Re: [pf] What are some ways?

At 05:58 1/10/2000 -0700, Tom Gray wrote:
>>".. cutting back sharply on greenhouse emissions"
>
At 10:17 1/10/2000 -0700, Andrea Will wrote:
>What are some of the everyday ways that a family, right there in 
>their own home, can help to cut back on greenhouse emissions?
>
>

**  There's lots of information on using energy more efficiently, which is
IMO the first step since such a large amount of the energy-use in North
America comes from carbon-based fossil fuels: heating oil, the coal and oil
used to produce such a big fraction of electricity, and gasoline, diesel etc.

**  But I'm going to put in my $.02 worth, since for a year or two I had my
own CO2 production down to very near zero. Even now, with
electrically-heated shower water and using an electric kettle to boil water
for my tea (and /that's all/ besides this computer), it's not much. (Our
current electric supply company gets a significant amount of its energy
from a large windfarm, and most of the rest from small hydro-electric dams.)

**  First, getting the "outside the house" things out of the way.
    Car transport is a very big CO2 producer, so: 
(1) Combine trips when reasonably possible - you get better at this over
time - so the total distance covered in a year is cut significantly. This
usually means /not/ going out and getting it just when you are thinking of
it, but postponing the trip until it can be combined with at least one
other thing-to-be-done. On these occasions, and in (2) below, you've nearly
halved the greenhouse emissions and other pollutants.
(2) Get information from: 
Sharon Flesher <sflesher@traverse.net>
CarSharing Traverse, Inc.
Traverse City, Mich.
  about how to car-share.
(3) Keep your car's engine properly tuned-up; this helps reduce pollutant
emissions (carbon monoxide, NOx, unburned hydrocarbons, etc.) as well as
carbon dioxide. About every six months, say fall and spring, I'd guess. 
(4) Plan to replace an older vehicle, particularly if it's big, with a
smaller one that'll do the job most of the time, and you can rent a big one
for the few times a year you need either the space or the power, or the
comfort on a long trip. Our 1986 Honda Civic travels 16.3 km per liter on
the highway, two to three times further than an SUV. And that's nearly 15
years old.


**  Now for your: what a family can do, right there in their own home.

(A) The main thing is to be aware that you're using energy, and you want to
become more efficient at it. The "becoming aware" is helped by the things
you've heard of, like turning off lights when not actually being used, but
unless you continually use a large number of high-power incandescent bulbs,
the actual energy saving is small compared with other steps you can take.

(B) Gradually replace your regular bulbs with compact fluorescent ones,
starting (if you haven't used them before) with one or two that are left on
all the time someone's up-and-about. Now virtually all our lights are CF
bulbs, but we started with the one in the passage down the middle of the
house.

(C) Since you're coming into fall and winter now, you could focus on home
heating. There are two parts (this applies elsewhere, too) (i) needing less
heat, and (ii) wasting less and using less energy.
 - (i) You can lead the others in dressing for winter in the winter; they
may or may not follow your lead. I mean: turn your thermostat down,
gradually to get used to it over maybe 6 weeks, from ~72 degrees F to
perhaps 60 degrees; I've heard that some people use 55 degrees (anyone on
PF?). When our family of 5 was living in Ottawa, further north and colder
than any of you I'd guess, we had the thermostat at 55. But then, my wife
and I grew up without central heating so putting on more warm clothes
(mainly a sweater or skivvy: long-sleeved) came naturally. If you find the
bed too cold, put a hot water bottle (or two) into it a few minutes before
you go to bed. They're a mainstay in places where the temperature is 50 or
lower, like here or in older houses in Britain or Europe with no central
heating.
 - (ii) Assuming your house has at least above-ceiling insulation, and
hopefully in the walls as well (and under-floor if you have no basement),
the two main heat-loss ways are: through the glass of windows and by
leakage, around doors and perhaps windows. I grew up to age 10 in Canada,
then spent 20 years there in my 20s and 30s - we always put up the "storm
windows" in the Fall and took them down in the Spring. /Some/ kind of
double-glazing is necessary in the winter, IMO, even if it's the cheapest:
the thick plastic used for wrapping mattresses, stoves and fridges, cut to
fit and attached on the inside with masking-tape around the edges. But you
may decide to invest in double-glazed windows, that you don't have to
do-something-about twice a year. Insulating the walls would come first, if
they don't have insulation.
   And there's really no excuse for heating up the air inside then letting
it stream out through gaps around e.g. the doors - that's obviously a waste
of energy. You may not feel where it leaves, but on a windy day you (with
care and bare feet or your hand) should be able to feel the other place
where the cold outside air is coming in to replace the lost warm air. And
then, when the wind is from the other direction, you can check out the
other gaps. If you really want to prove it, hold a candle or match where
you can feel the cold air coming in.
   I'd suggest you also have one or two portable electric radiant or fan
heaters, to sit in front of when someone comes in cold from outside. Spot
heat (for short times) should be convenient, when you're living in a cool
house.

(D) On a longer time-scale, if you're using electric house-heating (e.g.
baseboard heaters), and your electricity supplier doesn't get it mainly
from hydro dams (e.g. NW USA), you should look into installing gas central
heating. Yes, gas produces CO2 as it burns, but at least you're getting all
its energy, rather than only about a third, as you do when the gas is first
used to produce electricity, /then/ that used to produce heat. Better still
is the whole business of solar heating, but I think you're talking about
"what can I do here, in this house, and now, or in the next few weeks."

(E) Cooking. I speak as someone who doesn't eat cooked food (except on
special occasions), specifically to reduce my production of greenhouse
gases, with the subsidiary advantage that I don't have to wash dishes and
pots. That's far too radical for almost everyone, but I am putting in a
plug for eating food cold for some meals, like sandwiches (my choice; yes,
I know the bread is baked!). If you have to cook, use a microwave or a gas
cooker if possible. Fifteen years ago, when I was cooking the evening meal
for my family of 5 (after a long day teaching), I would put the pot with a
little water in it on the electric element (we have a really old stove;
will be going to gas soon), while I prepared the vegetables to go in the
pot and boiled up the rest of the water in our electric kettle. At least,
in the kettle, all the heat from the element goes into the water; not like
heating a pot when quite a lot goes downward and is lost into the room.
   And the main oven should only be used for medium-to-large amounts of
food, perhaps something you'll plan to eat the remainder cold.

(F) Your hot water can be turned down by some multiple of 5 degrees F; ours
is at 130 F - a long way below near-boiling. There is a lower limit: you
want to make sure that any bacteria in the water are cooked - I'm not sure
130 degrees F is hot enough for that. All our water is rain water off the
roof, and we haven't had illnesses of that sort (only respiratory problems,
but usually we're very well), so I'm happy with our 130.

(G) This last I know little about, since we have only stove, fridge,
washing machine, two computers, and lights, running off electricity. But I
hear that richer people have /all sorts/ of electrical gear, from TVs to
videos to electric can-openers to coffee-makers, and I don't know what
else! Some of these have "instant-on" or the equivalent, which means they
draw a little bit of power 24/7, and over a year use a noticeable amount of
electricity. I've seen the advice that such things should be turned off at
the wall so they're no longer instant-on; I can't really comment. My guess
is that the bigger power uses in (A) - (F) should be attended-to first,
then when you reckon you've done all you can on the big stuff, you can
consider other things like CF lamps in the less-often-on places, and this
last.


· I think I've covered most of it; there are some consequences I haven't
mentioned, like being sure everyone has bed-covers (like duvets) that both
stay on all night and keep each person warm, when the house air temperature
is lowered to 55 degrees. Common sense, I'd call it.

· I hope others will comment too.

David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html
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