Adrien Lapointe

This is a really interesting article on the citrus growing industry in the former USSR. Many of those techniques are too labour intensive for paul ;-)

It is really cool to see how much they were growing. I wonder how much of the genetics is still available.

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/04/fruit-trenches-cultivating-subtropical-plants-in-freezing-temperatures.html

There is a research article cited in the linked article that mentions efficiency comparable to lead-acid batteries.

According to the article, the common way to do compressed air storage involves either large tanks at low pressure or small tanks at high pressure with inefficiencies in both cases. At low pressure, the tanks have to be enormous, but the electrical to electrical conversion efficiency is high. At high pressure, the tanks are small, but the heat loss during compression cause big energy loss that makes the electrical to electrical efficiency to be quite low (I think about 10-20%). The modular system has many small tanks at low pressure with some computer controlled valves. The smaller tanks help to alleviate the inefficiency due to pressure loss during emptying.

Here is a direct link to the research.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312262079_Low_pressure_modular_compressed_air_energy_storage_CAES_system_for_wind_energy_storage_applications

This is a pretty low cost activity that our eldest child enjoys a lot. It is quite inexpensive and can fill hours.

There are patterns available on the internet, but I find that using MS Word, I can just print letters and numbers which work well. All I do is change the font outline to be dots with a weight of 2 pts.

To do the needle pushing, we just use a pin and some cardboard under the pattern.

Here is a really interesting and thorough article on storing energy as compressed air.

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/05/ditch-the-batteries-off-grid-compressed-air-energy-storage.html

I really liked the part about the modular small scale system.

Has anybody here tried such a system?

Here is an interesting article about the efficiency of the homemade masks.

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/

If I remember correctly, it is 100 layers and 300 broilers in Ontario, but it might have changed since I checked last.

Introduced species is a tricky topic. It is hard to know for sure how ecosystems evolve; we only have a snapshot in time and there are so many factors at play. Regardless of whether an introduced specie is good or bad, once it is present in an ecosystem, I like Samuel Thayer's approach to using it for food. The nice aspect of the non-native is that if you over-harvest it, in some cases you have solved the problem. I remember reading an article of a chef using the asian carp in his restaurant, that is cool.

One last comment. I would like to remind people to stay civil and not attack others' opinions.

Thanks everybody for all the input, it will take me a bit to digest the different options.

There is no more water infiltration. However, there could still be condensation on the concrete from humidity in the air and from what I read that is why the semi-permeability of the foam boards is desirable, plus it is not sensitive to moisture.

I should have said earlier that we had the whole foundation excavated in the summer and an impermeable membrane installed. The contractor also put 2 in blue foam insulation below grade. I thought about adding insulation above ground, but it would not work well with the bricks.