What Makes This Project "Green"?

With Earth Day just a month away, and the International Living Future Institute's 2015 "unConference"  (where I happen to be presenting) just a week away, it seems prudent to talk about what really makes this project green.

Green has become synonymous with marketing and I am definitely a pawn in that game. While I
am comfortable admitting that, my fear is that people will think that the use of the term was just that...a marketing concept. Quite the contrary, and I am going to spend the next 5 weeks, right through Earth Month, sharing the thinking behind this project with the hopes of inspiring and motivating all of you to consider some new or enhanced lifestyle choices...because in the end how green we are really comes down to the choices we make in life.

The ultimate goal of this project is to provide my family and friends with a higher quality of life while producing the smallest environmental impact possible (vs. the status quo) and doing this in an economically feasible way for a family of four on a relatively tight budget. As a professional who makes a living as a self proclaimed Sustainability Coach in one of the greener cities in the country, Seattle, I claim to know a thing or two about what makes something truly sustainable. I am also an avid "polar fleecer" who has survived some crazy adventures in wild places and more recently weathered the great recession by innovating personally and professionally and came back stronger and more prepared for the future, so I also claim to know a thing or two about resilience. 

While I gained tons of motivation for this project from the Tiny House and Teardrop Trailer movement, it was truly the inspiration of the  International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and the Bullitt Foundation project to design and build the greenest office building in the world based on the Living Building Challenge (LBC) standards. The Bullitt Center is not only uber green, but incorporates cutting edge technology, has bountiful natural light (even in grey Seattle) and is a gorgeous piece of architecture. To frame my thinking on the Green Trailer Project, I am going to walk you through my thinking in the context of the LBC Petals - Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity, Beauty and I hope you will join me by sharing and tagging me on facebook, twitter (@CoreyWeathers) or Pinterest or just leave a comment with your thoughts in return!

Spring Arrived Early in the NW!

Wow! 68 degrees and sunny the first week in March? That was the reality this weekend and we just had to get out of town for the weekend!

I put the girls to work early Saturday morning packing their bags and decking out the trailer with its new address to share our story with all of the admirers we see along the way. Shoot me a comment if you saw us on the road this weekend heading from Redmond to Vantage, WA!

The road in is a bit rocky so we took it slow and our little cabin on wheels hung on just fine, we actually faired much better than the Prius who tried to camp nearby!

We settled into a sweet and cozy campsite near the Feathers climbing area  around lots of other climbers who made good company and stopped by frequently to admire our home away from home.

Two of our best friends joined us for the weekend, one is a green building guru and we came up with a new idea for the solar system. Rather than mount the panels on hinges on the roof, we are going to build a stand that attaches to an upright on the trailer frame and pivots to track the sun. As you can see above I positioned one of the panels at an angle to track the sun and we were able to improve the efficiency of the panels by 30-50%...I was even pulling about 80 (out of 200 potential watts) at 9:00 in the morning after the sun first came over the ridge.

Best part of the weekend was sharing all of our comforts with friends. More than once our friends remarked how amazing it was to have a kitchen, sink, toilet, power and a warm place for breakfast early on a frost covered morning in the desert! 

Mobile Office for the Day

Some people dread going to the office, I cherish the opportunity! Since the girls are out of school and so is Heidi as a teacher, I needed a place to work away from the house for the day. Considering the weather was cold yet beautiful, it was a perfect opportunity to deploy the newly attached solar panels and work remotely for the day.

I packed up my Google Chrome laptop with LTE service and headed to King County's Marymoor Park (http://www.king county.gov/recreation/parks/inventory/marymoor.aspx) and for the $1.00 parking fee I had the best net zero energy office with a window, two actually, for the price!

Adventure #6 - Snowy Snoqualmie Pass

After making some winter upgrades it was time for an adventure in the snow. While I would have loved an overnight, Heidi and the girls were a bit leary of how comfortable the trailer would be in below freezing temperatures.

I turned on an electric heater inside while still in the garage before departing to warm the core of the trailer, and after 90 minutes of driving in below freezing temperatures, the trailer was still quite warm inside when we arrived! Walls are made if 1/2" beveled cedar siding, tyvek house wrap, 1 1/2" EPS foam core insulation, then either 1/4" or 1/4" interior ply glued and stabled to the 2x2 and 2x3 frame.

After we deployed the pop-top to make dinner in the indoor kitchen, we did lose some of the heat as instill need to install a neoprene sleeve around the opening on the rear hatch, this will be the next step before we venture out on an overnight. I also need to install a carbon monoxide sensor for the propane stove and possibly consider a small propane heater as the electric heater I have tends to trip the alarm on the inverter when it starts up, but that is a topic for another post. I also am considering an induction cooktop so that we can be truly "net zero" on energy use and also create a healthier indoor environment by not burning propane indoors. This would require a larger battery, inverter, and additional solar panels.

After dinner and a very cold beer we got to take in an extraordinary moonrise and sunset, then headed home as the temps dropped back into the teens, brrrr.

Overall, I was quite happy with the winter performance of the insulation and very pleased with how easy the trailer was to pull in the snow. The VW Tiguan did amazing, didn't slide or lose traction at any point, even on then icy inclines. Can't wait to head back to the snow!

Finalizing the Interior

While the exterior look has been an incredibly important part of the project, getting the interior space right has been a bit of an obsession. From finding a bed that would fit inside and be long enough for my 6'1" frame to sleep in comfortably, to the right combination of lighting to fill the trailer with sufficient light without requiring excessive solar panels and batteries, the details have been exciting to work on, especially with the goal of making the interior both aesthetically appealing and functional. 

Queen bed converted to dining area, composting toilet, entrance.

Initially, I had planned to have the bunk beds fold down from the wall, but after realizing I could make the trailer 6" wider (7'4" vs. 6'10"), the bunk beds could be permanently in place and still provide sufficient room in the kitchen. While the bunks are just over 6' long, they have hosted adults once so far who seemed to have sufficient space. The kitchen still has a few quirks to work out, but is a dream to cook in while camping...I have always been accused of being a gourmet on the road and the kitchen was really designed to fit me and my cooking style, there is plenty of counter space, a sink, powerful gas cook top, and almost everything one could possible want for the ultimate "glamping" experience!

Kitchen with refrigerator, foot pump sink,
two burner cook top

Twin bunk beds

Adventure #5 - Vantage Rock Climbing

October in the Pacific Northwest is always a bit of a wild card in terms of weather. I always tell people who are new to the area that you are bound to have fairly decent weather until Halloween when things take a dramatic turn towards winter. With the prospect of one last fall weekend for an outdoor adventure we packed up and headed to "Vantage" or the Frenchman Coulee climbing area just east of the Columbia River off I-90.

Vantage is one of my all time favorite places to visit in the spring and fall as it only gets a few inches if rain each year and can be a pretty sure bet for decent weather when Seattle is pouring buckets or socked in with fog. Both happened to be the case along with 40-60 mph winds in the forecast. 

Vantage also happens to be one of the places that inspired the green camping trailer. Kayden, my oldest daughter, and I came out here two falls ago with a group of friends and while she enjoyed roughing it with her dad at five years old, she absolutely refused to poop in a hole or use the un maintained honey buckets. Three times that weekend we drove 6 miles to the General Store in George for her to use the restroom...I was bound and determined to find a better camping solution after that weekend.

Since Vantage is literally in the middle of the desert and far from any established infrastructure, it is the most rustic of rustic camping experiences. No power, no running water, no protection from the elements, and until recently only a seasonal honey bucket. In Februrary of 2014 a group of passionate climbers were able to petition for and raise the funds to install a sanctioned toilet! (http://www.washingtonclimbers.org/Current/VantagePot.htm) Regardless, it is still very rustic and challenges the family camping experience...a perfect test to see if my creation was up to the task.

We arrived in the afternoon to sunny skies and the threat of rain on the horizon. I quickly deployed the pop top, setup the REI alcove that I picked up at the REI garage sale last weekend for $40 and waited out an hour of rain, that also brought a spectacular full rainbow!

It wasn't long before we had a number of visitors, especially with everyone returning to camp from climbing once the rain set in. Blue and his two boys were the first to come say hello. They were sporting a recently modified diesel Sprinter with full kitchen, custom bench seat that converts to a King size bed, and 300 watts of solar for the full off grid adventure rig. Van came by who happens to have a converted van (Ford E-350) that he is currently tricking out for climbing and maybe a trip to Tierra del Fuego with his journalist girlfriend when she gets back from Korea. And Paul brought his whole entourage by for a look. He is considering building a tiny house on wheels and was thrilled to hear my story and see what I had accomplished without formal carpentry training...he is in the same boat and hopefully my story inspires him to take the next step!

We finally got in a few climbs Sunday after an incredibly windy night, at least 30-40 mph sustained winds for a few hours, and they skies cleared so incomes deploy one of the solar panels to add a bit of juice back to the battery.

The girls lasted for a few hours of climbing until the wind and clouds returned and we retreated to our cozy base camp for grilled cheese and a few games of go fish.

Adventure #4 - Lake Easton State Park, WA

Shooting for something fairly close to home with spots available on Labor Day weekend, we headed out to Lake Easton State Park just east of Snoqualmie Pass on I-90. While their is no big lure to stay at the state park, it is quite a nice setting and an easy 90 minute drive from Seattle. Plus, there is a sandy beach and play structure for the kids!

This was the first adventure where we have literally left as soon as I got home from work. While I did quite a bit of prep work the night before, most of the "packing" happened in about 45 minutes and of course a few essentials were left behind...tooth paste, my pillow, and the girls were very disappointed to have no maple syrup for breakfast.

Since this was Labor Day weekend, camping space were limited, but we arrived Thursday and were able to claim a first come first serve site. It was fun on Friday to watch all of the people arrive, and the streamed in pretty steadily starting about 2:00. The interesting part about camping on a long holiday weekend is that you get lots of people who don't often camp and I found that considering how many people were camping, I didn't get an overwhelming number of visitors. My favorite were a couple from Utah with their 3 year-old and another on the way. They had built a custom camping trailer modeled after a European gypsy wagon, and while small for a family, they had been on the road for about a month! They were a bit jealous of my sink and I was jealous of their pot belly stove...more inspiration to consider!

We did get to try out a few new conveniences, including a redesign to the sinks water holding tank. 

The design is quite simple and includes a 5 gallon bucket with an outlet at the bottom and a foot pump attached to the top for pressurizing during use. 5 or 6 pumps provides enough pressure for about a minute of washing and with a faucet aerator installed, we use less than .5 gallons per minute (gpm). 

I also finished wiring the 120 volt outlets, installed a new 35 amp hour battery and an 800 watt inverter. Combined these two additions will allow us to run lighting and charge phones/iPads for at least two days, in theory, and I am hopeful that we will have enough power to get through two nights. I played with charging the battery via solar panel this week, but either have a faulty charge controller or a bad connection as the charge controller would not register an amperage reading from the solar panel. Eventually I will upgrade to a 140 amp hour battery once we decide to install a refrigerator, but for now the 35 amp hour battery should meet our needs.

The best part about the new power supply and outlets is the ability to stay up and read after the girls go to sleep. Contrary to what my wife would say, I really do enjoy reading, just don't often find the time. I found LED lights at IKEA with a USB port and used our old iPhone charging bases. They only use 1 watt of power, but provide ample light that can be focused just on the book.

Cheers!