make-a-(green)plan: Appliances

Showing posts with label Appliances. Show all posts

A182: Appliance Purge

A great deal of what's in your fridge absolutely does NOT need to be there. If you're interested in trying this, just start by taking all these things out of your fridge, and putting them in a pantry type situation:

butter/margarine - shelf life about 2 weeks
eggs -shelf life at least a week
cheese - keep covered, shelf life variable- taste when unrefrigerated hugely better
ketchup/mustard - shelf life - forever
honey - shelf life - forever
onions/garlic - shelf life - 2 weeks
tomatoes - shelf life - 4 days
cabbage - shelf life - 1 week
cooking oil - shelf life - months
peanut butter - shelf life - months

Ok, long enough list for now, though of course there's more. Some of you are saying "he's crazy, I never keep cooking oil in the fridge!" True, I'm sure; but I know plenty of people who do; just to "be safe". And every time they take it out to cook dinner- the bottle warms up, the door is opened twice, and somewhere, some coal is burned to re-cool it when it goes back in.

I read that last year at Little Blog in the Big Woods and decided I would make giving up my refrigerator a part of my sustainable living challenge. I was attracted to this because living without a refrigerator represents a startling concept. I’d first read about unplugging the refrigerator from Colin, No Impact Man almost exactly a year ago. Later Vanessa at Green as a Thistle unplugged her refrigerator. Mostly though, any person I might meet would say this is an impossible way to live. I believe it is as foreign a concept to American lifestyles as no toilet paper. If I had to live off the grid or in primitive surroundings, I can rest assured I know how to survive. This self-awareness of my own patterns of behavior, my adaptability is an indication of my growing flexibility. This alone empowers me and makes a sustainability challenge worthwhile.

In January I took my first step at the beginning of this challenge by taking appliances out of my home and putting them in my shed. I began by saying I wouldn’t actually get rid of my hand held hair dryer because of needing it to remove decals on my truck. I have since decided I needn’t hold on to it. Here was the list from the first of the year: waffle iron, iron, toaster, hand mixer, curling iron and a popcorn popper. All but the first of these were given to me or I found for free or at a thrift store. If you are counting, there are now half a dozen small appliances I won’t be living with this year.

Now, at this halfway point of the year I have decided to get rid of all of these appliances. In fact I have written about this appliance purge in my neighborhood newsletter and invited all of the tenants of this mobile home park to join me in the giant appliance purge.

Next is the list in that original appliance purge make-a-(green) plan post where I had qualifiers. I have noted the changes I have made since January.

This leaves the following appliances in my home, and I may re-think my use of these as well.
Microwave – I believe this is non-negotiable as I use it frequently and I’d argue for its effectiveness.
Induction Cook Plate – I love, love, love this technology that cooks with magnetic waves. This is my primary cooking method and I’ve found that it cooks faster than any other method I’ve used before. (Note, sadly this great appliance died in February and I replaced it with a cheap electric hot plate. I don’t have the money to replace it now).
Toaster Oven – This isn’t used much when I eat healthy. When I am eating crap I use it a lot. (Update: I’m not going to use it anymore because it uses so much electricity. Out to the shed!)
Coffee Maker – I found my coffee maker at the Community Thrift for $2. I brew and put in a carafe to be conscientious. So, this is no real biggie.
Food Processor – As I mentioned yesterday with my Arugula Pesto recipe, I make hummus most weeks. I am not ready to mash, chop and blend by hand. It could happen.
Space Heater – From December to March I use this about an hour or two a day to keep my daytime air temperature 62 degrees and nighttime 50 degrees.
Fan – I usually have a fan going non-stop all summer. Sometimes I am not sure if it is the air movement or the white noise I am addicted to here.

Note: I failed to mention my crock pot and I will keep this as a viable alternative to solar oven (on grey days), hot plate (if it craps out) or microwave (not a great way to cook much). I also didn’t include my countertop ice machine in this small appliance category where it belongs. I am keeping this as a kind of substitute for the refrigerator running 24/7. I can make some ice in a half hour to throw in a cooler if I must keep something cold.

Whoops. I think I buried the lede. Good thing I am not a paid journalist. (On second thought, that wouldn’t even be noticed in the corporate press these days. It is done all the time.) Aaaanyway . . . I DID IT! I freed myself from my television set and my refrigerator, my two major appliances. For me, this is HUGE!

I am excited to see what kind of energy savings comes from this big step. One commenter in that original post from Greenpa made this point about energy use.

Well, I did some digging and calculations (maybe I'll post those links here later), and determined that the fridge costs us about $3/month to run.

Pretty cheap, yeah? Especially out of a $30 bill. Not going to subsidize a whole lot of fresh vegetable purchases. But the generation and transmission related components of the bill (those are the ones actually having to do with the amount of electricity used) add up to only $9. Yup, on average about 1/3 of the electricity in that apartment goes to the fridge. The electricity is artificially cheap, but the energy consumption is really substantial.

I am not following this logic at all, but will pay close attention to next month’s electrical bill.

Besides the simple elimination of unnecessary ‘stuff’ and the reduction in electricity consumption, why do I want to purge my appliances? For myself and for others, I want to experience life without these things. I absolutely agree with Sharon of Casaubon's Book in the passage below. The hysterical myth that loss of electricity means certain chaos and deprivation needs to be debunked.

electricity is not the defining characteristic of our beings, merely of our economy
[ . . .]
The part of this that I find most troubling is the offensive notion that living without all the above-listed goodies makes life completely untenable. Because that implies that the lives of our great-grandparents, and the billions of lives that don’t have electricity are an unmitigated hell, a place we wouldn’t even be willing to visit, that all that is “civilized” about our lives began in 19-freakin’-30. If our past, and the lives of the world’s ordinary poor are utter doom, we are doomed. But what if they aren’t? Let us acknowledge a vast and difficult transition, and a great deal of potential and probably real trouble and misery a’coming. But let us not start with the assumption that “modern industrial civilization” is equivalent to “civilization” itself. And let us not separate ourselves from everything that came before us and everyone now who lacks what we have as though some barrier keeps us from reaching out to them.

Amen

Design observation. The aesthetics of my place have really changed since January 3rd. Now I have ‘visual’ space freed up with no refrigerator, no television and no toaster oven. The footprint for the refrigerator and the television on a cart is exactly the same, but removing the television and opening up the kitchen corner appears to removed much more. The cart now holds what appliances remain (on a power strip). I have made food rather than machines the primary aesthetic by removed appliances from the eye level shelves. The photo makes it still look jammed up. This is because I have a full pantry of fresh food, so it is overflowing.

The unplugged refrigerator now serves as the bar height base to my marble table top in my living room. Not shown is how wide open the center of my space is now that the table has been moved to this corner. That will be an image for another day. I plan to make a table cloth out of my ubiquitous beige fabric ($15 bolt bought a decade ago), but for now it has a length of that fabric and another cloth to cover it. This table by my front window offers a place to read, to dine – away from my computer. Imagine that.

Another huge advantage to the refrigerator being gone is how quiet it is. This restaurant style under counter refrigerator had a commercial motor and was noisy. Hey, I live adjacent to railroad tracks with 50 trains a day and I'm next to a frontage road and state highway. Noisy is relative. But, it is amazingly still in the night without the refrigerator. I first noticed this quieter world when I stopped listening to talk radio during the day and with breaking my all night television habit this spring. Silence is scary at first, but adaptation and flexibility are my criteria for moving out of the comfort zone.

Check me the fuck out. I am living lightly.

N89: Numbers = Antichrist and All

This year is about non-consumption and trying to live at 90% reduction from most American levels. Using a combination of family gifts, family assistance, savings, barter and consulting I calculated I would live on $8K this year. For teh math wizards that works out to $666 a month, or the number of the beast for the Dominionists.

According to the recent city council meeting reports I have been combing I have found that this community’s AMI (Area Median Income) is about $20,000 higher than the HUD’s AMI of $56,000. In the graphs provided $16,600 is extremely low income with four more tiers to even approach moderate income. So, my $666 per month would fall within that 90% reduction of the median income goal. I know this wasn’t the intent of the Riot 4 Austerity. The reduction is also about energy use, natural resources, gasoline, etc. I intend to look at my numbers for these as well. But, I have political reasons to live on an average of $666/month.

Like last year, it means I don’t have to pay federal taxes if I don’t earn enough. Talk about the beast . . . I have no trouble going without rather than pay a nickel into the imperialist government agencies that Chimpy McStagger and his band of greedy neocons (helped by a complicit congress, political party insiders and a corporate media) have turned the American government into since 2000. There is something so sick and twisted about socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. Thanks, but I don’t want to play.
Update: Just heard on Rachel Maddow, of last year's taxes, 42 cents of every dollar paid in taxes went to the military. Also, 10 cents of every dollar went towards the interest on the military debt and only 3 cents of every dollar from tax payers went towards the environment, science, research and similar things we all give a shit about over war.

Not sure why, but this morning felt like it was time to crunch numbers. Maybe it is because one quarter of this year had passed last week and I was feeling way off track with my budget estimate. I am way over budget for each of the first three months of this year. Part of my angst is my lack of experience with buying foodstuffs at the first of the year to store for the rest of the year. Added to my bulk buying is my $250 for the solar oven and manual wash machine I just bought.

I switched last year to twice yearly payments rather than monthly payments for my vehicle insurance. That hit in January. And, lastly I have just finished paying the highest utility allocations within a calendar year. I bought stamps I hope to last the year and toiletries too. I filled up my gas tank and I hope it too will last the year. (I figure 1-2 errands a week for an average 3-4 miles) will make this possible).

On the positive side, I will be planting vegetable seeds in my own garden and the community garden in the upcoming weeks. (I want to stagger this to stagger harvesting). I will be using my solar oven – I have unplugged my microwave and toaster ovens. No more heater use will be a great savings. I will be saving laundry money because of the manual wash machine in addition to air drying clothes. I have already saved a lot of money (and natural resources) with not buying any paper products, using cloth napkins and cloth wipes. I stopped using shampoo 6 weeks ago, stopped coloring my hair . . . I don’t even remember.

The community I call home just opened a brand new library and the beaches beckon. I was given free Netflix for several months by my BFF, so I am checking out movies. I also borrowed a stack from my son’s collection. He also comps me meals fairly regularly at the restaurant he manages. It is a real treat. Since I don’t buy meat, I usually order meat when I am eating out. There are times like now when I wish I could go twice a week. I try to control myself and wait for him to invite me, but sometimes I just barge into his world. I am okay with discipline and moderation, until I am not.

The only reason any of this works at all is that I have my health. I am grateful beyond words.

Gratitude is heaven itself. - William Blake

L75: Loss

I sometimes play tricks on myself. I use the most painful loss in my life and compare it to something I think I am missing, needing or wanting. It works because there isn’t anything in creation that can compare. As of this week there are now (at least) 4,000 families around this country who lost a precious family member to the aggressive invasions and occupations in the Middle East. Nothing these families might purchase will compare with the loved one who is gone forever. Even though those of all ages died and will be mourned, many were still only children, teenagers.

I lost my daughter to suicide with a gun eighteen years ago, when she was only nineteen years old. But on her birth date, March 27, she fills my heart and my thoughts. Her name was Angela and we called her Angel. She was an incredible person – beautiful, intelligent, funny, street smart and very good hearted. I never stop missing her in my life and I celebrate that she was born and that I enjoyed raising her and even working with her - as a young adult. She was the whiz kid techie office manager, who taught herself the IT world and accounting in the Manhattan interior design firm where I worked in the eighties. Not many parents get that experience in this day and age. I cherish the memory.

But this March 27 date does trigger thoughts of loss, just as the May 31 anniversary of Angel’s death does. Loss through death is a part of everyone’s life. Death is particularly devastating when someone dies young, suddenly or without cause. As usual I am trying to glean from all this feeling something that I can grasp to share or use to move along.

Just because Janis Joplin’s lyrics, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing else to lose” are so true form me, doesn’t mean I roll over on every loss. I think we all should be fighting tooth and nail for what is becoming a long list of losses for Americans.

Except for a tiny percentage of people who have gained or expanded their extreme wealth, the last eight years has meant loss in every aspect of life:

Through grassroots, netroots, friendships, community councils, neighborhood associations, letters to the editors, unions and book clubs we need to talk to each other and encourage each other. At some point it would be good if we could stop accepting our assigned roles as consumers and become citizens again. I have seen and read how this process was foisted on Americans and then other western countries via advertising after WWII. Check out The Century of the Self documentaries from the BBC for some real insight on this subject.

Oh, did mention that I cancelled my DirecTV yesterday? So, last night was my first night in almost a decade without digital or satellite television. I have been whining about my addiction to television for a very long time. I have claimed that I miss reading novels. Now it is a fait accompli. I watched the above BBC documentaries on my computer instead.

I am really uncomfortable, anxious and cranky. Just like I was when I quit smoking. Just like I was when I decided against internet for some months in ’05. Or when I gave up carbohydrates for most meals or shopping at Wal-Mart . . Or when I stopped eating meat at every meal . . . Or when, you get the idea. We are all conditioned through the onslaught of this consumer social set-up to believe that discomfort is pain. We come to believe that unhappy is just negative thinking or mental depression that is the individual’s responsibility to eliminate instead of something outside of us to address.

We will learn how to get back what we have lost in our country. Many have supposedly died for our way of life. Let’s fight for the way of life our loved ones might have been willing to fight for or we would have longed for them to have lived.

BTW, I will get past this lack of television. I have lost things far more valuable and survived. And, unlike the long list of links above, I chose to lose my television viewing. My choice.

L73: Laundry

This last Christmas Eve I spent the evening with my son. We went to the laundry together. We each had four or five loads because we decided to end the year with clean bedding, towels and all of our clothing fresh and organized. We had a good time strolling down memory lane. I reminded him how he was in charge of doing all of the laundry when he was a senior in high school and we lived in South Philadelphia. He hadn’t remembered that I insisted he do all the laundry all the time because his was the lion’s share of the loads.

My observation was that my kid used a towel and threw it in the laundry, wore a pair of jeans and threw it in the wash pile. My strategy was to make him responsible for it all. Now that doesn’t sound too onerous unless I mention that this was in Philadelphia where we had to schlep our laundry up and down stairs and walk blocks to the Laundromat. The thing is, it hadn’t really changed his heavy laundry loads.

And this is the first thing I want to say about laundry. I think Americans wash clothes more often than necessary. Clothes can be worn more than once unless one’s day is in a physically demanding, filthy place.

Next I want to jump in with the 2008 program I have been following. As I said in past post, air drying and appliances, I air dry my clothes and use the community coin washing machines at $1.25 a load. In that post I also said I’d like the Wonder Wash and I still do. The thing is I decided to buy a solar oven today (another post for another day). I was arguing with myself this afternoon because the cost right now is killing me. It is only $54 with shipping. That will pay for itself before the year is out. That helped me decide to go for it.

Lastly, the major change this year is with the cleaning products. I wrote about getting rid of household cleaners and replacing them with natural products like vinegar, soda, salt, etc. Well, I have also quit with the petrochemical detergent and gone with Soap Nuts.

I use Maggie’s Soap Nuts as these were recommended to me by a neighbor and I can get it from a store within walking distance. According to the website text:

Maggie’s Soap Nuts™ are the only laundry soap that grows on trees!
Truly effective, 100% natural and safe for your most sensitive skin.
Soap NutsTM are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree.
They contain saponin, a natural cleaner used for thousands of
years to clean clothes, just like the plants used by Native Americans
for washing.

Simply put a few Soap Nuts into the included cotton sack and drop
it in your laundry. Your clothes come out clean, vibrant, and soft.
Replace your laboratory detergents and softeners with the soap
made from Nature by Nature. Your clothes, your skin, your family,
and your planet will thank you.

I couldn’t be happier with this product. It really is pleasant smelling. A part of me questions how this really works as the soap nuts bag stays in the machine during the rinse because the commercial front loader doesn’t allow me to open the door during the whole process.

When I get my Wonder Wash I will be able to remove the little bags prior to rinse.

Another justification besides cost will be no electricity, saving water and the soap’s better efficiency. I will confess to one more advantage. I will be able to launder my toilet wipes at home rather than dragging them to the community laundry. Ha! I am seldom this discreet, but it happens.

Kidding aside, these two consumer goods purchases represent major lifestyle changes towards sustainability. I realize that I am ready to take this on as a life change, not just a sustainability experiment. Yet, I am full cognizant that there will be those who read this and decide it is just off the charts impractical (for him or her). That's cool. For myself there is a growing impatience with half measures. The longer I pursue living simply the more attractive it becomes. It also gets more efficient as I practice. I wonder if it is even coincidental that chile, green bean and others are writing similar words? Somehow it is all connected.

laundromats by Patrick Q at flickr

K70: kWh

Though I was feeling I was walking the talk, feeling smug almost. I slipped. Frankly I started calling it an experiment in power usage. I realized at the beginning of the month that I had forgotten to turn off the water heater for days. (I admit it was nice to have warm water for dishes, etc.)

So, I decided to see how it would affect my kilowatt usage, especially with my not using my space heater with the warmer weather. Well, my meter reading on Monday showed that I used an additional 125 kWh. This is huge compared to my past several months. Extrapolating and including an extra five days in this reading, this meant a daily use of 11.7 kWh compared to 9.8 kWh. Bummer.

As I think about I realize I simply haven’t been as vigilant with turning off power strips, transferring coffee to a carafe while turning off my coffee pot and turning off lights. Another thing came up this month with my induction cooker dying. I have been using my crock pot and a miserable little hot plate. I am sure the hot plate uses more power because it takes so fucking long to heat. Oh yes, I also ate toast this last month. After several years without bread, I find myself back in the carbohydrate camp. Toast means the toaster oven and it is a power glutton.

So, I have called forth my resolve to make this next electric meter reading at least as low as December and January which were 228 and 227 kWh.

Television and the computer are my toughest challenges and I am well and truly contemplating ending my DirecTV. Like an addict, I twitch just thinking of it. I took an interesting quiz via Sierra Club today. I didn’t do so hot, but I will share the information. I don’t know how to embed the quiz that I got via email, so I will simply pass along the information.

If you want to take the quiz before reading this. Go here now.

How Green is My Screen?

All else being equal, how do the three most common television screen technologies rank, from least to most energy intensive?
Your Answer: LCD screens use the least energy (followed by plasma screens), and cathode ray tubes (CRTs) use the most.
10 out of 10 points.

LCDs use the least energy of the three leading screen types, followed by plasma screens. Old-fashioned CRT televisions use the most power, especially if it's a way-back-when Philco or Zenith -- two U.S. brands that went defunct long before the arrival of American Idol.

Speaking of way back, give yourself a point if you knew that Fifties guitar god Link Wray used way more energy than any x-ray machine.

A plasma TV uses 30 percent more energy than the same size LCD version.
Your Answer: True
10 out of 10 points.

Plasma TVs use about 30 percent more electricity than the equivalent LCD. As for which looks better or lasts longer, ask your favorite TV nerd -- and be prepared for some long answers.

A CRT TV uses three times more energy than the same size LCD version.
Your Answer: True
10 out of 10 points.

True. Put your hand atop a tube TV and that warm feeling you get explains why they use so much more energy.

An LCD TV always uses less energy than a CRT model.
Your Answer: True
0 out of 10 points.

False, because screen size can quickly overwhelm even an LCD's greater efficiency. For example, the surface area of a 42-inch widescreen TV is four times that of a 20-inch model with the old 4:3 screen ratio. So even though the LCD is more efficient, square inch for square inch, ditching a 20-inch CRT for a 42-inch LCD (a typical upgrade) means you'll actually use three times as much energy. That 42-incher seems downright thrifty, compared to a 65-inch model, which uses more than six times the power of the 20-inch model.

What should you do with your old TV?
Your Answer: Take it to a local recycling center qualified to handle electronics.
10 out of 10 points.

If you move that old TV to another room, it's easy to wind up watching more, not less, television. Stashing it in the garage will at least pull the plug on its power-sucking days -- and it is much safer than sending it to the landfill. Best of all: Use the National Center for Electronics Recycling to find a nearby recycling center where it can be safely disposed.

How much electricity is used each year in the U.S. watching TV?
Your Answer: All of the above.
10 out of 10 points.

The staggering answer: All of the above. If you're not actually watching the tube, turn it off. If you don't like feeling alone, use a radio or maybe sing to yourself.

How much of that power is consumed by TVs idling in standby mode?
Your Answer: 10 to 23 percent
10 out of 10 points.

Standby mode consumes 10 to 23 percent of all that juice. Consider plugging all your electronics into timer-equipped power strips to turn them off completely, at least overnight. In November, it will be much easier to get a fix on a TV's standby vs. active power demands when the federal Energy Star program begins including that information in its ratings.

Under federal law, TV broadcasters have to switch next year to digital-only signals. That means everyone with old analog TVs needs to upgrade.
Your Answer: True
3 out of 10 points.

OK, this one's a little tricky. Come Feb. 17, 2009, analog TV signals will cease being broadcast. But 88 percent of all households get their programs via cable or satellite, so analog TVs in those households can keep plugging along just fine.

Will the U.S. save energy once everyone eventually switches from CRTs to the latest LCD and plasma screens?
Your Answer: Probably not
10 out of 10 points.

Each new generation of LCD and plasma screens may be more efficient, with organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) the current just-over-the-horizon favorite. The rub comes from how big screens often shoulder their way into your house with lots of friends: surround speaker systems, DVD/DVR machines, cable/HD set tops, and game consoles like the Xbox or Wii. Given that it's common to have such gear in multiple rooms, one study estimates that homes with multiple TVs and their related peripherals can use twice as much juice as a refrigerator, long the fattest electrical hog in every household.

Bonus Question: When I get my new big screen TV, the first thing I want to watch is:
Your Answer: Planet Earth
10 out of 10 points.

A4: Air Drying and Appliances

For the make-a-(green) plan challenge, I refuse to use my hair dryer. I have owned this little hair dryer for a couple decades I think, though I have let my hair air dry for years. So, putting this old thing out in the shed is really only symbolic. I am not going to throw it away. For one thing, I think I will be using it soon on an ugly decal on my truck. I was told a hair dryer was a good method to remove decals. This reminds me somewhat of the No Impact Man’s similar plan wherein he and his wife removed things from their home for the challenge, with no permanent decision about what they would reuse when the year was up. (Note: they brought their washing machine back.)

I am also air drying my clothes on my new clothesline out back. In a pinch I use a folding rack I found two years ago by the dumpster. I use it for drying during rainy weather. I may have to use it this week. I would normally use the dryers at the laundry room a few doors away. Besides saving the energy in a general way, I will be saving money. Who doesn’t love the smell of line dried bedding and towels? I listed gift ideas in November and included the Wonder Washer. This is one little manual appliance I’d like to get in the mail. Feel free to write me an email and I will give you my shipping address.

Another major appliance I won’t be using this year is a dishwasher. I will be washing dishes by hand and letting them air dry. But, I don’t own a dishwasher, so that isn’t a stretch. In fact, I haven’t had a dishwasher in my home for most of my life.

Other small appliances which have gone the way of the shed: waffle iron, iron, toaster, hand mixer, curling iron and a popcorn popper. All but the first of these were given to me or I found for free or at a thrift store. If you are counting, there are now half a dozen small appliances I won’t be living with this year.

This leaves the following appliances in my home, and I may re-think my use of these as well.

Microwave – I believe this is non-negotiable as I use it frequently and I’d argue for its effectiveness.
Induction Cook Plate – I love, love, love this technology that cooks with magnetic waves. This is my primary cooking method and I’ve found that it cooks faster than any other method I’ve used before.
Toaster Oven – This isn’t used much when I eat healthy. When I am eating crap I use it a lot. Note: The aforementioned Gift List also lists the details for a Solar Oven. Hint.
Coffee Maker – I found my coffee maker at the Community Thrift for $2. I brew and put in a carafe to be conscientious. So, this is no real biggie.
Food Processor – As I mentioned yesterday with my Arugula Pesto recipe, I make hummus most weeks. I am not ready to mash, chop and blend by hand. It could happen.
Space Heater – From December to March I use this about an hour or two a day to keep my daytime air temperature 62 degrees and nighttime 50 degrees.
Fan – I usually have a fan going non-stop all summer. Sometimes I am not sure if it is the air movement or the white noise I am addicted to here.

Now these are all small appliances, but even my more major appliances are pretty small. None of these that follow are sacred, but I am not ready to consider removing them this month. I have a restaurant version of an undercounter refrigerator without a freezer. I have a countertop ice machine, television set, CPU, monitor and a laser printer. These last ones are equipment rather than appliances, right? What differentiates these two words, appliance versus equipment?

ap•pli•ance

A device or instrument designed to perform a specific function, especially an electrical device, such as a toaster, for household use. See Synonyms at tool.

It isn’t clear what differentiates these words appliance versus equipment, but by inference anything that is for household use is not considered very ‘serious’ when one starts exploring the world of electrical engineering. This is true of countless areas besides electrical, but that too is another post.

Now it occurs to me that this all sounds like a real Riot for Austerity. It is and I make no apologies. Many middle and upper class bloggers have written about taking it slow and that it isn’t necessary for austerity to be the way forward. That might be so for many, but the majority of Americans may not have a real choice. I emphatically believe we are headed towards a whole series of crises and my desire is to go forward on that premise. I won’t cite the articles in this post for the economic meltdown, peak oil to biofuel corporatist push and the food / water shortages I have been reading about this year. These are for another day. My mission is to take this very seriously and consider all options for reuse, recycle, reduce or eliminate.

On the other hand, the Buddhist teaching of the idea of a Middle Way is close to my heart. After all, perfectionism may be as destructive force as indifference. My make-a-(green) plan will not solve these international and national or even my state or local calamities even if I aced everything. If I were a perfect austerity nut I still would not make a huge dent in the global dilemmas. That’s okay. I will still feel more empowered than waiting for the politicians to do anything to save the things that really count. Oh, and the other thing is this, what will it hurt to give it my best? It took me years and years to get the this place of understanding.

Photo from Flickr