When I first learned of Jean Pain Composting I was blown away. Whenever I thought of how to make energy for my home I always thought solar or wind. This is another way that has multiple benefits.
Jean Pain was a French innovator who used compost to provide all of his energy needs. He used the natural occurring biodegrading compost to heat his house and water. It became his water heater and furnace. He also would make energy by collecting the distilling methane from his compost. It ran an electric generator and was fuel for his car. After he collected all the energy from the compost breaking down, he would use it his garden to create beautiful produce.
How does it work? Jean Pain would trim the forest around his home for overgrowth to prevent forest fires. All the limbs he collected he would shred into wood chips. At home he would pile them up layer by layer. As he piled it up he would coil hose through it he could run water through. Each layer he would soak with water to help the bacteria get started.
To distill methane he would put a tank in the middle of the pile as he built it up. In the tank he would put chips he chipped earlier and let soak for a few months. He sealed the tank and out of the top had a hose that connected to a bank of tire tubes that collected the methane.
From there he compressed the methane to run his car, kitchen stove and an electric generator. His pile of compost would make energy for up to 18 months. Once the pile burned itself out he would use the compost in his garden to grow incredible produce and start the process all over again. Check out Back to Eden Film to learn about the benefits of using wood chips for gardening.
The best part about Jean Pain Composting is that wood chips are easy to get for free. Landscaping companies are always chipping branches and removing trees. I got a pile of wood chips by asking a chipping crew to dump a pile for me to pick up and take to my house. You can call any local tree service company or landscaping company and ask if you can pick up there clippings. Better yet, if you see a company chipping tree branches like I did, flag them down and ask them to dump it on your property.
It is important to make sure the wood chips you get had leaves on the branches because the live leaves provides the nitrogen that will make the chips compost well.
Here is a video I made of the process I took, to make my Jean Pain Compost pile. I didn’t try and collect the methane here but I did coil a hose through the pile to collect hot water.
