I was curious if the currently popular AI tools know what a
RMH is - and it turns out they do! I used the following prompt:
'what is the most efficient and cost-effective way to burn
wood for home heating? I would prefer to build it myself and use natural materials, if possible.'
and this is what I got back from ChatGPT:
'The most efficient and cost-effective way to burn wood for home heating, particularly if you want to build something yourself and use natural materials, is to construct a
rocket mass heater. This design offers high efficiency, low
emissions, and the ability to use natural materials for both construction and insulation. Here’s a breakdown of how you can proceed...'
and from
https://claude.ai/:
'I'll help you understand efficient wood heating options with a focus on DIY and natural materials. Let me outline a highly efficient and cost-effective approach:
The most efficient DIY option would be a
rocket mass heater (RMH), which combines principles of efficient combustion with thermal mass storage. Here's how it works...'
I attached a couple screenshots. Also, both tools called out the RMH permies forum, Erica and Ernie Wisner, etc. as sources for learning more.
Should Paul do a KickStarter for a (
solar powered?) LLM server indexed materials related to RMHs and other permies topics? It could enable people interested to be 'talked through' the process of implementing
permaculture solutions.
PS
For those who want an idea of the possible utility of AI for assisting homesteading and permies people, just type the following into the prompt into
https://claude.ai/ and ask it more in-depth questions - quite impressive:
'I want to grow
trees on my property in YOUR LOCATION HERE that will be good for using for
firewood to heat my home. To choose the best tree species I want a model that takes into account three main properties of a given species: BTUs, hardness, and how fast they grow. The best species will be a combination of higher BTUs, lower hardness, and faster growing.
Can you create a 'Suitability Index' that calculates a number based on these three factors and plot out the top five tree species.'