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Night sky, Sunshine Coast.
November 21, 2008
Putting my leaky home in a good light
Posted by Nola Poirier
I feel I might have been blogging my new home in a bad light instead of dwelling on the positive features, like the golden sunglow that fills my kitchen each day. But before I expound the virtues of my home’s brighter side, I want to talk about the dark.
About the night
The north Sunshine Coast has some the blackest nights I’ve ever seen. My first night here, it seemed as though I had been submerged in a deep pool of water with only tiny specks of white light visible way up at the surface. Now that most of the foliage has dropped from the bushes and fruit trees, I can see the neighbours’ lights from my house, but a few paces toward the back of our lot, and I am swallowed again in warm black blindness, with only the stars revealing direction.
It isn’t just out here on the farm either. I read an article in one of the local papers that said Powell River is known for its dark nights. It’s something I instantly took civic pride in. Coming from Vancouver, where entire empty buildings are often lit overnight, it is a welcome change to live in a place with so little night lighting.
Dark nights aren’t only valuable for starstruck lovers and games of hide and seek. In dark areas, moths will focus on the important work of night pollination instead of perilously carousing around lightbulbs. As well, artificial light interferes with birds’ stellar navigation, causing them to mistake lights for direction indicators, often with deadly results. And natural light and dark cycles keep our own hormonal rhythms in balance, lowering stress levels, and increasing overall health.
Dark nights have other important benefits as well. Fewer lights on in buildings mean that less energy is being used, lightening the load on our power grid, and reducing the need for more energy generation.
Turn it off, please
Turning off unnecessary lights is a free and easy way to start reducing energy use.
My husband used to be terrible at this. I could follow his trail around the house by the lights he left on: porch light where he took his shoes off, living room light as he walked through, kitchen light when he looked for a snack, bathroom, basement, bedroom. At times it was so bad I thought he was just doing it to try to get a rise out of me, but he swore he wasn’t.
He's started making a real effort lately because he's realized how leaving a few extra lights on might not seem like a big energy use on its own, but it adds up quickly if you think of all the houses in B.C., each with just an extra light on, or two.
Many businesses are bad night lighting culprits. Business owners can cut down by putting fewer lights on each switch to keep from lighting a huge area for one person or task, and by training their staff, particularly night cleaning staff, to light only the areas they need.
For homes as well as businesses, making a few simple changes like installing motion sensors and timers on outdoor lights, and switching incandescent bulbs for CFLs or LEDs, can make a huge difference, helping save money and energy (as well as birds and moths). Check out BC Hydro’s Green Your Home or Green Your Business lighting guides for more ways to reduce your light energy use.
About the day
But I said I wanted to talk about the brighter side of my house – that’s the south side.
When you approach this house from the street, it seems like it was put on the lot backwards. The bedroom and bathroom windows face the front, and the kitchen is on the far side. When I bought it, the home inspector suggested it might have been built in the original Powell River townsite, and have been moved here years later. But I have a copy of the original survey map of this property from 1923. Since the land had already been subdivided before 1929, when the house was likely built, my husband is certain that the original cedar structure (which makes up most of our house) was built right here.
Whether this house was built in place, or whether it came from somewhere else remains a mystery I may never resolve, but what I have started to unravel is the wisdom behind its positioning. The bedrooms face east, allowing the morning sun to gently filter in (although these days it filters in a little too late to rely on as a wake up call), and the kitchen faces south, gathering heat and light all day in the winter, but shaded in the summer by a fruit tree that stands to the southwest.
Living without much of a heat source has made me acutely aware of heat gain as well as heat loss. And the encroaching winter has made me acutely aware of each hour of natural daylight. Working at my computer in this kitchen has given me new appreciation for the potential of solar light and heat gains. Most days I can sit in the kitchen in comfort – that's my sunlit face in the photo above – as it gets up to a similar temperature as a (conservatively) heated home, and I don’t need to use any lights until the sun sinks low.
Southern exposure is key for passive heating in the northern hemisphere winter, yet exposure directly to the south doesn’t have to be hot in the summertime. The seasonal variability in the angle of the sun means it will be low in the sky in winter, allowing warmth and light to stream in the windows, but the high summer sun can easily be shaded by planting a tree or other vegetation, or using a well placed awning or screen to shade your windows from unwanted heat gains.
It’s not always possible to have southern exposure, but it is always beneficial to look on the bright side, and make the most of the light you do receive, from whatever angle.
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
