[Greenbuilding] composting

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/21/08 5:07:40 PM, speireag at gmail.com writes:


> > I lived in Western Massachusetts where it got as cold as -35 F one 
> > year.  Our compost piles in the garden gave off steam all winter.  
> > Building a new outdoor compost pile in such conditions is another 
> > matter.
> 
> 
>      I suspect that we're building different piles.  It sounded like 
> yours were a good deal larger, for one thing.  Mine are, inside the 
> bales, about 4 feet by 4 feet, and contain only the humanure and 
> sawdust for two adults and two children.
> 
>      Also, I live farther north, where it gets a bit colder.  But 
> it's been warmer in recent years.
> 
>      I suspect that the main difference is size.
> 
> -Speireag.
> 
> 
> 

Actually, the main difference is that you piles accumulate 'fuel' gradually.  
 I've built a compost pile inside of 4' straw bales (surrounding a pit about 
3' deep) and it heated beautifully in late winter in Wichita.   The difference 
was that I built the pile all at once.   The critical factor here is not mass 
(though small piles don't heat well) but rate of accumulation.   I did the 
calculations on a methane digester for a similar size family years ago, and the 
methane generated by the humanure would be just about enough to boil an egg a 
day, once everything got going. In other words, not worth the bother.   The 
rate of energy release probably would not counteract the loss of heat in sub 
zero weather.   And where do you live that gets colder than minus 35° F?    

Dan Hemenway



Barking Frogs Permaculture Center
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