Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
Sometimes the cheapest energy savers are best
QUESTION -- Like most people, I'd really like to reduce our monthly energy bills. I just worry about the gimmicks and easy-fixes that I often hear about, and some of the claims of energy savings from companies can't possibly be true. How can I decide what to do and feel confident that they're the right things?ANSWER -- Gee, I'll bet you also read some of those ads for engine additives or minor car modifications that can increase your gas mileage by 500 per cent or so and don't believe them either!
Good for you. The choices available to homeowners to save energy are indeed often difficult to fully understand and they can be very hard to compare with other options. You can save energy by buying a $4 can of spray sealant and fixing the holes and cracks in your walls to stop unwanted airflow, but you can also buy a high-efficiency air conditioner for a few thousand dollars that will also save you money every month. Both can be good choices and terrific investments, but you need to decide which ones are best for you at this particular time.
I think if you asked anyone in the energy field about ways to make the right energy purchases, most would agree that you start by figuring out what you have now. Your local utility company probably offers free or very low-cost audits, and there are many professionals in all parts of the country who can be hired to do a very detailed analysis of your home to identify problem areas and opportunities for big improvements. Many homeowners even conduct basic home energy audits themselves, putting down on paper such information as the age and condition of kitchen appliances, the level of insulation in the attic, how well windows seal and how tightly doors shut, and many other features of the home.
Your budget is obviously the main factor in determining what you do now and what you put off until later. Spending the money now to buy energy-efficient appliances means you'll start saving energy now, helping pay back the purchase price of the products sooner. But because so much of energy efficiency is home comfort as well as dollar savings, you've got to also consider factors of your home that need to be fixed now. If you've got a beautiful family room that can't be used in cold weather because it never warms up in there, a large sunroom that overheats terribly in warm weather, or even carpets or furniture that are fading in color because the sun beats down on them every day, then these problems need to be considered as priorities.
I hear often from readers who tell me that their energy bills are sky-high but their old freezer still works OK or they just don't use the heater that often to justify a new one or they'd like to put in energy-efficient light bulbs but they just can't spend so much money on them. When you think about how much time you spend in your home, then it makes a lot of sense to me to keep that home comfortable, enjoyable, and affordable to operate and maintain.
Some of your problems can be fixed a lot more cheaply than you might realize. Maybe your windows are leaking and let in lots of outdoor air. Storm windows can reduce or eliminate this problem without having to buy new windows. A poorly operating heating system can often be improved simply by changing a dirty filter. Furniture that blocks air vents can be moved to improve the flow of cooled or heated air throughout your home. Cleaning the coils on the back of your refrigerator once or twice a year can help it operate more efficiently.
--McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Renovation & Design
15 unexpected ways to use cornstarch
What is cornstarch? Cornstarch, sometimes called corn flour, is the starch of corn. It is ground from the endosperm, or white heart, of the corn kernel. Cornstarch is great for thickening gravy but that isn't all it's good for!1. Carpet Freshener Recipe: Combine three quarter cups baking soda, 2 tbsp. cornstarch, and one quarter cup perfumed talcum powder. Sprinkle on dry carpet, let stand 5 to 15 minutes, vacuum.
2. Extra shiny windows: Clean windows as normal, then put cornstarch in a pail with water, (enough to soak a cloth) wipe the windows, dry with a clean cloth. It really works, I've tried it myself. Submitted by: Tina from Corner brook, Nfld.
3. Shine your car. When buffing your car, sprinkle 1 tbsp. cornstarch onto a damp rag and buff.
4. Cockroach Poison: Mix equal parts cornstarch and plaster of Paris. Sprinkle the mixture into cracks and crevices. Cockroaches will eat the mixture and won't survive.
5. Prevent or kill mildew in damp books: Sprinkle cornstarch throughout books to absorb the moisture from damp pages, wait several hours and brush clean. If pages are mildewed, brush the cornstarch off outdoors to keep mildew spores out of the house.
6. Cure athlete's foot: Sprinkle cornstarch on feet and in your shoes to absorb moisture, deodorize and reduce friction.
7. Water free dog bath: Sprinkle cornstarch onto fur and rub vigorously. Brush your dog. The cornstarch will absorb dirt and oils from your dog's fur. This works on human hair as well but hopefully no one in your family refuses to get into the tub.
8. Fresh grease spot on fabric. Sprinkle cornstarch onto fabric and leave for a few hours. Wash with heavy-duty detergent and water. Make sure grease spot is gone before transferring fabric to the dryer.
9. Make your own glue. Mix 3 tsp. cornstarch for every 4 tsp. cold water. Stir until a paste consistency is reached. Apply with fingers, a wooden tongue depressor or Popsicle stick.
10. Fantastic face-paint that works as well as the type that clowns use. Mix two parts cornstarch with one part white vegetable shortening to make a non-toxic grease paint. Add a few drops of food colouring to create an assortment of colours.
11. Never fail finger paint. Combine one quarter cup of cornstarch with two cups of water. Boil the cornstarch mixture on the stove until it reaches the consistency of paint. Remove the cornstarch mixture from the stove and pour into separate dishes. Create different colours by adding a few drops of food colouring to each dish, mix well until the desired colour is achieved. Finger paint made with cornstarch is non-toxic and edible.
12. Inexpensive Body Powder Recipe: Put 2 drops perfume into a sealable bag with 2-cups cornstarch. Shake and apply to face or body.
13. Little Bobby just learned how to tie his shoes and the knots are impossible to undo. Stay calm and sprinkle a little cornstarch onto the laces to help work out the knots.
14. When making gravy there are advantages of using cornstarch rather than flour. Corn starch has twice the "thickening power" of flour, (you only need to use half as much). If a recipe calls for quarter cup of flour, you can use just 2 tbsp. cornstarch. Cornstarch thickens with a satiny smoothness and glossy appearance. It adds no taste to mask the flavour of foods. Use 1 tbsp. cornstarch to thicken every 2 cups of liquid to a medium consistency. Cornstarch mixed with a little cold liquid, is stirred into hot food during the final stage of cooking, and must be cooked to 203¬ F (95¬ C) before thickening begins. At that point, it will quickly thicken and the sauce turns from opaque to transparent, (sauces will thin if cooked too long, boiled or vigorously stirred). Tip: If problems occur when using cornstarch, the best remedy is to add more liquid instead of additional cornstarch. In many cases, there may not be enough liquid to begin with, which does not allow the starch granules to enlarge to full capacity.
15. Pour a small amount of cornstarch into a bag of stuck-together marshmallows and shake the bag so that the cornstarch coats the marshmallows. Gently pull apart marshmallows, once coated they will no longer be sticky. Tip: Icing sugar can be used in the same way.
Solutions, is compiled from various sources; missvickie.com, essortment.com, associatedcontent.com, helium.com, .rd.comblessingsforlife.com, /food.aol.combigoven.com, wackyuses.com. Thanks to all who contributed! Similar information may be found elsewhere.
Solutions sleuth Reena Nerbas is a home economist and speaks professionally on the topic of household challenges; she is also the author of two national bestsellers, Household Solutions 1 with Substitutions and Household Solutions 2 with Kitchen Secrets. She can be heard on radio and television programs across Canada.
Renovation & Design
10 ways to cut power use
OTTAWA -- Cutting energy use is the easiest way to reduce your reliance on the grid.You already know that you should be caulking your house to cut drafts; installing a programmable thermostat for household heating and cooling; upgrading insulation, doors and windows; and switching to CFL light bulbs and Energy Star-rated appliances. What else can you do?
Wash your clothes in cold water. We've done it for 30 years, saving a pile of money in the process, and we look as spiffy as anyone else. Use a clothesline, not a dryer, as often as possible.
Turn heat down two degrees during the day and three at night. You'll save up to eight per cent on your bill. Turn up your air conditioner a couple of degrees or better yet, buy a couple of electric fans for all but the steamiest days.
Televisions, stereos and computers draw a small but steady amount of "phantom power" even when turned off; together, they can suck up the equivalent of a 100-watt light bulb running round-the-clock. Put them on surge-protecting power bars, and turn off the bar when not in use.
Enable the sleep and hibernate modes on your computer, which still allows you to restart quickly.
Could the food in your chest freezer fit in your refrigerator freezer? Even high-efficiency chest freezers cost upwards of $50 a year to operate.
Set your water heater at 49 C.
Check your refrigerator's air tightness by closing a $5 bill between the door gaskets; if it slides out easily, replace the gaskets. Don't forget to vacuum or dust the coils on the back of the refrigerator every six months to reduce their workload.
Check your furnace filter every month and clean or replace it regularly.
Keep the heat out or in depending on the season with windows coverings. They could save you a bundle in cooling and heating costs by reflecting the sun's UV rays back outside in the summer and radiant heat back inside in the winter.
Plant deciduous trees on the south and west sides of your home to provide shade in the summer and allow the sun through in the winter. Coniferous trees on the north side will protect your home from cold winter winds.
-- Canwest News Service
Renovation & Design
Green driveway cuts pollution
OSHAWA, Ont. -- It's the latest thing in high-tech driveways, replacing that ugly black asphalt with an environmentally-friendly substitute that filters out impurities and keeps salt, sealants and other noxious chemicals out of municipal sewer systems.Just be sure to keep it watered, weeded and mowed.
That's right, the solution to paved driveways -- which serve to funnel all manner of toxins directly into the environment -- just might be the grass right next to it.
Passersby on Copperfield Road in Oshawa, Ont., have been doing double-takes since Marshall Homes recently installed a grass driveway for a model home that's decked out with a number of environmentally-friendly features.
"People were standing there thinking we were nuts when we first came here," said company president Craig Marshall.
"But then they see it looks really nice; it softens the look of the house, taking away the black driveway."
Not even heavy trucks and SUVs -- environmentally-friendly hybrids only, please -- will rip up or flatten the grass, thanks to a plastic support grid that sits just below the surface and absorbs the pressure of vehicles.
It's a technology that's been around for several years, but most installations in Canada have been in business settings and very few homeowners even realize it's an option. Now, with Canadians more concerned than ever about the environment, Marshall figures its time has come.
Grass driveways help to protect the environment by absorbing and reducing runoff going into the sewers, Marshall said, preventing things like driveway sealants, oil, salt, and car care products from going down the drain.
"It's all about water infiltration into the ground instead of running out onto the street and down into our sewers and into our lakes and rivers," he said.
"The more groundwater you can keep on the site, the less damage it's going to do to the environment and the habitats of fish and things in the rivers and lakes."
Marshall said the only major unknown about the grass driveway is how it will survive a cold, snowy winter, so he's not yet making it an option in his new homes until it can be fully tested.
"What we're planning to do is keep (the grass) low and use a snowblower on it and see how that works out and at the end of the winter we'll reassess," he said.
"We want to know how much maintenance it's going to take over the longer term versus an asphalt driveway, but one thing we do know is you won't have to spray it with tar every year, so that's one benefit."
Rick Cavallero of Invisible Surfaces, a company based out of Colorado that sells similar grass driveway technology, said snow isn't a problem for the surface, although constant traffic is.
He recommends that customers not go in and out of the same spot more than four or five times a day if they want their grass to last.
"It's not for every day, in and out constantly, because you're going to wear out the turf," Cavallero said.
But you shouldn't leave a vehicle parked on the grass for days on end either, he added.
"If you leave a car parked on it and it can't get sun for days at a time the grass will yellow out," he said. "It is turf, after all."
The cost of a grass driveway is estimated to be about $10 a square foot, which is a little less than an interlock driveway but about five times the cost of a standard driveway, Marshall said.
One environmentally-unfriendly element of the grass driveway is the extra water usage needed to keep it healthy, but Marshall said other water-saving upgrades in the company's model home more than compensate.
In addition to low-flow toilets, shower heads and faucets installed throughout the house, a special tank housed in the basement takes the water used during showers and baths and reroutes it to be used in the toilets.
"If this water wasn't coming from (showers and baths) it'd be coming from Lake Ontario, going through a treatment plant and then pumped all the way up to north Oshawa, consuming a lot of electricity along the way," he said.
The only drawback is the toilet water can end up being a little soapy, he said, but it's otherwise a "brain-dead simple way to save 30 per cent of your water usage and sewage usage."
There are also energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs in sockets throughout the home and all the paint is recycled with low levels of volatile organic compounds.
-- Canadian Press