Abundance Ecovillage

This section provides a short summary of how each element of the ecovillage will work. Elements include things like electrical power generation, space heating, cooling, the placement of structures on the land, ponds, wetlands, orchards, etc.

1a) Electricity:
Electricity will be supplied from the daily input of solar and wind energy and occasional supplements from a generator powered by soybean oil (soy diesel). The design run time of the generator will be less than 2 per cent of the year. There will be no connection to the local utility grid. An energy system consisting of photovoltaic panels, a wind turbine, generator, batteries, and metering and control equipment will be built for each cluster. Each unit in the cluster will be equipped with meters to inform the residents of current energy use for the unit, current energy use for the cluster, total energy use for the month for the unit and cluster, the state of charge of the batteries, whether the generator is running, and the total hours of generator time for the month. The unit that uses the most electricity for the month pays for all the back up generator fuel. Comfort will be the rule in the design of the system. To conserve energy is not to suffer - it is simply to use resources more productively. The units will be designed to perform all the functions expected from electricity today (lights, computers, stereos, TV, refrigeration etc) but will use a combination of design (day lighting, for example) and the most efficient appliances available to cut electrical consumption to 1/3 to 1/10 of a typical home.

1b) Hot Water:
Solar hot water panels provide hot water for each home, with propane as a back up. The hot water system consists of two flat plate solar hot water panels and associated piping and controls to hook it up to a hot water tank provided by the homeowner. The panels will provide 90-100 percent of the energy required to heat hot water in the warm months and a smaller fraction in the coldest few months. Any back up energy for hot water heating will be provided by propane.

2) Water Supply:
The village will rely on rainwater for water supply. 16 million gallons of water falls on the 16 acres of Abundance Ecovillage in an average year. There will be three systems for collecting and storing water. The first system will collect and store rainwater from roofs. This system will provide household water for washing and bathing. The second system will collect surface water and store it in ponds. This system will provide water for agriculture and for flushing toilets. The third system is rainwater storage in the ground. This system will provide water storage for trees and plants. These systems are described in more detail next.

2a) Rainwater catchment:
Each cluster will have a rainwater catchment system. Water will be collected from the roof of each home in the cluster and directed to a storage tank. The storage tank will be a below ground concrete tank holding 40,000 gallons. Each storage tank will have a pump house. The pump house will filter and pressurize the water and pipes will deliver pressurized water to each home. This filtered pressurized water will be used for bathing and washing.

2b) Agricultural water from ponds:
Water falling on the land will be collected in swales and ditches and directed to ponds. Pond water will be pressurized and delivered to each house for flushing toilets, watering gardens, and washing vehicles.

2c) Water stored in ground with swales:
Water will also be stored in the ground in the area around the roots of plants. Prairie plants are especially good for this as up to 60% of the mass of the plant is below ground, and the roots of the plants go up to 16 feet below the surface, breaking up the soil and making tiny passages for water to percolate. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per acre can be stored in the ground this way. During dry times, this water will be available to trees and other deep-rooted plants.

3) Waste and Nutrient Recycling:
The sewer and waste water handling systems will allow valuable nutrients to be recycled and safely reused. Flush toilets will be used. Toilet wastes will flow into a tank. The tank will have lots of carbon material and millions and millions of red wiggler worms. The solids will be in this tank will be processed by worms and aerobic bacteria (vermicomposted). The liquids will immediately drain and flow into another tank. Anaerobic bacteria will process the liquid in this tank. Liquids will flow out of the top of this tank into a constructed wetlands system. The constructed wetlands system will consist of a bed of gravel 18 inches deep planted with a variety of aquatic plants (cattail, arrowhead, etc.). The aquatic plants and bacteria living on he surface of the gravel will further process the water and absorb nutrients. The plants will be periodically harvested and used to mulch non-food forest areas of the village, thus reusing the nutrients in the water. The water will go through a final sand filter for a last stage of clean up. The first tank will be allowed to fill with solids for a few years and then the wastes will be switched to an identical tank. The first tank will be allowed to sit and vermicompost for another year or so, and then the vermicomposted material will be buried in trenches in the forest area, where the nutrients will be available to trees. The trees will be coppicing varieties like hybrid poplar and black locust. The trees will be periodically harvested for fence posts and firewood, thus recycling the nutrients in the solid wastes.

Abundance EcoVillage Questionaire
Please take a few minutes to let us know your perceptions of Abundance EcoVillage (AEV).

What I know about Abundance EcoVillage learned from:
( ) a public presentation at the Fairfield library
( ) an article in the Weekly Reader, the Source or Everybody’s

News
            ( ) speaking with friends
            ( ) speaking with the developers
            ( ) referred by Maharishi Global Construction
            ( ) website <www.abundance-ecovillage.com>
            ( ) other, please elaborate

I know enough about AEV to make a decision about living there
( ) yes
( ) no

I would move into AEV if there was a sustainable job there for me
            ( ) a job at AEV is a very important consideration
            ( ) a job at AEV is of slight inportance
            ( ) a job at AEV is not important
            ( ) I am in a position to create jobs at AEV—please elaborate

If I need a job in AEV, I would like to work in this area
            ( ) manufacturing,
            ( ) sales, marketing
            ( ) agriculture
            ( ) other

I would like office space at AEV
( ) yes, how much?_____
( ) no

If I plan to live in Abundance,
            ( ) I plan to build and move in this year
            ( ) I plan to build and move in in the next few years
            ( ) I would like to move into a rental unit
            ( ) I am interested in the project but do not see myself participating
            ( ) other, please elaborate

Regarding house type, I prefer
            ( ) single family, detached on a vastu
            ( ) single family, detached on a vastu inside a larger vastu
            ( ) rental apartment
            ( ) condo type unit attached to common building
            ( ) other, please elaborate

If rental units were available, the following would suit my needs:
            ( ) a studio at $595 per month
            ( ) a one bedroom at $695 per month
            ( ) a two bedroom at $795 per month
            ( ) other

What is keeping me from committing to AEV is
            ( ) unsure about photovolaics and wind supplying adequate electricity
            ( ) house footprint of 1,500 is too small for my needs
            ( ) unsure about living so close to others
            ( ) too expensive
            ( ) other, please elaborate

This is what I like most about AEV
***rank A(very important) B(somewhat important) C(unimportant)***
            ( ) proximity to town and campus
            ( ) renewable energy
            ( ) sustainable agriculture
            ( ) community-common building, occasional group meals
            ( ) Maharishi Sthapatya Ved
            ( ) presence of nature-walking paths, ponds
            ( ) other, please elaborate

Regarding dogs at AEV, I would move there:
            ( ) only if dogs are allowed--
            *subject to covenants regarding barking, cleanup,etc.*
            ( ) only if dogs are not allowed
            ( ) have no preferece about dogs

I am ready to build at AEV. My opinion of the 1,500 sf footprint covenant:
            ( ) supports sustainability and should be retained
            ( ) arbitrarily small and not adequte for my needs
            ( ) other, please elaborate

Regarding parking of automobiles, the following suits me:
            ( ) out door parking ___ # of spaces
            ( ) carport at a cost of $1,800 ___ # of carport spaces
            ( ) garage at a cost of $6.200 ___ # of garage spaces

To support the growth of the AEV community, the development team
proposes to send emails to an open list. This would allow people to see
who else is supporting the village.
            ( ) yes, I am in favor of my email address being seen by
            others on the AEV News list
            ( ) I want to receive AEV only on a blind blind basis so
            that my support of AEV remains anonymous.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions,
the aev team, j&d, l&v, m&c