jungle4john

I have been living off grid for 9 years in the southwest USA. I use DC water pumps the pressurize the house right off the solar. I prefer a brand called Flojet because they can run dry without damaging the pumps. I use them to irrigate our fields too. When properly insulated and protected they can run through the freezing winter.

You are welcome. I have been learning from other people the whole journey and happy to share. I also shared a solar well pump on another comment from Tuhorse. I've tried and destroyed 3 or 4 other brands. Their pumps have lasted years in very harsh conditions.

There is a brand of dc/solar well pumps that I am smitten with from a company called Tuhorse. I've tried a few different brands that break after less than a year. The Tuhorse pumps have lasted years in very harsh environments. Best is to pump into a tank and then into the house from the tank.

I wanted to throw in my 2 cents as someone trying to build sustainable mfg company:

First I believe you're absolutely correct on your 3 points.

I first started with a sustainable lifestyle because let's be honest if it's not part of my day to day how can I implement it in my business. Plus it keeps the overhead of just living down.

The other starting point on a sustainable mfg company is being vertically integrated. For me at least, so I can control my supply chain and how my raw materials are made. I have friends, Fed by threads, that out source their sustainable raw materials, but there is a lot of clout on the marketing side when it's all you, seed to jar, the social side. This lead me to farming and mfging finished products from my produce like jams, skincare products, and mead. Also if a competitor wants to go at it, my raw materials are near $0, so bring it.

I also dismissed the old distribution model of mfg to wholesale distributors to retail, and focusing my efforts on mfg direct sales. Mainly online ala Jack Ma at Alibaba.

I would not say I'm a "sucess" yet, but I definitely have the opportunity to be. I have the ecological and social down. I'm close on the financial side, probably another year or two. Plan A has been to pay for everything out of opporating profits and it's working. Though slow, it goes a long way to financial sustainability.

The other point you made that I have made part of my life is automation, especially in the mfg side. The farming side will be interesting. It was absolutely heart breaking when I had to fire my employees when my software company went belly up in 2008. Automation is the future and I don't want to go through that again.

</My 2 cents>

Footnote: How do I fund all this? As nice of a guy as I am, and as socially progressive as I am, I am a capitalist. My goal is to take care of my family and future generations. I carved a nice consulting business out of my software company and pimp my mom out on the street to run it. My wife, my father, and I do the sweat equity on our fields and mfging.