TGKWC - Heating ,Cooling and Water Heating.

It was nice to see a few people sharing their progress so far during the challenge.  I am certainly no saint when it comes to using electricity, however it is due to a few circumstances beyond my control.

Today I discovered that my solar hot water system is broken.  Well the little pump that circulates the water up to the flat panel collector is anyway.  It was 34 C today, and I expected the hot water to be at least 70 C, but when I washed my hands before dinner, it was only the normal luke warm temperature.  I went out and investigated, and discovered that the return pipe was cold, whereby it should have been boiling hot.  However the little 7 watt pump was boiling hot, and drawing 75 watts.  I believe it is fused/stuffed, so as I believe it still under warranty, I will give the manufacturer a call tomorrow to get it fixed.  I estimated that this broken pump has been drawing about 1.8 - 2.0 kWh a day, which could account for the unusually high daily energy usage that we have been experiencing.  I am glad I noticed it, and funily enough I dreamed last night that I needed to check it today!  Quite a coincidence.

Also, and I have probably shared this before during my Downshift post, but due to Kim having Multiple Sclerosis, it is essential that she keeps cool at all times.  Otherwise I come home to a wonderful wife who is totally fatigued at the end of the day because she is trying to soldier on.

So we have ceiling fans on the low setting most of the time in Spring, Summer and some of Autumn, with a small air-conditioner on every few hours on days over 30 degrees C.  We also have to keep the swimming pool well maintained so that she can have a dip when she is totally exhausted.  You should see the new lease of life she has just after a 1 hour swim in the cool, cool pool.  It is amazing!

Therefore I make no apologies for our mid-teen daily kWh usage, which is one of the many reasons I had Solar PV installed (besides the obvious environmental positives) to limit grid utilisation.  However, with that said, I have always tried to be as energy efficient with heating and cooling as possible.  For those still participating in the challenge, here are today's tips focusing on this subject.

Did you know that over 39% of the average Australian home's energy usage is for Heating (90%) and Cooling (10%) and 27% of the homes energy usage is for heating water (electric or gas)?


Cooling

• Keep curtains and windows closed during the day to block out the heat, then open them at night to let in cooler air.
• Fit ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.  They use only about one twentieth of the electricity of an air-con.  Even a pedestal fan more energy efficient. 
• Don’t leave your air conditioner on the highest setting (coolest). The recommended room temperature for summer is 24°C – 27°C. Every 1°C cooler will increase your energy costs by around 10 to 15%.
• Cool occupied rooms and seal off those rooms not in use if you can.
• Turn off your air conditioner for 15 minutes each hour. Or cool your house in the morning and turn the air conditioner off for an hour or so in the afternoon.

Heating

• Install north facing windows (South facing in the northern hemisphere) to catch the winter sun and reduce the amount of energy needed to heat your home.  If you can afford double glazing, then it is well worth the investment.  
• Make sure that you have as little shading as you can from trees over these windows.  Deciduous trees let the light in during winter and shade during summer months.
• Insulate you homes ceiling to at least R2 rating, and if possible any walls you can get to.  Good insulation stops heat loss and ingress.  The higher the R rating the better the insulation properties.
• Choose the right size appliance for the area you want to heat. Overheating wastes energy, whilst a unit that is too small will struggle (even if running on maximum setting).  
• Keep doors to cold rooms, like kitchens, bathrooms and laundries, closed and use heavy curtains on windows. These can prevent up to 75% of total heat loss from a home.
• Stop draughts by sealing unused chimneys with chimney dampers, sealing gaps around doors, and switching off range hoods and exhaust fans.  The old door snake/sausage works wonders for drafts under doors.

I thought I would add in hot water heating (due to my own hot water dilemmas) into these tips as it is a form of heating.


Hot water

• Installing a solar-boosted hot water unit can save you up to 90% of your hot water costs on a sunny day.
• Switch off your electric (or gas and solar) hot water unit if you’re going away for a week or more.
• Set the temperature of your hot water between 60°C and 65°C.
• Or, if you have small children, set your bathroom hot water temperature to 50°C – 55°C to decrease the risk of scalding.
• Installing a AAA-rated water efficient shower rose can result in significant savings on both your energy and water bills.  
• Take shorter showers.  Everyone in our family has a 3-4 minute shower with no issues.  You will save energy and water as well.
• Fix that drip! A hot water tap dripping at the rate of 1 drip per second can waste up to $25 worth of hot water in a year.
• Make sure the pipes from your hot water service are insulated to prevent heat loss.

I hope those tips help.  The are from just about every state and federal government energy efficiency site I could find.  More tips can be found at; www.resourcesmart.vic.gov.au and www.livinggreener.gov.au.  Both are great sources of information.

Until next time, keep on saving those Kilowatt Hours!

TGKWC - Weekly Confession

Confession time everyone!

The Challenge is now at the one week mark.  Everyone should have been taking daily readings, and recording them either manually or in the spreadsheet.

So now is the time to share your initial baseline and weekly average with everyone via a comment.

What I would like everyone to do is add up each figure in the "Total kWh used in home" column, and then divide the sum by 7.  This will give you a daily average over the week.  Hopefully if all is going well then it should be lower than the baseline reading you had on day 1.

If it is not, then don't worry too much.  We still have 3 more weeks of the challenge to go, and can work on other ways to reduce our electricity consumption as we go along.

Here is my daily average for the week.  It was 15.9 kWh with a starting baseline of 16.6 kWh.  That is a 5.4% reduction in consumption!  Click to enlarge any image.

Even though we have been working hard at watching our consumption, we didn't realise how much electricity that our oven used.  We do now, and are only going to use it for special baking days when the sun is shining to minimise grid consumption, and bake multiple things or use the natural gas or the outdoor cob oven.  I am also investigating Solar Ovens, so if anyone knows of a good one, or has instructions on how to build one, please share via a comment.

I will be a little more diligent with tips this week, and I appologise for last week, however I was snowed under getting my Diploma completed.  In fact, I used some of the information that I had written in this challenge as part of my behavioural change submission, which helped me pass!

Until next post, keep on saving and looking for opportunities to reduce your kilowatt hours!

Diploma of Carbon Management

Just a quick break from The Great Kilowatt Challenge to let you all know that I have finally finished and passed my Diploma of Carbon Management!  I am over the moon, and it was challenging and enjoyable.

The course had the following units of study:

Apply principles of energy and resource efficiency to greenhouse gas Management

Participants learn to apply the principles of energy and resource efficiency to determine options for the mangement of greenhouse gas emissions. Participants research scientific, social and enviromental issues, and apply findings relevant to energy and resource utilisation.

Develop and implement a program to support behaviour change for a sustainability initiative

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to plan for, and implement, a sustainability practices initiative addressing behaviour change for an individual, organisational and/or community context. This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to design, lead and facilitate behaviour change.

Develop carbon inventory for the workplace

This unit describes the outcomes required to identify and categorise the carbon emissions of an organisation, determine the correct methods for estimating those emissions and produce a carbon inventory for that organisation.

Develop a carbon report for the workplace

This unit applies to the business environment of any organisation, including commercial operations, community organisations such as not-for-profit non-government organisations and government agencies that wish to provide a report on that organisation's carbon emissions and their response to it.

Create and implement a professional development program to support greenhouse gas management

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to design, implement and review a professional development program to inform and engage individuals and organisations to support greenhouse gas management.

Create a greenhouse gas management plan

The purpose of this unit is to design and create a greenhouse gas management plan. Participants research current practice in greenhouse gas management and approaches for organisational change.

Implement a greenhouse gas management plan

Upon successful completion of this unit , participants will be able to implement an emissions management plan; document the results; promulgate them to a range of stakeholders, and apply continuous improvement strategies to the plan.

If anyone is interested, then have a look at the course details at Swinburne University.  I believe there will be an on-line version next year.

I met so many great people from all walks of life, who had a common interest.  They all wanted to make a difference to the society they live in.

Those who follow the blog closely would have noticed week long absences occasionally.  Those were study weeks, where I just had to concentrate and knuckle down.

Anyway, I am glad that I stuck with it throughout the year and managed to get to the other side!  Time to kick back a little and get back into the garden!

Not bad for a 47 year old bloke.  Who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

TGKWC - Energy Efficiency - Cooking

So on with the show.  Most will have about 3 days worth of readings now.  Here is how my calc table looks (click to enlarge)

I have been at work the last two days, and in my absence and to my surprise our total kWh per day has gone up, not down like I expected!  WTF?  20.7 kWh in the last 24 hours!  I have been unable to figure it out for two whole days, and thought someone was stealing our electricity or that one of the meters was wrong.

After questioning Kim, it suddenly dawned on me.  About a year ago we refurbished the kitchen and purchased a duel fuel oven.  We can cook with natural gas or electricity.  I was hedging my bets come energy descent and wanted to get the most out of the oven.  Also, I can cook with gas even when there is no grid connection.

Kim had been cooking in our duel fuel oven using the electric oven setting which uses at least 3000 watts, and she had it on for 45 minutes on Tuesday, and over an hour today!  We normally use the oven on natural gas, however she finds the electric bakes muffins, bread, and biscuits better.  It uses a massive amount of what I thought was our humble daily energy requirements.

So it was time for my very own family meeting tonight, and we discussed when the best time to cook with electricity was (after sunset to maximise export and the feed-in tariff), and to cook as many things as she could during the same time.  In other words, fill the oven up when using electricity!  We discussed the pros and cons of using electricity vs natural gas.  She also agreed to do laundry at night and hang it outside in the morning.  This conversation reminded me of a few tips that I can share today.

• Think about energy usage by room.  Do a mental audit of all electrical items in the room.  If needs be, right down the items for future reference.
• Look for waste and educate others as we go along.
• Don't spend any money until you assess your/family behaviours. Try simple efficiency first of all. 
• Remember, it is easier and cheaper to save electricity than to generate.
• Use a microwave for cooking, they're more energy efficient than conventional ovens 
• Stir or turn food in the microwave often to ensure the heat spreads evenly - speeding up the heating process.
• When cooking on the range make sure you use the lids on your pots.  You don't need to use as much energy to get the same result.
• Make sure the seals in your oven fit properly. The seals should hold a piece of paper in place when the oven door is closed.  We replaced ours about 2 months ago because the manufacturer found a fault with the design and sent us a free replacement. 
• Use small appliances for small tasks e.g. use the toaster not the oven for toasting.
• Use the correct size pot for the element or burner, it is more efficient and you don't waste heat.
• Avoid cooking food that is still frozen.  Defrost it in the fridge or use the microwave.
• Avoid opening oven doors when cooking - each time you do the internal temperature drops by at least 15°C.
• Use appropriate cooking temperatures
• Cook several dishes at once in the oven.

Here are the ratings of a few common cooking appliances so that you can figure the potential impact of each suggestion above;

• Electric ovens are usually rated between 2400 - 3200 watts, so an hour of cooking you would use 2.4 - 3.2  kWh.  
• An electric stove element is rated between 150 watts for the low setting up to 1500 watts for the high setting.
• A Microwave (1000W) actually uses about 1600 watts on the high setting.   
• An electric grill is rated at 2200 watts.
• An electric jug is rated between 2000-2400 watts
• A toaster can be rated between 1800 - 2200 watts.

So keep an eye out whilst cooking, and think about the best and most efficient method to cook your food.

Until tomorrow fellow challenge participants.  Hope you are having better luck than I am.  Kim has promised me that she will not be using the electric oven, so lets see if my daily consumption does down!

TGKWC - First Steps

A big thanks to Farmer_Liz and Kane for pointing me in the right direction regarding the not-so-pretty spreadsheet. I have fixed all of the issues, and the calc sheet now works very cleanly. Nothing like a good IF statement to fix ones messiness. You can download the new spreadsheet from the original link if you would like to use a cleaner version.

Now that we have our baseline couple of days of electricity consumption for our homes, may I offer the first steps towards a lower electricity bill.  First thing first always works.

1. Have a family meeting! It sounds corny, but it works.  Encourage all family members to join the challenge.  If you have buy in from everyone in the household, you are more likely to succeed.
2. Set some energy targets for the each week of the challenge that you believe is achievable.  For instance. 5% reduction in the first week, 10% for week two, 15% by week three etc.  The choice is yours.  Try to make your goals realistic, and get buy in from everyone that way you are more likely to continue the behaviours after the challenge is complete.  Write your goals down and put them on the fridge for all to see!
3. Make it a competition, give rewards to little ones for remembering to do as instructed, and the big ones too.  Give encouragement and praise as behaviours are bedded in.
4. Take the time to explain to everyone why we are practising energy efficiency.  Let them know what is at stake.  Whether it be savings in the family budget, or reducing your emissions, your motivation for participating in the challenge should be shared with everyone in the household.

These steps are vital to achieving the goals that you will set yourself.  Once you have commitment within the household, try to begin to make small changes at first and continue to monitor to see the effect on consumption each day.

Share the daily results at the evening meal, check to see if you are going to meet your target for the week.  A problem shared is a problem halved.  You may find that it helps to share the pain and bring others along for the ride.

Praise, reward, and have fun as you go along.  If your not having fun, you are not doing it right!

More tips tomorrow.  

The Great Kilowatt Challenge - Baseline

Thanks for all the emails and comments so far during the challenge.  I believe that we have between 25-30 people on the challenge so far and the numbers are growing.

With your second reading some time today, you would have been able to calculate your baseline.  The baseline is the figure that we are going to attempt to beat every single day.  When I started reading my meter many years ago my baseline began at 40 kWh per day.  It was a shock to the system, and we managed to get it down to between 9 and 11 kWh per day.  Even less in winter, but lots more in the hot summers that we get here.  The biggest drain on our energy consumption is our swimming pool, where I have to run the pump for at least two hours in winter, up to about four hours in summer.  So there is between 2 and 4 kWh a day that I cannot seem to shake off.

So imagine my shock today when I calculated my baseline for this challenge.  The figures are below (click to enlarge).

So my total consumption today was 16.6 kWh.  Now I haven't told anyone in the house that we are on this challenge yet, just to get an accurate reading, so I know we can do much better than that.  It looks like a few things have happened since I stopped reading our meter.  Because we were not measuring our performance, we have slipped back into some old habits.  Some very old behaviours that I noticed today were computers left on when no-one was using them, ceiling fans on in empty rooms, lights on in empty rooms and extractor fans left on and forgotten.  I have read that the average daily household electricity consumption in Australia is between 16 - 20 kWh.  I don't want to be average.

Tomorrow I will have a family meeting and discuss my concerns which is probably the best way to tackle the situation.  I am sure we can do better tomorrow.

From here on in, the challenge will pan out as follows;

1. Everyone should now be taking their daily readings and recording them.
2. I will be posting daily energy reduction tips to nudge you (and my family) in the right direction in whatever format I can dig up (text, photos, video, podcasts)
3. Every Monday we can all post via a comment the percentage of reduction for the week compared against our baseline day.  I will help you figure it on the day.
4. Celebrate our successes and learn from our mistakes!

How does that sound for a plan?

P.S. For those interested this is what my data sheet and calc sheet look like.  The calc sheet will only calculate the last day correctly, so ignore any future dates.  I am not sure how to stop the random calculation for the next day.  Any suggestions from any Excel guru's out there?

Data sheet

Calc sheet

The Great Kilowatt Challenge - Recording Data

How are we going so far? By now you should be able to read your meter, or at least the numbers that display, so now we are going to learn how to record and calculate our daily usage in kilowatt hours or kWh.

I suggest that you find a time of the day where you can consistently record the data.  I have chosen 7.00 pm, which is about an hour after I get home from work each day.   You will find your own special time that you can check your meter daily.  Today's initial reading is your baseline, so do not change your consumption in anyway at all.  Use all the same appliances you would normally use.  The fun starts after the baseline reading in the next few days.

There are two main ways that we are going to record, either by paper or via an excel spreadsheet.   If you don't have MS Excel, I have created a MS Word copy that you can simply fill in with a pen or on-line, which you can download the MS Word version this link.  If using the word version, just by subtracting yesterday's reading from today's reading, you can get a feel for how much electricity in kilowatt hours you are using each day.  If you don't have MS Word, try this PDF version and print it out.

If you have MS Excel it will be a breeze because I have created the spreadsheet we are going to use for the challenge all populated with the appropriate columns and formulae.

You can download the MS Excel version at this link.  Save it to your own hard drive for safe keeping as this is what you are going to use for record keeping each day.  Before you start using it I want you to get a current electricity bill and figure out how much you are paying per kilowatt hour, then go to the calc tab and change the figure in the orange box (grid tariff) to the rate you are paying.  Make sure that if your rate is something like 21.62 cents then fill it in like such; 0.2162.  This way the calculations will work correctly.

If you have solar PV and get paid a feed-in tariff, then change the figure in the yellow box (Feedin Tariff) to your rate.  My rate is 66c, so I have entered 0.66.  I have created the spreadsheet for a Net Feed-in Tariff only.  If you need me to modify it for a Gross Feed-in Tariff then leave me a request via a comment.

So how do we record our daily data?  Well what we do is fill in the raw meter data (add together peak/non-peak is you have a digital meter) on the data tab of the spreadsheet.  If you only import from the grid, then fill in the first column using the corresponding date.  You only need to input data into the data tab.  The calcs tab will do all the work for you.

If you have solar PV then you will need to fill in the raw export and inverter readings as well.

Here is the readings I entered into my spreadsheet.

Ignore the calc tab for today, because we have only taken 1 reading and it needs 2 readings to calculate.

So you hopefully I have not confused everyone too much and if anyone finds any mistakes in the calculations then please let me know.  I have tried to make the spreadsheet as simple as possible so you only need to input your meter readings in one place.

So once again, I ask you to use all your appliances and lighting as you normally would or we will not have an accurate baseline to begin with.  Once we have recorded two readings, then we can get the energy efficiency programme under-way with daily tips for electricity reduction.  Also as we fill in the data tab with our daily readings, the graph will begin to record your progress.  I love a good graph.

Until tomorrow, and remember to have fun, and if anyone has any questions either leave a comment, or drop me an email.  Happy to help out as we are all in this together.

"The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun." - RALPH NADER

The Great Kilowatt Challenge - Meter Reading

I am so glad that so many people are going to join in on the energy challenge.  As my pal Michael in Canberra mentioned today, Lord Kelvin said it the best with "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”.  Well said that man.  So lets start feeling empowered and taking back control of our electricity usage!

Lesson One - Electricity Basics

Just a simple lesson on electricity.  Power rating on all appliances is measured in watts, and electricity consumption is measured in watts per hour.  Kilowatts per hour or as it is normally abbreviated to "kWh" is a measure of consumption, and is used to determine how many thousands of watts per hour your household has used.  That is what the meter measures.

So to solidify this for you here are two examples.  If your toaster is rated at 1800 watts, and you cooked toast in it for 1 hour, you would have consumed 1800 watt hours or move the decimal place three places to the right and the meter would have measured 1.8 kWh!  So it is the rating multiplied by time or 1800 x 1 = 1800 watts or 1.8 kWh.

Lets try another.  Say you had your 900 watt Plasma TV on for three and a half hours.  It would have consumed 3150 watt hours or 3.15 kWh.  All you had to do was take the rating and multiply it by time i.e. 900 watts x 3.5 hrs = 3150 watt hours or 3.15 kWh.

Here is another that I want you to figure out by yourself.  You have a clothes dryer that is rated at 2300 watts.  You dry two loads of washing that takes two and a half hours.  How much electricity did you consume in kilowatt hours?  2300 watts x 2.5 hrs = ????

Hopefully you get the general idea, and most appliances can be roughly measured this way.  There are also simple devices that can measure individual appliances, but more on that during the challenge.  Ready for the next lesson?

Lesson Two - Meters

Firstly there are two types of electricity meter, Electromechanical and Digital (so called Smart meter).  I have had both at the house I am living in.  The Digital is easy to read, however the electromechanical is a little bit harder, but not that hard.

Digital or Smart Meter

Electromechanical

Lets start with the one with the clocks, and have a bit of practice as well.  As you can see, the dials move both clockwise and counter clockwise.  Maybe not that fast at your place, but you get the general idea.

Read the instructions and then try the few practice questions.

• Stand directly in front of the meter and record the number the 'clock hand' is pointing to.
• If the hand is between two numbers, use the lower number - if it is between 0 and 9, use 9 as the reading.
• Write down the numbers from left to right to get your reading.

Here is an example

So reading this example from left to right, the reading would be 04508.9 kWh.  This first example is a little tricky because the 100 clock had is right on the edge of the 5.  Just to confirm it is a 5 look at the 10 clock which is between the 0 and the 1 which confirms that the 100 should be a 5 and not a 4.

Anyway, lets try another example.  Try this one out for size.

I will do this one for you.  It reads 46372 kWh.  The meter tells you that the house has consumed that amount of electricity since it was first installed.  So what would it look like if you the next day if you had used 20 kWh in-between readings.  See if you can figure out the next one by yourself.  I have already given you a big hint!

So what does this one read?

Keep in mind that when the power company representative reads your meter, they do NOT set it back to zero. Therefore the dials keep turning until the next time the meter is read. By subtracting two consecutive readings, the amount of kilowatt hours is determined for your billing period which can be monthly or more often than not for a residence quarterly.
You should have the hang of it by now.  Lets move on to the Digital / CoGen / Smart Meter.

Sometimes these can be a bit tricky as they have only one button to press that gives you multiple readouts.  Mine has these instructions.

So on my meter there are two import readings that I have to take to determine how much electricity that I have consumed or import from the grid.  They are items 04 and 06 on my meter like thus;

Peak Import 0700-0059 hours

Off Peak Import 0100-0700 hours

Confusing isn't it.  Especially seeing that I pay the same rate whether it is used during peak or off peak.  So to figure out how much electricity I have used from the grid, I must add together the reading from both 04 and 06.  From the photo it would be 32.9 kWh + 16.9 kWh = 49.8 kWh.  We will only record the total which makes it easier for this energy challenge.

Lesson Three - Solar

NB:  This lesson is only for people who have a Solar PV system and feed back into the grid.

So to confuse things even more, I have solar electricity that I export to the grid, which is recorded at 94 and 96 on my meter.

Peak Export

Off Peak Export

As before we simply add the two numbers together to get the total export reading, in this case 18.3 kWh.  For those who do have solar and export it we will only be recording the total.  You will also have to read the total production from your PV inverter.

So that is all the lessons for today, and I hope I haven't totally confused you all.  Have a practice reading your own meters because tomorrow we are going to take our baseline reading and record them on paper to start with.

See you all tomorrow for further Lessons and Actions in The Great Kilowatt Challenge!

The Great Kilowatt Challenge

Most of my readers will know that the initial motivation to change my lifestyle was because of my awakening regarding climate change and the fear of the impacts that it will have on my children and unborn grandchildren.  I wanted to (and still do) make a difference and this blog is a testament to my behavioural change and subsequent journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

Lately, I have had many personal conversations regarding energy efficiency and energy auditing due to the legislation of the "Clean Energy Future Act 2011".  People want to understand the impact and how they can reduce their electricity bills.  It is about this time during the conversation that I usually ask them if they have monitored the outcomes of any of their energy efficiency actions to date.

Most look at me weird?  I repeat the question in a different way, and say "Do you read your electricity meter?".  The reply, more often than not is no, and they state that it is read for them by the power company.

Usually the conversation turns to me explaining how and why this is a good thing to do, even on a weekly basis.  I believe strongly that one cannot manage an action if you cannot monitor and evaluate the outcome of that action.  You may think you are making a difference, but how do you really know that you are.  Facts are our friends, and cold hard data are worth their weight in gold when it comes to implementing an energy efficiency programme.

When I first started had my green epiphany, I took weekly meter readings for three years running from 2007 to 2009 and still have the data I collected and all fully trended.  However, even I have let this behaviour slip and have not read my meters for a while.  So I want to get back into it again, so that I can see if anything has changed and to calculate my current carbon emissions and expenditure on electricity, natural gas and water usage.

So I put this proposal to you all.  Who would like to join me in an energy  challenge?  We will only begin with grid Electricity as most folks have it connected.  Subsequent posts will be about the following;

how to read your meter, the quick basics about electricity terminology, how to manage the data you are collecting, documenting your energy baseline for the first week, and then launch into an energy efficiency programme. I have an MS Excel spreadsheet that I designed that will help out.  For those who don't have Excel, Open Office or Google docs will suffice.  I will guide you all the same.

The posts for the challenge will be over four weeks and at the end of each of the four weeks we will post the total percentage of electricity reduction we each have made.  It should be good fun, and I hope that we can all achieve a big reduction in our consumption.

I also have another request.   In an attempt to spread the word about this challenge, please post about this on your own blogs (if you have one) and get as many people as you can to join us - every person who joins will add to a greater reduction.  Re post the button above with a link back to this post (it is just a gif picture) wherever you can, to highlight the fact that we all giving this our best shot.

Please let me know if you're joining in via a comment below. I will be here to help you out along the way.  After all, I haven't nearly completed a Diploma of Carbon Management this year for no reason at all.  I will be putting my learning to good use in this challenge.

Remember that not only are we doing this for the kids, but for our own hip pocket as well.  You can shout yourself a nice lunch with the savings!

Whey Ricotta Video Tutorial

Cross post from Little Green Cheese.

I was busily making Romano on Friday night with the milk that Kate sold me, and was left with this wonderful creamy whey.  Now, I didn't want it to go to waste, so I looked up the recipe for Whey Ricotta, as I knew that it would go down a treat in Sunday nights Lasagne!

Anyway, the process for this cheese is very simple, and I caught it all on video for all to see.  I hope you join me in watching another one of my cheese making video tutorials.


  

Enjoy and I hope you find the time to give it a try!

Chicken Nipple Installation

A while ago now, I purchased some chicken nipples.  No really, there is such a thing!

Yes, these little nipples clamp onto a piece of 25mm OD (outer diameter) Grey electrical conduit with a 9mm hole.  Here is how we did it.

The nipples should be placed so they hang straight down from the pipe, approximately 300mm (1 foot) apart from each other.  Using a pencil, mark a straight line on the pipe from one end to the other. We used 1.3 metres of pipe.  With the electrical conduit, I laid the pipe on a table so it doesn't roll around.  Dad held it for me whilst we drew the line.  We used the edge of a saw as the ruler.  Then we measured the 300mm spacing and marked where each hole was going to be located.   

Next, I made a pilot hole with a sharp nail at each of the locations, and when this was finished, we drilled the holes with the 9mm bit.  Be sure to clean waste material away from holes before installing nipples, and we used a small file and sandpaper to smooth the hole.  Where the clip on nipple meets the pipe, there is a rubber ring which seals the fit. Now, just go along the pipe to each hole, and by spreading apart the clip and put the ring in the hole.  We placed a  nipple over the pipe and snap the clip shut as far as it could go.

The grey electrical conduit was perfect for this application as it exactly 25mm OD and nipples fit very well.  Mind you, we found this out the hard way, as I initially used a piece of white 25mm ID conduit, not really knowing the difference, and mucked around for an hour and broke off three nipples!  I believe that 25mm black PVC water line will work, too but be aware that nipple clamp may not click all the way.  That was my next option if the grey conduit did not work.

So then we fastened the row of chicken nipples to the inside of Cluckingham Palace with some saddle clips and rigged up the water pipe to the rain barrel that we installed on Monday.  I found that 19mm irrigation parts loosely fitted into the end of the grey electrical conduit, and with a bit of silicone sealer stayed in place with no problems.

The pipe has a slight drop towards the other end.  There was no leaks, so we must have drilled the holes properly, and the clamps fastened tight.

Here is a chickens eye view of the pipes.  Look at the shiny nipple, which are so intriguing to a chook.  They love pecking shiny things!

So here is the pipe work, all 19mm, with a bit of pipe and some elbow fixtures and clamps.

To finish off the rain barrel, I installed an overflow pipe and ran it along the fence fixed with saddle clips.

So the million dollar question is "Do they work?"  Well, it rained on Monday night and the barrel is about a quarter full, so when I touched a nipple, water dripped out. As for the chickens, they have not quite figured it out yet, but I have not really tried to teach them.  When the barrel gets a bit fuller and the pressure increases in the pipe work, I will give it another go.  I intend on teaching Jennifer first as she is the friendliest, and learns quickly, and maybe Edwina as she is quick to learn as well.  I figure that if I take their normal bowl away and teach these two, the others will learn quickly.  Time will tell.

Finally, a big thanks to Dad for all his help in all the guttering and chicken nipple projects over the last few days.  I could not have done it as quickly or with as much enjoyment with out you!

Sustainable chicken watering!  It should last for a good many years to come.

Al Said....

"This is a historic moment. Australia's Parliament has put the nation's first carbon price into law. With this vote, the world has turned a pivotal corner in the collective effort to solve the climate crisis. This success is the result of the tireless work of an unprecedented coalition that came together to support the legislation, the leadership of Prime Minister Gillard, and the courage of legislators to take a vote that helps to safeguard the future of all Australians.

I have spent enough time in Australia to know that their spirit of independence as a people cannot be underestimated. As the world’s leading coal exporter, there’s no doubt that opposition to this legislation was fierce. But through determination and commitment, the voice of the people of Australia has rung out loud and clear.

Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we do everything we can to ensure that this legislation is successful." - Al Gore, November 2011

  

When I started out on this sustainable journey back in September 2006, Al spoke to me via his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth".  Today his words speak to me again.

Well done to the Australian people who had the courage to persist and let their elected officials know that they wanted action on Climate Change, and not the rhetoric that they had been spinning us for years!

I go to bed tonight a happy man knowing that many Australians and I have done the best we possibly could have to secure a future for my unborn grandchildren.

Bowhunting

As mentioned previously, Ben and I have taken up Archery/Bowhunting as our Father/Son sport.  We have found that Ben is not your normal sporty type, and we don't particularly encourage football any other sport for that matter.  However, being the practical guy I am, I thought that this sport would be a good skill to learn as well as spending some man time with my son.  Ben jumped at the chance to give it a go.

We are probationary members of Bacchus Marsh Bowmen Inc, which meet each month on the 1st Sunday.  However before you even get to mix it up with the seasoned bowmen (and women), you have to do a 3 hour course.  During this course you cover safety, safety, and how to shoot a bow and arrow, and the name of all the bits.  Did you know that the feathers on the arrow are called fletches?  Well I never did!

 We are allowed to borrow the club's equipment at each meet until such time we either decide to join the Australian Bowhunters Association or decide to get some of our own equipment.  Here is Ben and I practising in the close practice range.   The equipment can range from $150 to well over $1000 for all the kit.  We have chosen to borrow the clubs gear until we figure out which type of bow we like best.

At the moment, both Ben and I are leaning towards the traditional Recurve bow, which the ancient Mongolian horde used as they swept across the steppes and invaded the European continent. We both believe that the traditional way is more skill full than the flash looking composite bows that have massive velocity.

A member of the Mongol Horde ;-)

Anyway, fantasy aside, we finished our course and had our first meet on Sunday, and Dad (John) came along to see what it was like and to take the pictures.  The course that you shoot on in is bushland, up and down gullies and the targets and distances vary in size from a small rabbit to a samba deer buck at different elevations.  All the targets are cardboard, and mounted on wool bales filled with bubble wrap.  There are 20 targets and you add up your score as you go along.  Technically, I could have shot from half way (green marker) due to being on probation, however I chose to shoot from the red marker which all the others in my group shot from.  It was difficult to say the least and I only scored 104.  Ben on the other hand was in a separate group with his Grandpa in tow (next time I am insisting we stay together even though I asked to be paired with him on Sunday), shot from the closest marker (yellow) and scored 146!  Great work by the lad. 

We are both hooked and looking forward to the December meeting.  Just a final note, we don't intend at this stage to actually hunt animals, as that is quite advanced.  In Australia, it is illegal to shoot native animals like Kangaroos, Emus, Wombats etc, however feral animals like goats, deer, rabbits, foxes, pigs and camels are fair game as they are all introduced species.  Fines for killing a native animal are in the order of A$30,000 upwards.  Killing our native species is just plain stupidity when so many are on the endangered species list.

Maybe as we grow in proficiency, will we take it to the next level.  Time will tell, but bowhunting is a sustainable way to put food on the table in an energy descent scenario.  You just have to live close to an area where feral animals live.  Luckily we have rabbits galore living in the paddocks around our town.

Rabbit stew anyone?

Mind In The Gutter

I have been on a weeks worth of annual leave since last Tuesday as my Dad, his partner Norma, and Kim's mum Pam are visiting.  A full house one would say.

As on previous visits, Dad and I always have a project to keep us busy around the suburban farm, and this visit is no exception.  Today we started two guttering projects, that I have been chaffing at the bit to get moving on as I had a rainwater tank just sitting in the carport for ages.  We aimed to get at one finished today, however as the post will attest, we mostly completed both projects in one day.  Last Friday, we pre-purchased one 6 metre and two 3.6 metre lengths of 115mm quad galvanised guttering and one 6 metre length of non-lead PVC 90mm storm water pipe.  Along with gutter ends, downpipe outlets, elbow joints, a angle grinder, a pop-rivet gun, and a few odds and sods like screws and silicone it came to a total cost of A$260 (good price) plus $50 delivery fee (rip-off).

We started at 7.30am, got all the tools together which took about 30 minutes, then we got stuck into the job.  Firstly we had to put up a couple of lengths of structural pine to pad out the beam that we were hanging the gutter on.  We fastened it to the steel beam with 60mm self tapping screws with hex head spaced every 70 cm. Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

Then we ran a string line and hung a little spirit level on it to make sure that we had sufficient drop to the drain pipe at the other end.  We mounted the gutter clips onto the wood with the bottoms level with the string line and fastened with three 20mm wood screws.

Here is a close up of our handy work.  Note the string line.  Time for a tea break at 9am.

Once we were happy with the gutter clips, it was time to make up the gutter.  We took the 6 and 3.6 metre lengths and slid the smaller one inside the larger one until we had a 9.09m length of guttering.  Then we pop-rivetted on the ends, the outlet and the two lengths together, all with lashings of silicone to seal it all without leaks.

After much ado, it was time to mount the gutter and fix it in place.

We had to push it over the neighbour's fence to get it from the carport to the other side where we were mounting it, which was a little tricky, but it was quite light, so it was not too difficult.

Here is Dad (John) standing in my new mandarin tree putting the gutter in place.  We found that you have to turn the gutter sideways into the gutter clips, then swivel it right side up.

In this shot I am checking the line of the gutter to makes sure it was sitting in the clips properly.  Note the outlet on the gutter near my glasses.

Once in place we bent over the top of the gutter clips with pliers and were satisfied with the work.  Time for a quick trip to the hardware shop for a few bits of 90mm elbows that we forgot and then we broke for lunch at 1pm.  A quick nap until 3pm and then back to work on the plumbing.  This was the first time that I had worked with storm-water pipe, so Dad showed me the ropes.

As I wanted to fit a first flush diverter, we had to go around the brick pillar then to the outlet.  We cut the pipe with a normal wood saw, which was quite easy.  We made sure that we measured every piece, fitted it first to make sure it was correct, then took it apart and glued it together with the blue solvent cement.

Here is the pipe connecting the the first flush diverter.

The purpose of the first flush diverter is to catch all the dirt and leaves off of the roof and into this long pipe.  Inside it is a plastic ball that floats up as it fills with water, which then blocks the pipe, and clean water flows into the rain-water tank.

We used dynabolts into the brick to fasten the pipe clamps to the wall.  When full the diverter is about 20kg so it needed to be fastened strongly.

The top of the tank has a mesh filter to prevent any mosquitoes and leaves that sneak past the diverter from falling into the tank.  Note that we fitted a mesh screen and proper outlet so that the overflow can be fitted tomorrow.  The hole that had been pre-cut by the tank manufacturer was too small, so I spent a good 30 minutes filing the hole bigger so that the outlet would fit properly.  We then glued in the mosquito mesh to stop the beasties from breeding in the water.

After that we put the garden hose into the far end of the gutter and it all worked perfectly, running to the outlet end, down into the first flush diverter and then into the tank.  All good, except for one small leak around the gutter outlet.  Tomorrow we will fix that leak with a little more silicone sealer.

Then we sealed off the other end of the tank with a cap and glued it in place with silicone instead of solvent which will be easier to remove.  This is so that when I purchase another tank, we can connect it at with a wider pipe at the top instead of using the tap at the bottom.

Speaking of taps, this is how we fitted it back last Thursday.  The tank came with 25mm holes pre-threaded, to which we fitted the tap.  Then we fitted a 25mm to 20mm reducing pipe and connected an ordinary garden hose fitting.  This was only short term, as I will be fitting 19mm irrigation pipe to it at a later time.  The reason we had to fit the garden hose connection was because I discovered that my other tank had a tiny crack in it, and it was leaking water.  As the other tank was full, the pressure was causing the crack to expand, so we had to work quickly to avoid disaster.  We connected the two tanks together so that we could siphon the full one to the empty one as the new tank was a bit lower than the full existing tank.  Overnight we saved about 1500 litres of water, and I drained the remainder into the veggie patch.  Then I patched up the hole with some silicone, which will hopefully fix the issue.

Anyway, we moved on to the chook house to fit some guttering to Cluckingham Palace.  It was much easier than the carport roof, as it was only 3.13 metres long.  We used the angle grinder with a cutting wheel attached to cut the remaining length of gutter to size, fitted the ends and the outlet and carried it around to the chook house.  We then mounted the gutter clips using a string line, and then put up the gutter.

We only needed three gutter clips for this sized gutter as there is not much roof area for collection and not much weight in the gutter due to its length.

 

We then made a stand for the 210 litres rain barrel.  As I didn't have many bricks, it is a unique design and perfectly balanced until of course the chickens under mine it with their digging. 

To combat any disaster, we secured it with some galvanised change that I had laying around.  It should stay in place even when full.  We connected the down pipe using a 22.5 degree elbow joint with the pipe extending about 4cm into the barrel. 

Very happy chickens, and soon to have their own water supply harvested from their own roof.  Tomorrow, Dad and I will be fitting the chicken watering system including the chicken nipples!  We will also be fitting the overflow pipe to the big tank, connecting an overflow pipe for the rain barrel and running it out of the chicken run into the back of the shed or even another rain barrel, savings permitting, and finally making a new hard stand for the now empty original tank to prevent further cracking.

A hard days work, but with big rewards.  We will be able to water the chooks, and collect an additional 1800 litres of water off of our carport/solar power station roof.  After we had finished for the day, Kim commented that it only took me 11 years to put a gutter up on the carport!  Better late than never, and now we will be able to render the carport wall that faces the pool area, but I will leave that for another few weekends!