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December 18, 2008
Holiday thoughts, and a few seasonal green tips
Posted by Nola Poirier
It’s cold and snowy here – perfect festive weather – but I am lying on the couch, taking a short break from working, entertaining my visiting family, holiday baking, and insulating the basement.
It’s my first holiday in my own home and I am excited for it. The snow is falling in fat flakes, making even the blackberry branches arc delicately and bringing a soft hush to the land. My family is here, visiting right now for a few days, and some friends are coming up next week. I have all my recipes ready for rum balls, homemade ginger beer, mulled apple cider, and breakfast muffins made from the fruit I froze after my summer of fruit picking and farmer’s markets.
My own preparations have me reflecting on how much energy people expend at this time of year – cooking, cleaning, entertaining, traveling, gift giving – and how that also equates to using a lot of external energy for cooking, cleaning, decorating, traveling and entertaining.
Just as we don’t want to stress our bodies, we don’t want to stress our energy grid. With that in mind, I collected a few energy-saving tips to share, so we can conserve energy this holiday season and take some of the stress out of our energy bills at the same time.
Food
I have shared some of my home heating saga with this blog and I am happy to report that we have now arrived at a temporary solution, which provides an adequate amount of heat. Nonetheless, any additional heat gain is still noticeable and most welcome. So I was very aware, as I made my first rum balls of the season, just how much heat the warm baking oven adds to a kitchen.
When you are doing your holiday baking, or anytime you have your oven on, remember to turn the thermostat down by a few degrees. You’ll likely find the temperature more comfortable, and it will save money and energy. There are more tips for saving energy while you cook in our appliances guide for cooking.
Some other energy-saving food preparation tips:
- Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator overnight instead of on the counter; this gives your refrigerator a break, saving a significant amount of the energy it requires to keep cool.
- Do most of your baking at once, or in a few sessions, to save heating up the oven repeatedly.
- Keep the oven open for a while after you turn it off to let the heat flow into your home (ensure pets, children and objects are clear of the area first).
- While the kitchen is warm, hang your laundry up to dry instead of putting it in the dryer. It is better for your clothes and saves you energy.
- Stock up on food and other items to save trips by car – and give you more time to spend with friends and family.
- If you’re having a party, keep any second fridges unplugged; instead, store extra drinks in a cooler outside. The cooler will insulate them somewhat from freezing. Note, however, that if the temperature gets much below zero, you can’t leave them out for more than a couple of hours. You can do the same for food items, but store them in covered dishes in an animal-proof area.
Gifts
- When purchasing gifts and other items, consider the energy, and other resources, required for manufacture and disposal of all kinds of goods. The lifecycle of a product includes its manufacturing, packaging and ability to biodegrade or be recycled.
- The gift-giving guide in BC Hydro’s Connected newsletter has many great green gift ideas.
- And check out our guide to green electronics if you are giving electronic gifts.
Lighting and decorations
We have downloaded a permit to go cut a small tree from the nearby power line and I’m stocking up on popcorn to string for decorations. If you decorate with light strings, use LED lights instead of incandescents. This could reduce your holiday lighting energy use by up to 95%. And since they give off less heat, they are safer to use. Check with your local hardware store or other retailer for a light string exchange or recycling program.
- Strips of coloured fabric or glittery ropes are other festive and energy-saving ways to decorate indoors without lights.
- Don’t forget about the resources required for manufacture and disposal. Consider this when selecting decorations, as well as gifts.
Energy-efficient renovations
I had hoped we would be a little further along in our renovations by now, but I suppose that since we both work, and we have a very tight budget after buying this house, I shouldn’t be disappointed. Little by little it will come together.
But I did come up with another truly great energy saving idea:
- When you have your visitors gathered, use the extra hands to help with some of the renovation projects you have going on – like insulating your basement and draftproofing to seal up any leaky cracks.
And, of course, don’t forget to breathe.
I wish you a happy holiday season. Be safe. Be warm. Be merry.
Nola Poirier is a freelance writer and a key contributor to bchydro.com's Green Guides.
Previous posts by Nola Poirier, who lives on the Sunshine Coast:
Source: BC Hydro
