Always Read The Label

In the year 2000 our household decided we had to do something about the ever rising cost of living. Our first step was an electricity audit. We listed  every appliance in the house that used electricity and the power required to run it.

The most amazing discovery we made concerned the two TVs in the house, we had an 18” and a 14” TV. The 18” drew 40 watts, but the 14” drew 60 watts. The bigger TV gave us a bigger picture for less power. It was a valuable lesson, always read the label and ever since when buying electrical appliances we have always checked how much power the machine uses.

This quite simple to do, on the back of all electrical appliances is a label or a plate, the key figure is watts. If watts aren’t there look for volts and amps, multiply volts by amps and you get watts. A 1000 watt appliance will use one kWh or one unit of electricity if ran for one hour.

We replaced the 60 watt 14” TV ten years ago with a 30 watt 14” TV. We got exactly the same service from the new TV but at half the power consumption. Memory fails me and I can’t recall how much we paid for the 30 watt TV, but I am confident the investment made to save that 30 watts has long repaid itself.

We took other measures, like making sure no appliances were left on standby, loading the washing machine fully, turning off lights and constantly thinking about how we were using power. Combined these measures in one month, cut our electricity consumption by one third, from about 300 kWh per month to 200 kWh per month.

In the following months we replaced our light bulbs and other inefficient appliances and continued to think actively about how we used power. Six months later we had reduced our power consumption to about 100 kWh per month. We had exactly the same services but were achieving this with one third the electricity.

New Woodlands in Ireland

Birch Wood

The source of our households firewood is a nearby bog. It was abandoned in the 1960s and since the 1970s a pioneer wood of birch, willow and rowan has grown up. We have been harvesting it for over twenty years. The only practical way to get wood out of these old bogs due to huge bogholes is to carry it by hand onto solid ground. From there it’s moved home on a handcart

Most of our harvest is birch, a good hardwood timber. Not as good as oak but vastly superior to spruce. Birch will not spit in an open fire and is best split when fresh, as it hardens when seasoned. It has a waterproof bark so if left in long poles it will not season it will rot. It is surpassed only by hazel for charcoal making. Howard Hughes monster plane the Spruce Goose was built from birch.

Willow is the second most common wood we harvest. Harder to get at, as it grows in the wettest ground. Like birch it is good hard wood but with a higher moisture content it requires more seasoning. It will not spit in an open fire. In the recent freezing winter weather willow was more accessible as the ground was frozen. The raw material for cricket bats.

Willow cut last winter

Rowan or Mountain Ash is the third kind of wood we harvest, usually found on the higher and dryer ground, it is a poorer quality hardwood. It has a very distinctive aroma.

Harvested sustainably this kind of Irish woodland is capable of producing vast amounts of firewood over many generations. The secret to achieving this is coppicing. Cutting the trees back and letting them sprout again, and repeating the process a decade or two later. When a tree with a developed root system is cut, it shoots very quickly and produces a lot of new timber in a relatively short time. Willow managed this way will give a useful harvest in ten years, birch in twenty.

We cut this section last winter

In Ireland there are literally thousands of acres of scrub willow and birch wood on old bogs. There are many more acres of scrub oak, ash, sycamore and hazel on steep hillsides all over the island. There is also a vast amount of unmanaged forestry planted in recent decades, much of which will be only be suitable for pulping or firewood. In addition there are immense amounts of timber in Ireland’s ditches (hedgerows).

Ireland has one of the best climate on earth for producing timber. We have vast timber reserves suitable for firewood, we have vast amounts of unused labour and we have an energy and economic crisis. How long can we continue to ignore this huge store of potential energy, this store of tangible and real assets.

Willow ready to cut

The Kelly Kettle

I’m onto my third Kelly Kettle (KK). The first was a present from my mother six years ago. When we discovered how efficient it was we threw out the electric kettle and used the KK whenever we needed a small amount of hot water and it was not available from our Stanley range.

Brand new kettle with all accessories

In the winter the range is going every day and evening, so the KK gets a break. But in Spring or Autumn if the day is sunny we don’t need to light a fire till evening, so the KK provides hot water, for tea and coffee.

In the summer we use it many times everyday, not just for boiling water but for cooking. My porridge gets cooked on it every morning; it’s ideal for cooking a few spuds, or a little pasta or rice for a salad. The frying pan will fry an egg and a few sausages. If we want to cook a full dinner we still have to light the range, but some days we get by with just the KK. As we have no immersion heater we also boil water for washing dishes and bodies.

After five years of very heavy use we finally wore out our first KK last year. We bought a new one and it continues to work as hard as it predecessor. If you are a “normal” user who only uses it for leisure pursuits like fishing, you will get decades of use from a KK.

Ready to start cooking
breakfast

I’m off cycle touring with my daughter next week and for cooking and making tea and coffee I’ve just bought a new KK with all the accessories. Ideal for the job as it weights only 1.5 kg.

When ever we travel a long journey by car the KK provides tea and coffee on the road. We’ve taken it to the bog, the wood and the beach. We’ve brewed up in national parks and in urban car parks. If you use bone dry wood and manage it carefully there is no smoke.  I'm off to London in a few weeks with my son, the KK will also be coming. My cousins have even used it in a boat while fishing, they say you get a lot of looks from other anglers when a plume of smoke suddenly rises from a boat out on the lake.

For fuel we use birch wood but just about anything that will burn will do. On the KK website they talk about dried camel dung being used in the desert. No matter where you go you will find suitable fuel.

Breakfast will soon be ready

In the last six years the KK has saved us a lot of money. I have no idea how much and I don’t really care, I just love its elegant simplicity and the fact that I can cook meals and brew my coffee with a few scraps of timber. I also love the fact that I am supporting a great west of Ireland company who have been making a great product for four generations and who are now with the Internet selling it all over the world.

For more information and to order

http://www.kellykettle.com/

For even more information try Youtube and search for “Kelly Kettle”. 

My Friend Stanley

The best money I ever spent was buying our Stanley Number 8 range. We got it second hand ten years ago for 280 euros, from a woman who was getting rid of it and replacing it with an oil burner. This machine supplies our household with all most all of its space heating, water heating and cooking.

Our house is a passive solar building so the sun provides a good deal of space heat. We have no electric water heaters, immersion or kettle, so all our hot water comes from the Stanley, except what comes from our Kelly Kettle. We have no other means of cooking except the Stanley.

For fuel we use birchwood that we cut about half a mile from home, on an abandoned bog. Due to the kindness of our neighbours we do not have to pay for this wood, except the fuel to cut it and the labour to haul it out and get it home. At last years oil prices it cost about eight euros worth of oil to cut a years supply of timber. We draw the timber home on a handcart.

I have never counted how many hours labour it takes to cut, draw, chop and stack a years supply of firewood, but it’s a lot. However I don’t mind, it keeps us fit, get us out in the open air and is a way for our children to make a real contribution to the households wealth.

Our Kelly Kettle

Of course the Stanley has to be lit and fed, ashes have to be emptied and every few weeks it needs cleaning. But it allows us to heat our house, heat our water and cook our food at an annual cash cost of only 8 euros.

Yes it takes a lot hard work, but then so does earning the money to buy a tank of heating oil. And if oil prices double it takes twice as much labour to buy the tank of oil. It will still require the same amount of labour to save a years supply of firewood, so in this regard our household is protected from the perils of fuel price inflation.

Our Handcart

Kelly Kettles available from http://www.kellykettle.com/

Handcart available from http://www.kaiserkraft.ie/shop/product/M8852/Two-wheel+hand+truck.html?article=704631&article=704632