Galicia life and experiences as seen from Mer near Sober

Electricity pricing – Electricity Supply – Energy saving bulbs

Electricity in rural galiciaWinter is the time when one realises that electricity consumption goes up. Here in rural Galicia power is invoiced monthly and every two or three month they come round to read the meter.

So often the first invoice in January or so comes as a little surprise, even more so this year as the increase in pricing last year, just before deregulation, shows its ugly face.

Yes, the electricity market in Spain is deregulated although one is hard pressed to notice this here.

You can freely switch your provider, but all of them fall back on the government set maximum price.

Click this for more information on electricity pricing

the national grid

The high humidity in winter requires the dryer to run frequently, the central heating and pump is running and yes one uses a bit more light.

The supply grid is not as bad as seen on the right, but also not far off. Frequent fluctuations, brown out and actual cut offs are common.

Over the last two nights its become so bad here that my wife took candles to bed to read, as the flickering induced headaches.

If this doesn’t improve I maybe forced to install a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to smooth this out as it is not health for the electric appliances like fridges, freezers etc.

On the issue of light bulbs and energy saving. Well even here the tidal wave of CFL’s (compact fluorescent light bulb) is in full swing.

CFL's compact=Like these they tend to look the same but far from it. It is worth trialing some to see which ones are for you. Some are immediately on and “warm up” after a while, others you wait forever to see the step you know is there.

If you are interested here is a comparison of American CFL’s

The important two information’s are the actual light output in either Lux or Lumen again to confuse as there is no direct conversion between these two. Lumen is “candle power or light” that is produced, whereas Lux is the light received on a surface of 1 m2.

You find more about this here at wikipedia

Now the other important factor is the “color” of light or more precisely the temperature of light which is measured in Kelvin as well as the spectrum or more precise the CRI (color rendering index). color of light(more on wiki here)

You may have noticed a difference in “warm white” label and the actual result. No wonder as warm white is subjective even at the manufacturer. On the latest CFL you should find the actual color temperature given in K e.g. 2500 for warm white. CFL’s also do not have a CRI of 100 which would be the old fashioned filament bulb but the closer they get the better. 85 – 89 is now achievable. In future we should see a 3 digit code. 1.st is the CRI so a CRI of 89 would be 9 and the next two are the temperature e.g. 2700K = 27.
927 would be CRI 85 – 94 and 2700 K.

CFL’s as standard are not dimmable due to their electronic ballast, but there are now dimmable ones available as well, just on low settings they tend to be a bit bluer than the good old bulb.
2 – 100% dimmable are achievable but not yet common, check the %. 20-60% means at 60% it turns on full and below 20% off.

Closing comments:

Energy saving = Yes Cost saving=No Full dimmable full spectrum 11W  (equiv 60W) = 14£
8000h life span = 35 Kw/h saving = 4.09£ at current energy price including IVA.

Mercury – Just watch this CFL The Truth

So long and happy hunting for the ideal CFL

Expat



February 5th, 2010 by lifeingalicia | Please leave a Comment »

Frosty days in January – Still winter in rural Galicia

Frosty nights in Galicia


We have some really frosty nights and incredible sunny days.

Temperatures just bounce form -7C to 15C and more in a couple of hours.

One lies in bed and contemplates if its necessary to get up, as all one can see are frosted pastures and then the morning fog may roll in covering everything. Uncover the salad Here in Mer this fog stays for maybe one or two hours, than the sun breaks through.

Immediate action is required. Head out to the poly tunnels and open doors and uncover plants.

As you see salad is growing well, albeit a bit slow, so preventing it from being prematurely cooked by the sun is an important task.


two things you need in rural Galicia With spring looming around the corner and the typical requirement of fixing things that have or have not survived the winter, I found this great chart which I adjusted a bit to Galicia.

I’m pretty sure that given time I will come across more than the known 200 uses of WD40. I’m not sure yet if can be used to grease the bureaucracy here, but this not only will be another story, but probably will be worth a try.

I found a loaded Silicone gun and self tapering screws to be the next best two things to have around.Has the future olive grove survived

We will have to see if the future olive grove has survived.

Some have lost some leaves, the problem being that olives tend to store their strength in the leaves.

They also hate frost and wet conditions, both of which are presently plentiful here.


Other plants just thrive and bloom


But it’s not just doom and gloom. The Japanese quince is happily flowering and seems to provide for the odd bee that wakes up at noon.

Solar irrigation still working


The sun is also powerful enough to run the irrigation pumps.

Although we had plenty of rain the water is never in the place where you need it. I left one pump completely installed and there is no degradation of performance and it simply keeps the two storage tanks full.

More on our trials and solutions on solar / photovoltaic irrigation

Burocracy

More soon as I have to prepare paperwork to feed the bureaucrats.

This is a little gem I found on the Net.

Spanish 

Oficina del gobierno de robo de impuestos

Sí, me encanta trabajar en el interior como esta. Es mejor que tomar su dinero en un callejón viejo y oscuro. Lo mejor de todo lo que me pagan para hacerlo.


Expat

January 30th, 2010 by lifeingalicia | Please leave a Comment »

Fiesta dos Fachos – Castro Caldelas rural Galicia – An experience

Castro Caldelas in the eveningNormally Castro Caldelas lies peacefully on a hill guarding the Ribeira Sacra. If you follow the long winding road, always uphill, you finally arrive in Castro. When you parked your car, its just a very short walk to explore the well restored old town, its castle and believe me the view from graveyard is second to none.

Our friends , Anna and Lluis – sorry for the plug - natural hand woven textiles and traditional baskets  - reminded us that there is the fiesta “of fire” or Fiesta dos Fachos and we should wear suitable cloth. Cloth that don’t mind the odd burn mark, the chorizo might dribble and the red wine slober, etc, etc, as it is the festival of fire. Little did we know.

The band entertains the growing crowdWhen we arrived it was just getting dark. A huge pyre was erected in front of the church and the local band started to play entertaining the growing crowd.

Chorizo grilled Castro style.Following an irresistible smell we found, to the left of the church, a huge stand where council workers where busy preparing grilled chorizos.shovel grill

And yes, I’ve never seen this ingenious way of preparing chorizos to feast a large crowd.

It’s not shovel it in – it’s shovel it on!

Great idea and I can tell you these chorizos with fresh bread – Delicious.

The church in Castro Caldelas

As the church was open and lit, we paid it a quick visit to see where San Sebastian lives.

We where told to go to the front and to the right or left and look up…. – Great play on perception, as the round cupola looks oval when you look up from these positions – but it is round.

There was a wagon parked full of torches made of long straw and, upon meeting our friends, we got the explanation.

This fiesta is one of the oldest in Galicia, first recorded in 1750. On the day of the local Saint – San Sebastian – neighbours wove giant worms, the biggest won the day . With torches made of the long straw these burning worms where paraded round the old town. Later they agreed to do just one and this years was about 30 feet (10M) long.

When the time drew nearer, the straw torches where given out and our friend Anna just passed one each to us and simply said– “light it when the big one comes through and just follow the crowed through the old town” -.

Cheers went up -” San Sebastian….” -. Two fully clad firemen carried the burning front, whilst a lot of volunteers carried the rest of the long straw worm. You either lit your torch from the front or from some of the other followers who already had a burning torch.

The worm is litmarch through the old town of Castro caldelasOff we went following into the narrow and dark confines of the old town. It is an experience like no other. Cheering people, torch light, biting smoke and one is torn between looking ahead, close the eyes as the smoke stings, whilst gasping for breath and trying desperately not to stumble. At the same time everyone looks out for everyone else, as burning bits of straw float through the air. The straw torches are waved frantically to keep them burning or light them again and everything fades to vague shadows pierced by the yellow smoking light of straw. Unbelievable if you haven’t been in the middle of it all, unforgettable if you have.

Smoke glorious smokeThe worm and the crowd, including us, spilled out of the old town – fresh air never tasted so sweet – and what was left of the straw worm was used to light the bonfire and all the torches, or their remainder where thrown onto it.


The lighting of the bon fireThen, warmed or should I say roasted by the fire came the great crush towards the chorizos.  If you want to get close to people – that’s it. Although totally unorganised, it is a friendly crush of people, laughing, joking and wriggling towards the concello workers that hand out a chorizo in a bun at an incredible speed.





Chorizo after all the exitementOnce the sustenance was obtained, a leisurely walk to yet another stall, where a good slug of local red wine was given out – All Free! – and what better way than being fed on a “national” dish whilst standing in groups, greeting people one happen to know and chat with friends whilst watching the fire burn.

It was an experience and if you around this time of the year mark the 19th of January – you have been warned!

A big thanks to the concello and all the coluteers who make this possible and keep the tradition alive.

Expat

Here is a good video that I foun don YouTube that shows it in motion – Fiesta dos Fuchos – Castro Calderas


January 20th, 2010 by lifeingalicia | Please leave a Comment »