|
Larry Chace
Solar Energy, New and Old
This view of our driveway shows two versions of solar energy.
The brightly-colored trees, mostly maple, mark the property line and
are therefore not likely to be harvested, though one ash tree that
threatened the solar panels has been cut and split and stacked,
ready to feed the woodstove, perhaps next winter (in a year).
The solar panels make up a 5.6 kilo-Watt system that provides
about 1/2 of our yearly electricity usage. Except for the woodstove
and a propane-fired cook stove, everything in the house is electric,
including the main heating system, a geothermal heat pump for the
radient floor heating.
Behind the house we have 8 acres of woods, mostly ash, with some
red oak, maple, and shag-bark hickory. We've been harvesting
firewood from there, using about 4 "face cords" per year.
(That's a stack about 32' long, 4' high, and 16" thick. A lot
of good exercise goes into cutting, hauling, spliting, and stacking
that pile, and of course it then has to be carried into the
house and feed into the woodstove.)
David Brock's comment about splitting and stacking firewood comes
to mind. I was cutting some downed ash trees yesterday and suddenly
found myself thinking about a song that we often sang in youth
group meetings at 2nd Presbyterian (or was it in Miss Selk's
A Capella class?):
"The ash grove how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking.
The wind through it playing has language for me."
Our Ash trees don't sing very much, but there are some
Quaking Aspen trees that do seem to sing in the wind.
Happy October to all!
|
.jpg)
A few weeks ago I asked if anyone was noticing the change in the seasons, and we all agreed there were a lot of spiders. But now we are actually getting a bit of fall color. Here are two examples in my neighborhood. I hope to see some from where you all are..jpg)
).
.jpg)
.jpg)
