helwen

Doctor, I have this recycling problem.... Some info on ecopsychology, something kind of new I think...

So, one of the things I sometimes write about (and of course think about!) is different ways to insulate one's living space, in order to use less fuel/power. As I've been wandering the internet looking for more info on various things, I've finally come across a few terms that are being used by other people (commercial and environmental types): "superinsulation" and "passive survivability". So, a couple new search terms...

Although really, "superinsulation" should be thought of more as "proper insulation". Cheap energy made it possible to spend less on construction of homes and offices. Major storms like the one back in '98 in the U.S. Northeast, and the storms this winter/spring that crossed the U.S. West-Midwest and up into Canada have shown quite clearly how inadequate a lot of modern construction is when people don't have power for several days. "Passive survivability" is the ability of buildings to be habitable for several days, winter or summer, without power.

As fossil fuel/power prices continue to increase, folks who can figure out ways to increase the insulation of their homes would be wise to do so, regardless of whether or not they think they'll ever suffer from a power outage.

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I've been thinking about how to do 'superinsulation' as a combination of regular insulation materials (future place, not here in the apartment). I found out through Builditsolar.com's sundry pages about the Mooney Wall and also that cellulosic insulation is more effective than fiberglass insulation.

But I was also thinking about adding floor-to-ceiling cabinets on exterior walls wherever possible. Then I could store all our off-season clothing, fabric, blankets, SCA clothing, etc. in these cabinets, and that would be another layer of insulation as well as being storage space. If we felt that it were necessary, we could also hang a curtain in front of the cabinets, as one further layer of air trapping -- just step inside the curtain, go through whichever cabinet(s) to get what you need, then back out into the main space -- visually uncluttered that way too. Even a light-weight light-colored curtain would work, as anyone who's raised a window shade knows, on a very hot or cold day!

I like the idea of the light-colored curtain because it's better on dark days and/or at night, and with the curtains I could angle the sides that are near windows so that the light would reflect off the curtains and into the room, instead of being more constricted by the right angles: \___/ instead of |___|

Of course some space in the room gets lost to the curtain space, but I suppose that might be incentive to have less stuff... (back to the Japanese aesthetic there...)

If we were going to stay in the apartment longer, I'd probably work harder at tailoring our furniture to fit the spaces between the windows better... well, maybe I will anyway, just a bit at a time. We're likely to be here through next winter after all. It's just that some things work better/more easily if you can make them permanent.