Being young and impressionable during the 70’s energy crisis, I learned early to conserve. Solar power would change the world, though the cost/efficiency quotient hadn’t reached its peak. I don’t think we’re there yet, but solar and wind generation are getting a strong hold.
It’s hard not to spot a wind farm driving across the country. The big turbines turn and generate power through renewable energy. If you’re in the Southwest, you’ll probably see huge structures of solar panels. To me, this is fantastic use of technology with responsibility.
When the crew of Fawkes lived land bound, we had geothermal heating and cooling. The down side is that supply and demand haven’t made this an economical option unless you have seven to ten years to recoup your cost. I guarantee, we recouped our cost and would have continued to benefit had we stayed put. The interested buyers of our home thought we were lying when they looked at our utility bill. It was easy enough for them to check with the local supplier. They are surely reaping the rewards of our forward thinking.
From the early days of sailing, crews learned to be self sufficient in their needs. They stayed put when the wind didn’t blow and learned to conserve what they had.
Sailing today has taken on a higher level of technology, demanding higher levels of power. We have engines to propel us when the wind doesn’t blow. We have electronic charts to guide us as we steer. We power computers, refrigeration, microwaves, and washing machines. There isn’t a creature comfort of home we have to live without if we choose.
Yet, aboard Fawkes we have simplified our existence. Where we could do without, we have. There’s no air conditioning or heating. The water heater won’t be replace as we don’t tend to be in climates where a hot shower is needed and it only works when the engine is going. We’ve reduced our need for electricity by changing all lights to LED. I hear this is taking over in homes as well. What a smart idea.
Our solar panels supply us with virtually 100% of our needs.
Now, let’s talk water. If you turn on the faucet, you get water, right? Not always on a sailboat. Fawkes carries 200 gallons, obviously, a finite amount. In order to get water out of the tank, you either have to pump by hand, or have an electrical pump. (We can’t get away from power altogether.) Plus, you can’t just fill your tanks with all that water you’re floating in. Nope. If you want to drink salt water, you first have to desalinate. This takes a minimum of two pumps and a pressure tube that disposes a huge amount of water overboard for a minimal amount of crystal clean water in your tanks. More power!
Currently, we use two five-gallon jerry cans to bucket water from a source on land to the boat. So, just to make myself clear, this would mean twenty trips to shore to top off a 200 gallon supply. It’s way easier in the states to just pull up to a dock and load the boat with city water.
The bottom line: conservation is key. When brushing our teeth, showering or washing dishes, we turn off the water unless absolutely necessary. We’ve been known to wash dishes with salt water, then rinse with a squirt bottle of fresh water.
You may ask, how can we be happy with such sacrifices?. I’ll tell you they aren’t sacrifices at all, just good common sense in a planet that needs a bit of energy crisis mentality once again, before we get to critical mass.
Our motto on the boat is: “We’re not camping, this is our home.” We don’t scrimp on many things, we’ve just learned to be a bit more clean and green with our surroundings.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go put the sails, turn off the engine and see where the wind takes me.
Without changing your life much, how can you think clean and green?
Bravo for the crew of the Fawkes. I think we all need to do more to conserve. It does seem more of a change of habit and not sacrife. (Plus a bit of andventure tossed in.) Not sure DH could live with out his 20-30 minute HOT shower. 🙁 How come I can be in and out in less than 10? I can even shower, shampoo and shave in same time? LOL
Carol, it’s really not hard to conserve. If you think small and simple all the time, you’d be amazed how much you save.
LOVE this post!! It’s amazing and so thoughtful and timely. At home, we have switched to LED throughout and we try to remember to turn off lights and electronics when not in use. We also switched to programable thermostats so we heat our home when we are there. I could definitely improve on water conservation when brushing my teeth etc.
Your sailing conservation reminds me of when we are at the camp. Yes we have power via a generator but the nearest store for gas is a 45 minute drive so we conserve power when we can. No generator at night or in the mornings or when we are just laying around reading. We have to bring our water with us in 5 gallon jugs so water conservation is key. It’s nice though. It feels good to conserve and work smarter. We could definitely bring some of those lessons home!
Natalie, I would expect we both practice the same things, especially when you’re at the camp. LED’s are terrific. A bit pricey, but well worth the energy savings. I can’t wait till supply and demand catches up.
Great post Nancy! Iowa is covered with wind turbines as well….and I hear they’ll be making smaller ones for personal use soon. We definitely do the conserve on water part as we have a shallow well at our farm. We keep our heat low to save on propane and on really cold days supplement it with an electric heater. Our first year on the farm we spent a fortune trying to keep warm! Lots of lessons learned, and we will get even greener as we go along.
Carrie, I think in the right places wind turbines are great. We chose not to add them to Fawkes because of the noise and moving parts. Can’t repair what you can’t get parts for. We chose solar and they’re working great.
What a fine example you are setting for all of us. Posts like these are so important as they prove how everyone can make adjustments without dramatically altering their lifestyle. Keep on talking about this!
Patricia, you are so right and I’d be happy to put up more Lean and Green posts. Stay tuned.
Your lifestyle changes are really interesting to me because we made a lot of adjustments when we moved to the country six years ago. Like you, we made decisions about what we could live without, reduce, and omit. It’s a process with a learning curve, at least for us.
We scaled up in a sense, going from a small urban plot in a large city to acreage in a rural area. By no means have we “homesteaded” but we’ve explored a lot of old-fashioned ideas about living within our means and reducing our impact on the environment and our reliance on city/county services.
Small steps and tiny savings, collectively produce dramatic results. Every little bit matters.
Lesann you are so right. There’s a bit of trial and error with every change we make, but none of them are hard. If we each did a small part, we’d be going a long way to helping conserve this precious planet.