Good old mother nature; reliable and dependable.
There are enough unknowns to make our lives interesting enough but the fundamental laws of nature, like the characteristics of any good parent, are predictable and consistent. What dictators, oligarchs or any governmental body may refer to as a law can be changed by an angry mob with torches and pitchforks, or at the next election, but the real laws, that is, the laws of thermodynamics are consistent and perennial from one generation to the next. Recently a friend of mine dropped four books at my place where his son was doing some plumbing work for us. The oldest of the books was printed in 1976 which he purchased when he owner-built his first house. The other publications weren’t much younger than that but one thing they all have in common is that they had survived being discarded over many years and during the many relocation’s of the family. The plan was for me to have a look through the publications before I passed them on. I took the opportunity to do so and I would add here that I could clearly see the reason for those books being kept and treasured. Whilst the books are dated and the photographs and designs look like a bygone primary school project, the relevant information is as germane today as it has been at any time in the past. I say the relevant information because building materials, and especially appliances, have continued to improve over the years. There are some fantastic products that have been introduced into the market in recent times that were not available when these publications went to print. |
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My mother has an encyclopedia Britannica set printed in 1897. It has been used as the final say in many discussions in our family especially during my teenage years and into my 20s, when uncles, aunts, parents & siblings required an authoritative ruling. My family has a full set printed in 1984 including a number of yearbooks however, during my kid’s teenage years and now into their 20’s, it is so much easier to instantly chase answers from the internet. Unfortunately now days there are so many opinions, if you don’t get the answer you want from one source you can simply search for another site that does support your opinion.
Good luck searching for a second opinion on the laws of thermodynamics. Water has always run downhill and apart from a few known gravitic anomalies around the earth, acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s ² or 32 ft/s ² in the old money.
Because the laws of thermodynamics never change and because information is freely available to everyone at the press of a button on a computer or smartphone, there is almost no excuse for anyone building a home with poor energy efficiency. I did my “home energy efficiency” homework well before the internet became what it is today. Our household still uses, as it has done for over 20 years, about one quarter of the energy consumed by a similar household. Imagine a world where a society of similar size and lifestyle requires only half of the amount of electricity that is currently consumed. Or, heaven forbid, imagine a society that requires only one quarter of the electricity presently devoured.
The companies/corporations that produce this electricity will not be in a hurry to let you know that this is possible. It is in their best interests that you buy more of their product not less and certainly not 75% less.
Is it possible to maintain the lifestyle that you have become accustomed to and yet consume significantly less electricity? Well, … yes it is. Our situation is a prime example of what can be done and we have been doing it for over 20 years. We are not the only ones living an energy efficient lifestyle, nor are we anywhere near the most lean on our energy consumption. Most of what we do we have learned from those who have come before us. We learned from people who have knowledge and have had practical experience. That is, those who have “runs on the board”.
Learning to become energy efficient does not happen overnight. Neither does anyone become a concert violinist after only one lesson. You can most definitely do what others have already done because the proof is self evident. Maybe you’ll be better at whatever you undertake than they have been and maybe you won’t. How good someone is it anything always depends on a myriad of factors, but one thing is for sure, and that is, that whatever you status is at any given time, you can usually do better; maybe significantly better. >>>LEARN MORE>>>
Whether you’re interested in reducing your energy footprint or simply interested in saving a little, or a lot, of money on your energy bills, the best time to start was yesterday. Starting yesterday would have been better but is never too late to start. I have taught guitar at TAFE to mature age students including at least one gentleman who admitted to having been 75 years old at the time. If you want to get good at anything, be it home energy efficiency or playing the violin, or even the guitar; find a mentor who can do what you want to do and look, look, look and copy, copy, copy. The beautiful thing about the fundamentals of anything is that they never change. Once you’ve learnt the basics, you can apply them forever. You almost have a moral obligation to share the knowledge you have with others so it can be passed on to the next generation. My friend has done just that with the perennial knowledge in the books he has saved for his son.
John Lynn