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It is snowing again, and very cold. We are entering the dead of winter, a time when one feels perfectly justified in curling up before the fire, curtains drawn against the cold grey light of day, cup of tea in hand and cat on lap. Mist agrees wholeheartedly. Attila spends his time at home shoveling snow and toting wood. Three fires a day are now required to maintain a livable temperature indoors. We use the electric oven for cooking whenever possible, as it augments the heating system. Our recent power outage has me researching alternatives for refrigeration and water supply. The solutions I have found are either too expensive or impractical for our particular application. I am truly amazed at how little technological advance has been made in generic home refrigeration; there seems a tremendous degree of inertia in the demand for this line of R&D. There are indeed small pockets of innovation, primarily aimed at off-grid applications, but these products are impractical for us, due to their high cost and issues related to servicing. I believe development is held back by the considerations of mass production and profit margins. There is a chest refrigerator by Sundanzer that claims to consume a mere 35 kWh per year; but the issues of initial cost and of ease of use are a significant deterrent to adopting this solution, in our case. Refrigerators available through major retail outlets use 350 kWh per year or more, most use more than 400 kWh per year. Even though this is an improvement over the unit we now use, I consider 350 kWh to be unacceptably high. Another very important factor in our search is noise. In an open plan living space a noisy refrigerator can be particularly intrusive. Because no immediate action is required, I can take my time and enjoy this research phase. If we have another power failure now, I will be running outside to borrow a bit of the snow lying just outside my door. I do feel the media could be a real force for change in the demand for, and subsequent improvement and mass production of, highly efficient domestic appliances. Even the economic law of diminishing returns suggests that it may be time to adopt a small energy footprint. Why aren’t the media owners pursuing this honourable project, bringing high-efficiency standards into mainstream thought and domestic markets everywhere? It seems to me that a philosophy of “do what you can, when you can” is a far better credo than any dogmatic body of economic or social theory. The world is a very chaotic entity, and it is our flexibility rather than our dogma that has allowed our species to survive. One can become very philosophical when surrounded by a frozen white landscape. I have a list of small tasks set for myself today. We seem to be eating a large quantity of granola just now; both Attila and I favour it as a snack. I need to sort out some details related to web servers. I am making good progress on reformatting my genealogy sources, and so will continue to plug away at that. Ah, yes, I have forgotten something. Mist is reminding me, don’t forget we need a brush and a cuddle… |
RECIPES :: Cast Worldly Distractions  Natural coolant. Airwaves L'Accordeoniste Performed by Edith Piaf On the Screen Earth Video Weather Light Snow Temp -9.4°C Visibility 1 km Humidity 88% WindChill -14 Dew Point -11.0°C Wind Speed SE 11 km/h |
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