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Presenting GIS Solutions for Design: A specific suitability analysis and discussion of other useful spatial functionality

By Tommy McKoy

Research Questions

GENERAL z How can GIS be useful in permaculture design?

- Why not just use Illustrator and/or Excel?

SPECIFIC z Where do you place a composting facility?

1 Permaculture Defined z Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and other needs in a sustainable way.

- The Permaculture Research Institute

Permaculture Mission Statement z Our goal is to integrate and energy education in a self-sustaining and efficient system. This means using existing & potential social, economic, & ecological capital in a financially & technically feasible manner.

- From the Waste and Energy team, Permaculture II Design Course, Learning Lab

2 Goals z Minimize waste z Minimize energy usage z Minimize actual load z Close the loop „ Creating a self-sustaining system z Maximize on-site resources z Integrate waste & energy education on- site

Datasets Used

z Satellite Imagery Photo, streets layer (RLIS) z Base map produced by “Overall Site” permaculture team - Georeferenced this to the Sat photo z Polygon shapefiles Produced using Editor in ArcMap - Polygons drawn from measurements taken on site - Important elements identified during Site Assessment - Could / should have GPS units been used?

3 Site Assessment – Permaculture Methods

Organic Materials Connections z z Portland Parks and z Recreation z roughage z Oregon Energy Trust z Portland Public Human Resources Schools z PSU z PSU Students z Site Educators Useful Buildings z Site managers and maintenance crew z Green Houses z Existing Gardens and z Classroom Complex Natural Resources

Needs/Yields Assessment

NEEDS YIELDS z Money z Compost z Technical Knowledge z Garbage z Brown Compostable Material z z Sustainable heating z Human energy source z Wood chipper z Educational Signage z Energy/Waste Audits

4 Methods for General Problem Statement

(How can GIS be useful in permaculture design?) z Maintain Attribute Table - Add fields for description, zone, energy weight, waste weight, zone distance (W & E), Carbon / , and “actual weights” - Use combination of query builder, spatial joins, SQL, and calculate areas tool

5 KEY id r •Waste G ls o •Energy N m o o T W a r r t e N f •Waste & Energy a u s a y w r o t t t e a i P w iv c l i S a e r te G t P r G c P a N a e r U s o rd l f S Tr E s as e a h/ n G Re cy cl ing

Scho ol Lunc h Waste ZONE 0 , Student’s Harvest Compost C Compost Committed LGL ompost Student Labor staff, advisors

e ast n W ZONE 1 ow Br P Par ard Learning Gardens, Cash P aren ent’ ch la t La s H Or Areas, Students K-12, n bor arve t S st College ta rts ZONE 2 Parent Garden and Satellite Projects, LECL Classroom use te as r W Ca ZONE 3 Native Gardens &

ZONE 4 Chinese gardens, PPS Educational Uses, PPS Tools &

ZONE 5 Community Gardens, Children's’ & Parents’Home, Municipal Recycling Center and Garbage Dump

6 7 8 Composting z Leaf Compost „ Leaf z „ Worm bins & beds „ Windrow/Wedge System „ Reactor Systems z z Combining Methods

9 Project Possible Energy Projects z Biomass: agricultural bi-products burned for power generation, financial assistance available z Solar: Trim15 % or more off your electric bill and get credited for excess power z Wind: Financial assistance for small turbines ranging from1000 watts to approx. 600 kilowatts (Visit http://www.energytrust.org)

Plans for the Future z 1 Year Plan „ Add Compost Bins/Piles „ Energy & Waste Audits „ Energy Efficient Light Bulbs „ Educational Signage „ Integrate permaculture/renewa ble energy into education „ Coordinate with PPS

10 Plans for the Future z 5 Year Plan „ Reduce hauled waste by 60% „ Solar path lights „ Increase perennials „ Diversify compost „ Produce renewable energy & fundraising plans „ Buy educational tools/resources

11 Plans for the Future z 10+ Year Plan „ Reduce dependence on BPA by 60% „ Implement renewable energy plans „ Composting toilet „ Integrate animals „ Closed-loop system „ Bioremediation „ Windrow/wedge system?

12 GIS Methods: Suitability Analysis z Set up parameters of Spatial Analysis z Design Shapefile with points at access points around site z Find geometric mean center of compost contributions by volume (Mean Center Tool) z Buffer again… z Convert to rasters z Reclassify z Raster Calculator

13 14 What use is GIS for Permaculture? z Visualization / educational purposes z Immediate calculation of areas z Direct Measurement z Multiple function suitability mapping z Finding the “least cost path” z “Spatial join” capabilities so that as you move elements around they take on the zonal attributes of their new location z GIS only used after in depth site research z Possible to import wind, solar, and other important vectors right on top of your map

Resources Used z Link to compost volume estimation: http://www.des.state.nh.us/swtas/pdf/estimating_piles.pdf z About windrows: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/composting/windrow.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrow_composting z Waste container volume estimation: http://www.business.brookes.ac.uk/research/ceshi/waste_counts_ebook.pdf z Estimating Weight from Volume: http://compost.css.cornell.edu/factsheet2.pdf z Composting : http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/manual.html z Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (Chelsea Green) z Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond . (Chelsea Green) z Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual (Tagari Press)

15 Many thanks to Professor Geoffrey Duh, The Waste and Energy Permaculture II Team, those of you who lived with me in Ch 469 for the past couple of weeks, And last but not least, the guy serving beer at the Geog. Holiday Party

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