This Business About Trying to Be Green Can Be Complicated

The cathedral ceiling adds to the heating costs of our house.

We have been working at home for a while to reduce our carbon footprint. We are improving piping work and gradually purchasing energy efficient equipment. Also remove most things with an electric timer that runs even when turned off.

We are also adjusting the lighting, but we are still not satisfied. Compact fluorescent lamps consume less power than incandescent lamps, but they contain mercury and can pose health risks both at home and in landfills.

This environment-friendly business can be complex.

However, I am convinced that the ceiling of the cathedral in the living room is not good.

There is a large living room to use as an office / greenhouse. It's just a Sumiden bigger than 23 & # 39; X 14 & # 39 ;. It is a large room and the cathedral ceiling rises about 17 high with a central beam. There are a lot of volumes that must be heated. We are so cheap that we cannot pay for it.

It was nice yesterday but it was an icy spring day and the room temperature was refreshing 54 degrees. To make it more comfortable, I had to set fire on a comfortabletable stove.

In our climate, there is the heat of an electric baseboard that is not just the job of heating the room. Even on a summer day, it may not exceed 60 degrees here. Set the baseboard heat to keep the temperature above 50 degrees so that the pipe does not freeze in winter.

We don't want to pay for anything else because it's too expensive. In addition to paying electricity bills, we also buy a wood stove buy. Despite the relatively high energy efficiency of the house, it is ridiculous. The last frost day for gardening is May 15th. It is always snowing except in July and August.

Rooms get good passive solar on sunny days, but can be extremely cold on cloudy winter days.

The cathedral ceiling is not functioning. On cool days, you can't really make a room comfortable without burning a lot of cash.

Not only for us, but also for the earth.

We are seriously considering lowering the ceiling to 10 feet and insulating the attic to make it more comfortable and comfortable. Creating a barrel-shaped safe along the line of an existing beam is very easy.

It is also used as a plant room for growing herbs and other ingredients. There are also some avocado trees, tropical plants that require temperatures above 40 degrees.

You can add a bookshelf with a door inside the exterior wall to isolate the room from cool temperatures and make it more comfortable.

Having additional storage helps to insulate the room and reduce heating costs.

If you can increase the energy efficiency of your existing home, you don't need to move or consider building another home. It is the same as other recycling. That is good for the earth.