The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-08-31, Page 19One of the energy-saving features soon to be In use at the Paul Zurbrigg home
near Saltford is this wood -burning stove from the 1920s. Once the stove is properly
attached to the home's chimney, Gerry Zurbrigg, pictured above, will do a lot of
her cooking on it. The stove will also be used to provide heat for the kitchen with
fuel provided for it from a 50 -acre bush on the Zurbrigg farm. The Zurbrigg house.
is one of 15 on display during an Energy Alternatives Tour coming up Sept. 9.
(Photo by Jim Hagerty)
1
MEW
131 YEAR -35
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1978
SECOND SECTION
This famiy's;:castieis.different
Home is energy efficient
BY JIM HAGARTY
Paul Zurbrigg thinks
that anyone who builds a
house nowadays without
trying to incorporate any
energy-saving features
into it isn't thinking very
far ahead.
There just doesn't seem
to be enough thought put
into building most
modern homes and many
people may be in for a
rude awakening a few
years down the road
when energy costs are
almost certain to
skyrocket.
One of the reasons that
the Zurbrigg home near
Saltford has been in-
cluded in the 15 -house
Energy Alternatives
Tour scheduled for Sept. 9
is the -fact that -Paul and
Paul Zurbrigg is hoping that these bay windows
built on the south side of hisnew home near Saltford
will help cut his winter fuel bilis by allowing lots of,
sun into his kitchen (downstairs) and the master
bedroom. Positioning of his home's windows, with.
only one small one on the west side of the -house, is
one way Paul has used to try to conserve energy in
the home. The Zurbrigg house will be one stop on a
15 -house. Energy Alternatives Tour planned for
• Sept. 9 (Photo by Jim Hagerty)
his wife Gerry did do
some careful planning
when they helped design
their new home last
summer.
There are .no major
alternative energy source
systems in operation at
the .Zurbrigg house yet,
but Paul and Gerry made
certain that provisions
were made during their
home's -construction for
future additions .of
renewable energy
systems.
The south side of the
garage roof, for example,
was built on a 50 -degree
angle, permitting the
easy installation of solar
collecting panels if the
Zurbriggs decide to go for
a solar heating system
someday.
And one room in the
basement has been
specially designated to
hold a fleet of batteries
which will store energy
from a windmill that may
someday stand behind
the Zurbrigg house.
There are two reasons
why the Zurbriggs, have
not yetmade the in-
vestment -in either a solar
or wind operation.
According to Paul, the
cost involved in even the
best systems available
doesn't lake much
economic. -setrse • right
now. And he's not con-
vinced that the
technology involved in.
the new systems is far
enough advanced at this
point to risk calling in
someone to install an
operation that in theory
may look good, but in
practice might prove a
"failure:
But at least the Zur-
brigg house is ready, and
it will be no big matter to
install a modern energy -
producing system at
some future date, when
the economics and the
technology warrant it.
SMALL THINGS
ADD UP
As for the features of
the house that are
directed towards the
conservation of energy,
they are all very simple
and evolved not so much
from the expert's
drawing board as from
the thinking man's well of
good common sense.
Like the double -door
entrances at the front and
back of the house, which
both. prevent cold blasts.
of winter wind from
flooding the home's in-
terior whenever
somebody enters or exits.
Paul refers to these
entrances as air -lock
vestibules. The first,
outer door is opened, the
person enters the air-
lock, and then the second
one is opened into the
inner house. Not exactly
something dreamed up
by aerospace researchers
in Florida. But it works.
And the steel doors. All
doors leading' to the
outside are made of steel
and the hollow space
between the outer shells
is filled with fiberglass.
insulation. They fit.much
better than wooden doors,
says Paul, and tend not to
warp. °
Not many contractors
and home -owners put
much thought into where
windows should be placed
in a new house, but in the
Zurbrigg home, the
windows were positioned
in such a way as to draw
the most benefit from the
warmth•of the sun.- -- - --
The house is oriented
towards the south, and
most- of the home's.
windows face in ' that
direction. In the living
room, there are large
sliding glass doors. A
semi -circular bay,- jutting
out a couple of feet from
the south side of the
house, extends the full
height of the two-storey
dwelling and is almost
completely glass.
Sunlight pours through
the bays into both the
kitchen on the main floor
and the master bedroom
upstairs.
On the west side of the
house, there is only one
small window in an up-
stairs bathroom. Win-
dows are similarly scarce
on the north walls, and if
it weren't for ap-
pearance, Paul wouldn't
have built any on the
north, where cold winter
winds often do their worst
in chilling a home and
adding to the fuel bill.
The rooms which face
the north can also be
closed off during the
winter, and - Paul is
building styrofoam in-
serts to place in the
windows at night.
The Zurbrigg's two -car
Turn to page 9A •
Inside:
Captain Comet
Martha Rathburn
Legion parade
GLT variety
Pg. 2A
Pg. 3A
Pg. 8A
Pg..9A
Farin Show _.
Tractor pull
Summerhouse One
Pg.:12A
Pg. 13A
Pg. 15A
Allan Zurbrigg and his sister Heather are shown in
front of the fireplace in, the Zurbrigg living room
near Saltford. The two-storey brick house, built last
winter, will be heated by .a combination of electfic
heat and the wood -fueled fireplace. Paul and Gerry
Zurbrigg have incorporated several energy-saving
features into their home, which will be opened to
the public during a one=day'Energy Alternatives
Tour on Sept. 9. (Photo by Jim Hagerty)
For you people out there that pride
yourself on your culinary habits con-
stantly telling people like me that hate
onions that the evil vegetable is an
absolute necessity with steak your
chance to actually prove that there is
nothing you don't like is finally here.
Another of Mother Nature's
creations has been discovered as a
delicacy at the old dinner table. Chefs
desperately searching for something
totally new to diets of North American
connoisseurs have discovered the
earthworm. That squiggly little
creature that up until now was a
ntiisance when you stepped on him on a
sidewalk after , u summer rain or
couldn't find him when you were
gettingready to leave for a fishing trip
is,now famous.
The earthwoi n may now have found
his place in life. No longer is he
destined to a watery grave as a large,
and to him very ugly, fish looks him
over for lunch: 'No longer will he be
unceremoniotisly,siiced up and stabbed
with a hook for some trout's breakfast.
The earthworrn is a delicacy.
The earthworm's rise to fame has
been closely watched by a group of
American promoters that for years
have been raising worms in their
backyards trying to convince anyone
that would listen that worms are good
to eat. Many of the worm growers have
been making a handsome living onthe
side raising worms in wooden boxes in -
their backyards and now are trying to
create a market for their product in
kitchens across the United States and
Canada.,
A recent bakeoff amongst chefs that
'recognize the nutritional value of the
earthworm has produced some in-
teresting and no doubt tantalizing new
creations. First prize in the contest
went to one genius of the pot and pan
set that used the worm with some
.eheese and fresh garden vegetables to
create an earthworm pizza.
Earthworm pizzas. The thought of it
conjures up all sorts of .,interestin-g
snacks and meals that the earthworm
can be used for. imagine heading off to
your favorite fast food joint after
catching a movie Saturday night and
ordering up a wormburger with maybe
a side order of french fried worms or
fried worm rings.
Mothers faced with the task of
creating tasty snacks for children
returning from a hard day In the
classroom can rest easy. A glsss of
milk and some chocolate worm chip
cookies should keep the little devils
happy until supper.
A balanced diet may be something
doctors will no longer have to en-
courage, their patients to maintain.
People will be setting the alarm a half
hour earlier to get up in time for two
eggs, toast, and two strips of ear-
thworm.
No doubt technology will find a way
to put the earthworm into a potato chip
bag of cereal box and children'will be
begging parents to buy a box., pf.:_ear--
thworm flakes for the breakfas..t table.
A mid-afternoon snack may consist
of chocolate covered earthworms and a
glass of milk. There are thousands of
ways of putting the earthworm into our
diet but I really don't think I'm in-
terested in their product. Quick to see
that many people will do things
because a star actor, singer or athlete
does them the earthworm growers
buttonholed a star that just happens to
like worms. Singer Jack Jones eats
them regularly and jokes that birds eat
worms and look what it does for their
voices\
I ban envision the earthworm
causing some vast changes in our
social habits. The first robin of spring
will be sighted down the barrel of a
shotgun as he swoops onto the lawn
looking for a worm. Sport fish in lakes
and rivers all over Canada will be
asked to taste steak or roast beef
because the worm is on the dinner
table.
wL-think. I'lj just put the old worm on
my list of hates next to onions and you
people with onion breath can be seen in
the summer can eat them all up with a
batch of fried onions.
jefF
Seddon