Rocket Mass Heaters 4-DVD Set

“The annual cost of a rocket mass heater is less than a tenth of the annual cost of natural gas – and that’s if you buy the fuel instead of harvest it yourself. And a rocket mass heater emits less than a tenth of the greenhouse gasses. Many rocket mass heaters will heat a home with a tenth of the wood of what a conventional wood stove will use.

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The Cabin Stove – A Small Masonry Heater at Aprovecho Research Center

Specially designed masonry heater for small homes
Specially designed masonry heater for small homes

“The challenge of the design of the Cabin Stove was to come up with something that was very compact but also still resembled and functioned like a masonry heater. The design criteria included heating the small space, an efficient and clean fire, utility for cooking, heating water, combining some quick/immediate-release heat with slower retained radiated heat, relative ease of construction, not too expensive, aesthetically pleasing, and being as compact in size as possible. A very interesting process to try to combine all of these together.”

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Family cuts commute with smaller home in live/work complex

“Stan Leopard used to spend nearly two hours in the car each day commuting from his home in Mill Valley, CA to his office in San Francisco. Since he runs a small business and can choose where to locate the office, bought a live/work townhouse in a neighboring town and cut his commute to a flight of stairs.”

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The Barrel Oven: A New Kind of Outdoor DIY Pizza Oven

Low cost, fuel efficient, DIY barrel oven
Low cost, fuel efficient, DIY barrel oven

The best ideas are immediately recognizable, and that’s certainly true with this amazing new barrel oven by Max and Eva Edleson. Here’s an excerpt from a book review about their barrel oven by Ziggy at Year of Mud blog.

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Zero Energy Cooking: Rocket Stove Plus Retained Heat Cooking


Fuel Efficient Cooking with an Insulated Box
“What a great example of using a retained heat cooker! Cooking beans is the perfect example of the strength of using a thermal type cooker. All the goodness with 80%-90% of the fuel being saved.”

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