Comments on: Ubon Ratchathani Green Living

By: Best posts on Life and Times in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand from Apr 2009 | Life and Times in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

Fri, 01 May 2009 06:01:42 +0000

[...] Ubon Ratchathani Green Living Posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 in ubon living – Comments: (3) Earth Day passed without much hoopla here in Ubon. Even so there are green living opportunities available to those who wish to practice this in their daily lifestyle.In many ways it’s much easier to sustain an earth friendly way of life living here in Ubon Ratchathani. But in other ways bad habits that western societies developed and have been fighting hard to overcome.You can join the ranks for motorcycle riders in Ubon. Motorcycles are cheap and easy to get. They are much easier to get around town and find places to park than a sedan, pickup or SUV. They are also much easier on the pocketbook when stopping at a petrol station. [...]

By: michael hare

michael hare — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:48:22 +0000

My house also has very good ventilation. I can open doors and windows (all screened) north-south and east-west and get great air flow. On the roof, discreetly put in, are 3 big exhaust fans like you see in warehouses. The hot air rises and goes out through them. Upstairs I also have balconies with large screen doors that also take hot air out.

Around the house is plenty of green lawn. As I am a grass specialist I love my lawn. Large tall trees, 5-10 m from the house, also add to shading. Furthermore the main living rooms and kitchen face the east and north so we don’t get the hot afternoon sun.

3 brand new, quite expensive houses have just been built behind my house. Not one of them put any aluminium foil under the windows or any insulation on top of the ceilings. Real hot boxes.

And another thing while I am on houses. Thais normally mix water in their paint to make it spread easily and reduce paint costs. That is why so many buildings fade very quickly and get black fungus spots over them. No water was mixed in my house paint. After 8 years it stills looks like new. Of course one has to buy a slightly more expensive paint that spreads easily. I used Captain. It should last for 15-20 years.

Michael

By: Darwin

Darwin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:34:55 +0000

Michael,

Once again thanks for reading and commenting.

Yes I have noticed the concrete thing going on. My neighborhood is adding more and more cement and structures all the time. It seems to add to the heat and also causes drainage problems. My house has one of the few lots with only grass and trees so I see an increase in standing water and wildlife, frogs, snakes, birds, geckos.

Great you were able to plan out your house and insulating and optimizing for comfort. Mine sometimes seems like a concrete sauna, reminds me of being over hear in May and unloading sealand containers.

I would love to install a water purefier. I used an Amway filter in my home in Washington. Here I put it off because I don’t own the house and I can see I would need to do some reinforcing to make sure the filter stayed in place.

When I was over here training we had a mobile ROWPU (reverse osmosis water purification unit). They pumped water out of a local river and after processing had clean, fresh, safe drinking water. Amazing.

Thanks again for the input.

By: michael hare

michael hare — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:47:57 +0000

Comment on greem living.

The old style Thai houses were great. Big cool verandas, cold water etc.

Nowadays Thais seem to like square two story houses with no verandas and they are very hot. No insulation in the roof at all. When I built my new house 8 years ago I put aluminium foil under the tiles and aluminium insulation batts across the ceilings and built wide (2m) verandas. The house is very cool. No direct sunlight gets into the rooms or hits the windows. Also no rain. I put in an Amway water filter and so never buy water.
Enjoy your walking Darwin.

Regards,

Michael