Electrifying our rolling Home
Newton, our rolling Home, office and basecamp, is a 1986 VW T3. Birk and his brother bought him almost 10 years ago as a discarded firefighter van. Since then, he has been used extensively and has been repaired, repurposed, and refurbished many times. We’ve now been living in it year-round for almost two years, and we’re becoming increasingly aware that things can’t go on like this. Although we drive Newton around much less than before, we still use gazoline for transportation and heating, and gas for cooking. We’ve tried to live our lives as sustainably as possible, reducing our footprint while increasing our impact on others. So we’re now at the point where our rolling home is responsible for over 30% of our individually controllable emissions.
Giving up Newton after all of the work and time we have dedicated into making him our home is not an option.
So we dove right into the topic and discovered that not only do alternative energysources exist, they actually offer us a whole bunch of positive side effects. Our vision for this project evolved: Let’s electrify Newton in a way that we can use him as we’re used to but for decades to come! Rent him to interested people, use him as an Energy Storage for the HAFH and save money. Sustainable in every way: ecologically, financially, and socially!
Start Date
not defined yet
Project Runtime
Status
Last Edit
Circular Outdoor Collective, S.e.n.c
Project Responsible
Background: Our home is an enviromental disaster … kind of
A few months ago we did an environmental analysis of our current way of life. Not surprisingly Newton has a big impact on our footprint. We don’t really see him as a car. He’s our home, and eventhough it’s a pretty small one we move him around Europe. So in the end we need around 750 liters of gazoline for driving and heating, 70kg of gas for cooking and around 150kWh of electricity per year. Water and wastewater is less of a problem as we need less than 6.000 liters per year and we’re only using biodegradable products. Summed up: Newton’s energy consumption adds around 1.1 tons of C02 equivalents to each of our carbon footprints. Although that’s below the average European standard of living (1.5-3t) it still represents nearly 30% of our individually controllable emissions.
There must be a better way!
1. User Stories
We’re currently working on this stage of the project and we would love to hear what you think about it. If you have some input or want to add a User Story, leave us a comment below or sent us an e-mail.
Laura
Interested Renter
I want to rent Newton to find out more about travelling with a fully electric camper. The system needs to be intuitive and reliable as I’m not a technical person. For me, travelling sustainably means moving comfortably while living in a minimalistic way. So I want to feel at home, be able to cook as I’m used to and spend time with friends indoors & outdoors. I don’t need entertainment, technical gadgets or high-speed internet when I’m out in the wild.
Helga
HAFH Resident
In the future, Newton’s Battery system is used to supply all residents and the facilities of the HAFH with cheap and clean energy most of the year. It’s a safe and environmentally-friendly technology.
What’s most important to me is the reliability of the energy supply at the HAFH. I don’t want to sacrifice any of the comfort I’m used to. Understanding how it works makes me more aware of how valuable electricity is.
As a member of the collective I can also easily rent Newton for travelling in a cheap and easy way.
Mo
Future Generation
I want to grow up and live in a sound environment and world. I want us to be able to keep living comfortably and travelling in the future, but also to enjoy the wealth of our society. That’s why I hope that everyone starts doing what they can right now, for sustainable lifestyles to become accessible to and adopted by more and more people as soon as possible.
In short: “The solution must enable a good life today without compromising the standard of living of future generations.”
Leave a Reply