Permaculture Principle 2: Catch and Store Energy

Catch and Store Energy

Energy, the life sustain-er of the universe. It comes in many forms and by many avenues. Sometimes comforting us with its warmth, and other times bugging us with its blinding shine or blistering motion. However we can't escape its presence if we are to live and enjoy life, and it is an absolute necessity of our survival. Unfortunately, most of society is very poor at managing the energy around them. Designing their populated areas to divert it, only to have it brought back with artificial avenues. By simply changing our designer mind's perception of energy, we might work with it much more effectively and efficiently.

We have only to look to nature for a shining example of how this can work.

By its existence, the natural world must harness the energy it is provided with in order to survive.  

The sun ought to be our example. Not only is it's existence necessary for life on our planet but it also has the largest diversity of uses, and conversions. We can catch the solar energy from the sun organically. Every tree we plant turns into a solar catching powerhouse, converting the suns energy into it's own and using it to produce biomass, lots and lots of biomass.

One tree can produce over 3,600 pounds of leaves over the course of a 60 year lifespan (source), and a mature oak can weigh anywhere from 2 - 3 tons (source). That is a lot of biomass! now imagine acres of trees! 

Of course biomass isn't the only thing a tree can produce for us. we can harvest nuts, fruits, firewood, and lumber from trees as well. There is so much that we can do with the energy from the sun simply by planting trees. And we haven't even gotten into all of the other possibilities yet. Thermal masses, solar heaters, solar panels, solar ovens, and many more.

If we take all of the possible energy sources into account when designing a system, what excuses do we really have for letting them pass by us, only to have to bring them back again using lots of other energy to do so? Catching and storing energy is a crucial part of any whole system design. Overlooking it can lead to unnecessary work, time, and energy used that could be put towards other productive tasks.

For centuries, the energy provided to us by gravity was used in the form of waterwheels. Traditionally these were used to grind grains and spin fibers. Today however we can use the same methods to convert the flowing water into electricity and store it in batteries.