Energy in my life

Hi again

This week is the last week of eco my flat, and so there a couple of things to wrap up.

ENERGY

Television

So there's a spectrum that describes people's approaches to energy use/conservation. On one hand, there's people who leave the lights on in full sunlight, heat pump at 23°C, or perhaps having a 30 minute shower everyday (which uses lots of water in addition to the energy to heat the water). There are also people who leave electrical/electronic appliances on when they are not in use. A good example is the “I’ll be back in 5 minutes, so I’ll leave the TV on” situation. More often than not, because of our lackadaisical nature, the person will be gone for an hour, and they TV will still be going with full sound and colour.

Hottie(s)

At the other end of the spectrum, there's some who switch off the lights when they leave the room, regardless of how brief/long they're gone for. Also, at this end of the spectrum, people do not use heaters at all. Instead, they go for the hot water bottle and blanket combination. Maybe they have cold showers too (I’m talking 12-15°C water here, in an ambient bathroom temperature of <10°C). And perhaps they’ll build a solar heater to heat up the water that feeds into the hot water cylinder.

 

I guess I fall somewhere along the spectrum in between those 2 extremes. I like to think I'm closer to the end of the spectrum that uses only that which is necessary.

Singing a 5 minute song in the shower

In the warmer months, I shower 4 minutes, using a shower timer to ensure I don’t go over the time. A couch surfer at our flat (that’s you, Holly) once told me something interesting about showering. When she was living alone in a shack, trying to finish some paper/thesis, she had this approach to short showers: Sing a song that would be of (approximately) 5 minutes in length, and when the song ended, so would the shower.

But I digress. It’s the peak of winter right now, and I’m having an (approximately) 8 minute hot water shower every 10 days. It’s not perfect, but it means that the power bill won’t be shocking. At the moment, our power bills are around $120-$140, for 4 guys who are fairly eco-minded. That says a lot to how we use energy around the flat. Also, I spend a lot of time the University, so it means I’m using energy that’s already been used to heat the space regardless of the presence of 5 or 50 students.

Incandescent light bulb

With regard to energy use in my room, I use an eco-bulb for my desk lamp. The room, as a whole, is illuminated with a single 100W incandescent light bulb. Yes, unfortunately there were at least 2 eco-bulbs(compact fluorescent light(CFL) bulbs) that blew in that particular lighting fixture over my 3 years at Hooker Ave. I suspect it has something to do with the wiring so perhaps I will let my dear landlord know about the situation.

As for electronics, there’s a radio/alarm clock that is quite old and should probably be replaced with a new one, but the fact is, where would the old one go when a new efficient one comes along? Should it be sent to the dump or Freecycle?  I think the latter would be more appropriate. However, this can be extrapolated to a bigger picture. When newer, more efficient models for computers/televisions/come along, where do the older, inefficient ones go?

Landfill

Vampire power!!!

There’s an important aside I want to state here. Vampire power, as standby power is sometimes called, can cost the nation money, even if it’s a meagre few cents a month. Tim got an energy meter, which plugs in between the appliance and the socket. It can measure the energy consumed by the appliance measured, among other things. I did some measurements and then some calculations, and found out that it costs $20 a year to leave our washing machine on standby 24 hours a day for a whole year. Sure, that’s not much, considering how much we spend a year, but this is just 1 machine, in 1 house, in a nation with 1.6 million households. Extrapolate the amount of potential vampire power, and compare the effort needed to reduce/eliminate it, and the choice is obvious. The next time there's a faint hum in the kitchen, it's probably a speaker or a washing machine that's been left on, draining some not insignificant amounts of power. Please turn it off. Thank you very much.

Laptops are more environmentally friendly

Anyway, back to my laptop's energy use. My computer is a laptop, so that’s points scored for energy efficiency compared to a similar desktop machine. My laptop is usually charged to full power, then immediately unplugged from the mains. So, the laptop runs off battery power until it's almost empty, then it's charged again. This usually takes 2-4 hours to happen, while the battery discharges fully in between. I use to leave the battery in the laptop while it was plugged in to the mains electricity, which is not the ideal method, as the battery may discharge and charge, but only in small amounts. This reduces the lifespan of the battery. Fortunately, I was talking to Laura of The Sign of The Prancing Pony flat, and she was using the method as I described before. The other way is to unplug the battery while the laptop is plugged into the mains electricity.

Oil heaters

For space heating, I have an awesome 2.4kW 12 fin oil heater I bought from Trade Me when I first moved in 3 years ago. I have very rarely used it this year, and the result is reflected in our lower power bills this year. I also have an electric blanket, which I turn on just 15 minutes prior to getting in bed to make the bed less of a cold grave and more of a sanctuary.

Curtains are opened during the day, and shut around dusk. Katie Nimmo from the energy workshop mentioned that the easiest way to heat up a room is if it has dry air. This can be expedited by leaving windows open (during the day) for around half an hour. The warm, but moist air leaves the room, leaving cold, dry air to fill the space. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I’ve done it to my room, and it makes the cold easier to bear.

Sunrise

Did I mention having a lifestyle such that you rise and retire with the sun saves heaps of energy? It’s not very practical, perhaps, when sunrise and sunset are 7.30am and 5.30 pm respectively at the depths of winter, as most of us are used to doing things up to at least 9pm at night. I have to say I’m not a morning person, so it’s something I’m working on. Seriously though, if everyone did more during the day and less at night, the lights would not be on for so long, as well as the space heaters. Result: a better lifestyle and a less consuming culture.

WASTE

This section is just included for completeness sake.

With paper waste, if it has an unused side, it goes into the scrap paper stack; if it has things written/printed on both sides, it goes into the recycling. Old receipts are also recycled. Batteries are taken to old battery bins at University, which are subsequently taken to some battery recycling facility. Metallic items are collected in a scrap metal container, to be sold later (hopefully).

p.s. Biking is as fast as driving in Christchurch (within reasonable distances), just ask Shanti or Gabby.

Bicycling

In summary (part 2) - use your teabags twice and then use them again!

I read in the Kiwi Conservation Club magazine (produced by Forest and Bird) an idea for starting seeds. Take your used teabags (we brew with ours multiple times, adding a new one to the pot which has the last few still in it - this means $$ savings at the checkout!), lay them in a tray. Keep them damp and plant a seed in the top of each one - I guess you need to make a cut in the teabag. Because the tea has been in boiling water it's sterile so there won't be any disease the little seed could succumb to.
So away we go!

I have yet to plant seeds but the weather is still a bit cold for that (for evidence supporting this claim, refer to snow outside).

Our experimenting with microgreens was fairly successful - Emma had 14 trays growing in the lounge, so we could eat them every day, replant them and they would reach maturity 14 days later. That was the theory. As it was a bit cold, they didn't reach their proper eating size in that time. They were still yummy. Emma experimented with growing them on newspaper so she could cut them off right near the roots, getting the most out of the plant. This worked, however they got mouldy near the base so eating them wasn't so appealing. We decided to return them to their time-proven preferred growing medium - dirt. We built a raised bed in the glasshouse which kept them going despite the frosts. They are now nearing eating size. I experimented with a range of different concentrations - here you can see intense (straight off of Emma's tray) in the near corner, and rows at the back. The more intensely planted ones seem to be growing faster - very interesting!

Yay! My electric bike project is finished at last! Here you can see the motor in the back wheel. The battery and controller are in the tackle-box mounted on the rack. It gets up to 40 kph but that's a bit too fast in the city - great for getting to Hornby around the ring road and suchlike though. I heavier traffic I stick to 30. The range should be around 50km but we have yet to give this a proper test. I invested in panniers for the sides so going shopping is now a piece of cake. (Of course, we bake our cakes rather than buying them because packaging is evil.)
With the baby trailer we have borrowed from Will's parents on the back, mega loads are very possible - e.g. I biked to Sun Tai and purchased 25kg of brown and white flour = 50kg! I could never manage that without a car unless I had a trailer. So we recommend finding or making a trailer for your household very strongly.
 

And finally... early in the competition we committed to not putting out our red bin - rubbish - for the duration of the competition. We succeeded! :D :D This was achievable because most rubbish is packaging so here's how we avoid this: we buy in bulk (=minimal packaging waste, and even then, most of our bulk purchases come in tough paper bags), buy veges from the St Aidan's vege coop and reuse these bags (along with any others we can't avoid), bake bread and cook every meal from scratch. AND we bake our own biscuits and cakes (remember?). It's yummier and it's preservative/antioxidant/emulsifier free. Baking is important, people!

That's all from me for the competition. We are looking forward to continuing to share our journey with the world so keep tabs on our blog! Our biggest thanks go to Matt and Sharon at the sustainabilty office, as well as the fantastic sponsors who we love and of course to the judges - you're the best! (wink, wink!) :D

It's been a blast guys!

Tim

In summary (part 1) - Tragedy strikes Tauawhi! But we're ok.

Well, here we are. An eternally true observation - so apropos! Anyhow.

The last week or so has been quite productive. Must be the approaching deadline hehe. This post will cover: forcing rhubarb, rain tank completion, saving your valuable nitrogen fertiliser (aka pee), tragedy, making your waste management system more user friendly, keeping your food cold without a fridge.

Tragedy strikes

 

A couple of weeks ago, I arrived home at night to find a little dog in the chicken run and three of the chooks dead. Only the brown one escaped (suitably named Dini after Houdini as she was always the one to find a way out of the run). RIP Stella, Josie and Maya.

Last week we returned to my Uncles farm and collected three new hens, one or two of which are sisters of Dini so they get on well. There's also a small young one and she is becoming the bottom of the pecking order and tries to hide under the ramp into the coop. Odd.

Here I fashioned a gate lock out of old pipes and ropes. This is to keep dogs out in future so our hens maintain their current lively state. It is easy to use from both sides and does a very good job for a free contraption made from junk.

Here you can see how I reused some old CDs to deter the sparrows from eating the chicken feed. It seems to be working. See http://www.gardeningtipsnideas.com/2006/11/8_practical_ideas_to_rid_birds_from_your_fruit_trees.html for more.

 Saving your nitrogen

A while back I heard that pee and wood ash makes a great fertiliser for veges, especially fruiting ones such as tomatoes. Using my creative genius, I made a urinal for the bathroom with a water-tight bucket inside a nice pot. I asked the neighbour what she did with her ashes. Turns out she was putting them in the red council bin. "Enough of this nonsense!" I cried. I gave her a bin to put them in and collected them the following week to fill my urinal. Here's me hoeing the mixture into a soon-to-be garden bed. Down with inedible grass lawns!

"According to a study from a group of environmental scientists at the University of Kuopio in Finland, human urine and wood ash make a reasonably potent tomato fertilizer, boosting plant growth and fruit yield dramatically over untreated plants and nearly keeping pace with conventional fertilizer." - http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=p-is-for-plants-human-urine-plus-as-2009-09-04

While I was out at the farm my Aunty was asking what we do with the chicken poo when cleaning out the coop. Currently we put in straight onto the garden. She suggested making a nitrogen rich liquid fertilizer by soaking it in a barrel of water. We already have a manure and seaweed tea brewing for the new season so I agreed this was a great idea. Once again utilizing my creative genius I stood at the backdoor and surveyed the (scrap)yard until my eyes fell upon a suitable vessel. A failed mushroom growing experiment has left me with a hinged barrel fitted with a handle. I figured this would be ideal as it would keep the rain out so it won't overflow.

So I put the next lot of coop mess into it along with the straw which covers the floor. This breaks down very slowly so will be good for mulch (keeping weeds out and moisture in).
So now, instead of the poo making high-concentration spots of nitrogen in the garden and being washed away by the rain between now and spring, it makes a nice liquid fertiliser which will mean even distribution of the nitrogen.
Then I thought hey, the nitrogen from the ash bucket is probably seeping away too. So the barrel became the urinal. This means no mess in the bathroom and a more pleasant experience when nature calls.

And we'll keep collecting the ash from Mrs Lim so when spring comes we can mix it with some "Nitrowine" and fertilise our awesome tomatoes! I might need to pick up another barrel for storing this. Maybe the chicken poo mix should go in an upright barrel and the ash in the urinal barrel. We'll see.

The no-fridge project

This has been going really well. Our fridge is almost empty and just acts as an insulated storage area for margarine and a few other bits. Of course, it's starting to get a bit smelly as it's no longer at 4 degrees. So we will clean it out then leave it open a bit to allow some airflow. It usually sits at around 7 degrees. This is because our kitchen is pretty cold - usually below 10 unless we're cooking with the oven. I was reading a great article the other day (I think it was in this mag - http://www.mags4gifts.co.nz/nz-lifestyle-block) about fridges - the guy was saying that the kitchen is not the best place for your fridge. And it's true! This is because kitchens are usually 20 degrees or so. Since the fridge is at 4 deg., you're asking it to maintain a difference of 16 deg. However, right outside the door it's about 7-12 most of the time during the day - much less work to maintain 4 deg. And at night it won't even have to turn on! The author made a fridge which was outside, but accessible from inside. He used a freezer so the cold air doesn't fall out when you open the door. I really wanted to do this and have a freezer but don't think the landlord would let me do the 'cut a hole in the wall' bit. So we just turned the fridge off and learned to cope without it.

Above is our root cellar. This is damp river sand which maintains the freshness of root veges like carrots and yams as if they were still in the ground. The broccoli didn't benefit at all. It was more for the zen-garden look.

I heard about pot-in-pot coolers a while back. Here's a good resource: http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Pot-in-pot_cooler
I visited Pottery World at 567 Wairakei road and located some nice pots with cracks in the seconds area. The manager kindly donated these to the cause and said I could fix the cracks with super glue. I used shoe glue which worked well, and also reinforced the outer pot with a rope around the top. A bit of tape to cover the drainage holes, some sand and water and viola! Free cooling.

 The pot plant tray on top is also full of wet sand. This arrangement maintains a cool, humid environment which is great for keeping fruit and veges fresh. The thermometer says -0.7 after a cold night which is chilly but ideal. Thanks Pottery World!

 

Improving the usability of your waste system for visitors

Our former system worked but had weaknesses - the compost scraps bin was too small and easily filled in one day when cooking with things like leeks, cabage or pumpkin which create bulky scraps. The box for the recycling got dirty and you had to pull out the landfill bin and recycling box to put things into them.

I was studying at a friends house (sharing electricity) :) and she had this system:

It matches the council bin system - genius, right?! So our visitors now know where their rubbish/recycling/green waste goes without any confusion. We still separate the things worms don't like out and these go into the compost. This system is easy to keep clean and the buckets are the right height so you can put things into them without pulling them out. I'm very happy!

Forcing Rhubarb

I read some time ago that you can force rhubarb, which means making it grow out of season. This is useful in winter when the garden isn't producing a whole lot of fruit. Read http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/rhubarb-force/ for more. Basically you cover the crown with a large light-proof bucket/dust bin etc. I need to cover the drainage holes in the planting pots I used.

BULK shopping

I'm talking BULK not just bulk. I started feeling like Bin Inn was pretty expensive and like I was paying for the privilege of having no packaging when I compared BI prices with those at the supermarket and other shops. So I bought bulk porridge oats and split red lentils from the Asian Food Warehouse (now operating out of their warehouse in Woolston) and flour from Sun Tai on Middleton road.

If you're keen, us and the Truman Tribe are quite happy to sell from our bulk supplies at cost.

From Tauawhi on Hooker Ave you can buy:

• porridge oats for $2.25/k
• split red lentils for $3.60/kg.

Text Tim 027 306 9947 to arrange - evenings and weekends are good.

From Truman Tribe on Truman Rd you can buy:

• Fairtrade sugar - $2.90/kg
• Fairtrade drinking chocolate - $0.90/100g
• Brown rice - $2.70/kg
• Wholemeal flour - $1.40/kg

Text Gabrielle 022 017 6867. Evenings are probably best.

Rain water tank

This was an unfinished project from last years EMF. I made a muckup when installing the taps which resulted in leaks so put it on hold until a solution was devised. Today was the day for the tank to rise to its true potential. Note the stand made from the ends of a wire roll and scrap wood. This is me standing in the tank after fixing the taps - the tank holds about 700-800 litres I think. This will provide us with dish washing, people-washing and toilet flushing water in the event of another natural disaster which cuts the water supply. We could sterilize it for drinking if necessary but we have a good stash of drinking water in the garage for that purpose.

 And, of course, the other main purpose is for garden irrigation. There are two taps on the bottom of the tank - one for the irrigation system and another for filling buckets. We are reducing the demands on the city storm water system and making use of the water which is usually piped into the streams/rivers and eventually the sea - what a waste!

 Here Will installs the genius invention which is both a rainwater diverter and the tank overflow - once it's full, the water backs up the pipe and continues to flow down the drainpipe as per normal.

So I'm very happy this project is finally finished and we are now more prepared for disasters.
Combine this with our bulk supplies and cooking facilities - gas barbeque and camping stoves in the garage and I think we'll be very comfortable if another disaster occurs - let's hope not!

Bread!

As promised, a taste of my foray into the daunting world of breadmaking.
This is an easy, no-knead recipe which yields three delicious loaves. You can use plain flour but as the nutritional value of that is approximately zero, I use half plain and half wholemeal - fully wholemeal tends to have trouble rising but hey, it's all about experimenting so go nuts.

Credit for the recipe goes to Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, the authors of Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day - see the background to it, a complex version of the process, plus other recipes on this series of pages: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx?page=1 - there are 8 or so pages which follow that one, links at the bottom of the first page.


Step 1:
Put 3 cups of warm water (I use very warm water) in a large bowl. Sprinkle over 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast. You can also add 1 1/2 Tbsp salt but I cut this out with no obvious change to the loaf.

Add 6 1/2 cups of flour, cup by cup, stirring in between each one until evenly moist. I find I need to add a bit more water at the end to bind the last bit of flour in.

Cover and leave to rise on the bench. It takes about 2 hours.

Step 2: Keep the bowl in the fridge until you're ready to bake a loaf - allow around 2 hours before you want to eat it. Cut out 1/3 of dough from bowl. Roll in a bit of flour. With your thumbs on top and fingers on the sides, stretch the top around to the base, rolling the sides underneath as you do this. Rotate the loaf and do the same again - the base will be a collection of folds and the top will be smooth. Leave to rise in your pan or on the oven tray (1-1.5 hours is usually enough). After rising, dust top with flour and slash deeply with a serrated knife.
 

Step 3: Preheat oven to 200°C. I cook my bread in a toaster oven - this is great because I'm not heating a large oven to cook a small loaf. We measured the electricity used to cook a loaf in this oven and it was something like 12 cents. So it's cheaper than buying bread.

Place bread in oven. It takes about 30 minutes to bake through in my oven. Have a play and see how long you need to allow. It will still rise more in the oven. I have found that covering mine with tinfoil for the first 15 minutes allows it to get a bit more volume before the crust forms. You can tell when it's done by tapping the bottom of the tin or tray with a knife - if done it will sound hollow.

Voila! Fresh bread. I bake a loaf most days as it disappears pretty quick.  We also use our breadmaker (that's Ning's realm at the moment) to keep up with our hungry winter tummies.

I'd love to know how you go so be sure to post your pics and thoughts on your blog. Next round - sourdough from scratch! :D

Practical skills and getting out of bed.

A little while ago I decided that I was tired of being a science academic and thus having no practical skills whatsoever. So I learnt some. I’m still a science academic, but these days I can actually do some useful (and eco) things too. Some examples:

I built a single-speed bike from a combination of new and second-hand parts. That was fun. Although, sanding the nasty, degraded coat of paint off to repaint it again was a pain in the arse. It looks good now though. And the fact that it’s a single-speed means that it never, ever breaks; except occasionally, when I try to make it run better.

I try not to get too attached to objects, but I probably love this more than a person should love a collection of metallic parts.

More recently, I’ve been taking a night course in woodwork at Papanui High. The fees were minimal, and they’ve got an awesome workshop set up there. My plan was to make pelmets for my room, but an initial tea tray project ended up taking a wee bit longer than I’d expected. The course is over now, but I’m hoping to continue at home. I might even have my pelmets finished by the end of winter.

It's a thing of beauty.

That’s about the limit so far.

Some news on my getting out of bed issues. I broke my oath of not using a radiator. I tried an oil one on a timer for one morning. It didn’t even make a dent in the cold, so I don’t really see the point. However, I have discovered that if I set my coffee machine on a timer so there is a steaming cup of delicious black stuff waiting for me next to my bed when I wake up, then I can get out of bed. Is that eco?

Win.

Other good news: the hard lemonade that I was so disappointed with has finally got its arse in gear and started bubbling away. I’m looking forward to trying it. Although, I worry that it might be stomach-turningly acidic.

The electric bike project

Today I spent a few hours with the famous Eco-Ants of former Tauawhi fame (he used to live in our flat years ago). We've been working on assembling electric bikes over the last month or so, which so far has consisted of a few hours figuring out which extra bits we need, a trip to the hardware store or electronics shop to get them, then a good feed. So progress has been a bit slow. In short, all the bits are still sitting on his bedroom floor and I'm still doing all the work when I'm on the bike!

Here's the rationale of building an electric bike and selling Molly, my van:

You spend $100 on petrol. Petrol engines average 20% efficiency so $20 of the petrol actually moves you and the car forward. A small car weighs 1000kg plus a driver of say 70kg. That makes you 6.5% of the weight the engine is moving. Of the $20 of petrol doing that moving, $1.30 is moving you. That's $1.30 of your $100 petrol spend.The rest is wasted as heat etc. 

As far as why electric if I already support biking over driving, for me it's about range and speed. On my last placement it was realistic to ride 15 minutes each morning, even if winter makes it a little chilly. However when I was at a school in New Brighton, it was a long haul from Bryndwr each day, around 45 minutes. I'm not the most organised person and allowing 45 minutes to ride is hard enough without the fact I love my sleep.

 Once electrified the bike will be capable of a range of 50km at speeds of up to 40km/h. This, along with the fact that 3c worth of electricity will give me about 100km of speedy goodness, will make taking the bike a much more attractive option in the aforementioned circumstances. Bulk shopping trips will also be more enjoyable with 50kg of flour trailing behind me.

Bye bye smelly car! (this refers not only to my car but also to the smelly cars I will be passing as they wait in the infamous Christchurch gridlock - at least, it seems like gridlock when I'm driving and cyclists are passing me!)

ahhhh holidays

That's right, I'm on holiday at last. Two sweet weeks of project time... and more than enough to keep me busy. Here we go...



As I write I have a fresh egg from our chickens sitting on the desk in front of me. How romantic :) Our chickens stopped laying around March-April when moulting - we used to get 3 eggs a day from the 4 of them - and recently I was advised that dogroll gives them a protein boost and restarts laying. This seems to have worked to some extent. Apparently they need 10-12 hours of light each day to lay so I have added a light on a timer to their coop - a couple of extra hours in the morning and a couple in the evening. We now have 3 of 4 laying. Today I took our neighbour to pickup wheat for our chickens and his too. Good deal of $20 for 40kg from this guy - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=1368997 - pickup Sydenham so I also saved lots of petrol after switching from a supplier in Leeston.

Here are the beds the girls have finished:

Joylon mentioned on the Quiet Place blog that he put plastic over the top of his shower. We did this sometime between last EMF and the end of summer. Super highly recommended! It recently unstuck itself from the wall and I had a couple of showers without it. Not recommended! It's so cold losing all that steam! My theory is that as you don't need the shower temp up to prevent hypothermia, you save money in the hot water heating department.

In the food department I have been going hard on the bread making for the past month or two and have now achieved delicious white and wholemeal sourdough - yum! It's so fun and I like the idea of wild yeast working their magic.
More on that later in the week including a comprehensive how to!

Today's project was ditching the fridge. These websites are totally worth a read. There's heaps out there!  http://ditchyourfridge.blogspot.com/
http://savefoodfromthefridge.blogspot.com/

Last years glasshouse is still giving us tomatoes! Who would've thought? Slow but steady :)

We're thinking of taking out everything else and making tomatoes the main crop in there, nothing else was quite as good as those and we figure the massive root system established over summer and autumn will give us bumper crops earlier than if we planted new ones in spring.

 

Finally I planted a miniature orchard of cherries a couple of weeks ago. One day whoever lives here will appreciate the literal fruits of my labour :) There had been some black plastic laid to stop weeds, then covered with gravel so it was a bit of a mission to destroy someones hard work but it's for the best!

Keep your eyes on the blog - more to come!