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Welcome to the website of the Healthy Housing Research Institute and the proposed Rockvale Sanctuary, located in the town of Rockvale, Colorado, 81244 (between Florence and Cañon City). My name is Gary Johnson. I am a retired electrical engineering professor from Kansas State University. In 2012 I proposed the ElectroMagnetic Sensitivity Research Institute (EMSRI) to do research on methods to improve the wellbeing of those of us with Electromagnetic HyperSensitivity (EHS). The dream was to recruit medical personnel, biochemists, and other engineers to do funded research on many aspects of EHS. In 2016 there is still only one researcher (me), doing research on healthy housing out of retirement income. It appears to be time to sharpen the focus, to make plans that one person has some hope of completing. The name has been changed to the Healthy Housing Research Institute (HHRI). The new name suggests that housing will be built and evaluated as to perceived health effects by those living in the housing, with the assumption being that tenants will have EHS and/or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). It does not preclude medical people being involved, but at least the initial focus will be on the engineering and architectural aspects of {\em healthy} housing. I strongly believe the following statements: The Sick Building Syndrome exists, where some fraction of the population are sickened by indoor pollution. Indoor pollution includes all types of electromagnetic fields, WiFi, cell phones, Smart Meters, power frequency electric and magnetic fields, etc. Present building and electrical codes do not protect against electromagnetic pollution (and only weakly against chemical pollution). Society needs to allow the construction of experimental/research housing units, designed, inspected, and certified as safe by Professional Engineers, where the present (unhealthy) codes are not enforced. Healthy housing should not be more expensive than the existing unhealthy housing, so that a good percentage of the sick can actually live in it. Any research institute needs people and money to perform its desired research. In this particular case, it is also critical to find a political unit (town, city, county), with authority to establish building codes, that agrees with the above statements and will allow construction of healthy housing. There is an economic development incentive to the political unit in the form of jobs during construction and taxes after construction. I have prepared a Request For Bid BidRequest.pdf that can be presented to possible political units. This document includes a great deal of information about the deficiencies of existing building and electrical codes. The obvious sequence would be to identify a friendly political unit, then find appropriate land within that political unit at a fair price, then start construction on the first housing unit. In my case, I found a good site at a low price in Rockvale, Colorado and went ahead and purchased it. Rockvale will therefore have the "first right of refusal" on the Request For Bid. Should Rockvale decide it does not want the Healthy Housing Research Institute, I will put the site on the market (with a very good chance of making a buck) and start looking at other political units in southern Colorado. I own a total of 60 acres inside the town of Rockvale, including a 40 acre lot that contains a gulch or box canyon that is well shielded from cell towers. There is a three bedroom, two bath house on a 1 acre lot. The remaining 19 acres are in six lots varying in size from 1 to 8 acres. A driveway was built to the bottom of the gulch. The house and four of the empty lots are on a cul-de-sac at the end of Shaft Avenue. As of Summer of 2016, a major project is to do the necessary storm water management and pave the cul-de-sac and driveways. The house (745 Shaft Avenue) has been repurposed as the office and laboratory for the Institute. The ideal location for this Research Institute would be on a paved street with all utilities including Internet, close to shopping and work opportunities, but with low electromagnetic fields. No site will be ideal, of course. The Rockvale property is on a paved street with electricity and water. It is about six miles to Home Depot and seven miles to Walmart. Colorado Springs is about an hours drive away, and Pueblo is a little closer. The climate is quite nice, with the site located in what is considered the `banana belt' of Colorado. All houses in Rockvale are on septic systems, which is not a problem. If gas rather than electric heat is desired, one buys propane, which is a bit more expensive than natural gas. There are no cable TV lines to 745 Shaft. An outdoor TV antenna receives CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, and Fox from Colorado Springs. The cell tower signal is adequate at 745 Shaft for a cell phone to be used if necessary. I use Vonage to get what looks like a landline phone inside the house, but over the Internet. The first proposed housing unit is in the planning stages. It is the construction of an off-grid four bedroom house in the bottom of the gulch. It will be powered by solar panels and batteries. If the proper equipment is available at an affordable price, the outside walls will be concrete made with steel mill slag, an EMF absorbing material that should reduce interior fields to the point that no cell phone will function inside the house. The house will also have a metal roof and metal siding on the outside of the concrete walls. This will act as a type of Faraday cage to reflect incoming electromagnetic fields. A large fraction of the signals that are not reflected by the metal cage will then be absorbed by the concrete. If the concept works, it will provide another option for people whose sensitivity makes it impossible to live in conventional housing. Rather than leave family and work to go to the wilderness, they build a house with this technology. This should allow at least some of the sensitive population to get a good nights sleep and survive in the hostile electromagnetic environment now found most places. Each bedroom will have its own bath, such that the house could function as a sort of informal guesthouse. An individual with EHS, or a couple, could come and spend a few days to see if they felt better in this environment. Those who did not mind sharing the kitchen might extend their stay to weeks or months. Potential guests should understand that low electromagnetic fields do not guarantee that all those with EHS will feel better here. It is probable that EHS is just another sensitivity among food intolerances, allergies, and MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity). There are an abundance of junipers in the area, so those with a sensitivity to junipers should hesitate coming here. Those coming from lower elevations may well experience headaches at 5400 feet above sea level. These headaches usually dissipate in a couple of days. But, even though the house will not help everyone to feel better, it will certainly help people to `test the water' with minimal risk. Committing to move to southern Colorado and then discovering a juniper intolerance, for example, is something we all want to avoid. Visitors are welcome. Dr. Johnson is usually somewhere on the 60 acres between 8:30 and 4:30, Monday through Saturday, in good weather. A 48 hour notice would be a good idea. The phone number at the Institute is 719-458-1111, with Voicemail capability. The email address is gjohnson@ksu.edu. I have not heard of any problems with GPS finding 745 Shaft, although it may think the address is in Florence rather than Rockvale. If you do not have GPS (or cannot use it) then the following directions may be useful. From Canon City: Find the intersection of Highway 50 (Royal Gorge Blvd) and HW 115 (9th St.). This is adjacent to the historic downtown. Go south on S. 9th. After the roundabout you will be going east on Elm St. and still on HW 115. Follow HW 115 for about 5.5 miles (from HW 50). Turn right at the road sign with WILLIAMSBURG ROCKVALE and COAL CREEK on it. This is County Road 11A. Go about 2.7 miles on this road. The street signs say CR11a, then Churchill, then May. Turn right on Shaft Ave. and follow it to the cul-de-sac at the end of the street, about 0.4 mile. 745 Shaft is the last house on the street, on the left. From Florence: Find the intersection of HW 115 (Main St.) and HW 67 (Pikes Peak) at the center of town. (Note: there are at least 20 antiques stores in a two block radius of this intersection.) Follow HW 115 west for about 2.8 miles, then turn left at the sign WILLIAMSBURG ROCKVALE and COAL CREEK. Then follow the directions in the previous paragraph. This section of HW 115 is very crooked. Watch out for the corner where HW 115 leaves Main St. (turning north) just a few blocks west of HW 67. It is marked, if you are looking in the right place. |