Ecodesign and the Harmonode Concept

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Ecodesign • Harmonode economies
Ecological community development

Slideshow introduction
on ecodesign and
the harmonode concept
now available.

Ecological Design

Ecodesign is based on strategies, principles, concepts, and patterns found in healthy thriving ecosystems - utilizing these in the design of landscapes, buildings, and physical systems/infrastructure.

Permaculture and biomimicry are popular schools of thought, probably the two most well established, within the realm of ecological design.

There are many overlapping sets of principles used in ecological design; John Todd has nine elements in his "Precepts of biological design"; Biomimicry acknowledges nine similar but different principles; David Holmgren describes 12 permaculture principles; Stuart Cowan and Sim Van der Ryn describe five ecological design principles.

Sample principles from those four sets include: "nature runs on sunlight," "nature banks on diversity," and "nature recycles everything" in biomimicry; "obtain a yield," "produce no waste," and "use edges and value the marginal" in Holmgren's pinciples; "everyone is a designer" and "solutions grow from place" in Cowan/Van der Ryn's principles; and in Todd's "biological equity must determine design" and "design must reflect bioregionality." There are many others.

Ecodesign employs numerous innovations in technology and technique.

Ecological Innovations

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Compost Powered Heating Systems

A composting pile of shredded wood mulch can stay hot for 12-24 months. Water can be run through coiled tubing inside the pile to provide all of a home's hot water and heating needs.

combustion free heat
builds soil
pile can house biodigester to produce natural gas
renewable energy

Mound of shredded wood mulch, with water heating apparatus sticking out the top, nearly done construction

Coppicing

Hardwood cut when dormant, as in pruning, will regrow from their stumps with sufficient sunlight.

multiple trunks grow from one stump
established root system makes regrowth many times faster than trees grow from seed
rapid biomass cultivation
harvested on cycles (from annual to 20+years) to achieve desired products from basket materials, to fuel wood, to lumber

Coppiced ash tree, multiple trunks growing from one root stock

Agroforestry

Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry to create land-use systems that are more productive and profitable, more diverse and ecologically sustainable.

Yields diverse commodities: fruit, nuts, mushrooms, medicinal herbs, fuel wood, fodder, building materials

Logs inoculated with spores of edible mushrooms sit in a coppiced woodland

Rocket stoves

Special design creates high burn temperatures for efficient cookstoves and thermal mass heaters.

high temperatures burn more carbon, emitting less as pollution
efficient combustion makes small diameter fuel wood a viable and appropriate energy and heat source
simplicity in design allows for DIY implementation and affordability

Rocket cooking stove made by StoveTec for international aid and development

Biochar

Woody biomass, when put through process of pyrolysis (combustion then deprived of oxygen), will be reduced to charcoal. Biochar is ground/pulverized charcoal that's biologically charged or inoculated, used as a soil amendment.

natural process of sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil
can improve crop yields by 200%
enduring benefits to soil -- lasting hundreds of years, whereas other types of soil amendment often need annual applications

"Left - a nutrient-poor oxisol; right - an oxisol transformed into fertile terra preta using biochar" -wikipedia

Humanure

Humanure, which is often dealt with at great expense to avoid pathogenic contamination, is a potent source of energy. Modern trends in septic systems and municipal sewage facilities waste this energy source. Sanergy, an international organization formed out of MIT, has developed a replicable model of creating sanitation systems that provide material input for energy production systems.

Showers and toilets drain into airtight receptacles
Receptacles are transported to regional processing facilities
Facilities capture methane to burn in electricity generation
The solid material (largely human manure) is processed and composted to provide fertile topsoil

Sanergy provides sanitation in the slums of Nairobi, producing methane for power-generation and compost for commercial sale from the solid material

Phytoremediation

Phytoremediation removes toxins from soils by utilizing plants' ability to assimilate elements from the soil into their body matter. Different plants have varying capacities to take in soil elements and varying tolerance of toxicity.

Pennycress is one plant with high tolerance of heavy metal toxicity and ability to move high quantities metal contaminants from the soil into its plant matter
The plant matter becomes toxic with heavy metals while it decontaminates the soil
The plant matter can be pelletized and burned as biomass
The heavy metals are left in the ashes which which can be sold as a low-grade ore

Pennycress accumulates large amounts of nickel and other metals from the soil in its matter

Bioremediation

Bioremediation uses a variety of plant, animal, and bacterial organisms to achieve decontaminating effects in ecosystems.

Utilizing natures inherent detoxifying capacity creates dramatic fiscal improvements in remediation solutions
Utilizing ecological processes, contaminated areas can be turned into bountiful and beautiful areas

Bioremediation turned this sewage-filled canal into lush walkway

Aquaponics

Aquaponics describes the combination of hydroponic vegetable cultivation with aquaculture fish farming.

Mutually complimenting elements create more whole, balanced, and synergistic system
Year-round indoor food cultivation
High biological productivity
Integrates with the building's water cycle

Fish tanks with salad greens growing on top of water

Solar Gain

By utilizing south-facing window, internal thermal mass, and proper insulation, buildings can heat themselves during cold months. Windows should be shaded from direct sun during warm seasons. In extreme cold, heat can be retained better by covering/insulating windows at night.

Yields dramatic energy savings
Saves money
Decreases pollution

South-facing windows become an active heating element in direct sun

The Harmonode Effect

Ecological design uses these concepts among many others to develop ecologically harmonious infrastructure. When an infrastructure unit/subsystem, such as a home or farm, integrates these innovations in complimentary ways, its ecological optimization yields synergistic efficacy — this is the harmonode effect. Infrastructure like this is exceptionally rare, however. An ecological society comprised of harmonode-based infrastructure would be, by far, the most efficient and effective way of meeting human needs that civilization has ever known.