[biofuel] Re: Preserving the harvest
This is getting off the original topic, but you triggered a thought when you mentioned how much power your monitor uses when off. I have surge protectors on all of my electronic equipment. When things are off, I also turn the surge protectors off. I have assumed that this is blocking the flow of electricity to the appliance, and therefore saving this energy. Does anyone know if this is true. It makes sense to me, but that doesn't always mean truth. Brian --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Donald Allwright [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Jamie Ballou [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This may seem like a silly question to some, but how did you measure the energy output of your fridge for 24 hours? Jamie E. Ballou Endocrinology Lab Assistant San Diego Zoo Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species You can buy plug-in electricity consumption meters, at least here in the UK (although they are hard to find). The one I have borrowed tells you instantaneous volts, amps, power factor and power. It can measure the total energy consumed over a period of time, and tell you how long it has been measuring for. You can even program cost information into it (two rates at programmable times of day) and it will tell you how much money you've spent! I had an electricity bill that was higher than I expected, and I used this to find out roughly how much various things are costing. The surprises are in the large number of small items that still consume significant power when switched off. For example my PC monitor uses 18W even when it's switched off! Power supply transformers (for loudspeakers, telephone chargers, and various computer appliances) seem to consume around 7W per item - so with something like 10 of these around the house this is a significant amount of energy being totally wasted. They barely use any more when they are switched on, as a general rule. So I have tried to run as many of these as possible from one socket that I can switch off at the wall when not in use. These items probably are costing me around GBP3 - 4 (USD5 - 9) per month for doing nothing at all useful. The fridge is costing around GBP2 per month. For a total bill around GBP10 per month averaged over the year (I have compact fluorescent lamps throughout the house and gas heating), this is a large proportion of the total. = -- 43 - slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything. ___ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - so many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [biofuel] Re: Preserving the harvest
Not really familiar with surge protectors, but it may depend on the individual model. The easiest way to find out is to turn the protector off and see if you still have volts coming out the other end. However, I would have thought that it would turn the power off, as turning off the protection without turning off the device makes little sense. But then again, making little sense is not an obstacle to making a lot of money selling a product that _seems_ to do something useful! Donald --- Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is getting off the original topic, but you triggered a thought when you mentioned how much power your monitor uses when off. I have surge protectors on all of my electronic equipment. When things are off, I also turn the surge protectors off. I have assumed that this is blocking the flow of electricity to the appliance, and therefore saving this energy. Does anyone know if this is true. It makes sense to me, but that doesn't always mean truth. Brian --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Donald Allwright [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Jamie Ballou [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This may seem like a silly question to some, but how did you measure the energy output of your fridge for 24 hours? Jamie E. Ballou Endocrinology Lab Assistant San Diego Zoo Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species You can buy plug-in electricity consumption meters, at least here in the UK (although they are hard to find). The one I have borrowed tells you instantaneous volts, amps, power factor and power. It can measure the total energy consumed over a period of time, and tell you how long it has been measuring for. You can even program cost information into it (two rates at programmable times of day) and it will tell you how much money you've spent! I had an electricity bill that was higher than I expected, and I used this to find out roughly how much various things are costing. The surprises are in the large number of small items that still consume significant power when switched off. For example my PC monitor uses 18W even when it's switched off! Power supply transformers (for loudspeakers, telephone chargers, and various computer appliances) seem to consume around 7W per item - so with something like 10 of these around the house this is a significant amount of energy being totally wasted. They barely use any more when they are switched on, as a general rule. So I have tried to run as many of these as possible from one socket that I can switch off at the wall when not in use. These items probably are costing me around GBP3 - 4 (USD5 - 9) per month for doing nothing at all useful. The fridge is costing around GBP2 per month. For a total bill around GBP10 per month averaged over the year (I have compact fluorescent lamps throughout the house and gas heating), this is a large proportion of the total. = -- 43 - slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything. ___ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - so many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links = -- 43 - slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything. ___ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - so many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[biofuel] Re: Preserving the Harvest
Drying is definitely the best in terms of energy used to store. If you make a solar dryer, (and have sunshine when you need it) that is also the best (FREE) way to get it preserved. I made a solar dryer out of a food tray holder (like in hospitals and cafeterias) I found at the recycle yard. It is aluminum on three sides and ws open in the front. We glued hinges and put a plexiglass door on the front. I leave a gap in the door to dissipate the condensation, by adjusting the Velcro strip I use to keep it closed. When the sun isn't shining and you have a large crop to dry, it works great with 2-3 100 watt bulbs (any light fixture that will fit under the last shelf on the bottom) Mine is about 6ft tall and has nine shelves. Oh, the shelves are wire shelves, also from recycle yard cut down to fit. Last fall I dried apples, it fit about 50 per batch. Since then I came across a bunch of bread racks, which look sort of similar and fold up. I am trying to find a way to turn them into solar dryers. Covering in plexiglass would be too costly. Today I am going to try canning some of the pastured poultry we haven't sold this week. It always seemed a huge energy output (90 minutes of processing) so I have never tried it, but I need to make room so I will give it a try. Caroline Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [biofuel] Re: Preserving the Harvest
Thank you for the information. Where are you located? I have a friend looking for a poultry supplier. Also, what is your average humidity? I am about 125 miles from the gulf of Mexico and unless we are suffering from a drought, my humidity is always above 75%. I find this gives me real problems for drying food. Does anyone know how to get around this? Bright Blessings, Kim At 08:19 AM 7/8/2004, you wrote: Drying is definitely the best in terms of energy used to store. If you make a solar dryer, (and have sunshine when you need it) that is also the best (FREE) way to get it preserved. I made a solar dryer out of a food tray holder (like in hospitals and cafeterias) I found at the recycle yard. It is aluminum on three sides and ws open in the front. We glued hinges and put a plexiglass door on the front. I leave a gap in the door to dissipate the condensation, by adjusting the Velcro strip I use to keep it closed. When the sun isn't shining and you have a large crop to dry, it works great with 2-3 100 watt bulbs (any light fixture that will fit under the last shelf on the bottom) Mine is about 6ft tall and has nine shelves. Oh, the shelves are wire shelves, also from recycle yard cut down to fit. Last fall I dried apples, it fit about 50 per batch. Since then I came across a bunch of bread racks, which look sort of similar and fold up. I am trying to find a way to turn them into solar dryers. Covering in plexiglass would be too costly. Today I am going to try canning some of the pastured poultry we haven't sold this week. It always seemed a huge energy output (90 minutes of processing) so I have never tried it, but I need to make room so I will give it a try. Caroline Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[biofuel] RE: Preserving the harvest
X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=128066025 X-Yahoo-Profile: gisstud2004 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-eGroups-Edited-By: bvjfrs [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Edited to change heading from RE: [biofuel] Digest Number 2236] Kim- I've used cheese cloth stretched over 2x2 (inch) wood frames to dry fruit leather, keeps most of the bugs out and the rest are just extra protein. Since you're still on the grid you can also use a food dehydrator. They're very versatile things to have anyway. I read one person's account of how they used to dry their fruit in an old Buick that was dumped in one of their fields. I love the idea of making a solar oven out of a stolen car. And if you pack your sun dried tomatoes in oil, then you can process the oil and drive a few feet after you eat the tomatoes. Thanks for the meat grinder idea -Steve Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2004 17:01:26 -0500 From: Kim Garth Travis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Preserving the harvest I was under the impression that the humidity needed to be below 50% to sun dry tomatoes. Also, how do you keep the bugs off of them? glass? screen? Thank you for the idea. Bright Blessings, Kim [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [biofuel] Re: Preserving the Harvest
Hello Kim Garth, You can also generate chilling capacity using solar power and desiccants like zeolite. You can be totally off grid and yet meet your freezing requirement. I am in the process of building such a system using a junked compressor from a truck brake system. Refer to the links for further info. http://www.eg-solar.de/english/products/products.htm http://www.zeo-tech.de/htm/e/e_solar1.htm Regards. balaji - Original Message - From: Kim Garth Travis [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 9:40 PM Subject: Re: [biofuel] Re: Preserving the Harvest Thank you for the information. Where are you located? I have a friend looking for a poultry supplier. Also, what is your average humidity? I am about 125 miles from the gulf of Mexico and unless we are suffering from a drought, my humidity is always above 75%. I find this gives me real problems for drying food. Does anyone know how to get around this? Bright Blessings, Kim At 08:19 AM 7/8/2004, you wrote: Drying is definitely the best in terms of energy used to store. If you make a solar dryer, (and have sunshine when you need it) that is also the best (FREE) way to get it preserved. I made a solar dryer out of a food tray holder (like in hospitals and cafeterias) I found at the recycle yard. It is aluminum on three sides and ws open in the front. We glued hinges and put a plexiglass door on the front. I leave a gap in the door to dissipate the condensation, by adjusting the Velcro strip I use to keep it closed. When the sun isn't shining and you have a large crop to dry, it works great with 2-3 100 watt bulbs (any light fixture that will fit under the last shelf on the bottom) Mine is about 6ft tall and has nine shelves. Oh, the shelves are wire shelves, also from recycle yard cut down to fit. Last fall I dried apples, it fit about 50 per batch. Since then I came across a bunch of bread racks, which look sort of similar and fold up. I am trying to find a way to turn them into solar dryers. Covering in plexiglass would be too costly. Today I am going to try canning some of the pastured poultry we haven't sold this week. It always seemed a huge energy output (90 minutes of processing) so I have never tried it, but I need to make room so I will give it a try. Caroline Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[biofuel] Re: Preserving the harvest
Tomatoes, unlike most vegetables (they are actually a fruit) increase in nutritional value as you cook them, so if you want a simple solution that will help preserve their taste and nutritional value try freezing UNWASHED overnight in the deep freeze, then remove them and run them under tepid water and the skin just peels right off which you can then toss into the compost. The remaining tomatoes can now be canned quite effectively and you can even add a little oregano in the process for an added taste boost. DO NOT USE BASIL, as it is toxic, as is black pepper. If you want them a little spicy try tossing in a Habanero pepper while canning, butr be careful, the habanero isn't called the world's hottest pepper for nothing. Cayennes will do nicely and are quite a bit milder. You then only use the electricity for the initial freezing part and then you can turn it off, which is economical on the genset, if that is what you are using for producing the electricity. Or, should you want to preserve the initial several hours it takes to get a freezer to cold enough temps, once you get it there, you can turn the power off and on with a timer. A well insulated deep freezer will retain it's cold for a couple days if you don't open it or if it is not stored in an exceptionally warm room, so perhaps a programable electronic timer could be useful. Just a couple pence worth :) As for other vegies, can them. L. --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Kim Garth Travis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was thinking yesterday, while I prepare 4 gallons of tomatoes for the freezer, what it the best way to preserve the harvest. For now I am still on the grid and I am mostly alone doing the work so I tend to use electricity. While I only have tomatoes to do this year, the rest of the garden drowned, but most years I have lots of stuff to put up. I know most people can tomatoes, but I don't like peeling them, as this wastes food value. I run mine through the meat grinder, skin and all, then bag them for the freezer. This also retains the fresh tomato taste better. While I do have a hand crank meat grinder, the freezer does require electricity. I wonder if it is best to take this vegetable by vegetable or is there a better solution as to how to decide what is the most Earth/nutrition friendly method of preserving the harvest? Bright Blessings, Kim Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
