Shivers of Winters Past October 23, 2008
Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs , 5 commentsI was born in the early 1970s. I remember putting extra sweaters on for bed and having extra blankets for those cold, Western New York nights. We kept the thermostat at 65 and tried to conserve oil. At school, we would turn off the lights in the hallways during the daylight hours if possible. Class rooms always ran with half lights. Our area never did the February vacations, but other northern schools took a week from Spring Vacation and stuck it in February to not have to heat the buildings that week.
In the 80s and 90s, we were able to kick that puppy up to 70! Or in my parents’ case, 75 (yes, they are both on blood thinners, why do you think they moved south?) The sweaters were shed, the houses were cozy and all was good with our $0.89 per gallon gas.
Fast forward to today. Jay and I had gas inserts installed in both fireplaces. This reduces the drafts down the chimneys and these heaters are both beautiful and warm. The one upstairs can warm the main living area, but barely reaches our bedroom. The downstairs one can raise the temperature of the room from 66 to 72 in 45 minutes! They both radiate and are far more energy efficient than our furnace. So, we turn on the fireplaces as needed when we are home. Right now, we are keeping the house thermostats at 66. I sleep in long sleeves.
Most of my friends around here just turned on the heaters when we had the first frost. People who get oil have locked in a max price of the oil at $3.60-$4.00 a gallon. In 1999, Jay and I locked in $1.25 a gallon and were disgusted with oil prices then. (tanks are 175 gallons assume 2-3 fill ups a year if you are good at conserving.) We’re on natural gas (that’s how we could get the fireplace inserts). We don’t have to worry about the oil thing, but gas prices are through the roof too!
Why was the world so short sighted the last time we had this issue? Why did we not start working hard on alternative energy solutions then? Why did we have to wait 20 years until the 90s and the environmentalist movements? Just think, if we had started in the early 1970s, the technology would be 35 years old now! (assume a 3 year lead time). The advancements become exponential at some point.
We’ve looked into solar, wind, and geothermal for our house. The last one is out unless we switched our entire heating system from water baseboard to forced hot air. Solar may only work in summer as we have tall trees to the south. And wind seems feasible, but we would need to see what small wind stations are available for our area.
But for now, we bundle up and shiver as I did as a kid.
What is your heating solutions? What are you doing this winter?
If you’re in the south where this isn’t an issue, think about the summer…how do you cool then?
