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eHomes – D.I.Y. guide to off-grid living | Ivan Ortega | TEDxHotelschoolTheHague


hey guys good afternoon everybody all
right okay good
this is the topic participation I want
to have today I’m gonna ask a few
questions you might raise your hands you
might do a little dance but just
participate along with me okay I want to
make it fun and interactive so let me
start with the question here raise your
hands who’s done a do-it-yourself
project your hands I know so where is it
raising Aranda that’s my wife so show
hands who’s put up I say just a picture
frame on the on the wall raise hands
okay good who’s built in the gaya
closets let’s take another step for with
do-it-yourself projects I did anybody
change the floor maybe resurface it but
let me not okay all right let’s take it
to another level
anyone redo their bathroom oh okay
so these are the all sourire guys
anybody redo their kitchen now that’s a
really big step that’s a big project no
there’s a few people here all right
you’re superstars so my name is Yvonne
Yvonne teleport a otaku and I love doing
yourself projects I really really enjoy
them ever since I was a little kid a
five or six year old playing with LEGOs
right to the point now where I’ve done
everything that we just mentioned so
including building and rec in a few
kitchens and I want to tap into this
time right so all of us have done
do-it-yourself projects before so how
did it make you feel who knew everything
immediately in the beginning what you do
during your do yourself project did
anyone know no there’s no hands up
audience around the world no one’s hands
went up so we’re people confused
we’re people injured participation guys
hands up
or people injured I was I stepped on the
nail I still got the yeah the scars to
prove it a short later
okay so there’s trials and tribulations
sometimes when you engage in things that
you’re not familiar with right like
do-it-yourself projects so at the end
there is the sense of what what would
you call it once you finally finish your
do-it-yourself project how do you feel
accomplished
perfect word but if you’re anything like
me I bang my head against the floor
quite a few times trying to get things
done so when I’m done I’m ready to
high-five people ready to give high
tends to people I’m ecstatic I’m in I’m
in rage sometimes with passion and
emotion and accomplishments why because
that’s hard sometimes you going to some
really low part and sometimes you drop
it and you come back the next day it’s
tough sometimes right guys so this type
of feeling this type of feeling of
accomplishment is what I want to tap
into today going through trials and
tribulations and then get into a
solution right so recently I started to
do some research I started to look at
things that were sorry this way I’m here
in a moment
that’s the right one okay go in the
right way we thank you so as a
do-it-yourselfer there’s always things
that you want to do I want to take it to
the next level I might have started with
the picture frame ended with the kitchen
but I want to take it to the next level
guys one of the things that I want to do
is try to save our world I want to try
to say about worlds there’s a huge
concern that I have not just because I’m
a father or a partner or a son there’s
global warming there’s climate change
there’s a lot of things that are very
serious in our world right now and I’ve
asked myself if I ever had a
conversation with Mohammed Gandhi he
would ask me you must be the change you
wish to see the world what can I do as a
do-it-yourselfer what can I do as an
individual so this inspiration this
connection really inspired me to do a
lot of research and this research took
me to many different places it show me
the let’s say the field or the the
population of people who consider
themselves
offgridders people who live off the grid
no energy no super power plants no coal
mines next to them they’re living
independently it took me to reading
books I read about the the the
discipline and the the the future of
sustainability it took me to reading
things about the UN and their Commission
on sustainable developments took me to
read in all these different places about
NASA and everything and I’m thinking wow
there’s so much wealth of information
out there but it’s not really available
for us at least it hasn’t been brought
to the point where we as
do-it-yourselfers we as people can
actually use it for ourselves what can
we do again so I started looking at my
home what can I do in my home with my
family to make the world a better place
so I looked at energy and solar so one
of the different things that as has come
up in the last few years is that the
innovations and the enhancements of
solar have advanced in
the and the prices have gone at the same
time so anyone here have solar panels
early adopters great good job
so this wood here do I have this yeah
okay no it doesn’t work okay so the
first image there is a solar panel the
second image let’s call it 2.0 solar
panels those are what Tesla and alumnos
have made so the fancy person the
designer version of solar panels now so
this is how in a very small schematic
how it looks like in your house if you
haven’t seen it before you can have it
on a field you can have it in a garage
on top of your garage and then the
towels you can now lay across your
roofline right and have solar panels
there so I know here in the Netherlands
there’s some certain monumental homes
that are that are protected guess what
with these new tiles these protected
homes that weren’t allowed to have TVs
or solar panels before are now allowed
to because of this new technology and
because of the generation 2 so in the
research and especially as a
do-it-yourselfer you’re always looking
at the costs right how much time is
England cost and what’s your breakeven
points so what I looked at is that I’ll
have this box available for all the
different sites that I’ll talk about
today so estimate the cost from 1 to
10,000 euros here we’re talking about
Western Europe these are the costs here
and they’ll all depends on how many
solar panels you use very simple
installation time depending on again how
many solar panels you have as quick as
two hours or within one day you can have
your whole roof line done I was quite
surprised when I read that as a
do-it-yourselfer things take sometimes
days and weeks right
but within a day you can have your whole
roof line solar panel or tiles really
quick sometimes with professional help
of course but what’s interesting as well
as that the off-grid movement or the
independent living movement also talks
about living independently without
having to pay your monthly bills two to
seven years is your breakeven points the
investment that you’ve put in to your to
your solar panels within two to seven
years again the number of solar panels
you get all that money back so that’s
your breakeven points
what happens after seven years you still
have your solar panels they’re
guaranteed for 25 years you gain money
thank you participation high five yeah
then it just plus points guys you’re
just earning money back really
interesting stuff to know especially if
you’re doing yourself and you want to
improve things not only in your home but
also with the world let me show you some
more examples energy from wind if you
stepped outside today there’s a whole
bunch of wind out there right but here
in the Netherlands we have a really long
tradition hundreds of years of having
energy coming from from wind windmills
right this is a familiar photo the next
one is the solar farms our sorry the the
wind farms you find them offshore you
find them onshore and these are the same
concepts so there’s different ways to
use wind power so that should say you
win that analyze the sea salt but okay
so II win this is how it looks like in
your house you can have it again in your
lawn you could have it atop of your
garage but guess what you can also put
smaller turbines on top of your roof
together sometimes with your solar
panels now the Netherlands has something
special we have a lot of old houses old
houses monumental houses that are
already two three even four stories high
why is that important
because at five meters and at 10 meters
that’s what the jet stream of wind is is
perfect an idyllic for wind power again
on our homes the West homes that we have
down we can put them on a roof line and
at the level and at the height they are
you have a one meter long stick from
your from from your roof and that’s all
you need you don’t have to have this
huge wind turbines and again this is
kind of some really quick takeaways
estimated cost insulation breakeven
points two to five years so we’ve been
looking up looking at wind looking at
the Sun not let’s look down under our
feet mother and mother earth keeps us
warm keeps itself warm right and I
underneath we have a lot of heats
geothermal heat and about been close to
a volcano it’s quite warm oh okay we do
have some people okay nice so this is
how it looks like right guys so putting
pipes into the earth
weathers under your garage or under your
home geothermal is a constant energy
source for all of our heat and all our
and all of our cooling so below let’s
say 2200 meters below us there’s a
constant room temperature let’s call it
12 to 15 degrees constant winter summer
doesn’t matter same same temperature 12
to 15 degrees no here in another one so
it can get quite cold zero
sometimes minus 10 minus 15 guess what
that’s up here down below 12 to 15
degrees so the simple concept here is
taking the warmth that’s under our feet
and bringing it up
and being able to heat ourselves now we
switch to another season we’re in the
summer now summer well it’s never going
to get 30 or 40 degrees here let’s be
honest but in some parts of the world it
gets quite warm and and in these other
parts of the world you want to have some
cool cool cool wind coming in or some
cool temperatures coming in so outside
20 30 40 degrees down below same 12 to
15 degrees it’s easy science estimated
cost it’s a little bit more you have to
dig a big hole if it’s now this is just
fun you know you start researching all
these kind of things and the algorithms
behind Facebook or the auger is behind
YouTube takes you yeah on crazy path
sometimes so if it I have a couple
pictures here they’re from World War two
is anyone here familiar with them
how could anyone tell me why I put them
up
now there’s in one of the photos there’s
a guy who’s cranking something what is
he cranking
it’s an old sorry please go ahead well
it’s it’s a it’s a generator of sorts so
you’re cranking energy why because he
wanted to hear the news on the radio
he’s making his own power what’s the
other guy doing on the bike reading a
newspaper right in the dark and he has a
light behind him he’s peddling his own
power now this is Dow 67 seven years ago
the new if it’s I call it Fitness are
the new bicycles you have a billionaire
Indian American who’s now investing on
this new generation of power that you
can use the simple motion of your
bicycle now here in the Netherlands you
might have a dynamo or solenoid that
kind of creates light energy so imagine
that’s right you put it in front of your
tire you pedal you get light not
supersize that to the next level and
then the next level version to version 3
then you have a big bicycle in your home
or it can create energy for yourself
added to your own grid that’s amazing
right and then let’s think about version
5 version 6 what’s happening then who
who likes working out
come on flex for me yeah well my wife
loves to work out you see her biceps
she’s through this ready source litter
alright so I don’t find it I’m teasing
my wife just because I can and that’s
one of the great things here you know if
you wanted to get back at your ex
girlfriend or your ex boyfriend or your
enemies this is the spot to do it right
okay so I digress like I usually do I
talk too much but what I was trying to
say is that for the people who work out
who’s done a spinning course
now think about spinning you have about
20 30 50 bicycles creating energy what
does your gym become then a power plant
interesting right again we’re here to
think new brave world right so this is
the game changer here guys some of us
might who are 40 and over older like
myself might remember the Energizer
Bunny right energizer
this is the little battery that
everybody has the other a picture that I
have here is of a long cycle battery so
you see it sometimes in cars or big rigs
but also in boats you have the long
cycle batteries the new version let’s
say the dock the version 3.3 is to test
the power wall now this is something and
I’m showing you kind of a progression on
everything that I’m talking about right
past present future because this is
something that we can use for our homes
there’s a lot of solar and wind that’s
quite intermittent so sometimes it’s not
so sunny to be cloudy
sometimes it’s not so windy so these are
things that are very important to be
able to control and to have stable if
you want to have it for your own home
living off-grid so the battery pack is
exactly what you need for that whether
it’s the old-school batteries or the
new-school
Tesla batteries that’s something that
actually with this combination you’re
living off the grid it’s amazing stuff
and because they’re small they’re about
a meter size you can put them anywhere
on your house and they’re not that
expensive the long cycle batteries we
have about 200 200 euros each one we
have a set of six your set you want to
go for the fancy stuff the Tesla
then that’s sending you back close to
6,000 sometime almost 8000 on
installation is really quick no I’m
saying that I want to fix and save the
world
it’s been a it’s not gonna be easy but
what I’ve seen and what I’ve shared with
you guys right now it’s a very simple
solution a solution that I call an e
home an energy home a home that is
environmentally efficiently powered
something that you and I and everyone
around the world could do it’s not
complicated eyes there’s a lot of stuff
out there at our fingertips right now
it’s not a it’s maybe a question of
money I know not everyone has money and
it is a let’s say it’s not necessarily a
business plan you’re not gonna make a
lot of money I offer this kind of stuff
but it’s a value judgment and this is
where I want to take you guys student
annie home brings me back to saving
mother earth were in different languages
and some of my native languages
it’s bone anson Pachamama mother tiara
mother earth is very very important guys
and the E in e home can be the e for
equilibrium it can be finding that
long-lost Kulemin that we’ve lost with
our earth e for earning stop paying
bills have your bills pay you e estates
planning for years children inheritance
is there anybody close to retirements
I’m sure you’re thinking about it
no everybody was in their 20s economy if
for a new industry and new technology
new jobs a new business this is what we
see in solar and E for energy getting
off renew non-renewable and polluting
energy sources that’s n eulogy what are
you gonna do when you’re in your
deathbed and you’re ready to pass away
what eulogy what message are you gonna
need for your kids now just like you run
a marathon guys how do you win one one
step at a time
how are we gonna save our planets one
home at a time thank you
[Applause]
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