In SO many ways, the French have taught us to change our habits. And in this day of high energy bills and climate change, the frugal practices they’ve used for years are looking pretty smart. We have gotten on board.
Let’s start with dryers. All that spinning and heating eat up a lot of energy. Most French folks don’t even have them, and if they do they use them sparingly. They hang their clothes outside, and not just for energy savings. They like the fresh air smell, and the sun helps to “blanchir” (whiten, brighten) things like sheets and towels (it’s better for your clothes, too).
If clothes lines are banned in your neighborhood (an unthinkable thing in France), try an expanding wall rack. I manage to dry almost all of our clothes this way.
Then their is heating and cooling. The French use a passive solar approach. You may have noticed that almost all French houses have (fully operational) shutters. Houses have fewer windows here, and they rarely face north. When it’s hot, shutters are closed as the sun moves around the house, and opened back up as it moves along. It’s a bit of work, but it’s second nature for us now. Because it makes a HUGE difference. If your walls and floors never really heat up, the house stays cool. Everyone has standing floor fans, and the breeze they create is wonderful—much better than ceiling fans, I find. Despite a prolonged heat wave this year with temperatures often hitting 100 degrees, we very rarely turned on our AC system. The French in general are not fond of AC—it’s fresh air all the way for them. Je suis d'accord!
In cold weather, these same shutters are closed at night, to block out a bit of the cold.
American houses tend to have vast expanses of glass, and if they have shutters, they typically aren't functional or aren't used. Partly due to the fact that screens are usually necessary to keep out bugs, but we don’t need screens here. However, we did have screens on our bedrooms windows in our former French house (to keep the bats out at night!), but they were retractable, so we could still use the shutters. I don’t know why all screens in the States aren’t retractable, it’s such a clever thing. There is something wonderful about a window that swings wide open to the sky.
One more thing: the French will never turns several lamps on for ambient lighting (guilty as charged!). Only the ones they need, which are always switched off when not in use.
The French are by nature super frugal, and it’s serving them well in these troubled times. We could all be a little more French these days! Now what about y'all? Any energy saving tips for us?
Favorite READS: My friend Suzanne in Charleston, an avid reader, suggests a new French themed book for us: In Love with Paris, Recipes and Stories from the Most Romantic City in the World. Oh la la! Our voracious reader-in-residence Natalia recommends Lost in Translation by Ella Sanders for language lovers, and The House of Fortune by Jesse Burton, which she says is a "page-turner". And happy anniversary, Natalia!
