Dreaming about going natural all the way
I've been doing some googling lately and came across quite a few blogs that i've been reading for inspiration for living a more down to earth, back to nature, self sufficient life.
These are some that i've found.
http://ahandmadelife.blogspot.com/
flowoflove.blogspot.com
http://satisfying-journey.blogspot.com/
http://starcooked.blogspot.com/
http://ourunschooledfamily.blogspot.com/
http://wildconcoctions.blogspot.com/
Anyhow, so that last blog I found mentioned something about solar cooking. Says I to myself "Hrmm, whats that?" I do a little googling and come up with this website. solarcooking.wikia.com Basically what solar cooking is- making an "oven"- generally very simple- that uses the energy of the sun to cook food.
Seeing as israel has a REALLY strong sun and i've already experienced the sun "accidentally cooking" the fish i set outside to defrost, i figured I want to make a solar cooker myself. It won't save a TON of money on electricity or gas, but i'm sure over time it'll add up. And if i'm able to make all my food in the sunny summer months this way, i assume it WILL save a lot of money on gas and electricity.
I got two very simple ways of making solar cookers. One involves a windshield protector from a car as well as a pot, a BBQ grate and a cooking bag to make this:
Someone else wrote about using their old freezer and an old glass door to make a box solar cooker. Seeing as we have an empty broken refrigerator living in our backyard now doing nothing, I figure we can easily make a solar box cooker out of that as well.. I'd just need to get a glass to cover it and paint the interior black (not necessary, but would make it work better.) I assume that by posting on jerusalemfreecycle yahoo group i'll be able to find an old car windshield protector and a large piece of glass to cover my old fridge by the time the seasons change enough that we'll be having mostly sun instead of the mostly cloudy and raining that we're having now.
I can just imagine the shailos (questions) i'd have to ask a rav (rabbi) about the milk/meat status of such a solar oven.
I assume the glass door/old fridge solar box oven works for the same reason you're not allowed to keep kids in closed cars that are off- enclosed places with glass windows that are left in the sun apparently reach high enough temperatures to kill someone ch'v, so those temperatures are also high enough to cook in, lehavdil.
We've also been doing some dreaming about some other energy conservation/self reliancy ideas, that don't seem very realistic at the moment but maybe in the future when we own a place. I'd love to have our sunny/windy location have its energy utilized to have wind/solar energy. I wonder if there is a way to make our own "windmill" to convert this insane amount of wind into electricity to utilize.
We were reading up about something called earthships. Sounds weird, I know, but the ideas are even more revolutionary than the name. Earthships are houses that are basically self sufficient and environmentally friendly. Made out of old tires and cement as their building materials, these houses utilize the sun and wind's energy for its electricity use, collect rainwater and purify it and reuse it in a specially designed system, and are built in such a way that they dont need heating/cooling in extreme temperatures. I'd love to build one one day- i'd have to see about the costs and feasibility, but perhaps we'd be able to build one when someone will give us money for a down payment for an apartment, as this person said he/she would in due time... If we'd have one, that would mean no more utility bills ever. Just imagine!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship
Would you ever live in a house like an earthship? Or is that just too "weird" and hippyish for you? Do you use any other types of alternative energy?
These are some that i've found.
http://ahandmadelife.blogspot.com/
flowoflove.blogspot.com
http://satisfying-journey.blogspot.com/
http://starcooked.blogspot.com/
http://ourunschooledfamily.blogspot.com/
http://wildconcoctions.blogspot.com/
Anyhow, so that last blog I found mentioned something about solar cooking. Says I to myself "Hrmm, whats that?" I do a little googling and come up with this website. solarcooking.wikia.com Basically what solar cooking is- making an "oven"- generally very simple- that uses the energy of the sun to cook food.
Seeing as israel has a REALLY strong sun and i've already experienced the sun "accidentally cooking" the fish i set outside to defrost, i figured I want to make a solar cooker myself. It won't save a TON of money on electricity or gas, but i'm sure over time it'll add up. And if i'm able to make all my food in the sunny summer months this way, i assume it WILL save a lot of money on gas and electricity.
I got two very simple ways of making solar cookers. One involves a windshield protector from a car as well as a pot, a BBQ grate and a cooking bag to make this:
Someone else wrote about using their old freezer and an old glass door to make a box solar cooker. Seeing as we have an empty broken refrigerator living in our backyard now doing nothing, I figure we can easily make a solar box cooker out of that as well.. I'd just need to get a glass to cover it and paint the interior black (not necessary, but would make it work better.) I assume that by posting on jerusalemfreecycle yahoo group i'll be able to find an old car windshield protector and a large piece of glass to cover my old fridge by the time the seasons change enough that we'll be having mostly sun instead of the mostly cloudy and raining that we're having now.
I can just imagine the shailos (questions) i'd have to ask a rav (rabbi) about the milk/meat status of such a solar oven.
I assume the glass door/old fridge solar box oven works for the same reason you're not allowed to keep kids in closed cars that are off- enclosed places with glass windows that are left in the sun apparently reach high enough temperatures to kill someone ch'v, so those temperatures are also high enough to cook in, lehavdil.
We've also been doing some dreaming about some other energy conservation/self reliancy ideas, that don't seem very realistic at the moment but maybe in the future when we own a place. I'd love to have our sunny/windy location have its energy utilized to have wind/solar energy. I wonder if there is a way to make our own "windmill" to convert this insane amount of wind into electricity to utilize.
We were reading up about something called earthships. Sounds weird, I know, but the ideas are even more revolutionary than the name. Earthships are houses that are basically self sufficient and environmentally friendly. Made out of old tires and cement as their building materials, these houses utilize the sun and wind's energy for its electricity use, collect rainwater and purify it and reuse it in a specially designed system, and are built in such a way that they dont need heating/cooling in extreme temperatures. I'd love to build one one day- i'd have to see about the costs and feasibility, but perhaps we'd be able to build one when someone will give us money for a down payment for an apartment, as this person said he/she would in due time... If we'd have one, that would mean no more utility bills ever. Just imagine!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship
Would you ever live in a house like an earthship? Or is that just too "weird" and hippyish for you? Do you use any other types of alternative energy?