Nuclear myths and truths

wyoDreamer said:
I was watching a show on public television that was analyzing the old mansions of the south and how they were built for those hot summer days. The reason for hte large porches was to provide overhangs so the sun couldn't shine directly into the house and heat it up. The windows were large so they could open them up and get alot of air flow, and they had the windows on the roofs that could be opened to let the heat out.
But I bet they still had problems sleeping on those hot, steamy nights.
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Our house in North Carolina built in 1899 had hooks overtop of the large windows. Not for blinds but to hang damp pieces of burlap to cool the room. Talking about a swamp cooler - :\. I left all the hooks when I remodeled, just because they were cool :)
 
Yes! Years ago when our a/c went kaput, I put damp towels over a couple box fans and that helped cool the room. My husband hated it, complained that it was humid. Well, yeah...but it's a cooler humid. It made it tolerable until the a/c guy could get here.
 
@Lazy Gardener - I bought a couple of books when I researched solar power. Your welcome to them if you feel they will help you. After reading and calculating I came to the conclusion that solar is not worth the cost and hassle. But if you want them send me a conversation with your address and I'll drop them in the mail to you.
 
Getting back on topic... I still stand by my original thought. If nuclear were safe we all would have a mini nuclear generator in our back yard, supplying all of our energy needs. But its not safe, far from being safe, so no free power/heat for you.
 
Also I wanted to mention... I had a friend in North Carolina who heated his wood shop with an array of soda/beer can heaters. It did a good job too. General idea is here --->
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Soda-Can-Heater/

He also used the same basic design but with large diameter copper pipe painted flat black to supplement hot water to his hot water heater for his house.

Truth is there are lots we could do to help reduce our dependency on the grid but I guess it's just to convenient to flip a switch and pay the monthly bills.
 
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I would like to try a solar pre-heater for the hot water heater - especially if we go with a on-demand hot-water heater. It would mostly be fore summer though, since we have freezing temps during winter.
 
Thanks, @CrealCritter for the offer of the books. But, if I decide to do some DIY, I'll go to the net, or to the library. But, if you want to send a link to the book(s) that you thought were most helpful, that would be great.
 
I've seen the soda can heaters. The "mount to the side of the house" heater was designed with that "technology". I could envision mounting one under each of the 2 S facing bedroom windows. Hubby might not go for that. He's much more conventional than I am. Concerned about how things look. BUT, he'd certainly like to see that end of the house being a lot warmer in the winter, while cutting our fuel consumption.
 
One thing we could do to cut power consumption: put all appliances that have that "always on" feature on a power strip so they can easily be turned off when not in use. Do a walk through and see how many LED lights shine in your home at night. You'd be surprised. Granted, they may not draw much juice. But... NO electricity use over an 8-16 hour period is better than SOME use over the same period. We don't need those LED's while we're sleeping. And a lot of people are at work during the day, leaving their homes empty for an other 8 - 10 hours.
 
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