MrsBrown's philosophy of life and stuff

I've written before about the too much stuff in my life.

Last weekend we cleared the junk pile in preparation for a council pickup and last night we put it all in the back lane.

There is an 8m long stretch, about 0.5m wide and 1m high.  That's about 4m2 of crap that is no longer in our back yard, with occasional forays into the house.

I was feeling guilty that I'm all about reducing the load of stuff to landfill and praise myself for the small amount of stuff that goes into our regular bin.

And then I looked at the pile.  Not one thing in that pile was bought new by us.  It was all scavenged or passed onto us.  We've kept it out of landfill for a while. 

Our hot water service has sprung a leak and we need a new one.

I may be over thinking this process, but I guess I'll be happier in the long run if I do it.
( A long set of options, costs, pros and cons )

The best cheap option seems to be replacing my existing HWS directly, but then I definitely can't add on solar later. If I install an external HWS then solar is reasonably achievable and has a 10 year payback. Every other solar option has a 16 year payback. Solar panels need replacing after about 25 years.

I called both the Origin Energy shop and Reece for prices and estimated the plumbing costs based on my conversation with the Origin person and my own experience.  The solar costs include a $1500 rebate from SV.

Running costs for the various options are from a report on the resourcesmart website. I assumed we use about 200L /day of hot water. It seems pretty reasonable when I check it against both our water usage (300L/day) and our gas bill over summer (cooking and hot water = $450/yr)

Fabric pads are fabulous.

They are not hot, sweaty or smelly and I don't have to change them multiple times per day to avoid chafing or itchiness. Also I don't have to put them in the bin.

They don't leak either.

The silicon cup I bouht at the same time as the pads is... interesting. I used it for the later part of my last period, only at home. This time I've used it from the beginning, includin at work and I sort of find it a bit challenging. It's challenging to get in and out and you need to be pretty comfortable with yourself to begin with. It gets easier though and I don't need to have a shower every time I empty it anymore. Now that it's been in continuously for 4 days (except for a daily rinse) I'm finding myself a bit antsy about having it in for so long, although I usually give up on tampons at about this stage to, so I'll take it out tonight. I like having more feedback about how much blood I'm losing and it's fabulous not having to worry about having tampons with me, or angst about who is in the kitchen as I dispose of them. I'll definately be using it again next month.

I've spent the week restraining myself from posting the gory details (literally) and now I've found someone else's description and photos, so I don't need to. Except I don't have long fingernails and I do have a pretty small hand. I'm also glad I've spent so much time in the last year doing kegel exercises.

I've written before about the ridiculous use of power in my home. According to my power bills we use 22kWh per day. My colleague, who has 2 adults and 2 children at home, has a consumption of 6kWh a day.

I have now measured most things in my home and I have found the following things:

My computer consumes 2W when it's off.
mr_bassman's computers and powered hub use 4.4kWh of our 22kWh a day. If he changes to a laptop with wireless (and gets rid of every other computer!) we will save about $270 a year.
I've been leaving my desktop PC running so it can be used as a server for files and printing. If I turn it off and use a portable hard drive instead I will save 1.5kWh. I can plug the printer into my laptop when I need it.
Computers and associated stuff account for about a third of my total electricity use.

My dishwasher appears to use twice as much energy as a modern one would. A new dishwasher will save me 1kWh a day
I have a 17year old fridge which was a 5 star fridge in its time. It now costs me 2.3kWh a day to run. A new fridge will save me about 1.5kWh a day and pay for itself in about 5 years.

Running random clocks in various equipment (VCR/DVD/microwave/stove etc) costs me almost another 1 kWh per day.

Running the fluoro lights in my kitchen and family room in winter accounts for nearly 2kWh, or half my lighting load. I think this winter will be better; since we painted the kitchen we don't need the light during the day.

We have an electric kettle which is operated about 10 times a day. That's another 1 kWh. I think we're buying a new, stove-top kettle. At about $15 that will pay back in about 3 months.

If I implemented all of these savings I could possibly get my consumption down to 12kWh.

Skiving (sp?) off from my exam and writing stuff to you instead.

1.  This morning I found the energy rating site for air conditioners.  Yes, as Alan Pears says, air conditioners might be cheap for the consumer, but they mean the government, and ultimately, the tax payer, has to pay up to $6000 to provide the electricity infrastructure to run it.

I struggle with air conditioners.  I hate the heat as much as the next northern european descendant, but I know it's only hot enough for me to want air conditioning for about 10 days a year.  In my house, when I get my act together, I'll get ceiling fans and/or an evaporative cooler.

Also, if you only have electricity connected to your home, they are the most efficient way to heat it.  Efficient reverse cycle air conditioners produce about the same amount of greenhouse gas for heating as gas heaters, yes even in nasty brown coal burning Victoria.  The problem is that when we have them, we use air conditioners for coolingin summer, which is when we have a problem with electricity demand.

I like the idea that if you have air conditioning you should install PV panels to power them.  It's a good match, producing maximum electricity when you most want cooling.  I guess if you can't do that, you should pay the premium for 100% accredited greenpower

2.  It's really nice having a laptop.  I'm lying on the couch to do/avoid my exam.  Unfortunately, I'm also right next to the new tent.

When I was newly pregnant with Rose and feeling sick, I spent quite a lot of time in company with my other new tent (which I'd link to but Flickr is down).  I said at the time that the smell of new canvas and fresh enamel paint would probably have a bad association for me for the rest of my life. 

It's happened before.  When I was queasy with Sneetch, I spent 3 days at work drawing the most amazing 3D image using an inadequate drawing package.  It's a fabulous drawing, but I can only look at it for about 10seconds before I start feeling queasy.  Bleurgh!

I was right about the tent smell.  Although it's a funny bad association.  There's the queasy feeling, which is bad, but is right next to the sense of achievement I have in designing and participating in making something that looks and is so fabulous.

3.  Been thinking about Steven Covey's Circle of Influence, and Circle of Concern.  One of my growths through being a parent, and a single person and stuff was realising how much of my energy and arguments were about me worrying about stuff in my circle of concern, instead of my circle of influence. 

After a comment I made yesterday, and some conversations my friends have managed to avoid having with me lately, its probably been a good time to revisit it.  Actually, I think Hornblower had some influence there too.  Anyway, its all about taking responsibility for the stuff I have direct control over, and letting other people work out for themselves that they need to do stuff too.

Hmmm, does Douglas Adams count as a guru too?  I use his concept of SEP a lot. Not so much the invisibility field, but dividing problems into mine and Somebody Else's.  OTOH, I might come off a bit flippant when I do that at work.

4. We're off to the zoo this arvo  I wonder how Rose will manage with her Daddy on stage and her not allowed to be with him?  Maybe we'll spend the whole time looking at the Hippos or something.

I put this here because I'm at work and my wiki isn't working - I think the modem needs resetting - again!!! Is it broken?

IDEA:

I could get a grant from these people (http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/Government/SustainabilityFund/docs/Sustainability_Fund_Guidelines.pdf)

To run a computer waste collection facility at the weekly computer markets. I could probably also get funding from each council.

Then the waste could be separated and recycled. Maybe I could even get it to the point where I could make money. That'd be even cooler.