After what meteorologists have described as a mild winter,
September’s southerlies have recently visited us on more than one occasion. I
have counted two frosts in Castlecliff this month, although the frigid mornings
have given way to bright, windless, sunny days: perfect conditions for surfing
and for our passive solar renovation.
One particularly stunning day early this month I was able to
enjoy riding some of the best waves I’ve ever seen at the North Mole, and then
return home to a solar-cooked meal and a solar-heated shower in a solar-warmed
home. It would have been the perfect day but for an unfortunate moment in the
Tasman that left me with two halves of a formerly whole surfboard. Worse yet,
it was my wife’s board! I suppose sacrifices must be made.
Thanks to free sunlight energy, afternoon and evening indoor
temperatures in our villa have been consistently 20 – 23 degrees this month,
and I’ve only run the wood burner two mornings. This is the type of performance
we hoped for when we started the renovation nearly three years ago, and as
regular readers of this column will know, it is the cumulative result of many
small efforts and attention to detail.
I’ve written about most of them over the course of the last
16 months, and will continue to do so as long as community interest, my mental
faculties, and the Chronicle persist.
But for the time being, I want to turn it over to you.
Write Now: Please send your ideas.
Yes, that’s right, you in the gum boots and Swandri; you in
the stubbies and rugby jersey; you in the jandals and board shorts; and
especially you sitting in your lounge under a blanket with a woolen beanie on
your head. I’d like to hear what good old Kiwi ingenuity has to say about
making cold, draughty houses warm, dry and healthy on a budget.
I’m sure there are heaps of grand ideas out there worth
sharing. I reckon we are our own best resource, and by sharing our experiences
and ideas we will all be better off.
Additionally, I’d like to hear from:
• anyone who has taken advice from this column and
implemented it into their own home.
• anyone who attended a Project HEAT (Home Energy Awareness
Training) presentation this winter.
• anyone who had a free home energy audit provided by
Project HEAT this winter.
Please send a short description of your efforts at creating
a healthy home to: theecoschool at
gmail.com
or post to 10 Arawa Place, Castlecliff, 4501.
Please include high quality photos of your handiwork, as I’d
like to share this wealth of information and experience in a future column.
Need I remind you the best time to do something like this is
now? Get on that keyboard. Get out that pen. And write!
Peace, Estwing
Only thing we did was to hang blankets off the wall as a sort of pretend four poster - it's cold with only a layer of plaster board between you and the outside world and no finance to fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteviv in dunedin
Awesome idea. We put our wedding blanket on the wall as decoration and insulation. win-win.
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