Permaculture Principle #2: Catch and Store Energy

The Second Permaculture Design Principle is Catch and Store Energy.

While I am tempted to say that this is possibly my favourite principle, I actually could say that about quite a few of them.

Catching and storing energy is what permaculture, homesteading, and good design is all about. We live in a world where energy was considered cheap and abundant, and often never give thought to where and how it is actually being produced. Most of us understand the ecological, political, and social issues that surround the oil industry. If that is not enough to convince you to look elsewhere for your energy, then maybe the idea of peak oil will.

Post Edit: Thanks to astute Steemer @bobydimitrov , the above graph may not be the full picture of our oil production. He provided another link which I include here:
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/key-world-energy-statistics.html

Thanks @bobydimitrov !

As you can see by this simplr graph or the more thorough statistics, we are on the downtrend for available oil reserves. As oil gets harder and harder to extract, we tend to create more wars and more ecological destruction, just to maintain the same lifestyle we grew accustomed to when oil was literally pouring right out of the group.

Permaculture invites us to leave that old story behind and capture our own sources of renewable energy right in our own backyard.

This is one example. This is a super efficient rocket stove that one of our natural building courses built for a local family here in guatemala. It uses very little fire wood and produces loads of heat for cooking food and heating water. We also use a similar stove on our farm to process our chickens, make yogurt/cheese, and to cook our meals. By using firewood that we produce sustainably on our farm, we are removed from having to use natural gas to cook our food. The practice of planting trees and harvesting firewood is a perfect example of Capturing and Storing Energy.

We could also talk about water use. Can I use the dirty dish water to irrigate the garden? Can I catch the water that I wash my hands with to flush the toilet? Or better yet, can I catch and store my humanure and turn it into compost, and leave clean water out completely?

Here is one more that has t do with food waste:

How can i catch and store the energy of my dinner? Leftovers is one easy way. And then feed the animals. And then feed the soil.

This idea of the basketball bounce going down a bit each time is a great way to think of energy storage. As it hits each peak, the next bounce is a bit less quality energy, but still useful for something. We can adjust how we use our energy t match the quality of energy with the needs of the task.

This also goes for our personal energy. I feel that I need 100% energy to write emails and write posts on steem. That is the top bounce. Then I can poke around on news sites or do some lite gardening. That is the second bounce. My energy is diluted by then, but still enough to do less demanding tasks. If i just did gardening in the morning, i may never answer emails.

All this can also be said as cycling energy through a site. The site can be your farm or even your house or your body. How can we get energy to last as long as possible and be applied to as many different jobs as possible before it finally dissipates?

How do you guys catch and store your energy?

And as always, this list of 12 Permaculture Principles was given to us by the great David Holmgren, co-founder of Permaculture. Very grateful!
https://permacultureprinciples.com/

NOTE: Photo #2 is used under the Fair Use Act.
All the rest of the post is completely original content.