About Project Licht 'n Stein
['li[k]t-&n-"shtIn]*
The name of our project is a play on words on the name of
that little teeny-tiny European country - Liechtenstein (40,000
acres (2/3 mountainous), 30,000 people). But it is also a
good description of the essence of our project; the German
word "Licht" means "light" and the German
word "Stein" means "stone" or "rock".
In addition the <'n> is a typical American way of saying
"and" (as in Rock 'n Roll) and since Christian is
from Germany and Jennifer is from America it fits even more.
Incidentally, if you've seen Sofia Coppola's
movie with Bill Murphy "Lost in Translation", the
American way of pronouncing "Licht" reminds me of
that funny "rip my stockings" scene. My apologies
to all of you who haven't seen it (it's good for a $0.99 movie
night only, though). Bein a non-native English speaker myself,
translation has always "intrigued" and amused me
;-)
So, what then is our project? Project Licht 'n Stein is actually
a multitude of things...
- A mission to build a mostly self-sustained, energy-efficient,
energy-conserving, year-round dwelling for a family of 3-4.
- A concept of promoting and tapping into community.
- An experiment to demonstrate that sustainable living using
renewable energies can be achieved at the same level of
comfort and availability of technical appliances as a 'standard'
house.
- Following the eXtreme Programming motto: "Build the
simplest thing that could possibly work" (i.e. that
meets our requirements)
It is our vision to be energy-wise more or less self-sufficient
(besides some LP) and to share our lessons learned and experience
gained and mistakes made with the community around our home
and work and virtually online. We want to be a counter-point
to a system that provides tax incentives for SUVs and do our
share to preserving what we have (and, uhmm, make up for the
15 miles/gal 4x4 truck that we drive...).
So here are the essential components
& design concepts:
- Passive Solar Design
- Rain Water Harvesting
- Wind Generator
- Water Heating: Wind, Solar, Wood & Gas
|
