Here are a couple of questions/answers and a few websites you might find handy while you wait for the next issue of Countryside (which will be on the press Wednesday):

Question:

I am hoping to cut my electricity use even more than I have already.  I intend to use an oil lamp or lamps and use it/them most every night.

While doing some research this evening I read where a 60 candle power oil lamp is the equivalent to a 50 watt bulb.  Is this true?

Ideally I would have one lamp to light up my 750 square foot living room along with another lamp on my desk for writing and reading.

Are there lamps out there that can accommodate my wants or am I expecting too much from an oil lamp?

In advance, thank you for any information you can provide. — Tim, New Mexico

Answer:

According to my Pocket Reference by Thomas J. Glover, one candlepower = 12.566 lumen, and one lumen = 0.0015 watts, so:

0.0015 x 12.566 = 0.0188 watts per candlepower, which means that 53 candlepower = one watt

(Nowadays, candlepower is little used. It has been replaced by the candle, or candela, which is equal to one lumen.)

The trouble you run into with this kind of conversion is that lumen (or candlepower) is a measure of light intensity and watt is a measure of power. And since you will never convert electricity to light with anything approaching 100% efficiency, it gets misleading. To give you a yardstick to gauge by, the label on a pack of compact fluorescent bulbs says that a 13-watt CF bulb (which puts out the light of a 60-watt incandescent bulb) outputs 900 lumen, which would be around 71 candlepower.

I remember before we put solar electricity in our guest cabin we use both oil and gasoline lanterns, the former being much brighter for reading but noisy.

We also have an Aladdin mantle lamp. It is quite bright but we rarely use it anymore, since with solar power you never have blackouts!

Hope this helps more than it confuses. – Rex Ewing

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Fuzzy stuff in the fridge

Ever wonder if that food in the bottom of the freezer is any good? Here’s a site that will help with shelf life information: www.stilltasty.com. Who knew distilled white vinegar would be good for up to four years?! But then, it doesn’t last that long around here when it’s pickle-making season. On the other hand, we better up the chili-making—my dried jalapenos are about at their end. (Not to worry, there’s a bunch in the freezer, too.)

We don’t attend many sustainable living shows, however Kate Tucker and I will be manning the Countryside booth at the Northwest Wisconsin Sustainable Living Fair in Ladysmith, Wisconsin this weekend (July 25th and  26th).

We may be dodging badly-needed raindrops, but we hope to see you there!

Also, Dunn County’s second annual Sustainability Fair will be held in Menomonie, Wisconsin, (about 2 hours southwest from Ladysmith) from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 25th at Wilson Park. The park is near the Dunn County Government Center on Wilson Avenue.

The fair is sponsored by Sustainable Dunn, a grassroots community organization working in Dunn County since 2006 to present programs that promote sustainable living and how to use resources wisely and creatively:  (Check out “Current Activities” for Fair info.)