[Greenbuilding] if we had to cut all our firewood by hand...
Corwyn
corwyn at midcoast.com
Fri Nov 18 05:15:48 CST 2011
On 11/17/2011 11:03 PM, Bob Waldrop wrote:
> If I had to choose between a freezer and a refrigerator, I would
> certainly choose the freezer. With the freezer, I could not only
> preserve food, but I could also make ice which could be used to
> substitute for the refrigerator for short-term food safety, which is the
> primary purpose of the refrigerator.
> *From:* Reuben Deumling <mailto:9watts at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 17, 2011 2:46 PM
> If we had to generate electricity to power our refrigerator with a pedal
> generator...
>
> ... we would have smaller and better insulated refrigerators, or perhaps
> none at all.
I suspect (though I haven't run the numbers) that a refrigerator run by
a pedal generator isn't a self-sustaining. That is, it would take more
energy (in the form of food) than there was food in it. Using a pedal
powered freezer to make ice to keep the fridge cold would be an even
worse energy balance. I think we would all quickly learn the benefits
of root cellars.
I was told, while being given a tour of the facilities at The Chewonki
Foundation ( http://www.chewonki.org/ ) that one of their cabins had
decided to use only energy that they personally generated or got from a
small bank of solar panels. The girls in the cabin became very frugal
when all their energy had to be earned on a bicycle.
Amusingly, the cabin had a large array of PV panels on the roof, and I
thought that was what was meant by 'small bank'. But those were
actually NOT for the cabin, but for a larger building, The 'small bank'
was a bunch of panels constructed (by the inhabitants from individual
modules) which may have amounted to a couple of square feet altogether.
Thank You Kindly,
Corwyn
--
Topher Belknap
Green Fret Consulting
Kermit didn't know the half of it...
http://www.greenfret.com/
topher at greenfret.com
(207) 882-7652
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