Saving Energy vs Health

I've spent my morning doing the usual things, which includes reading mail and checking out the latest articles in Dr. Mercola's newsletter. If you aren't getting it you should. The link is on the right. These are always very informative. I found the article about CFL lighting to be interesting. This is a subject that has always bothered me. In the 1980's there were studies showing the harms of fluorescent lighting. They were definitely on the outs due to the negative health benefits. A school in Canada was even removing all of the fluorescent lights in favor of a natural form of light bulb that was supposed to reduce illness and absences as well as encourage better thinking. I've never seen any new research discrediting the old, but all of a sudden every naturalist and green seems to be jumping on the CFL bandwagon, to the point states are drawing up legislation to ban incandescent bulbs.

The recent read at Dr. Mercola's site pointed to Full Spectrum lighting. I need to research that and see what I think. It sounds like a great option, but if like CFL's it contains mercury (per some of the comments on the article), I'll stay far from it. We have a few CFLs in the house, in opportune locations for money saving purposes. We had bad power up until the last year and would blow incandescents on a weekly basis! The CFLs seem immune to the power fluctuations. But, after hearing about the mercury, I won't be buying anymore of those!

With all the concern about energy reduction to save us all from Global Warming - which I find questionable at best after looking at climatology studies dating back to the early 1900s - how do we save energy? I'd like to make some suggestions. We may poo-poo CFLs, but that doesn't mean we don't conserve where healthy and possible, and we did it before global warming was a buzz term. Here are some of the things we do/did:

Don't use the dryer! We hang our laundry outside if temperature and weather permit and dry for free. In the winter when it is cold we get a double whammy - hang the clothes inside and save the electricity of a dryer AND the electricity of a humidifier!

Made the house "light friendly." When we moved into our 1970s cave, I knew lots of changes needed to be made. We steadily got rid of the dark surface paneling, and painted walls bright and light colors to be more reflective. We painted the dark brown kitchen cabinets a light latte (ivory) in a gloss to increase light reflection. We got rid of the heavily textured, light absorbing popcorn ceilings and put up flat surface ceilings and painted them a light reflecting semi-gloss white. Bathrooms have outside walls to allow for windows, so no lights are needed during the day. Only closets are interior. Even the root/storm/cellar/bed room has a small 2x1 window that provides all the light needed for daytime use. (We are going to make a metal cover that can be sealed quickly and easily for storm use.) All the dark trim was painted white for light. We also replaced the doors for energy efficient full glass, with opening windows where possible. Not only did all this make daytime use of lights unnecessary, but it also made it so we could reduce the size of the previous windows for energy efficiency and it was still lighter in the house than before! YEAH.

Got a Pioneer Maid wood cookstove. Huh? Wood doesn't burn clean, and can hurt the environment too you say. Well, the Pioneer Maid is an efficient stove designed by Amish in Ontario who wanted something better than mom's inefficient stove. I won't go into all the details, but will say that this efficient stove will burn much less wood to heat a large area, plus multi-tasks very well. With one fire, in a box smaller than our old wood stove, we can heat 2000 square feet, cook supper, heat the hot water for the house AND humidify. The oven is full size. The cooktop is much larger and more versatile than the four burner stove, the firebox has a coil you can add for hot water heat (just hook a hot water heater up to the system), the side reservoir can be opened to let the steam circulate into the air. With a good supply of wood, well seasoned to avoid more pollutants, we have replaced 4 appliances which all used either propane or electricity individually.

Replaced the windows before the light bulbs! Highly energy efficient windows exist now. We replaced all the windows in the house slowly, but surely. Though I don't like curtains or blinds much, I do have them on south and west windows to close to keep the sun from heating the house on air conditioning days.

Air conditioning/heating - use sparingly. I like comfort like the next person. But, I get a kick out of people who keep the house 75 in the winter and 65 in the summer. If you can keep it 75 in the winter, you can save lots of money letting it be 75 in the summer. We actually have an 84 degree summer threshold, and would go higher if it weren't for humidity causing indoor mold above that temperature. The reverse is true for winter. If you can stand it 65 in the summer, then you can live with 65 in the winter! Of course, with the Pioneer Maid wood stove, we rarely see it that cool inside except during the transition seasons. One of the things we've noticed is that it is easier to adapt to the outside temperature if the inside temperature isn't a radical difference.

Small appliances, do we really need them? Can opener, definitely not. Toaster, yeah we still have one. Hair dryer, have it, but use it only rarely. It's better for your hair to let it air dry, and my curls are much prettier that way. Mixer, just got one to make life easier, but have been without for over 10 years. I could go on, but you get the point. Make the personal decisions on each, Do you really need it? Could you do without?

Today is what my husband and I call a free day! The windows are open, the lights are off, just the hum of the computer, refrigerator and freezer when they need to run. And, I still have incandescent bulbs in many fixtures.

Let's make wise and healthy conservation choices so our children can have a future.