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Tread Lightly, and Leave No Trace.

Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly
and
Leave No Trace.

I repeat this mantra every once in a while, especially when I've judged myself harshly for being wasteful, or for taking more than my share. I have to remember that living respectfully is not about punishment or doing without; for me it's about taking control and doing my best to responsibly enjoy one fair share, one equal portion, of our earth.

In my past, while apartment and condo living, I've been frustrated by my inability to live "lightly". I was determined to make it my ability when we moved to an environment more readily controlled.

Having settled into a house (recently discovered to be built in 1940), our 2007 Energy Efficiency Assessment came with a deadline of 18 months in which to complete whatever retrofits we could afford (in dollars and time), in order to qualify for government grant money.

As the completion deadline approached, I found myself obsessing about calculations - did we spend our money wisely, investing in the improvements which will give us the biggest rebate?; if I quickly weather-strip the back door, will I get $5 more for air-tightness? I had clearly forgotten the point, my own the big picture.
Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly
Further, when we had our tankless water heater installed, I was pretty much ready to plan the holiday we could afford with the $ $ savings it would generate (Molly Johnson, who hosts the weekend morning program on CBC Radio 2, just mentioned having spent her renovation grant money well ahead of (hopefully) receiving it).

Of course, it's not as simple as hooking up an energy meter to the heater and watching the dials spin in reverse, tallying the negative calculations needed to undo my life's energy gulping moments, all the while making me a better person and validating my decision to spend more money each month to rent this miraculous invention. Whew!
Perhaps a little too much to ask of a machine.

Although I had faith in the logic of instantaneous hot water, I needed reassurance; it was time to spreadsheet our gas bills! Both our furnace and the water heater run on gas so it was necessary to cross-reference average outside temperatures to factor in variances in the amount of gas used to heat the house;
So, in spite of the fact that we used more fuel heating the house (our programmable thermostat ensures consistency), our gas bill has still dropped, suggesting less gas used to heat our water. As a safeguard, I also checked our water consumption to ensure we weren't running the tap more, waiting for the water to heat, which wasn't the case;

So, we are definitely treading lighter than we were at the same time a year ago, while still living more luxuriously than most of our global neighbours.

As much as I am happily anticipating our grant money, having spent the money as Molly did, some months ago, I am also pleasantly aware that we've achieved the real reason for undertaking the retrofit; to Tread Lightly.



Just a note to put our water consumption into perspective, as I realize I've taken only a small step toward real conservation;

At 180 litres/day, we're under our regional average of 258 litres/day (a 1999 total, which I've extrapolated for 2009 in which it will exceed 262) and well under B.C.'s average of 550 litres/day (610 in adjusted numbers). However, globally we're certainly letting the tap drip; Africa is at 47 litres/person/day, Asia is 85 litres/person/day, UK is 334 litres/person/day, and, of course, US tops the list consuming 578 litres/person/day (all numbers from 1999 stats)

Now, to Leave No Trace ...

It Takes a Village ....

... to redo our bathroom, apparently

I guess folks were smaller in 1950 because our bathroom is literally one yard wide, from wall to tub edge. Factor in an average sink at 24-28 inches and you're inhaling just to step in. Actually, it's more of a shuffle (beware the door knob).

I've never agreed with the concept of making streets wider because cars are getting bigger and I guess I feel that way about my living space too. Whenever possible, if you've got lemons then make lemonade - don't install a pop machine.

And so we decided to work with the 8ft x 3ft space we had. We wanted something as no-toxic and environmentally sensitive as possible, befitting the age of the house and done with minimal waste. We started to spread the word - we needed help and lots of advice from friends, and patience from ourselves.

I've always been a vinyl shower curtain kinda guy though I was increasingly concerned about the plastic smell that I was always inhaling. Following a suggestion from neighbour Laura, the old curtain was relegated to the garage as a tarp and we found a liner at the $ store made of polyester (polyester is a synthetic polymer made of organic or inorganic compounds). As Laura said, if every hotel in the world uses it, it must be a design that works.
It not only keeps the shower water in the tub and dries quickly on the rod, it's easily laundered and can be hung outside on the line.

In spite of our best efforts searching websites and showrooms, visiting the Habitat Re-Store and various warehouses and junk yards, we couldn't find a small pedestal sink. We wanted one which would originally been in place and would therefore be in scale with the bathroom. Finally, acting on a tip from our friend Robyn, we contacted a place in Toronto's west end called Addison's Inc. and the resulting visit found Laura driving us, and our new sink, back to St. Thomas.

I never liked our medicine chest. We simply didn't have enough products to fill it and the brass and mirrors were too shiny for me. In removing the behemoth I uncovered the original cabinet, recessed into the wall. It was fairly small and the door had been removed but I loved that we were able to use the original shelves; shelves that had once likely held a straight razor or possibly flat blades, tonic, Noxzema, bobby pins.

Our new pal Lisa, who did the majority of our woodworking (baseboards and trim, cutting and fitting the bead board panels, shelf making) and all of the caulking, created a beautiful mirrored door fashioned from a picture frame she stained and sealed. Hinged and equipped with a magnetic closure, the inside of the door is painted grey chalk board for secret messages or reminders.

Our vinyl flooring had done its duty for as long as it could and it was now our obligation to replace it with a healthier choice; healthier being somehow from a renwable source or nontoxic or recycled. After some research and an endorsement from Dan we followed my original instinct and chose Bermuda Blue linoleum. Made from lineseed oil, cork and wood flour, and backed with jute, linoleum (and its young sibling Marmoleum) is still made by following the basic recipe from the 1860's. Up came the plastic floor and in came Nick, the lino guy from Elgin Flooring.

Similar was our approach to the toilet. The old one was from 1978 (every tank has a date stamped in it) and it had become a three-flusher. Not only was it inefficient (I had put bricks in the tank to force it to use less water), it occurred to me I was 15 and watching Charlie's Angels when it was installed so it was definitely due for a sequel. The toilet was removed, along with the old sink and the remaining tiles from the wall (necessitated by the removal of the old vanity) and in came the Carson from Ambrose Plumbing to install our new sink and an efficient, tall toilet (thanks for your help Jackie!).

A few coats of low VOC paint from Mike at Para Paints and our old privy really feels like a beautiful room befitting the house, not just a place with running water to get your business done.

Our bathroom is now efficient and very low in toxins, the holder stocked with 100% recycled toilet paper from Cascades, and our tankless water heater is ready to go; it’s an integral step in the plan to make our home healthy.

So thanks to Laura (especially, but not only, for the RENO cake and use of her bathroom) and Lisa (wow), Robyn, Dan, Nick and Carson, my folks for delivering us dinner and holding their tongues during our speachifying on "recycled this" and "eco that", and to Jackie and Mike.

We now have a beautiful bathroom and will qualify for a $100 rebate for the toilet as part of our Energy Efficiency Evaluation.

Investing in Tomorrow

One of the things that prompted me to quit smoking years ago was my realization that the day would come when I would have to quit.

I stepped out of my denial and stopped doing something I knew wasn’t good for me.

That's pretty much how I feel about the state of our environment; I figure why should I wait for the nasty to happen when I could be proactive and make some changes today that will ease my adjustment to the inevitable?

We've had a few generations now of opting, out of ignorance or laziness, for waste rather than conservation, speed over good stewardship.

Our era of convenience carried a steep price and the planet has begun collecting on our debt. We burned a lot of fuel, quickly cultivated and consumed a lot of inexpensive food, and destroyed countless acres of ecosystems; the very systems we need to help cleanse our toxins.

I think we need to realign our perspective on cost and value.

Today’s organic tomato costs what a tomato would have cost my great-grandmother, long before we could mass/fast grow everything. Organic food is the real cost of responsible agriculture, and it's why we should be willing, whenever possible, to spend a bit more, short term, because the long-term benefit is well worth it.

And so I’ve realized another wish on my Energy Retrofit Master Plan – our tankless water heater.

Viewing our gas bill last month, I noticed an announcement from Reliance for a new lease product, the Rinnai On-Demand Water Heater. Robin made a call and a week later our old tank was taken away as the new system was installed. Hot Water on Demand (we sometimes call it instantaneous hot water) is a tankless system which heats water as you require it buy coiling cold water, through tubes, around a heat source. Our hot water consumption is already pretty low due to the fact that we generally wash our clothes in cold water and have an ultra-conserving front-loading washer, so the amount of gas we'll now be burning will be minimal (with this new generation of systems, there isn’t even a pilot light on when it’s not heating water).

Like our organic tomato, I expect we'll be paying more for our monthly rental fee (up to $31) and, though we can't tell the difference in our day-to-day life, I know it's the kind of change that makes a big difference for the future. To lesson the impact of the installation charge and new monthly fee, we will qualify for $200 in provincial and $200 in federal grant money as part of the Energy Efficiency Evaluation inspection we had last October.


I’m no longer afraid of the future since becoming an active participant in the change that will form it. We should all make our own positive choices today, because we know if we don’t, the choices will be made for us.

I know my grandparents would be proud.

Step 2 of our Inspection; Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report

We have now received our Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report from AmeriSpec and our home is in pretty good shape. On the EnerGuide rating (which lists 0-49 being least efficient, 57 being average and 80-100 being most efficient), we sit at 66, with a goal of reaching 76. Our motivation is ultimately to be as energy efficient as possible (for a variety of reasons) and realistically we need to qualify for as many government grants as we can, to afford the work required.

Our $ incentives, if we follow all recommendations and pass the follow-up inspection;
1) Reduce heat loss -
Drafts; by air sealing (caulking windows and doors, sealing attic hatch, insulating exterior wall electrical outlets, etc.) our goal would be to improve overall efficiency and increase our Energuide rating from 66 to 76 ($150 Prov./$150 Fed.). If we reach 20% better we qualify for an additional $300.
Insulation; basement, full wall and header, to R-24 insulation factor ($600 Prov./$600 Fed.)
Insulation; crawl space below dining room; full wall to R-24 insulation factor, with poly ground barrier ($800 Prov./$800 Fed.). All insulation, which will likely be spray-foam, would cost about $4,500.00 and will require wall studs and dry wall covering as foam cannot be left exposed.
2) Replace windows; we could qualify for $60 per replaced window, if we installed Energy Star windows, but I think we'll try sealing first and evaluate.
3) Low flush toilet; this is a "must do" because we currently have a 3-flusher, if you get my meaning. Install a low or dual flush toilet rated 6L with a performance of 350g or more, which will likely cost around $1,200 to purchase and have installed ($50 Prov./$50 Fed.).
4) Hot water tank; replace current low/mid efficiency gas water tank with high efficiency gas, tankless water heater, costing around $1,200 and which would also solve our chimney problem (it either needs to be re-pointed or be taken down and, unlike our current tank, this type of water heater does not require a chimney) ($200 Prov./$200 Fed.).

Stage 1 of our Energy Retrofit Master Plan is all about making the current structure as environmentally strong as possible. Once the building is solid and efficient, we will commence with Stage 2, which will be a bit more exciting; an alternative heat source (such as a pellet or corn fueled fireplace), solar panels, rechargeable battery bank, wind turbine, grey water recovering...

Heating our water

I've never understood the whole huge-tank-of-hot-water-sitting-in-the-
basement thing. When I was in the UK years ago on business I had my first experience using something called Hot Water on Demand (we sometimes call it instantaneous hot water). This is a tankless system which heats water as we require it buy coiling cold water, through tubes, around a heat source. The water comes out of your tap at the desired temperature, for as long as you require. Our friend Rita, who lives not far from Inverness in northern Scotland, has this type of system as well. In fact I think most of Europe functions quite nicely without having big tanks of water on "warming standby". The most inexpensive option for us right now would be for a gas system (we currently have a gas hot water tank). In fact, no matter how much we reduced our consumption, an electrical tankless system would cost us considerably more to operate. My compromise will have to be a gas system now, which we could later convert to electric and tie into our then operating solar power system. In keeping with our Energy Retrofit Master Plan we would ensure we qualified for the retrofit grants which could entitle us to $400.00.