{"id":875,"date":"2011-04-20T12:30:36","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T16:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antipaucity.com\/?p=875"},"modified":"2011-04-20T12:30:36","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T16:30:36","slug":"producing-your-own-power-by-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/?p=875","title":{"rendered":"producing your own power by many"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rodale Press published a collected works book entitled “{{Producing Your Own Power}} – How to make Nature’s Energy Sources Work for You” in 1974.<\/p>\n

There are a host of now-humorous\u00a0segments\u00a0of the text:<\/p>\n

“The US government estimates that by 1980 1 percent of our country’s land will be covered with utility companies’ equipment<\/em>” {viii}. The contiguous US takes up approximately 1.9 billion acres of land. Do utility companies use 19 million acres? That claim is completely preposterous.<\/p>\n

“If all mineable fossil resources were made available to us, we would still have energy problems. In a few centuries these would also be exhausted<\/em>” {ix}. Does the author ({{Carol Hupping Stoner}}) of the introduction really<\/strong><\/em> believe that in the next few centuries we won’t develop better technologies like we have been for the past thousands of years?<\/p>\n

“The average six-room, older house probably costs about $400 to $500 per winter to heat<\/em>” {282}. Based on current heating and cooling costs, how could anyone have afforded to heat their homes 35 years ago? $500 per winter is half what people I know in NY plan to spend every winter now<\/em> – with a median<\/a> income of about $60k; 20 years ago, the median<\/a> was just above $30k (infoplease.com<\/a> shows slightly different numbers). So 35 years ago folks were spending >5% of their annual income on heating for the winter? That doesn’t grok<\/a> well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other similar claims are made throughout the book with no direct referential backing – merely\u00a0stating\u00a0something that the author of that segment wants you to believe. They may have been true. Or not – without references there is no way of knowing where the data came from in the first place. There is a bibliography, but it is only tagged for each segment – there are not direct footnotes\/references in the text itself to the original sources.<\/p>\n

From having reread this book recently, I think it’s safe to say that the best part of the book is section 3 – Wood Power {pp103-135}. While many improvements have been made in the intervening decades with wood stoves and fireplaces, the information in this chapter on those two heating techniques is still – overall – solid (one of the recommended designs for a fireplace has a tendency to put an unusual amount of smoke into the room if the fire is not kept roaring-hot, but that’s a discussion for another day). Starting on p127 and continuing for 9 pages to p135 is a good discussion on woodlot management, windbreaks, and calculating wood needs for heating purposes.<\/p>\n

Personally, I’d alter the suggested woodlot and windbreak designs to include food-producing trees and shrubs in addition to “merely” windbreaking and fuel-producing varieties. If you have the land to grow it – the overriding presumption of most of this book is that you have land – why not make use of the decorative and functional aspects of, say, apple trees? They can provide some privacy, act as a windbreak, and also supply food: just about can’t beat that three-for-one deal!<\/p>\n