- No charcoal briquets or generators inside
- All open flames need ventilation.
MEDICAL CARE/PUBLIC HEALTH
- Natural/folk medicine
- Empower nurses, EMTs, physicians assistants, midwives
- Breast feed babies for much longer periods
- More manual labor
- Medically fragile at grave risk
- Death/dying ministries, urban graveyards (parking lots of churches?)
- Addiction issues
- Suicide increase
- Post traumatic stress disorder
- Cats and small dogs for rat control
- Pressure cooker = autoclave
- Ultraviolet disinfection
- Cloth pads/menstrual cups
- Natural family planning
- Water borne illness danger
- Epidemic disease
- Secure food storage
- Some positive aspects (more work + less fat + less sugar = less obesity, less heart disease, less type 2 diabetes)
HUMANURE AND TRASH
- This scenario has no trash, except maybe disposable diapers
- Reuse, recycle, repair, reinvent
- Compost humanure
- Collect urine separately and use as liquid fertilizer (1 part urine to 10 parts water)
- Moldering toilets
- Methane generatoin
COMMUNITY
- Security
- Neighborhood Patrol
- Red-Green-Yellow flags on houses -
- red = NEED HELP;
- green = ALL OK HERE;
- yellow = HAVE RESOURCES OR EXPERTISE TO SHARE
- Noisemakers - whistles, bells, gongs
- Buddy system
- Devolve to new urban villages based on existing neighborhoods
- New urban villages promote solidarity, honor, NO ANONYMITY
- Build community now
MITIGATION
- Support local farmers
- Preserve railroads and tracks
- Household work
- Superinsulate
- Water harvesting
- Edible landscaping
- Slow sand filtrs
- Food storage
- Useful equipment
- Passive solar
- Tools for production
- Window shutters
- Information
- First aid supplies
- Medicinal gardens
- Learn to garden
HOME