A window on ethical consumerism
There's a great loft above my office, but it's completely unusable because the only window is a half-moon about a meter and a half across and a meter high, and while the light is fantastic, it's almost needless to say that it doesn't open. So, it gets intolerably hot over half the year, and has no air circulation. I have always coveted this space, and while hunting for ventilation options I discovered the completely brilliant Velux Cabrio balcony system. Starting at £1999 it's a little more than I mean to spend (okay, it's about twenty times more than I mean to spend) but considering that it is basically a drop in window + balcony, it can put daylight and fresh air into a space that would otherwise require artificial light and powered air circulation. Not a bad price to make an attic into a usable space. The window is Energy Star rated and, they say, 40% more efficient than typical building code requirements. Velux also has a good environmental attitude, focusing on sustainable development and minimizing waste. Certainly if I had the cash that's where I'd be going - but my means are more modest, and so was my solution.
I was sitting in my office, working away at HippyShopper, when Tom called up at around 11:30pm (hey, we work late for you, gentle reader) and proposed to come on by so we could "do something". But by the time he arrived, it was clear that this is not the most exciting place in the world on a Tuesday at midnight. So he suggests we go for a walk by the light of the silvery moon, so I throw a trenchcoat over my camisole and we head out. Then I notice, hey, it's the week of the big garbage pickup.
Twice a year here, the city will pick up any garbage whatsoever that you set out - dead stoves, construction debris, kitchen sinks - we literally saw six toilets and over a dozen refrigerators. People start putting things on their curb a few days early and it's a local tradition to cruise around looking for anything interesting, and we did encounter a couple of other drivers perusing the junk heaps. I found two antique single-pane windows, which are adequate but probably not all that well insulated - but after Tom'd lugged them back to the house, we went down another street and found six gorgeous 30"x30" panes neatly stacked by the curb, waiting for some love, some cleanup, and somebody to build them new frames. The hassle involved in building three sets of window frames is not much more than the trouble involved in building one, and I would surely rather have three nice big windows made of refurbished glass than the one small window I could buy brand-new for more money. Shows how thinking green, a little spirit of adventure, and willingness to wash a little dirt off an otherwise perfectly good product can have substantial payoff - I'm going to have an extra ten whopping feet of sunlight in my loft!
[GT]
