Moving into a new home recently I got very enthusiastic at having a spacious kitchen all to myself and even with an abundance of non-cooked salad making I finished our gas bottle in just over 2 weeks! I was lovingly told by my partner that as much as he enjoyed every morsel that I made, I clearly had to be more efficient in my energy consumption. So in the absence of a pressure cooker and considering how long it takes to boil up beans and pulses, which I do regularly, I bought a coal pot.
A coal pot is a traditional piece of Caribbean cooking equipment that relies on charcoals as its fuel. It’s really quite efficient, smells delicious, cooks wonderfully and I have a sentimental fondness for it, but deep down I have a nagging feeling that it is not the most sustainable item in my household. After all I am likely contributing to trees being cut down to make the coals and sending out some smoke fumes into the clean air each time I use it. It’s small scale when you consider coal-fired power stations and the ilk but I believe that every little helps so ultimately I have to start looking for alternatives.
Then I got talking with some friends who told me about their
solar oven building project. ‘Wow’, I thought, when the student is ready the teacher really does appear! It makes sense really for a region so saturated with sunshine that we make the most of all the free energy and harvest it in as many ways as possible. By all accounts it seems that a solar oven isn’t too hard or expensive to make so I’m eagerly awaiting their course on solar oven building in the near future.
They also told me of their purchase of a solar-panel run freezer and installing simple solar lighting that I’m feeling a solar frenzy arising within. I think I’ll also sign up for the next course run by the
Sustainable Living Initiative that teaches participants how to make a solar hot water heater with such simple technology that a group can make a functioning unit within a day. Oh yes wouldn’t life be wonderful if we could run everything off the pure sunlight energy that falls to the Earth every day? (Living where I do it seems that I’ll likely need back-up for the rainier days ,although I’m already thinking of some micro-hydro inventions for that too!) I’m not there yet but it is definitely my intention to be a highly renewable energy being in the near future.
The main obstacle to widespread use of solar has, up until now, been the expense. With rising costs of oil, solar is looking more of a viable option but equipment does not always come cheap. Whilst the start-up costs are often recouped in a short period of time by savings made, the initial outlay can still be prohibitive. I have read that some companies in the US are installing solar on households with minimal installation costs and customers then get to pay monthly just as they would with regular energy bills. This certainly seems like a great way forward for renewable energy to be spread and I wonder how long it will take for such an enterprise to open branches on Caribbean islands. Meanwhile it would be great if governments everywhere see what a great idea it is to reduce import duties on these environmental items so that individuals have a chance to take up the renewable baton and run with it. Ultimately we are all going to be healthier and happier as a result!
So much more could be said about solar as there really is an amazing wealth of information out there on renewable energy solutions. I encourage everyone to find out more and consider running their homes on sunlight. For now I’m just wondering if I would become a more energy efficient being if I sat out in the sun for a while… I think I’ll give it a try.
