For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:42 am Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
Steam_Engine wrote:
Here's a suggestion that doesn't require any increased work on your part and in fact saves you time (and loads o' money): a new style pressure cooker. Well designed new pressure cookers, being perfectly safe, aren't like the ones of old. They cook food two to ten times faster than ordinary cooking methods and, as a result, cut the energy used for cooking by about 70%. Unlike microwave cooked food, the meals taste superb, and pressure cookers cook food in a fraction of the time compared to slow cookers.
Hmm....looks good. I haven't thought about these since my Grandma moved into the retirement home, 15 years ago. Is this "new style" Fagor cooker the best one to get? I sure can remember that old pot, just hissing away!!! Can you get other ones at places like Canadian Tire or Sears? What's the best size for a family of 4?
Thanks everyone for the tips on this thread. I've put a lot into practice already, but it's always good to get more tips.
This weekend I'm picking up 2, City subsidized, rain barrels at 35.00 (CDN) a piece. A wise investment I think. Any comments on rain barrels?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:53 am Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
Ackbar Has Spoken _________________ "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F Roberts.
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
I think the one I bought in Estonia, looking like the picture, was French made. As to size - buy a big one. You should leave a good space to the rim. A stew for a family of four gets rather big. Meat with bones, like a chicken, fills a lot in the pot. I get two retired laying hens (small) into mine, if I cut one in half.
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:43 am Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
It's a good list. I'm happy to say that we have been doing many of these things in our home for a while now.
I have another tip re: clothes drying. If you live in a climate like ours in Alberta, you have to use a clothes dryer for much of the year because it's too cold to hang your laundry outside; and, if you have lots of laundry (large family) you can't hang it up inside or you will have a problem with mold. So, organize your laundry in loads according to how much drying they need - towels may need a full hour or 50 minutes, but many things only need 20 minutes and you can take them out and hang them up.
Another tip for those who use plastic Ziploc bags for freezing and storage is to reuse them. We wash ours out with warm water and soap, give them a good shake, and hang them on our fridge with fridge magnets to dry. My daughter thought of this, and we've been doing it for months now.
Joined: Apr 17, 2005 Posts: 2680 Location: Vancouver Island
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:44 am Post subject:
eastbay wrote:
I think push mowing will be a phase many will go through before those with grass lawns skip the mowing altogether and convert their grassy areas to vegitable garden areas.
The sooner the better... but not this week. EastBay
Heh It's interesting to read a post predicting the future from way back in 2005.
I had just purchased my house and that summer starting roughly in April or May I mowed my lawn with a gas mower that came with the house. Christmas of 2005 I picked up an old push mower from my grandpa's when we moved him. It worked good but you had to mow regularly or the grass got tall and hard to cut. This past winter I turned half of my front yard into garden.
So it seems like the prediction has come true however I'm doing all of this when there is abundant energy to assist. Waiting until after the cheap oil is gone and this would go from an annoying hard few weekends to backbreaking labour that your life depends on. _________________ shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:57 am Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
Look for a pressure cooker that is 15 psi, made from stainless steel and doesn't have a complicated (and ugly) lid clamping mechanism. They are the best, fastest and most energy efficient. You can find a brief pressure cooker price comparison on the same website that has the pressure cooker energy savings details. Get a size that's 6 liters (6 quarts) or larger as you can't fill a pressure cooker more than 2/3 full. The French T-Fal pressure cookers are only 12 psi and, therefore, aren't as fast or energy efficient as a 15 psi one.
I'm probably alone on this, but I try to avoid big box stores. (1) Their sales staffs aren't very knowledgeable. For example, try to find someone who works there that has actually used a pressure cooker. (2) Big box store operations aren't very energy efficient when you consider their long distribution chains. (3) They push hard for the importation of low cost, energy intensive Chinese made products that cost a lot of jobs in the local economy both directly through manufacturing losses and by employing a lot less total support workers like bookkeepers, accountants, bankers, retail staff, etc. compared to a small business. (4) They have too much political influence. What's good for them isn't necessarily good for us longterm.
Joined: Apr 17, 2005 Posts: 2680 Location: Vancouver Island
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject: Re: 51 Easy Conservation Techniques
zensui wrote:
TheSupplyGuy wrote:
32. Run your dishwasher only when full.
isn't it better to wash the dishes by hand?
Why not stop spending resources on useless decorations?
A good modern dishwasher will use less water then washing by hand. Since that water is hot it also uses less electricity assuming your water is heated by electric. You also have to turn on the air dry option not the heated coils.
Old dish washers may use more water and therefore more energy. _________________ shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
This article talks about not only buying less stuff, but also about urban sprawl and what to do about it. It also has a link to the full Affluenza PBS documentary which I found interesting.
Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: Conserving by Reducing
AbbieT,
Great article for hopefully reaching a wide audience. We desperately need the MSM to cover these ideas, and start to reverse the advertising/brainwashing that promotes consuming!
Our family has lived well below our means, and a fairly frugal life forever, but we have relatives that think we're either poor or weird for doing so. One has filed bankruptcy twice, and continues to spend flagrantly, to the point she is in trouble with paying her taxes. AGAIN!
How about printing it off and circulating it to friends? Think I'll try that. _________________ Local fix-it guy..
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: Conserving by Reducing
I will feel a lot better about people preaching conservation when they can add population stabilization to their words. As long as population increases, population growth will eventually negate any reduction in consumption brought about by conservation.
Heard an NPR piece over the weekend that talked about Connecticut's garbage collection. They have landfills in the state (I think they said that) but they send 400,000 tons of garbase out of the state each year to be landfilled in Ohio, Massachusetts and New York. They have a recycling program which saves some percentage of their garbage from having to be landfilled. However, the Connecticut government employee involved in Waste Disposal said said that they hoped to double the amount of recycling they were doing. But then he added (and as per usual, not denouncing the fact) that they would need this increase in recycling just to keep their landfilling constant due to the fact that both consumption and population were increasing.
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Conserving by Reducing
The MSM have an inherent need to NOT spread the word for conservation. They are corporate, their revenue depends on advertising. The consumer spends money, the companies make money, spend it on advertising, the press stays in business.
It is the fiduciary duty of the directors of news organizations to tell the people to consume. _________________ If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Conserving by Reducing
Good Point FiniteQuantity. I agree, the world can't handle the population at the growth rates we are seeing. Population stabilization is key. I'm always amazed that in many third world countries where there isn't enough food to go around that couples have 8 or 9 children and then they starve. I can't imagine having that many kids if you can't feed them.
Kpeavey, I also unfortunately agree with your statement. It would be great if MSM would cover these ideas. But, you're right. Their very existence is based on advertising, and advertising exists to convince us to buy and consume:-(
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject: Re: Conserving by Reducing
As far as the population issue goes, I hope that whoever takes the White House in 2009 reverses Bush's stripping money from family health clinics from offering birth control, just because they offer abortion services there.
I wonder how many extra hungry mouths there are now because of that decision.
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2, 3, 4Next
Page 3 of 4
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
