Conservation

[JuliasUndies 7288]

Due to the rise in energy cost and huge rise in non-renewable fossil fuels, I'd like to know how/if you conserve energy and how you reduce your carbon footprint. I was reading Dr. Suess tonight to my lil one, The Lorax. Dr Suess is a genius!

My lover and like to reduce our carbon footprint..When we have sex in the shower, we turn off the lights and if we're feeling esecially green, we forgo the water all together.

What worries me is that I am not prepared for the future, heck I'm not even prepared for today. If the power went out, I'd be in the dark-bored. Where is my wind up TV or wind up stove? I really need some good ideas to get me through a black-out and be entertained aside from looking for flashlights.

[Guest tr*****e]

Yeah I know I think about that too sometimes. I mean, the apocalypse is unlikely sure, but what if... then where would we be? That's the way I feel about power outages. I do take a bike to work though, so I'm not completely reliant on lazy modernism.

[etasman2000 15994]

What worries me is that I am not prepared for the future, heck I'm not even prepared for today. If the power went out, I'd be in the dark-bored. Where is my wind up TV or wind up stove? I really need some good ideas to get me through a black-out and be entertained aside from looking for flashlights.

 

Due to all the recent problems the idea of a bug-out bag is becoming popular. This is the Canadian Red Cross version. Please also consider taking Standard / Emergency First Aid if you haven't done so, many companies (under the Health and Safety Act) and not-for-profit organization would compensate you for it.

[J Galt 337]

I live well outside any city. I have enough land to feed myself, and currently do produce a lot of my own food. I have enough food stored to eat for probably six months without leaving my house if I had to. I could survive if water or electricity was no longer provided. I have barterable items to use as currency in case of (the inevitable) collapse of the dollar.

In other words, I'm the one everyone is going to come looking for if the shit hits the fan. And I'm prepared for that too.

[manitoba 2758]

Being prepared does not mean doing a lot of different stuff than you would do anyway, especially if you like the outdoors and camping.

 

We keep the cars at least half full of gas, we keep additional propane for the BBQ, we keep a supply of foodstuffs, especially dry and non-perishable stuff (Costco to save money anyway), we keep the camping gear ready for use ( stove, lantern, sleeping bags etc.) None of this costs any additional money.

 

I have a portable generator for work anyway and the only additional expense that I have undertaken is to rewire a subpanel for the important circuits to allow for a quick connection if the power goes off for any period of time. This was not much of an expense as I did my own wiring, just about $50 for the quick connect plugs. It also allows anyone to hook up my house to the generator quickly of the power goes out when I am away.

 

I also have always had a go bag ready. I started it when I was in the boy scouts and have always kept it current. It is in the car and contains essential gear for the season. For example in the winter I am usually ready to winter camp overnight if necessary.

[VedaSloan 119179]

To conserve water I follow this simple rule: if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down.

[JuliasUndies 7288]

These are great! I need to stop living in denial. Not having resources at hand makes me feel so irresponsible and dependent.

I would really like to see more products and appliances designed to work efficiently without electricity, so in case the power goes, we can have better options available instead of resorting to wood for heat or gas for food.

I recently looked into solar panels. Solar panels are not always a reliable source of energy, but clean and damn expensive and they are only meant for relief purposes, not to power the entire home at all.

I really hope there are some affordable, ground-breaking technology to come very soon.

[NotchJohnson 214123]

You don't really need all that much for heat and cooking you can cook with only a few candles for example eggs and bread but not steak and chicken. A couple of battery tools are great specially now with LED lights that don't use much electricity. I'm like most here, I have all the necessities in case of power outage to last for about a month but it would not be easy cruisin as it is today with electricity.

[Kubrickfan 12836]

Well I just spent a ton on money on a new, very efficient HVAC unit for our big house. But I did that to significantly reduce our enegy costs over our old furnace.

 

I'm not a believer is the carbon footprint "thing." I think the same people who are selling carbon credits are just the modern version of the people who used to sell the Brooklyn Bridge.