Bill Downes

Alex Riddles wrote:My home is all electric also.  I have done two things that are helping.

I have a lint trap on my clothes dryer that vents inside the room.  

Hi. I live in Ontario Canada where the hydro rates have increased exponentially in rural areas in recent years. We have electric baseboard heaters in a 1600 sqft house built in 1974. I purchased programmable thermostats for the main living areas, the bedrooms we leave cold. For 5 hours a day the kitchen and living room are set at 18C, the rest of the time they are 14C.  We tried diverting the dryer vent, but it drove humidity levels through the roof, allowing mould to grow in my children's bedrooms. It's January now and I'm running a dehumidifier constantly to extract moisture just under normal living conditions. My kids walk around wrapped in blankets. Our latest bill received yesterday was almost $700 for 30 days.

I will be making a change to our heating system before next winter, though at this point I'm not sure to what. We cannot do another winter like this.

Yes I'm venting, but, my point is, when somebody posts that they can't afford to heat their house, maybe saying wool blankets are warmest isn't the advice they're looking for. When this topic was raised to the provincial government, which it has a lot, their response was that maybe people struggling with high hydro rates should turn down their thermostats.

/rant

From Stefan's Facebook page:

"Yes we have perpetual rights to the water in the lake next door. Was one of the clinchers to buying it in the first place. We pump 60 gallons per minute for 3 hours per day to water 12 acres."


Rob: he talks about worms and the plastic in the movie. Nature's coping skills are somewhat surprising sometimes. You'll just have to watch.

I like the idea of the plastic mulch, but I'm concerned about the massive amount of water needed for irrigation. We don't all live next door to a lake. I'm actually surprised there isn't more conversation around this topic.