Decentralisation and redundancy
I want to minimise the number of single points of failure in my life.
Yesterday, my car broke and this leaves me all but stuck in my village. Back when sevenstring lived here we were a two-car household, which almost completely eliminated that problem. Barring sudden and unexpected improvements in public transport, I can see only four options:
For hot water I only have an immersion heater and a kettle; I can't shower with a kettle. This means a broken immersion heater is a problem that needs fixing on a timescale of days, not weeks.
I depend on electricity for warmth. Although the central heating is gas, electricity is needed to move the heat around the house: without electricity none of my methods for generating heat will work.
Although Internet access isn't actually essential, I'm conscious of the fact that without electricity I'd spend a lot of time reading a book by torchlight around here. I also have no way of refrigerating or freezing food without electricity.
Oh, and my contingency food supply in the house is largely bread-making ingredients, which aren't much use without a breadmaker and electricity to run it. While I can at a pinch make dough by hand the oven is also electric.
Electricity is a very significant single failure point. I keep being tempted to invest in a small petrol generator to serve as a back-up power source, especially as it might come in handy for other purposes too. But the number of fixed appliances I'd want it to power is such that I'd probably want a proper generator inlet and throw switch so I could power the entire house from it.
I can do without gas; I have fan heaters.
Water? I have bottled water for drinking and my house is old enough to have a cold-water tank in the roof. This puts me in a better situation than most.
I have both landline and mobile telephony. I should probably get 3G internet connectivity some time, too.
I scrapped my credit card because the temptation to spend on it was too great, but I miss having a second line of credit in case my current account ever becomes unavailable for any reason.
Obviously, a redundant spare job isn't an option, though having a few useful leads for places I could work is always handy, as is having money in the bank.
What else?
This leads me on to another thing that's been bugging me: why does my house have centralised water heating and centralised hot-air heating? Is that more energy-efficient for some reason; is such a system cheaper to install? Is it just that the idea of running gas pipes all around the house to numerous individual heaters is scary on safety grounds? The Wikipedia article on central heating just says "if a building does need fully heating, combustion central heating offers a more environmentally friendly solution than electric-air central heating or than other direct electric heating devices", which compares apples with oranges and doesn't quite answer the question. Similarly, the trend now is towards on-demand hot water systems, but why - apart from wanting to continue using existing plumbing, gas and electricity - have just one rather than one per tap?
Following the Wikipedia link to the passive house concept, my main thought is "so what happens when the ventilation system breaks down or loses power?". I suppose the answer is that one opens some windows, but then the house lacks sufficient heating capacity. And not only do I share the concern about bedrooms needing to be cooler than other rooms, I also note that the ideal temperature for various rooms will change through the day - I want the bathroom warmer when getting out of the shower, for example, and the kitchen cooler when cooking.
Hmm.
I wonder when the housing market will recover?
Yesterday, my car broke and this leaves me all but stuck in my village. Back when sevenstring lived here we were a two-car household, which almost completely eliminated that problem. Barring sudden and unexpected improvements in public transport, I can see only four options:
- Own a car with unimpeachable reliability that is completely immune to the risk of theft, vandalism or accident.
- Have a second car.
- Know how to get a spare car delivered to my house on demand at any time of the day or night.
- Move somewhere that's nearer Cambridge and/or has better public transport.
For hot water I only have an immersion heater and a kettle; I can't shower with a kettle. This means a broken immersion heater is a problem that needs fixing on a timescale of days, not weeks.
I depend on electricity for warmth. Although the central heating is gas, electricity is needed to move the heat around the house: without electricity none of my methods for generating heat will work.
Although Internet access isn't actually essential, I'm conscious of the fact that without electricity I'd spend a lot of time reading a book by torchlight around here. I also have no way of refrigerating or freezing food without electricity.
Oh, and my contingency food supply in the house is largely bread-making ingredients, which aren't much use without a breadmaker and electricity to run it. While I can at a pinch make dough by hand the oven is also electric.
Electricity is a very significant single failure point. I keep being tempted to invest in a small petrol generator to serve as a back-up power source, especially as it might come in handy for other purposes too. But the number of fixed appliances I'd want it to power is such that I'd probably want a proper generator inlet and throw switch so I could power the entire house from it.
I can do without gas; I have fan heaters.
Water? I have bottled water for drinking and my house is old enough to have a cold-water tank in the roof. This puts me in a better situation than most.
I have both landline and mobile telephony. I should probably get 3G internet connectivity some time, too.
I scrapped my credit card because the temptation to spend on it was too great, but I miss having a second line of credit in case my current account ever becomes unavailable for any reason.
Obviously, a redundant spare job isn't an option, though having a few useful leads for places I could work is always handy, as is having money in the bank.
What else?
This leads me on to another thing that's been bugging me: why does my house have centralised water heating and centralised hot-air heating? Is that more energy-efficient for some reason; is such a system cheaper to install? Is it just that the idea of running gas pipes all around the house to numerous individual heaters is scary on safety grounds? The Wikipedia article on central heating just says "if a building does need fully heating, combustion central heating offers a more environmentally friendly solution than electric-air central heating or than other direct electric heating devices", which compares apples with oranges and doesn't quite answer the question. Similarly, the trend now is towards on-demand hot water systems, but why - apart from wanting to continue using existing plumbing, gas and electricity - have just one rather than one per tap?
Following the Wikipedia link to the passive house concept, my main thought is "so what happens when the ventilation system breaks down or loses power?". I suppose the answer is that one opens some windows, but then the house lacks sufficient heating capacity. And not only do I share the concern about bedrooms needing to be cooler than other rooms, I also note that the ideal temperature for various rooms will change through the day - I want the bathroom warmer when getting out of the shower, for example, and the kitchen cooler when cooking.
Hmm.
I wonder when the housing market will recover?