Everyone has a fridge in their house. They are a great convenience to have in your home, but they can also draw a lot of energy. At the ranch, we have a fridge but with our renovations, we are replacing it with a great Energy Star fridge that will use a fraction of the energy the current one does.To help make our old and new refrigerators more efficient, we will use these tips at our ranch home.
- Always keep the door closed. Even if you are just walking across the kitchen to put the food down, it wastes energy. Make sure you close the fridge as soon as you can.
- Before you go into the fridge, know what you want. There is no reason to stand looking at the fridge for five minutes to figure out what you want to eat.
- The seals on your fridge are very important. To make sure your seals are perfect, you should put a piece of paper in the door and close it. If you can pull the paper out while the door is closed, then you do not have a tight seal and that means air is getting out.
- The fridge should operate above four degrees Celsius and the freezer does not need to be colder than minus 18 degrees Celsius.
- Putting ice throughout the freezer to help pack it. An empty freezer will use more energy than a full one. By putting ice in it, you are helping to keep it energy-efficient, and you will have plenty ice for your homemade Ginger Ale!
- Clean the dust off the condenser as this robs it of efficiency.
"Yesterday in our Facebook group, for Our Green Year, we asked our fans to write what going green means to them. If you would like to tell us what going green means to you so we can put it up here, then e-mail us at craigbaird@wildmail.com and let us know!
Here are some of the responses:
To me, going green means shrinking my ecological footprint, and living in a healthy fashion. I eat locally and/or organically whenever possible, reduce my consumption of meats (water and grains are wasted in huge amounts feeding livestock through their lifespan) and avoid household chemicals. I commute by foot, bus, bicycle or carpooling, and I live close to work so that I can do this. I wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, and go for a swim to stay cool instead of using air conditioning.
Going green doesn't mean making sacrifices; it means living in a comfortable fashion, saving money on energy and feeling healthy."
Cheers,
Cameron Wigmore
Green Party candidate, '06 federal election
Alberta Provincial Rep, '06-'07, GPC
http://greencameron.blogsp
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"Going green to me is cleaning up the inside of my self along with the ways I live my life. At the moment I'm trying. I moved to a place that is lower cost to live. I've bought land so I can live off the land. But the main thing for me is looking into truly new ways to create energy. This world is full of things that have been covered up and not show in the media. There is no need to pay for fuel. There is no need to even pay for hydro any longer. One liter of water has 1200 liters of fuel in it. Nicola Tesla did studies in his day on free energy. Westing house was stated as saying how can I put a meter on that?? Tesla faded into the night when Tomas Edison took the light. What did he invent? One light bulb.
Tesla should be thanked for pretty much out way of life now. Yet his true dream is not lived yet. But soon.
So what is going green for me? Let's change this world from the inside of all of us. Let's get rid of our greed for things. Than we will see we need less and there for a world that can have free energy. As I move on in my life I will see a change. I Know that people like my self and others are working on things that will bring change to this world and those people can and will not be bought. There is more to money. And there is more to having more things to fill the land fill after there out of style. That's making sure this is a beautiful world for my children's children not one of death and construction of more death"
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"Going green means (to me) making sure this world doesn't combust before my grandchildren get a chance to walk through a rain forest, walk on a glacier, see a polar bear in the wild, hike a rocky mountain, and marvel at the beauty that this Earth has to offer. I don't mind spending a little more money on products that are safer for the environment. I try to clean with things that I can eat (i.e. baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice) I try to grow my own vegetables and fruits, I bake my own bread, pizza crust, cookies, etc. Most importantly (I'm lucky to be able to say this) the truck is parked for weeks at a time because both my husband and I are able to walk to work. Good for us, good for the environment. I shop locally, I follow the 100-mile-diet (as best I can, for example, there are no rice-paddy's here in the Rockies), and I live an active lifestyle. I don't use plastic shopping bags, I recycle everything I can, after I've reused and cannot use anymore... all the lights in my home are compact fluorescent or LED, and I've tried my best to remember to shut off the computer at night (the monitor shuts off automatically). I have rechargeable batteries for my camera and flashlights, and I turn the TV off when I'm not watching. It's all the little things that add up."
Maggie Taplin, Golden, BC
