Green Ideas – July 27th

(Green Ideas is a newsletter written by Carl Duivenvoorden.  I place it on my blog so that more people can read it!)

By Carl Duivenvoorden

The best way to thaw frozen food

Ice absorbs an awful lot of heat as it melts. That’s why we use ice cubes to keep beverages cold. (Google “Latent heat of fusion” if you’d like to know the physics of it.)
Frozen food works the same way – it absorbs a lot of heat as it thaws. You can make that principle work in your favour by placing frozen food inside your fridge to thaw. That way, it absorbs heat inside the fridge, making it work less and saving you a little money. (Older folks may remember that, in the days before electric refrigerators, kitchens had iceboxes that worked solely on that principle.)
It takes a bit of planning to develop the habit, but it’s worth it: thaw frozen food in your fridge!
(Thawing frozen food in the fridge has a double benefit in the winter: if you let frozen food thaw on the counter, it actually cools your home, making your heating system work harder.)

In the news  A great thought piece from Bill McKibben: if Brazil has to guard its rainforest for the good of the planet, why do Canada and the US get to burn tar sands oil? Amazing – an Austrian town that has reduced its emissions by 93% since 1995, and is making a lot of money in the process! Imagine a power bill so outrageous that you might want one like it yourself. AND: mark September 14-15 in your calendar. That’s the date of 24 Hours of Reality, Al Gore’s worldwide, 24 hour climate awareness event. Stay tuned for a really local connection. For past Green Ideas tips, please visit my blog

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