What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?
snow hope wrote:
I'd like to see you do it in the middle of summer as opposed to a couple of weeks ago when most of us had 3 inches of snow on the ground and frosts every night.
Always better to work with nature, rather than against her :p
(For the same reason, when I was living on the narrowboat, I would buy a lot more fresh milk in the winter, when I could simply use my boat's foredeck as a larder).
Well, its on average 10 degrees C in my house, on the kitchen table, that pork would be looking very dicey after 120 hours.
But hey, if you want to do without a fridge, thats your choice.
DominicJ wrote:Well, its on average 10 degrees C in my house, on the kitchen table, that pork would be looking very dicey after 120 hours.
But hey, if you want to do without a fridge, thats your choice.
It was fine after a week here, similar temps, probably nearer 12C. I guess physics is different in Wales
Whilst it is of course possible to manage without a fridge, I recomend the use of ultra high efficiency refrigeration, DC powered if off grid.
My fridge uses an average of about 10 watts in the winter, and about 30 watts in the summer, this is easily generated from wind or PV, or could be obtained from the grid at very little cost.
Refrigeration greatly extends the safe storage time of perishables, and can reduce waste.
The absence of refrigeration would require daily shopping, possibly even twice daily, this takes a lot of time, that could perhaps be better spent otherwise.
Remote off grid households often produce much of theire own food, but supply and consumption are not allways in step, and refrigeration most useful. If for example a glut of milk is available, then butter could be made and stored for some weeks. Likewise a pig or sheep can be killed without having to eat it all allmost at once.
Cold beer or soft drinks are not essiential, but are much more enjoyable than warm.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
No, not cool at all as far as I'm concerned here in Spain. If push comes to shove, the fridge and ceiling fans would be my last electrical appliances - and I'd do whatever it takes to keep them supplied with electricity!
"When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
John Maynard Keynes.
adam2 wrote:Whilst it is of course possible to manage without a fridge, I recomend the use of ultra high efficiency refrigeration, DC powered if off grid.
My fridge uses an average of about 10 watts in the winter, and about 30 watts in the summer, this is easily generated from wind or PV, or could be obtained from the grid at very little cost.
Refrigeration greatly extends the safe storage time of perishables, and can reduce waste.
The absence of refrigeration would require daily shopping, possibly even twice daily, this takes a lot of time, that could perhaps be better spent otherwise.
Remote off grid households often produce much of theire own food, but supply and consumption are not allways in step, and refrigeration most useful. If for example a glut of milk is available, then butter could be made and stored for some weeks. Likewise a pig or sheep can be killed without having to eat it all allmost at once.
Cold beer or soft drinks are not essiential, but are much more enjoyable than warm.
On the "My Grandma's tougher than your Grandma theme" I was talking to my Gran at Christmas, about what her Christmases were like as a kid. She grew up on a farm about an hour south of Brisbane (modern travelling time) Christmas temp about 35-40deg. No fridge. Wood-fired stove for full English-Style Christmas lunch!
They did have a Meat Safe, ate a lot of fresh meat and salted it to preserve it. They also had a lot of fresh milk - it was a dairy farm! Interestingly their Cream all went off to the butter factory, but there were only three pickups a week. Needless to say you can apparently make butter with some very "off" cream!
Tough-ness (or otherwise) didn't really have anything to do with it. My grandparents just couldn't be a**ed to buy a fridge. And I'm pretty sure they didn't go shopping loads of times a week: they lived miles from the nearest shops and there wasn't a mobile delivery there (except for milk). I'm just trying to say it's do-able, that's all (though not my style, and anyway our fridge-freezer only uses 1 unit a day).
Have been looking at the Sunfrost but it's pretty hard to work out the size of them from the pictures - they seem wider than standard so the proportions look wrong! Hoping I can find someone with one to have a look at before committing ourselves.
Have been looking at the Sunfrost but it's pretty hard to work out the size of them from the pictures - they seem wider than standard so the proportions look wrong! Hoping I can find someone with one to have a look at before committing ourselves.
Just to throw a spanner in the works I heard an article on radio 4 the other day about how the refrigerants in most refrigerating systems when they leak which they do regularly are 1000's of times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than CO2!!
Neily at the peak wrote:Just to throw a spanner in the works I heard an article on radio 4 the other day about how the refrigerants in most refrigerating systems when they leak which they do regularly are 1000's of times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than CO2!!
Neil
Certainly cause for concern in some circumstances, but it should be remembered that the more modern refrigerants are far less damaging than the older ones.
Also the harm is only done when the refrigerant escapes, no harm is done by its continued use in a sealed system.
Therefore a well made long lasting refrigeration umit, that postpones, for as long as possible the eventual eascape of the gas is to be recomended.
Refrigerants exist with almost no ozone destroying or global warming effects, these are however flammable and some authorities campagaigne against theire use, though the amounts are small and dont in practice seem to be a risk.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"