At the house enjoying the Italian sunshine. The forecast was for heavy cloud all day; but as is often the case, the mountains break through the cloud and we have clear blue skies.
I’ve been busy getting firewood ready so we can use less gas. We try to keep the use of fossil fuels to a minimum by using firewood when we can. The house has very thick walls, useful in the summer as it stays cool, but needs some heat in the sub-zero winter temperatures. While we’ve been away we have just kept some electric heating set to keep the frost off, but they were set so low I don’t think they came on. When we got here the temperature in the house ranged from 1.5℃ to 2.8℃, but fortunately the pipes were all OK.
Wood burning is not perfect because of the particulate pollution, and we need to invest in a new wood burner at some point. That will improve the efficiency of the fire but only marginally reduce the particulates.
Using less gas, and electricity to some extent, obviously reduces our carbon footprint; but also importantly reduces the need to import fossil fuels from dubious states, particularly Russia and is a small way we can help Ukraine in these difficult times. This and driving slowly which uses less fuel; reducing CO2, saving us money and reducing imports from dubious regimes; win, win, win.
We also want to think about whether we are in a position to provide help to Ukrainian refugees by providing accommodation to a family either here in Italy or in the UK. I am always conscious of effectively being a guest in our Italian home località so I will find out what the neighbours think of having a Ukrainian family living here. It will make coming here different so is not a straightforward decision.