slhomer's blog

Broken concrete recycled into a wall on a residential street in Albuquerque: this wall was laid up with some mortar, but it could have been laid up dry. The material works really well for retaining walls, also. It's attractive, cheap, and easy to work with (for someone with a strong back).

This particular wall really wasn’t laid up that artfully – the joints aren’t staggered as well as they probably should have been, and it’s not so level – but still, I think it looks good. It’s certainly functional. And, there’s no shortage of broken-up concrete – it's readily available.

I had a big pile of broken-up concrete that sat for a l-o-n-g time before I found someone to lay it up into a low retaining wall. My neighbors weren't very happy about this part of the process!

I have an arbor - a ramada, we call it here in the Southwest - with a grapevine growing up over the patio on the southwest corner of my house. It keeps the hot summer morning sun from heating the windows and the walls in that part of the house, filtering the harsh light and providing a leafy green cool that is soothing and refreshing. The birds (and, once in a while, a raccoon) love the grapes - I don't get very many. Then, in the fall, the leaves fall off, the sun shines through the windows, and the inside space is warmed and lit with bright light.

I have five Sun-Lite Thermal Storage Tubes placed along three large, contiguous south-facing windows with a roof overhang--what the manufacturer calls a "direct gain water wall." Translucent, they absorb and store solar energy while transmitting natural daylight. There are daily wide temperature variations here in Albuquerque throughout the year, which are tempered by the water in the tubes--in the summer and winter, they store the sun's energy during the day and give it off slowly at night, minimizing variations between day and night temperatures and the need for artificial heating and cooling....The tubes also temper the view. Natural light comes through, but the view to my neighbor's not-very-attractive carport is diffused while the trees beyond are visible above them.

When we bought the tubes second-hand, they had never been used. New, the five-foot tall, 18"-diameter tubes cost $174 each. They come in four standard sizes, from four feet to ten feet tall.

I love the way they look and the way they soften what can be pretty harsh light in the southwest. Adding the element of water and the tubular forms bring a quality into the space that contrasts beautifully with the angularity of the walls and ceilings.

The Solar Components Corporation website offers a number of other solar products worth exploring.