The Friday Video: Conservation at St. Columban

Elpasonaturally alerted El Paso Water to the conservation going on at the Columban Mission Center in El Paso. This followed two blog posts about their efforts. See them HERE and HERE. It was great to see the video above posted in El Paso Water's news and headlines. Visit El Paso Water on Facebook and the Columban Mission Center.

If you get Elpasonaturally by email, go to www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com to view the video.

Living Green in the Southwest: How to Stay Cool without Central Air Conditioning

From lifehacker.com

I returned last week to the Columban Mission Center to find out how they keep their building cool (an old home on Magoffin built in 1920) without central air conditioning.

I found inside to be comfortable - perhaps not as cold as it could be with central air, but pleasant and certainly more than meerly tolerable.

There are two large whole house fans in the attic above the second floor. At 4 AM, Father Bob Mosher opens all of the windows on the first floor and turns the fans on (this could be automated) and all of the hot air in the house is sucked out the attic vents and the cool air is sucked in. At daybreak he closes the windows on the east side of the house and at 8 AM he shuts all the other windows. He turns off the whole house fans. Ceiling fans are on throughout the day circulating the cool air. The lights throughout the building are left off except when needed. All the fixtures have fluorescent lighting.

The attic is well insulated and, in addition, two inches of styrofoam insulation was recently added to the outside walls of the building and stuccoed over. That too has helped to keep the indoors cooler during the hot summer. 

From elpasoinc.com. Proposed electric rate hikes.

Solar panels on the roof provide electricity during the day - something El Paso Electric Company wants to penalize all solar customers for having.

Click image to enlarge.

An eGauge app provides the Center with instant data about their energy usage including the electricity generated by the panels. The app provides real time data as well as data over a period of time.

Read a technology fact sheet to learn more about whole house fans including the difference in costs of running this fan versus central air. Try one penny per hour instead of twenty cents based on 8.5¢/kWh!


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Living Green in the Southwest: The Columban Fathers Teach Us a Thing or Two about Conserving Water

Father Bob Mosher empties dish water into a bucket stored under the sink.

Want to learn about conserving water? Listen to the Columban Fathers. 

The Missionary Society of St. Columban operates in countries around the world. They have done outreach along the U.S.-Mexico border since 1996. At that time, Father Bill Morton became interested in border issues during a visit to Brownsville and opened the new center on Magoffin in 2011 with the blessing of Bishop Ochoa. The Center is under the direction of Fr. Bob Mosher and does work in El Paso and Juarez.

The Society focuses on cross cultural issues, ecology, social justice, the dignity of women, immigration and "radical" options for the poor. The El Paso center hosts events and meetings with these concerns in mind. They conduct the Border Awareness Experience which reveals to student and parish groups of 24 or less what life along the border is all about especially regarding migrants and refugees. 

It is their work in ecology that drew my attention to how they walk their talk especially regarding water. The Missionary Society has a policy statement about water at their web site and it is worth reading. 

So here are some tips for living greener in the Southwest:

Father Mosher empties sink water onto some thirsty plants.

Father Mosher demonstrated for me what they do with their dish and rinse water. It goes in a bucket and the water is then used to water shrubs and trees. (I hear that Father Morton uses the old dish water to flush toilets as well.)

But it doesn't just stop there. There are signs posted in the kitchen and bathroom that teach water conservation to guests:

Kitchen sign. Click on image to enlarge.

Toothbrushing sign. Click on image to enlarge.

Shower sign. Click on image to enlarge.

Click on image to enlarge.

We all know that too much water goes down the drain as we await for the shower water to get warm. At the Columban Center, three gallon milk jugs with their tops cut off are used to collect water as it warms up. (You can also put a bucket under the diverter spigot if you have a combo bath tub and shower.)

So, want to conserve water? The Columban Fathers can tell you how to do it.

Oh - one last thing - want to learn about heating and cooling without heating and cooling? That's our next lesson from the Columban Fathers. Stay tuned.


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

Columban Mission Community Garden

The Columban Mission Center is found at the corner of St. Vrain and Magoffin in downtown El Paso, 816 Magoffin Avenue. (Map)


Visit and like them on Facebook.


The video was created by alternative energy expert and permcaculturist, David Williamson.