Micro Home Progress Report by Walt Barrett

Due to a very heavy sales and shipping schedule combined with some extremely hot weather we have no progress to report on the Micro Home project. We do plan to get the loft and the roof rafters installed shortly. We will post photos ASAP.
Thanks,
Walt

Off the grid micro home progress report July 18 2008 by Walt Barrett

Three sizes of this home will be in assembly line production in New England by this fall. They will be available assembled, pre-cut, and in pre-fabricated panels. They also will be offered in flat roofs or peaked roofs with sleeping/storage lofts. They are designed to be totally off the power grid. Experiences of other micro home owners indicate that yearly energy costs (propane cooking gas) are About $200.00. Our units will include a solar power system and 120 volt inverter. The Bathroom space can be fitted or left empty. Credit will be given for fixtures not used. This is for people who have their own ideas and needs. Some people in Warmer climates use separate bathroom and toilet facilities. We intend to be very flexible with our interior design offerings. You can talk to us and we will listen! Our primary goal is to create jobs and low cost housing for Americans.
Progress Report:
We finally got all of the sheathing screwed on yesterday and we cut the ceiling joists to length and angled the ends so that they will match the 45 degree angle of the roof rafters. We hope to have time over the next couple of days between customers etc. to cut the roof rafters and start the installation of them. We would like to get the roof on ASAP and seal it up.
We will install the ceiling joists and sleeping loft today including framing off the entrance hatch opening. Personally I would use the loft for clothing storage etc, and sleep on the first level.
Most of the studs have already been pre-drilled for the wiring. We did it on a mini assembly line we set up to cut the studs to length. We will wire for 120 volts and will use a solar inverter along with LED lighting. We have located a 30" new shower stall that will be installed in the mini bathroom.
Things are moving along as well as can be expected with all the other work we have to do daily in our sales department.
Another point I would like to mention is that we have an associate that is doing an excellent job on the building plans.
We hope to have new photos to post by tomorrow.
Stay tuned,
Walt

This is a very interesting blog if you are considering a Micro Home or green living. Please check it out.
http://rowdykittens.com
Thanks,
Walt

Micro Home Progress Report July 15th 2008 by Walt Barrett

Well we found enough time between customers today to get 99% of the sheathing on the micro home. The next step is to lay out the roof rafters. I am dreading the job. Where are my carpenter friends when I need them?
I'm telling you one thing, this is the last building I will ever do stick built!
We could have dome it all in three days on an assembly line easily. It's so hard to keep everything square and get the proper fits. At least for me anyway. At 75 I'm not exactly Mr. Super Carpenter. I never did it for a living. My gig is designing and selling things. I have been a production line guy all my life, Working with metal, and it's the only way to go! Anyway, I am posting the photos for better or for worse.
We welcome your comments.
Thanks,
Walt

Micro Home Report

Yesterday we had time to install about a third of the exterior sheathing. We expect to finish today. I have pre-cut most of it already.
I will try to post the latest photos this afternoon.
Thanks,
Walt

Important energy video for you to view

Please view this short video about our current energy crisis.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1641244028/bclid1641831933/bctid1653634930
Thanks,

Walt

About building the off grid micro home by Walt Barrett

I have included some photos of our 1 kw wind turbine kit that can be used to provide additional power to our micro homes.

Please note that the Micro Home Blogs are a series, and in order to properly enjoy the posts you should scroll down to the first installment with the photos of the empty lot overlooking the lake.

Yesterday we erected the four wall frames and today we will start the sheathing install . I doubt we will finish today as we need some time off. We have been running the business and pounding nails between customer calls.

This unit will be totally off grid with solar as the energy source.

I would also like to add that I am somewhat disappointed and surprised with the low traffic numbers on this blog. I am really concerned that with the major energy problems, low cost housing shortages we are facing, and the fact that things are only going to get worse. We expected more interest. Please tell your friends about our blog!

Thanks and Happy Solaring!

Walt

Erecting The Micro Home Walls by Walt Barrett

This morning we finally found the time to erect the four walls that we had built previously. It took us exactly an hour, but then we have never done it before. It took the most time to get every thing square and level. Because we built up against and also on some uneven terrain you may get the illusion that things are crooked or twisted. Believe me, they are not. You might also notice that before we assembled the wall that all of the studs were pre-drilled for wiring and all in the same place. We marked them and drilled them right off the chop saw. We think this will save us time during the wiring stages.

I have posted four photos. If anyone thinks we need any more structural bracing anywhere on the frames please to not hesitate to drop us a line. wbarrett1@aol.com The roof will be peaked with a sleeping loft. We welcome your suggestions.

Thanks,

Walt

Micro Home Construction Update by Walt Barrett

Well yesterday it finally stopped raining and I built the third and probably the most complicated wall of the micro home. It will have two Anderson windows installed in it and I had to frame in the windows properly so as not to compromise the strength of the wall.
Today I will build the final wall with the front door and window openings in it. I will try to get some photos posted this afternoon. I'm looking forward to the next step when we erect the four walls and start on the floor of the loft space.
We have located some space in an abandoned textile mill nearby so that if we do decide to go into production with this tiny home and some larger models we will be able to jump right into production. It certainly will be a lot easier than stick building! These tiny homes will employ a solar electric system, passive solar heating, and solar hot water heating and shower. Toilets will be of the composting type unless otherwise specified. Various options and sizes will be offered. The model we are currently building is for a maximum of two people.

Personally, I see these tiny micro homes as a housing solution for people whom would normally never get a shot at owning their own home, or who may be homeless currently. I like the idea that they provide most of their own green energy. I have noticed that several cities on the west coast have changed their zoning to allow these micro homes to be built in the back yards of existing homes in order to help alleviate the existing low income housing shortages. Several people have commented to me that they could not possibly live in a home that small, and my response has been "That's because you are currently not living in a cardboard box, or sleeping in a shelter, or under a bridge!" That could make a difference in your thinking! We are trying to make them attractive looking, because many we have seen are just plain ugly boxes.
Please stay tuned and please tell your friends about our project. We will be seeking dealers as soon as we get a handle on all of the costs. We expect to have the lowest prices in the country. With us, it's not about the money! We need to provide jobs and housing in our area.
Thanks,
Walt

Solar Micro Home project by Walt Barrett

This is an ongoing off the grid solar micro home construction project. See it below.
There is a 75 year old micro home in the background (lower photos) on the left that was built by my grandfather. They just called them cabins then. it is where he retired on very little money. He lived there until he died in 1948. I used to spend a lot of time there in the thirties and forties. It had oil lamps and outdoor plumbing. We used to play cards and checkers by the lamp light. Those were better times! We plan to renovate it completely. It is 12' x 20' and we plan to put it to good use in the near future. It needs a total rehab now! It's full of antiques.

http://classifieds.free2advertize.com/

http://thenextbillionaireswillbegreen.blogspot.com/

The Micro Home As An Alternate Lifestyle by Walt Barrett

It is raining today so we will not be working on our demonstration model of an off grid micro home. I do not like wasting time so I have decided to make a few comments and express my views of the current mess we are in.
This morning when I turned on the news I heard that our local electric utility that our government allowed a foreign company to purchase has requested a twenty-one percent rate increase. At age seventy-five I have long since lost my idealistic beliefs in the honesty of our politicians on every level. We have been sold out! Many people that I speak with in my daily process of doing business feel betrayed and trapped by a system that has definitely spun out of control. They feel powerless to do anything to correct the problem because the politicians in both political parties appear to be corrupt, bought and paid for, or just plain stupid. It is obvious that any system allowing campaign donations is just a legal form of bribery that allows the big money guys to hold our congress and us all captive. We should make them stop!
Having said all that, I believe that one of the best ways that we can beat this situation where we are all slaves to the large energy companies is to keep finding ways to use as little fuel and electricity as possible. You don’t need to have a lot of money to accomplish this. As a matter of fact you can save money by fighting back. Every time a light bulb blows out simply replace it with an energy saving bulb that uses a fraction of the watts (power), and if you shop carefully you can find them at the large box stores on bargain specials. Of course, you can save the most money by simply turning all unnecessary lights and appliances off. Many appliances are now power on all the time type which is very wasteful. There are power strips available that you can plug several items into and then shut them all off at once. I am now always shutting off or putting my computer on sleep mode when not using it. Mostly I shut it off.
One of the biggest wastes of fuel I have ever seen is that many of the people I know seem to look for reasons to hop in the car and run to the store etc. with no planning, rhyme, or reason. It is a known fact that the fuel business is a supply and demand business and even a ten percent drop in fuel usage would affect the prices.
I have oil hot water heat in my home and I found that my service man had the water temperature cranked up to 200 degrees F. Wintertime water temp is usually 180 degrees F. I have also turned the temp down to 125 degrees for the summer because the only reason the boiler is running for is to make hot water. It is saving a great deal of oil but running the boiler in the summer is very wasteful. We cannot have a solar hot water heater because we are on a heavily treed north slope. Our entire lot is shaded by our neighbor’s trees and he is not about to cut them down. I can’t say that I blame him and I would not even ask!
I’m seriously considering building a new all solar off the grid micro home elsewhere for myself. Our town is so poorly managed, or should I say mismanaged that we are being literally taxed out of existence. Any normal retiree can no longer afford to live in the town. If we ran our businesses the way they run this town we would be broke in a month!
Elderly people are leaving the town in droves to move into the elderly housing (brick prison cells) in the nearby cities.
All of the above is the reason that we have embarked on this off the grid micro home project. If we receive enough positive response, we will set up an assembly line to mass-produce them. It is definitely an alternate life style. Personally, I was raised in a micro sized home with no utilities for many years until we got power and indoor plumbing. Power and plumbing are no longer a problem. We have been involved in solar for over thirty-five years, and on a micro sized basis it’s relatively cheap. We have a person in Utah (link on our blog) that is spending only $200.00 a year to heat and power his micro home. Unless you are really quite well of you should seriously consider downsizing. My own particular daydream is to have a micro home in a rural low tax town in Maine for the summer and another one in a warm climate for the winter. We could actually move the solar electric modules back and forth if we wanted to go to the bother. Thanks to the Internet, we can run our business anywhere, as will many of you. With a micro home you can just kick back and live more easily on your pension. We know it’s not for everyone, but for many, there may not be any choice. It’s a good thing to think about anyway. It’s never too soon to plan for your future. If you don’t, who will?
Please take our survey in the previous Blog below, and also please comment back to us. We need your inputs
Thanks,
Walt

Micro Home Project Work Day Six by Walt Barrett

Well yesterday and today so far we have managed to fabricate two of the side walls between the time spent in servicing our China Depot customers.

This stick built method is quite time consuming compared to what we plan to do on our proposed production line. Stick building gives us plenty of good ideas for the production line. We hope to be able to cut our time by a minimum of half. Hopefully we will be ready to put the roof on by Saturday. We are going with a sleeping loft on this tiny model. There will still be a place to sleep on the first floor too. We are trying to see just how far we can push the envelope on a sixty-four square foot first floor and about fifty square feet in the loft. This is our smallest model. Personally I would prefer 8' x 16' for two people.

I have included a photo of John and Dave holding up a wall that John and I built yesterday and this morning. We have now completed a second wall by noon.

If this size home seems impractical to you please consider the cost and also the fact that there a many people in our country including war veterans sleeping under bridges and in cardboard boxes. I don't know about you, but this sad fact bothers me a great deal!

Please tell your friends about our project and please stay tuned for more progress reports daily.

Thanks,

Walt

Off Grid Solar Micro Home Survey by Walt Barrett

Very low cost solar powered micro home survey

We think that the Micro Homes that are currently on the market are greatly over priced. We are fully prepared to start mass producing off the grid solar micro homes if we see enough interest in the market place. If you have an opinion or comment we are interested. We have a list of concerns to comment on below. Our prices will start below $10,000.00

We are a New England based corporation currently building a prototype model of a micro home. Our unit is designed to be totally off the power grid with the electricity and hot water to be supplied by solar energy with a tiny propane or wood backup if necessary. These homes are much lower in cost, and the energy bills are a fraction of full size conventional homes. Energy costs by current micro home dwellers are reported to be as low as $200.00 a year. Some of our models sell for under $10,000.00, less than a new automobile. You must provide your own lot and fresh water supply. We view them as excellent for singles or couples, and retirees who may reside up north in the summer and down south or the desert for the winter. They are a very economical way to live if you can appreciate the life style. We also view these homes as possibly the only alternative for many people to ever own a home in this hostile economy, and seniors whom can no longer pay the ridiculous property taxes in most cities and towns.
If you are interest in this life style you could help us by answering just a few short questions.
Thank you
1.Would you ever consider owning a very low cost but very attractive Micro Home?

2.With some Micro Homes on the market starting at the extremely small size of 64 square feet plus a sleeping or storage loft of 50 square feet.
What is the smallest number of square feet you would consider living in? 64 square feet = 8 feet X 8 feet

3. Can you live without a home laundry if necessary due to space considerations?

4. Can you live with just a shower and no tub?

5. Would you consider using a 100% odor free composting toilet?

6. Would you use a space saving sleeping loft with windows at either end for ventilation and safety, or do you need extra space for a bed on the main floor? (Lofts not recommended for seniors.)

7. Can you find a space to place this micro home if you wanted one?

8.Do you need a full foundation or just concrete blocks to set the unit on?

9. Do you think the micro home is a good idea for low income and retired people, or just plain stupid?

10. How many people would occupy your micro home if you had one?

11. If the models varied in size from 8 x 8, 8 x 10, 8 x 12, 8 x 14, 8 x 16, or 8x20’ is there a size that you would prefer realizing that the 8’ x 20’ is most likely to be nearly triple the cost of that 8 x8’ model, and the energy bills would also be higher?

12 Other comments

We will be happy to answer any questions pertaining to these homes

Thank you,
Walt Barrett President
A to Z global marketing Inc
wbarrett1@aol.com

Building The Low Cost Micro Home Work Day Four By Walt Barrett

Today was another part time day for John and I to work on the Micro Home. We did manage to get the sub floor glued and screwed down. The home is not close to a power source so we purchased an 18 volt battery operated Skil screw driver gun and it did a terrific job! We also managed to get to the Home Depot and purchased four Anderson windows. and pick out a door. This will enable me to lay out the exterior walls including the rough openings for the windows and doors. This morning I will purchase about thirty-five pieces 2"x4"x8' lumber to frame the walls and have some extras for temporary wall bracing. We are using only the best grade lumber. There is a progress photo attached. Our model home is a totally autonomous off the grid home. However, it will have a two burner cook stove that will run from the smaller size propane bottle. Electricity and jot water will be solar. There is a shower and composting toilet. We plan to mass produce several sizes and styles if there is enough interest in the product. We are aiming at sharply reduced prices compared the the current Micro Homes we have seen on the Internet. We invite you to contact us if you are interested in Low Cost Micro Homes. Please tell your friends about this project blog. We are going for A Micro Home at Micro Cost.

Thanks,

Walt

Micro Home Floor Platform Working Day Three by Walt Barrett

In spite of the extremely bad weather we managed to set up the foundation platform for the micro cube home today. Tomorrow we will put in the blocking between the floor joists to keep them from twisting and then we will glue and screw the floor down. We are very excited about the project and the progress we are making in spite of the very bad weather. We will probably get the four walls and the roof up over the weekend. We used all pressure treated 2 x 6 lumber for the base platform. We are going first class quality all the way! Imagine how much easier it will be on our new assembly line! This is just a stick build test project.
John And i can only spare a few hours a day because
http://www.chinadepot.com/ keeps us very busy. We hope to create a lot of jobs in our community by building these homes here in the USA.
We are very interested in your comments, good or bad, and your suggestions or ideas.
Thanks,
Walt

Micro Home Site Prep II by Walt Barrett

Please click on the photos to enlarge them.

Well yesterday John and I did most of the site preparation. The display model of our new micro home product is 8' x 8' and the site needed leveling off before we can set the foundation blocks. We purposely did the work by hand using pick, shovel, hoe, and wheel barrow. Although we own a large tractor and equipment distributorship we opted to do the work ourselves by hand to show our potential customers for the homes that you don't have to spend a lot of money on site prep. We are firm believers in "sweat equity." That's the way my parents built their home in 1929-1932 and we all lived very happily there for many years.

Our thinking is that if we are going to build and market these micro homes we need to show our potential customers how doable the project really is without a lot of expensive equipment. I am attaching the photos from yesterday's work that my son John and I did together on the site prep.

John is the CEO of http://www.chinadepot.com/ .

Hard work never killed anyone!

The next installment will show us setting the foundation blocks and laying down the sill. We are stick building our demo model, but are going to build all future models on an assembly line.More coming soon.

Walt

Micro Home Progress - Site Preperation by Walt Barrett

We will continue to publish reports on the construction of our new Micro Home model. It is all solar and totally off the power grid.

Yesterday I personally took time out from the office to clear the space and stake off the area so the grade can be set and the foundation blocks can be set in place. I will personally build the unit with the assistance of My son John Barrett who is now the CEO of www.chinadepot.com , leaving me the time to develop new projects such as our Micro Home program.

I have included photos of the Micro Home lot and the views from the lot.

When the home is completed it will be open for inspection to the public by appointment, and we will be taking orders for completed units built on the new assembly line we are planning if the home is accepted by the buying public.

The model home is 8' long and 8' wide. We can offer many sizes including the 8' X 8' cube off grid economy model. Stay with us for weekly postings including photos.

Yes, it overlooks a lake!

Thanks,

Walt

The Free Battery Reconditioning Training Program by Walt Barrett

For those of you that are interested in our free battery reconditioning program, this is the link to the free video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XuZhf2J-NIg
It is the full explanation and runs close to ten minutes.
If you would like to receive the full training manual in a printable word file via email then click here and request it.
wbarrett1@aol.com .
This program is sponsored in full by our parent company
A to Z Global Marketing Inc.
A to Z Global Marketing Inc is the owner of the web site www.chinadepot.com .
This training program is 100% free with no obligations. Our soul purpose is to familiarize the public with our reconditioning product. You may obtain a free sample by simply paying the shipping costs. Ordering may be accomplished at our EBay store, just Google "china-depot-100" . We accept Pay Pal and there is a shipping calculator on the store site.
Remember, there is no need to spend thousands of dollars to get started in the battery reconditioning business. We'll show you how to get the necessary battery charger and testers for under $500.00, and you don't have to buy them from us. We just want to sell you our additive that has been proven successful for over 25 years..
Let us put you in business!
Thanks,
Walt

A to Z Global Marketing To Mass Produce Micro Homes starting around $10,000.00 by Walt Barrett

Well this has been a while in coming, but the time has finally arrived. A to Z Global Marketing Inc, the parent company of www.chinadepot.com is building a test model of a totally off the grid Solar Micro Home. The proof of concept model will be evaluated and used to solicit orders. These units will be trucked over the road at eight feet wide, and lengths from eight, ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen feet will be available. Electricity and hot water will be provided by solar energy. Heat will be passive solar with a small backup heater for inclement weather. If a realistic demand is proven an assembly line will be set up for the mass production of the units. Prices for the tiny solar homes will start in the ten thousand dollar range plus delivery, or may be picked up at the factory. Prices could come down as the sales and production increase. These units will be built entirely in the USA using green energy materials. The model home project is currently underway and mass production could start as early as September if the model home proves marketable. Current housing costs for both rental and purchase make it impossible for huge number of working class couples and singles to afford a decent place to live. If you add the current high prices of heat, fuel, and electricity it is virtually impossible for most American workers to ever rent, or own decent housing. People living in the colder climates like New England are looking at impossible winter energy costs, and the prices of fuel and electricity are still climbing. Unfortunately, wages have failed to keep up with these ever-rising costs. Therefore we have decided to use our considerable technology to provide an autonomous home at the lowest possible price.

The project will be financed totally with China Depot's considerable profits from the global sale of tractors, generators and other products, and the EBay store China-Depot-100 a large part of which will now be used to benefit low-income American workers and retirees. Interested parties should contact Walter H. Barrett for more details, or to get on a special mailing list progress report. We also invite your comments and suggestions.
It’s about time we took a whole new approach to housing for the masses. without price gouging and excess profits. It’s not about the money. It’s about the people.
Walt

wbarrett1@aol.com

Solar and wind power to irrigate the deserts by Walt Barrett

I have had this idea for forty years, and now I think its time has come in the light of the recent reports of food shortages worldwide. It remains to be seen if these shortages of crops are real or contrived, but either way it makes sense to me to irrigate the deserts near the oceans with solar power rather than cut down more forests and add to the growing carbon dioxide problem. Recent developments in the reverse osmosis membrane technology have nearly doubled the efficiency of these desalinization units. The same can be done with inland deserts that have a shallow water table of very briny unusable water.
The other side of the problem is what to do with the left over brine, but with the deserts as vast as they are it will be a simple matter to pump the brine into evaporation ponds on land that is now being wasted anyway. When the brine dries out it can be sold commercially.
Now, this sounds like a business opportunity to me – think about it!
Walt

About an existing solar micro home by Walt Barrett

My friend Bryan Ebbenga has written to me about a solar micro home his friend built and I have included a link to his very informative site in this blog. My response is below.
Good Morning Bryan:
Thanks for sending me the link to your friends web site. Lamar certainly has the right idea. I see that the home faces south and the exterior construction looks very neat and professional. http://www.freewebs.com/simplesolarhomesteading/
There are several companies around the USA building a similar style and it is quite like the one I grew up in except my home was 20' X 24' with the same type of loft, and we had room for a small staircase to the two room sleeping loft.


I plan to mass produce a micro home and have two types in mind. One would be similar to the one I own now, but 20' X 24' in Kit form, and one would be long and narrow and low enough to ship assembled on a flat bed and still clear the over passes. Both homes are already pre-engineered to be totally off the grid. Next week I plan to start the platform for a 10' x 14' flat roof shippable unit just for practice so to speak. I'm going to build it on rails and then slide it under my deck to use as additional storage space and my vegetable oil powered backup generator shed.
This will free up a lot of space in my basement inventors workshop.
This project will help me develop the final techniques I will use in my assembly plant if we decide to move forward. I am still concerned if there is an actual market for these units yet, and where people will put them. I think the real market is in the southwest as the population races out of the freezing cold economically dead northeast.
I am using free recycled insulated tempered glass from sliding glass doors that have been removed as part of renovations projects. Friends of mine have been donating various types of left over construction materials. It's a fun project with serious consequences.
I believe that the upcoming horrific increase in fuel cost will advance this idea rapidly, and also force the re engineering of existing home in the cold climates. They will have to be divided up inside into clusters of micro living spaces that are more heat able with far less energy use. Large homes will soon be basically a thing of the past in the colder parts of the world. At any rate, we'll soon be finding out.
Happy Earth Day!
Walt

The Energy Disaster Is Now by Walt Barrett

Who will solve the energy problem, not the politicians! I’ll be seventy-five in May, and have decided to speak out and say what I really think. I also proudly served in the Armed Forces during, and after the Korean War so if you think I’m being unpatriotic, that is your prerogative, but like the man said in the movie, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!” And you should feel the same way regardless of your politics (an ugly business) and begin to seriously look at your energy options on your own, and not be waiting for the government or big business to solve your problems because it’s not going to happen on time. And yes, I am very opinionated, but I call them like I see them!
I am very angry because our grossly neglected energy problem is now killing our economy. We are looking at major serious inflation, increased poverty, and a lowered standard of living. If you think I’m an alarmist then you have not been to the grocery store, or purchased any type of fuel lately. It has finally hit the fan, or should I say windmill! Oil touches and effects the cost of everything!

Well for thirty-five years now we have been hearing a great deal about the energy problem, but what have we really accomplished? It seems to me that the problem has only gotten worse. My opinion about the lack of progress is that the average American has been depending much to heavily on the government to solve the problem. Well to me, the word government means politicians, and spineless bureaucrats more concerned about their jobs, and it seems to me that for the past thirty-five years that all the politicians have done is snipe at each other and constantly, meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, and raise taxes to pay for all of this nightmare! We also cannot depend on big business because until they figure out how they can use the Sun to gouge the most profits out of the working masses in this country, they are not going to touch the problem with a ten-foot pole. It’s kind of like the large pharmaceutical companies that won’t manufacture a wonder drug if there is not enough profit in it because not enough people are dying from that particular disease. So far, over the past years since the energy crisis in nineteen seventy-three there have only been a relative handful of pioneers who have been manufacturing and selling the various solar and wind energy products. In the meantime, China has been steadily plugging away at solar, wind and hydro power and is really kicking our Asses in the energy field from what I can see. Are the Chinese people better off than we are, of course not, but they are coming on strong. They are taking the technology from wherever they can find it, and they are mass-producing all kinds of energy saving products. As the kids say, Helloooooo! Are you getting my message? I suppose some clown will now suggest that I move to China, (that would be a typical attitude for some) but I’m not that stupid. I just want to make things better here for Americans. We can’t just sit idly by while our future is stolen! What’s wrong with that idea?

I think that the problem is that there has been no real strong leadership from our government at any level. Many people have criticized the Carter administration and ridiculed Jimmy Carter in the past, but he was spot on when it came to the energy problems. Unfortunately, he was ignored in the long run. Solar had a temporary flash of glory, and then died a very undignified death at the hands of Carter’s successors.
I have a favorite saying that goes like this. “When you fail at everything else, go into politics.” My experience is that government from the town level up is mostly run by amateurs that just go through the motions, and are more than willing to line their own pockets with inside deals at our expense. That leaves the few who are really dedicated to solving our problems virtually powerless. If you think I’m kidding just take a hard look around your own town, and see whose getting the best land deals, contracts, and the breaks from the zoning and planning boards etc. These are the folks that eventually graduate to State and to the Federal government so you see the situation we are working with here. If you combine that fact with the fact that the American public has always been apathetic, crisis oriented, and never really get concerned or take any action on anything until after the horse has been let out of the barn so to speak. I think that the only way to solve the energy problem is to never depend on the government, or big business to do much of anything. We each have to find our own best solutions to the energy problem. One of the main drawbacks has been the cost of building solar heated energy efficient homes. There is no argument that many of the solar solutions are expensive, but not all of them. One of the most obvious solutions is to build smaller homes. Now that’s a much less expensive solution. If you combine a smaller home design with more energy efficient designs like better insulation, LED lighting, passive solar heating, solar hot water and gray water recycling, composting toilets etc, you are making a very big start. We need more logic and planning in our home designs and factory designs, and should remember that simple is better – period.

Now having owned a company in the past that mass-produced solar hot water heating collectors I can tell you that on a DIY basis these units are not that expensive to build. There are also several designs that you can use depending on the climate that you live in. For instance, in Florida a simple thermo siphoning system that requires no electricity at all to operate is the most effective. It’s not exactly a new idea. People in Florida were doing it in the nineteen thirties. In the colder climates an antifreeze loop is needed. Again, a DIY system is not that expensive.
I think it is very important to stress that in the case of truly solving the energy crisis we cannot depend on some lone genius to stumble out of his garage one of these days with the magical solution to all of the energy problems. It is a major challenge and you cannot defy the laws of the physics of energy. A wise person who lives in a cold climate especially should be considering his or her options now. The main thing is that you have got to do your homework now, and start looking at your options before next winter. You have to realize that the potential for the colder northern states to turn into an energy disaster area is a very real problem. The folks who control the flow and cost of oil in from the Middle East hate us, and could care less how many people in the northeast freeze to death. I’m sure they are sitting there in their palaces right now wringing their hands with glee because they have succeeded in wrecking our economy with their high oil prices and the actions of the terrorists they are backing. So what did our government do? They went after the wrong guys! I will say it again; you can’t depend on the government to solve the energy problem. People who are controlled by oil companies and big business are not going to help you. As a matter of fact at the rate we are going in fifty more years we will be just a gigantic Banana Republic with millions of starving poor people roaming the streets like in Central and South America, except, in our case many of them will be freezing to death from lack of reasonable fuel supplies. This is because that the people who are supposed to be looking after the interests of the American people are too busy feathering their own nests, and working on re-election. As far as I’m concerned, campaign contributions are just a legal form of bribery, and that’s why the average American is getting screwed in this country. Greed and corruption brought down the mighty Roman Empire, and it will do the same to us if we let it. I’m telling you this because I feel compelled to make the point that we all have to work on our own solutions to the energy problem. It will soon assume gigantic proportions as the big guys steadily ratchet up the prices. You better start now to figure out how you will heat your home, hot water and run your vehicles, because by next winter it could be too late. Please don’t depend on the other guy to solve the problem. Now is the time to take the necessary steps to solve your own personal energy crisis that is coming soon to your neighborhood and remember that our pandering, emasculated, failures, out of touch, self absorbed politicians are not really going to help you, and we are far to busy fighting wars in other countries and sending foreign aid to be bothered helping our own poor in this country.
If you think this blog is important, please pass it along to your friends so we can get the message out.
Happy Motoring!

Walt

Another way to make money in the Battery Service business by Walt Barrett

Revised April 2008 and featuring an additional and very needed service for sealed batteries that are advertised as no maintenance batteries.
Here is an additional new money making service from Walt Barrett
You know, years ago I discovered by opening up dead sealed batteries and checking inside that they were low on water. Now everyone thinks that sealed batteries do not need distilled water added, but I have found from checking dead sealed batteries on our own vehicles that just isn’t true. Now, I propose that you start a service doing preventative maintenance service on sealed batteries that would consist of the following steps.
1. Remove the battery from the vehicle and clean it thoroughly including the posts and cable ends.
2. Place the battery on a test bench in dim light and shine a bright extension light on the rear long side of the battery. When you do this you will be able to see the fluid levels inside of most batteries. If the fluid is low, proceed to step three.
3. Using our special stop drill you will bore a ½ inch hole into each cell using the dividing lines on the top of the battery to go by. Add a tablespoon of our dry chemical formula to each cell and then top off each cell with distilled water. NEVER USE TAP WATER!
4. Place one of our specially provided sealing caps in each ½ inch hole you bored and seal the battery up. Now in the future you can easily check the water levels and service the battery without removing it from the vehicle.
5. Place the battery back in the vehicle, make sure the battery connections are clean and shiny and put then back.
6. Make sure the battery is bolted securely in place using the hardware provided.
7. Charge the customer fairly for your labor and materials. Remind him, or her to come back every two months for a quick health check up on their battery and ask about their other vehicles and equipment. Remind them how expensive new batteries are.
Never use any other chemical additives no matter what you hear or read. There are no miracle products, and not all batteries can be recovered. When the paste falls off the plates, the battery is junk –Period.
Never spend thousands of dollars to get into this business. It is a shoestring business. Anyone can get in and do it!
For those of you who wrote, your free training manual will be sent today.
Be sure to watch the training video on youtube. Just type in "chinadepot" in the search box.
Thanks
Walt

More from oil lamps to the internet by Walt Barrett

I actually have very fond memories of the nineteen thirties and the nineteen Forties in spite of some of the hardships we endured.
The main point I want to make is that I’m not whining. I just want to present the facts as they were for many families at the time. It will help you see the future. The second point I want to make is that in those days we had plenty of fuel available in this country. We just could not afford to buy it! There is a good side to this story, and that is that we learned how to live without electricity, central heat and indoor plumbing. We also learned how to survive on very little money. Now the money thing alone is a valuable lesson because in these times we see many people that have no idea how to budget what little money they have. My Mother had a budget book that she kept faithfully and adhered to religiously. She is the one who showed me the basic rules of business, because, living within a budget is really just a form of business, just like running a shop, or a factory, and especially a City, Town State or Federal government, and it seems that many people have forgotten that. Let’s all say it again. You can’t spend more money than you take in! We can talk about that subject more later on.
I mentioned previously that I grew up in a micro home. It was twenty feet by twenty-four feet with a sleeping loft divided into two sections, one for me and one for my parents. There were no real closets and clothing etc was mostly kept in a few bureaus with heavy coats etc being hung on salvaged clothing racks. It certainly didn’t kill us! It did give me the incentive to try and do better financially, now that I look back at it.
We lit the house with oil lamps for many years. They do give off a very soft glowing kind of light, and at the time I didn’t think about it too much. I just thought that was what everyone else used too. There was no TV, radio, electric toasters, laundry machines, dishwashers, flushing toilets etc, and the bathroom was a small closed off area where you sat in a galvanized wash tub filled with just enough water that had been heated on top of the wood fired cook stove, which also was the heating system. The toilet was in the back yard just like everyone else’s was on our street, and you used whatever paper you could find, no luxury soft tissue or anything like that! Computers were science fiction!
When my Dad managed to find work he was often gone for long periods of time, and he took some pretty terrible jobs like clearing power lines in Vermont in January while wading up to his chest at times through ice cold swamp water. He would come home every couple of weeks or so and bring some money and food. He and his fellow workers would have to ride back to Vermont in the back of a dump truck in the wintertime, but he never really complained about it. He did often tell the stories though just to remind everyone how bad it was in the Thirties. My Dad lost his factory job in 1929 when the economy collapsed like it may do again in 2008.
We didn’t have much water because we had a shallow dug well that went dry for the entire summer. You had to drop a bucket down the well and pull it back up full of water with a rope, hand over hand. When the well went dry in June of July depending on the rain that year my Mom and I would each take a couple of those old style galvanized milk cans with the narrowed down neck and the carrying loop type handle on the side of the neck, and we would walk to a beautiful clear spring about a quarter of a mile from our home that bubbled right up out of the ground for water. My Dad had cleaned it out and sunk a large wooden barrel in it that stuck up above the ground with a cover on it to keep the dirt out. We would go there every afternoon when I returned from school and carry back the drinking water. Somehow I remember the water tasting better then and the air smelling cleaner. We did the laundry and other tasks with water captured in our rain barrels. My Mom said it was nice soft water. She taught me a lot. We used to go picking wild berries, and in the spring we would also gather the tops from fiddlehead ferns. They were liked spinach and the woods are still full of them. My mom knew a lot about plants and herbs. My Dad taught me to shoot a 22 rifle by the time I was seven. I would go out in the late afternoon and shoot three squirrels for supper. We would also go to the pond and catch yellow perch, clean them, and salt them in crocks so we would have food in the winter. After school I would empty the ashes from the stove and put them on the vegetable garden. Talk about recycling. Looking back, it wasn’t such a bad life, but would kids do it today? They might be better off if they did. By the way, there were no drugs in any schools I ever attended.
Well, enough of that for a while. Let’s take a giant leap forward to 2008. I have a vision of a super insulated but properly ventilated micro home with the actual size being based on the number of occupants. It may or may not be tied to the power grid. The electricity could be from solar, wind, or in a few rare cases small hydro, which would be really great because you could actually heat the micro home with free Hydro. Solar hot water, solar heat, a composting toilet, LED lighting, and a gray water recycling system would be a very good start. Now I would build this home on a piece of land large enough to grow a fair amount of food. I would salvage as many of the necessary materials as I possibly be could. As a matter of fact, I have already started to gather my stuff and it has been all for free so far. I have glass-sliding doors that I took apart for the glass. I have sheets of barely used plywood that was going to be thrown away from large construction site and my friends brought it home to me gladly donated by their bosses who have to pay by the ton to dump it in the landfill. Can you believe it! Personally, I think we need to start thinking more along these lines. My micro home is going to be for the two of us, my Wife Nancy and me. I hope to find a reasonable piece of land to put it on, but will build it here at my workshop. I intend it to be a model for others to copy. I would also consider setting up an assembly line to mass-produce them for low bucks. The trouble with all of the commercial micro homes I have seen so far is that the prices are off the wall! We need home for the not so well off folks who carry this country on their backs. Well enough for today. I just hope I can get more people thinking along the lines that I do. Not that my ideas are perfect, but the more people’s ideas we can gather now, the better off we are going to be in the future. Think about low cost building materials and smaller spaces to heat and cool, and cheap electricity. Try to save a gallon of fuel a day. It all helps.
In the meantime I have a business to run, so long for now.
Walt

Links to other blogs and photo sites by Walt Barrett

http://thenextbillionaireswillbegreen.blogspot.com
Business Success Stories by Walt Barrett
The China Depot Blog by Walt Barrett
Walt Barrett's Photo Blog
http://picasaweb.google.com/chinadepot
A huge photo album collection by Walt Barrett
http://www.chinadepot.com/index.html
http://www.chinadepot.com/sitemap.html
http://www.chinadepot.com/aboutusnew.html

From Oil Lamps to the Internet, or About turning 75 by Walt Barrett

Part one.
I want to give you a little background of why I think the way I think. I always say that if you want to see the future all you have to do is look back. I’m sure that my views will not win me many friends in those circles that swirl around up there in the rarified atmosphere of the wealthy.
I was born in hard times. It was 1933 when we were pretty deep into the great depression. My first memories go back to some time in 1936, and they are vague for that year. But since 1937 I remember a great deal from then on. My parents had bought a piece of property in the country on a lake with future plans for a h