Day 293 of our Green Year: Cooling Without Electricity

For thousands of years, humans have had to try and cool things without the aid of electricity. Then electricity came along and we had the refrigerator. Heralded as a wonderful invention, it eventually helped deplete our ozone layer due to chemicals in the cooling system and increase global warming by their consumption of electricity.

So, Layla and I are going to take a step back and start to cool some of our food without electricity.

First, since we live in Canada we can use the great cold weather we have to help us during the winter. By just putting items outside in a large box, we can keep them cool through the winter. As well, we can dig into the snow and store items there as well, as long as bears, wolves and neighborhood dogs are not a problem of course.

Another solution is Zeer pots, which are ceramic pots that use water inside of them to help cool the items inside. By putting a small ceramic pot into a big ceramic pot, with a bit of sand, you can cool your food without the need for electricity. You can find out more about this here.

In the summer it is a bit harder to cool items, but by digging into the dirt where it is cool and utilizing shade and other principles like that, you can cool items in the summer. Layla and I will be researching this to learn more so we can do it right in the summer.

Day 137 of our Green Year: Sealing Up Cracks

Winter is coming, and things are starting to get cold where we are, so the time has come to be energy conscious with heat. There are several ways that you can do this in your home, and one of the best is preventing heat loss from hot air going out cracks, and cold air coming in. If that happens, you will be spending a lot of time turning up the heat, which then uses up energy.

Therefore, the best thing you can do before it gets too cold is seal up cracks and spaces in windows. There are several ways to do this, but caulking works best. You will be able to seal up all the cracks, which then prevents anything from getting in or out.

One tip to find drafts is to take a candle and stand in the middle of a room with it, perfectly still. If the flame is flickering to one side, then you will know there is air coming from that direction. Move over there with the candle and find where that leak is. Once you have it, seal it up. Hardware stores have a multitude of products that will help you do this.

It is easy to do, and effective so take the time to seal up cracks and keep that much-loved warm air, inside, and the bad winter cold air outside.

On another note, we have hit 4,000 hits. That is great considering we are just a few days shy of our four month anniversary. That means that we are averaging just over 1,000 hits a month. Not too bad, especially when we still have eight months to go.