Hemlock B Bootsalotta

It's very useful. :-)

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as Aidan said, microgeneration (it'll be getting way cheaper soon!), and sustainable water and wastewater.

use grey water recycling systems. install a water butt and save runnoff rainwater for watering the garden. compost. put bird and bat boxes in your eaves.

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melete.livejournal.com

install a water butt and save runnoff rainwater for watering the garden.

I don't know if Toronto has something similar but Chicago has a dept of conservation that has several programs about how to turn your house more enviro friendly. In it they do have information on where to get or how to make barrels to collect rain water for garden use. They also have guides for good local flora to plant in yards rather than turf grass to help with run off. Plus they do all sorts of other things for Chicago - granting programs for green roofs, etc. They often seem to have things you might not have thought of yet.

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We got a water butt, which has been a bit of a waste as that assumes we care enough about our garden to water it.

It comes in handy after dry spells to refill the pond though.

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Canadian Tire now carries a whole line of solar panels and windmill supplies.

Grey water is a good point. I might contact the city about that, they used to have a free converstion program.

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sweetfuckall.livejournal.com

We don't have air con

I purchased my first A/C last year, against my better Environmentalist judgement. We try to use it as sparingly as possible, but when the humidity is as such that we can't even run the vaccuum across the carpet, it's time to plug 'er in.

I think it's that whole "the rich get richer while the poor get poorer" scenario coming into play. Those of us who do our part and do what we can to reduce the effects of climate change grow more heat-oppressed as the years go by in some last-ditch effort to make up for what Joe SUV is doing.

I knew the world was in beeg, beeg trouble when air-cooled patios became all the rage at downtown eateries. Once the sun goes down, they turn the A/C off and fire up the heaters, lest pubgoers suffer a chill. We are heating and cooling the outdoors now, folks. Why do so few of us see this as fundamentally wrong?

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sheepthief.livejournal.com

http://www.bwea.com/you/byo.html ?

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No need to build my own, we can buy them straight off the shelf (http://www.canadiantirepower.ca/en/index.php).

Power generation is one fo the things in the plans for the house renos, but that's down the road a bit.

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hellsop.livejournal.com

As far as air conditioning goes, that's one area where replacement makes sense. New system use FAR less power than old ones. Not less than none, obviously, but it's a place where it should be encouraged rather than discouraged.

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but are the new systems as long-lasting? do they need more energy to manufacture? does their power savings make up for the embodied energy, when considered over the lifespan of the unit, and with the embodied energy of a replacement considered?

they probably do, i'm just doing a bit of NOT THAT SIMPLE ranting...

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hellsop.livejournal.com

I'm with you on the ranting, trust me on this... I'm full up on "All we have to do..." solutions from the well-meaning and dreadfully earnest.

I'm less suspicious AC as a net win on replacement because of the HUGE amount of electric it eats up in comparison to some other things, and how trends are likely to only make new kit more and more of an improvement with additional use, which seems likely to continue for a while even if we cure every ill with modern society. Similarly, I'm less suspicious of wind and water generation than the saving ability of photoelectric generation (for which vast improvements in efficiency and cost have been just around the corner for something like four decades now), and solar water heating (as we discussed elsewhere a while ago in reference to chilled road tarmac).

A place where I see a HUGE potential win for living climate control for a lot of places *AND* a relative solution for spiraling real estate costs is to start looking at building building upside down. That is, put the garage and utility spaces on ground level and the living spaces below ground. Sure, you have to run lamps a lot, but efficient lamps we can make, from fluorescents and neons to LED and electroluminescent panels. Go down about 10 meters and your living space is the same temperature the whole year around, and usually very close to a comfortable one, solvable with a pretty simple heat exchanger in warmish climates, and smaller heaters than exist in above-ground homes in cooler ones.

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re: underground homes

you tend to end up with very limited life buildings, though, because of problems with water ingress. and they require a lot of plastic products to keep dry at all. and in very cold regions, frost heave makes it *very* difficult to build something underground. and it really is wasteful to use electricity to light a building when it's already daylight out, no matter how "efficient" the light source may be. a much more efficient way to save on energy is to wear a nice wooly jumper in winter, draw your blinds in summer, and wear less when it's hot.

there are really, really clever things done with thermal mass in above ground buildings, too. you don't need to be in the ground to make use of that to keep things cool in the day and warm at night.

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girfan.livejournal.com

There is a brand of bottled water in Canada that melts iceburgs to get this water. Maybe protest against this brand?

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iamjw.livejournal.com

What brand is it?

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I found this (http://www.alpineglacierwater.net/), but I get the impression they are collecting the runoff rather than melting the glacier.

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ihvpave.livejournal.com

I wonder things like this often.

I'm working on creating microhabitats in my yard by mowing less and using a higher blade height, no pesticides, companion planting, bug-inviting plants, etc. I compost and do the three Rs, and I try to use as many companies that use sustanable resources, minimal packaging, and so on as I can (which is the main reason I use LUSH for the stuff I can't be bothered to make myself). I DIY as much as I am able (or, more accurately, fussed to as I tend to be impatient and convenience-oriented).

I've been thinking about researching solar power conversion and grey-water recycling for my house but... Again with the "convenience" factor.

But then I look at my girls and I think I really need to.

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I just go with only mowing my lawn about twice a year.

Until this year our pond attracted tiny little frogs, so mowing after the tadpoles have moved out of the water would be carnage. For some unknown reason we had no frogspawn this year, but we've still mowed once. Between us it's our most hated job. So we're creating a wildlife-friendly garden. Really.

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ihvpave.livejournal.com

I go as rarely as I can, but where I live copperheads are a danger - and we have three dogs that spend a lot of time in the backyard during the day. I have to keep it down to a minor jungle back there, or I spend all my time worrying about one of my bebes getting fanged. Interestingly, the front yard doesn't bother me a titch when it gets knee-high even though I know it makes the neighbours twitch.

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Yikes! The only thing I have to worry about is not being able to find the rabbits when the grass gets really long.

As to making the neighbours twitch, my parents live somewhere like that. I, OTOH, live in a traditional white working class area, where nobody cares if we mow our lawn, ever.

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ihvpave.livejournal.com

Hee.

Yeh, I haven't got any water features in the back, though I am thinking of putting in a pergola-type thing with a waterbutt thingo behind it, mebbe.

As far as the lawn goes, it's fairly interesting 'cos I live in a pretty working-class neighborhood, but day-UM of those folks aren't nuts about their yardwork. 's pretty interesting to me, actually. Chain link dividing lines, and perfectly manicured lawns.

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Bizarre. Some people here are very keen about their yardwork, but it hasn't occurred to them to care what anyone else does.

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Most people here are keen on their yards> We have such a diverse neighbourhood that could mean anything from "perfectly manicured squares of grass" to "interestingly arranged rock and shrubbery with a rusty iron art piece in the centre".

I get the impression my "promiscuous wildflower riot" is considered perfectly acceptable.

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hellsop.livejournal.com

Frogs are really sensitive to environmental poisons.

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montieth.livejournal.com

Where is the environmentalism 201?

Go off the Grid. Get a BioDiesel reactor. Start making your own BD (you'll need a vehicle to go collect the fuel). Then get a Lister cycle Engine (http://www.listeroid.com/) and start generating your own power and also use the system as a supplement for your heat (the radiator for the generator will work as a great heat exchanger for your furnace).

Or you could co-generate power with solar panels and battery banks. Though Solar Panels are more pricey.

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hirez.livejournal.com

Hm. It may be worth hunting around for an old lighting plant, assuming they've not all been bagged by flat-capped duffers like this country, rather than buying a 'new' one.

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montieth.livejournal.com

Oh, start hunting for your meat. It's the original free range.

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hear, hear!!

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I'd love to, but that's even more expensive than buying free-range at the butcher.

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montieth.livejournal.com

Once you get a deep freeze, you could probably take a deer or two a year and NEVER have to buy meat for the rest of the year. Heck, you could probably take one deer and turn around and donate the second one to a shelter or some organization that takes such donations. How much do you spend on meat in a year?

Oh, and you could make a new twist to the pig roast. You'd have to cook it slower (less fat).

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We have a freezer, it's pretty much stuffed. (Mind you a lot of that is leftovers from the pig.) We don't spend that much on meat right now, because we don't eat it that often.

I like the idea of hunting, but the startup costs of the FAC, then the course, then the equipment and then the licence puts it way down on the priority list.

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up north you can often find places that sell frozen moose and venison quite cheap, especially if you're willing to agree to buy a half-moose before it's shot. ask around?

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The Lawrence Market has moose and venison and buffalo.

Now you've got me craving a nice moose steak. :-)

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You're channeling me again.

Do you compost? It's so effort-free even I can do it.

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Religiously. Anything suitable goes into our backyard compost. Bones, grease and dairy goes into the city compost, which is able to handle it.

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OUr city finally starts a compost program that all the non garden compostable stuff can go in next month. I can't wait. (If for no other reason than to hear the stupid people at work complaining about the ickiness of it all).

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caspervonb.livejournal.com

Writing letters is really good. Most people never do (no
matter what they say).

I think you're doing the most immediate things you can do.

Real change is down to governments and corporations. As
with everything else, it comes down to exercizing political
power.

Don't buy from places with poor environmental policies. Vote
for people who are willing to give a serious and unbiased look
at climate change and pollution.

Tough call with all the misinformation flying around though.
Likely, putting some wingnuts like the green party in charge
would cause more problems than anything else.

It is important to balance societal needs with environmental
ones. What that means is that we need to impose tough legislation
on reckless pollution, especially airborne pollutants. At the same
time, create government grants and subsidies to make factories and
enterprises more environmentally friendly. Make it fiscally viable
and profitable for companies to go eco-friendly and that part of
the problem will resolve itself through standard market forces.

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shara.livejournal.com

Well, "sustainability" is basically a life-cycle thing... in a broad sense, there's consumption, use and waste.

So you can either look at what you have in your life which consumes, and try to reduce that consumption - electricity, "raw" resources, what have you. You probably have heat - the best way to cut down on heat energy consumption is to optimize latent heat generation in the house so that as little as possible needs to come from "other" sources. So, get windows which point the right ways, make sure the house is VERY well sealed and insulated, invest in tripple-glazed windows and so on. Then get a heat system which requires the least amount of actual generation - radiators against inner rather than outer walls, or radiating floor systems. You also need good circulation - the amount of energy used is equal to the cube of the rate of flow (this is a piping thing).

Or you could limit waste. Look at what you have in your life that still generates truely end-of-life material. How much garbage, recycling and compost do you put out? Can it be reduced? What can be bought in bulk which you don't already use? Can you use cloth napkins/paper towls/ hygenic products?

Unfortunately for us 21st-century types, technology is a great source of waste... computers and their bits don't really have a post-consumer life. But you can still do little things, like have a flat-screen rather than LCD monitor (far fewer toxins) and make sure you have a machine which can be broken down so that you need to replace only small bits at a time.

I'd also like to second the "educate" plan...

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So, get windows which point the right ways, make sure the house is VERY well sealed and insulated, invest in tripple-glazed windows and so on.

note: this is often a really, really bad plan in an older home. older homes are built with different materials (lime mortar rather than cement, for example) and work on the principle of managing, rather than excluding, humidity. sealing them too well will result in structural degradation on a rapid scale, as moisture is trapped in them. you just have to suck it up and wear a wooly jumper and keep them cooler in winter...

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