The Self-Sufficiency Handbook. Alan Bridgewater
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Lights Out
Since most of us have two or more electric lights in every room of our homes, and other lights in and around our homes (closets, hallways, patios, and so on), it makes sense that we could save energy simply by lighting only our own personal spaces. Entire houses do not need to be floodlit. The same goes for the standby lights on all of our electrical equipment (TV, radio, computer, printer, and so on). If you turn these all off until you are ready to use them, you can further reduce energy consumption.
Low-Energy Bulbs
We could change all of our incandescent light bulbs to modern, low-energy options. Studies show that doing so would translate to significant nationwide savings if done on a global scale.
Lighting Levels
At the beginning of the twentieth century, governing bodies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe set standards for lighting public buildings. For example, in 1910, 30 lux (meaning one lumen per square meter times 30) was a good lighting standard. In 1920, they raised the standard to around 200 lux; in 1940, it was more than 300 lux; and so on until the standard climbed to around 1,500 lux. The illogical thing is that a measurement greater than about 350 lux means that we are subjected to too much light. Our forebears were straining their eyes as they tried to read by flickering candlelight, and we are now straining our eyes as we try to read under the glare of millions of light bulbs. Some people even have to wear sunglasses indoors, simply because the lighting levels are too high. If we were to settle for a much lower lighting standard, sticking with the recommended level of about 350 lux, we could cut our electric lighting energy consumption by two-thirds.
An energy-saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb.
Decorative Fixes
Decorate your home with anything that makes the best use of available light, such as white and cream paint, light-colored fabrics, glossy surfaces, and mirrors.
Live by Nature’s Clock
In times past, we more or less got up at dawn and went to bed at sundown. If we got up very early or went to bed very late, we needed some sort of light to illuminate our way. It’s still much the same for many rural communities in developing countries. For example, if you ask people from a village in northern India what they do for lighting when the sun goes down, they will tell you that they are so tired by that time that they opt for going to bed. I am not saying we should all work ourselves to exhaustion so we go to bed earlier and save money on lighting, but we could reshape our lives to achieve a better balance between work, sleep, and play.
Back to the Way it Was
In the early 1970s, we—Gill and I and our two boys—lived for ten years in an isolated farmhouse that was completely off-grid. I cheated slightly at the college where I taught by charging batteries so we could have a limited amount of TV and radio; aside from that, we had no electricity. Our lighting was a mix of candles, oil lamps, and gaslights. There is a lot of pleasure to be had from sitting and talking on a summer evening, gathering around a log fire in winter, or simply going to bed early and reading a book by candlelight. It was relaxing and fun. Of course, we went out every now and then, maybe to the pub or the movies, but of all the things we missed during those ten years, electric lighting was not one of them. I am not suggesting that you cut the power completely; I am saying that you could change your behavior patterns to minimize your lighting needs.
Light tube (cross-section)
Solar Tubes
Solar tubes, also called light tubes, tubular skylights, and sun tunnels (among other nicknames), are cylinders that are mirrored on their internal faces and used to reflect sunlight. They are designed to be installed in the roof. When sunlight strikes the inside face of the top end of the cylinder, the light is reflected and bounces down into the building. A solar tube will of course only work when the sun is shining, or at least in daylight, but it does mean that you can work in a loft, basement, or windowless room without needing lights on all the time.
Water
At the beginning of the twentieth century, most people had a well in the garden or, if they were very lucky, a hand-operated pump in the kitchen, scullery, or outhouse. Lifting buckets from the well, walking back and forth to the local village pump, and pumping water up from the sink to a bucket—the whole business of fetching and carrying water was hard, tedious work.
As such, most people did their best to manage with as little as possible, using only one or two buckets per day for everything, including cooking, washing, and cleaning clothes. It does not sound like much, but remember that toilets at that time were not much more than buckets and jugs. Gradually, over the years, with the introduction of indoor toilets, shower rooms, washing machines, and dishwashers, our daily water usage has grown from two buckets per day to the equivalent of between thirty and sixty.
A rough average is that we each use thirty buckets of water per day, and about one-third of that water, say ten buckets, is used to flush the toilet. To conserve water, we could cut back on using the washing machine, running the dishwasher, and watering the lawn and garden. To create significant savings, it’s plain to see that, more than anything else, we should cut back on flushing the toilet.
Gray Water
Gray water is all of the domestic water from the bath, shower, kitchen, and laundry—in fact, just about any water that is free from feces, urine, or decomposing food matter. Gray water makes up about 50 percent of the total water that we put down the drain. There is no denying that we need to flush the toilet, but we don’t need to do it with top-quality drinking water. If we used gray water to flush our toilets, we would save water and energy on at least two counts: 50 percent of our water costs and 50 percent of our total consumption.
One of the problems with gray water is that it is mostly polluted to some degree with soaps and detergents, which is fine for flushing the toilet, but not so good for putting on the garden. The other difficulty is that gray water soon starts to smell bad.
A simple system for collecting rainwater.
One good, low-cost option is a little bathroom-sink arrangement that fits on top of a low-level toilet system and allows handwashing water to be used to flush the toilet. You use the toilet, flush, and then wash your hands. The next person uses the toilet, uses your washing water to make a flush, and so on. It is a very clever, low-tech solution.
Storing Rainwater
In rural districts, back in the 1930s and 1940s, it was common practice to collect and save rainwater. The rainwater fell onto the roof, the water was collected and sent down a gully, the gully directed the water over a filter bed, and the water soaked down through the filter bed into a tank where it was stored, ready for use inside the house. Using stored rainwater for washing clothes, baths, and flushing