WSP05005

• File Number: 8021
• Description: Section D General Studies - Western States Water Council
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 9/1/1990
• Author: Land Institute
• Title: The Land Report - The Land Report - Fall 1990
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Board of Directors Meets

All twelve members of The Land Institute
Board of Directors were present when Chairperson
Mari Detrixhe convened the meeting on Sunday
afternoon, December 9. The board heard program
reports from staff and reviewed the financial status of
The Land. Sunday evening dinner for the board was
prepared in the Krehbiel House kitchen by Alice
Waters, board member and proprietress of Chez
Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, with the
assistance of Jan Wilson and Paula Fried of Salina.
On Monday the board heard a report from
President Wes Jackson and then discussed proposals
for new or expanded programs that could be reflected
in the budget the staff will present for the board's
approval at the annual meeting on June 3, 1991.
Interns and staff joined the board for a potluck lunch.
Attending their first meeting were new board
members Rafe Pomerance of the World Resources
Institute, Washington D.C., and Chuck Francis,
Extension Crops Specialist at the University of
Nebraska. The board elected George Comstock to
become the. thirteenth member of The Land Institute
Board of Directors. (See page 33.)

Energy Conservation

Rocky Mountain Institute estimates that by
using systematic building modifications which are
cost-effective today, we could reduce by well over
three-fourths the amount of energy used for space
heating. This fall we decided to make some modifica-
tions in Land Institute buildings for greater efficiency
in space heating and electricity consumption.
John Jilka spent several dark days putting in
fiberglass insulation in the space between the north
and east walls of the first classroom building, which
burned down in 1986, and the concrete walls poured
outside the first ones when we rebuilt the building.
He also sealed the holes and cracks around the north
entrance, renovated the stairway and filled the space
underneath it with dirt.
In the Krehbiel House offices John Craft
installed new lighting fIXtures and switched incandes-
cent bulbs to more efficient!compact fluorescents. For
future improvements, John is also investigating ways
of better insulating the high-ceilinged rooms of the
main floor, learning about more efficient heat pumps
and the effectiveness of timers on thermostats.
The propane bill for heating the greenhouse
last winter was high, and we burned more wood in
Igor, the wood-burning furnace, than we expected.
Insulating the north hallway, which the 1990 interns
did last spring, should help reduce energy consump-
tion this winter, but John is convinced that we can do

much more than that. The research staff and the
management team agreed with John that we should
experiment in one of the four rooms in the green-
house to find ways to improve heat retention.
Though a fan circulates warm air from the green-
house peak down into rock-filled benches the auto-
matic vents still exhaust too much warm 'air on sunny
days. Included in the plans are solar curtains to
reduce heat loss at night, relentless leak-plugging,
and barrels filled with water to increase solar mass
and level out temperature fluctuations. We will
decide what applications to use in the other rooms
based on the cost effectiveness of these changes.

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New Compost Makers

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"I would like to know how lands are made,"
wrote a young student from New Mexico. Space
doesn't allow for a full explanation (even if we did
know), but one way The Land Institute helps to make
one component of land-soil-is by using composting
toilets. For many years the only toilet for the class-
room building was a cleverly-equipped 55-gallon
drum, and though we've since joined the mainstream
with a low-volume flush toilet, the composting toilet
dubbed "World Headquarters" is still being used.
This summer the interns, with Johns Craft and
Jilka, built two new composting toilets, one for the
greenhouse/shop area and one to be placed near the.
research plots on the Ohio Street farm. In the new
facilities, as in World Headquarters, human wastes
are mixed with sawdust in a 55-gallon drum. When
the drum is full we cap it and set it out in the sun to
mature for a couple of years. Time and periodic
rolling results in a barrel offriable humus, full of
nutrients perfect for enriching new woodlot trees.
The new composting toilets differ somewhat
from the one called World Headquarters. The great-
est improvement is the relocation of the barrel to the
front, which makes moving it out much easier. An
elevated window keeps the interior bright.

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John Craft (left) and John Jilka move new compost- maker.

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