David J. Widmann

“Once you get there, you realize it’s not that big of a deal,” says jazz musician Brenda Earle about making the move to New York City.  “When I was living in Toronto, the idea of moving here seemed like this huge ordeal.  There’s a lot of lore that goes along with being in New York.  Believe it or not, the hardest thing was becoming legal to work here.”

The thought of an artist moving to NYC conjures a hackneyed story of the misunderstood soul waiting tables and facing a battalion of rejections while on a journey to “find herself.”

Not Ms. Earle.

Possessing drive and focus equal to her skill at the piano, Brenda hit the ground running when she moved to The Big Apple in 2001.  She has been working on an off-Broadway production of Golf: The Musical, earning her Master’s degree, teaching and gigging around town.  Through all this, she managed to produce, record and release two solo albums in 2003.

The first, I Take Requests, which came out in the spring, is a collection of standards and pop tunes interpreted for a jazz quartet.  Many of the songs came from her days working as an entertainer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

“It’s a really fun gig,” she says.  “There was a major learning curve. I had told the cruise line that I was a solo performer, I knew all these pop tunes, and I was a great piano bar entertainer.  I had never done it before.  I just lied to them.  I figured I had enough musical know-it-all that I could figure it out as I went along.”

All She Needs, released this fall, showcases some of Brenda’s own songwriting.  Both CDs are vehicles for Brenda’s expressive voice and piano stylings.  She does admit that although she loves the traditional jazz she has grown up with, she’s ready to move into new territory.

“The music I’m writing now is more compositional,” she explains.  “I’m experimenting with more complex harmonies and with lyrical material that deals with issues different from the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl kind of stuff that I usually write about.

Brenda credits her new direction, and the 25 songs she has written since the release of All She Needs, to the collaborative atmosphere she found among her fellow Master’s students in New York.

“I’m surrounded by a lot of people who are in a similar age group who are dalso in a development phase,” she says.  “There’s a constant state of motion.  People go to a jam session and bring in brand new music that we’re all kind of developing as a group.  It’s a unique situation to be in.”

When asked how she survives the pace she’s found herself keeping in New York, Brenda speaks about the connection she feels to the music that has been her life since her first piano lessons at the age of 4.

“I have a lot of friends right now who are the same age as me and have really comfortable lives living in nice houses,” she says.  “They’re married, they have children and health insurance and all that other good stuff.  In order to be an artist, you have to really want what you’re doing and really love it.  It’s when you can actually block out what’s going on in the world and concentrate on what’s going on in front of you.  It’s an amazing thing, getting into that zone.”

More can be found at www.brendaearle.com

The Underground Gift Economy

It started in Tucson, Arizona in May of 2003 as a way to stop pristine desert land from becoming landfill.  In a year and a half, it has spread to over 1600 cities in 30 countries.

The Freecycle Network (http://www. freecycle.org) is a place where hundreds of thousands of people connect to get what they have to the people who need it.

Here’s how it works: let’s say you’ve got something you don’t need, perhaps a broken VCR.  You’ve decided that rather than going through the hassle of fixing it, you’re just going to get rid of it.  Instead of pitching it in the trash, you offer it up on your local Freecycle list.  Someone else on the list sees your offer, figures they can put your old  VCR to some use, and arranges a pickup.  It’s that simple.

The Toronto Freecycle list (http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleto) started in November of 2003.  Since then, the list has grown to over 1900 members offering items from kitchen utensils to building materials.

“I think perhaps the strangest item was a pile of dirt,” says Andrew Beatty, moderator of the local Freecycle group.  “Someone had a pile of dirt up for offer, and it was taken.  On the Toronto site, items have ranged from the mundane, such as ink cartridges, books and magazines, to the amazing, like washers, dryers, stoves and televisions.  Someone was also looking for a rubber stopper for a piggy bank.  I thought that was amusing.”

Beatty first heard about Freecycling while working in South Korea.
“Salon.com wrote a fantastic article about this movement, and I found the idea so fascinating that I researched it further,” he says.
Beatty says he was surprised to find that, when he looked into it, there was no Toronto node of this worldwide network.

“After looking at the main Freecycling site, I noticed that there were a few other Canadian cities with several members, but no one had opened a Toronto chapter.  I decided that the biggest city in Canada certainly should be involved in such a worthy and simple idea.  If nobody else was going to do it, I certainly could.”

“Freecycle is faster and less work than a garage sale,” Kathie Weiss-Lefebvre, an ardent Freecycler, says.  “You don’t get any cash for your efforts, just the joy of seeing the new owner take away the item with thanks.

“It is about the fluidity of ownership of so many objects in our lives,” she continues.  “Our needs change, interests change, children grow, households  change location and composition.  Our possessions change with these changes.”

Weiss-Lefebvre also enjoys the ease of Freecycling over other methods for getting rid of unwanted stuff.

“Selling things and finding places to donate things takes time, space, and expertise that not everyone has,” she explains.  “Freecycle is less anonymous than selling used goods on consignment or donating used goods to a charitable organization that either sells or gives the item to someone in need of  it.  Barter is less anonymous, but has limitations.”

“Reusing items is one of the most effective ways to help the environment,” Beatty says.  “Not only does it keep waste out of landfills, but it also lessens the impact of mass consumption and commercialization that are byproducts of our society.

“The interpersonal aspect of the movement, especially in larger urban areas like Toronto, is as beneficial as the environmental aspects,” Beatty continues.  “It gives strangers a chance to meet, touch each others lives, and basically generate goodwill and friendliness.  We see thousands of people every day in Toronto, but probably we do not get a chance to connect with many of them positively.”

Adding to the social aspect of Freecycling is a monthly meet-up (http://freecycle.meetup.com/15) that lets group members chat face-to-face with people who would otherwise be names on an email list.

Beatty points out that it’s not just individuals who benefit from the act of Free-cycling.  Non-profit organizations also use the network to find things they need to keep going.

“There are actually a few different animal shelters that are members of the group.  I have seen a few postings from them requesting items.  Freecyclers are usually asked to offer items to charities first, although no one is required to do this.  It is just a general guideline.”

New members with a variety of different items and needs join Toronto Freecycle every day.  Whether you need a new set of shelves for the garage or you’ve inherited some canning jars you’ll never use, sooner or later you’ll find someone who has what you need or needs what you have.

Pro-life leader warns that the burden of pensions and healthcare costs will mean more people must die

In his book Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30: A History of the Baby Boom, Howard Smead called the boomers “the most egocentric generation in the history of mankind.”  From hippies to yuppies, from war protesters to corporate lobbyists, the sheer number of baby boomers – generally defined as those born between 1947 and 1966 – left a kaleidoscope of indelible marks on society.  Looking back, it sometimes seems that they had virtually no regard for anything beyond the moment they were living in.

One decision made by the baby boom generation over 30 years ago set in motion a chain of events that now threatens the health and well-being of millions of people.  The infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision took place at a time when the bulk of the boomers had reached voting age.  How many of them at the time thought of the fallout they would be facing three decades later?

“Since 1973, we have killed off roughly 25 per cent of our population through abortion,” Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics, told The Interim.  “What’s that going to do to the nation’s social security system?”

Crutcher explained that the U.S. social security system was set up like a giant, legalized pyramid scheme – similar in structure to the Canada Pension Plan.  Through taxes, working people pay into the system and the money is given to recipients as needed.  In 1936, when the social security system was created, more than 30 workers paid into the system for every one person receiving benefits.  Currently, that ratio sits at just over two to one.

“We’ve killed off (through abortion) the people that were supposed to pay for social security,” Crutcher said.  “When the social security system was created, it was created on the premise that there would always bee a growing population base.  The retirement age was set at 62, because that was the average age that people lived to.  Social security was designed to take care of people who lived longer than the average person.  Now, the average age is about 77.  If a person lives to 77 after retiring at 62, you’re looking at the average person being on social security for 15 years.  For every year that you add to the lifespan of the American people without upping the age at which they get social security, you take an additional $3 billion out of social security every year.”

Adjusting for the population base, the outlook for the Canada Pension Plan looks similarly dire.

Crutcher explained that when the pyramid begins to collapse, the decisions made by the boomers on the abortion issue may come back to haunt them.

“We can kill you if you’re unhealthy,” is what Crutcher says we’ve told a generation of unborn.  “We can kill you if you’re too expensive.  We can kill you if you’re inconvenient.  I’ve listened to these arguments for 30 years.  The survivors of the generation that we killed off will be making decisions about us.  How long is it before that generation says to the baby boomers what the baby boomers said to them?”

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told The Interim that although Crutcher’s analysis may be cold, it is “a very logical way to look at it.”

“Because we legalized abortion we have a birth dearth,” he explained.  “We’ve got too many elderly people and too few young people.  It comes back to haunt us, because they’re saying it costs too much to provide healthcare for the elderly.  We’ve killed off the babies enough so that we don’t have a sufficient tax base.”

Schadenberg said that, like abortion, the ideas of euthanasia and assisted suicide will be sold to the public under the euphemism of “choice.”

“It’s all based on our simple emotional philosophy,” he explained.  “I call it an ‘emotional philosophy’ because it doesn’t really make sense.  It’s teh whole concept of ‘my body, my choice.’”

But, Schadenberg warned, “choice” may have little to do with the “decision” to die.

“There’s a pressure from society to end their lives,” he said of people receiving chronic medical care.

“People get to a point where they start to feel like they have no other choice.  The options are to live in a mode where people are not going to provide you the proper care, or receive an earlier death.  In nursing homes in the Netherlands, it’s exactly what’s going on.  People are being euthanized, and they feel they have no other choice.”

As social services are strained under the weight of an aging population, even the pretext of choice may be removed.  Depleting resources may force decisions to be built into the system.

“Let’s say someone comes in at 60 years old and they’ve had a stroke or heart attack,” Crutcher postulated.  “The system decides that the patient has a low chance of surviving for a year, so the system says we’re going to withhold care.  If you withhold care, the patient certainly doesn’t live a year, and the system is seen as right.  The system takes care of itself.”

These scenarios have been discussed for decades, yet there seems to be no political will to change the path.  No politician wants to risk his career by being the one who raises taxes to crushing levels or cuts services to the bone.  While immigration policies have been created in part to shor up the tax base, Schadenberg said that the increasing number of new citizens through immigration is not enough to avert a crisis.

“Statistics in Canada show that even if we were to bring in 250,000 immigrants a year from now on, that’s not enough to replace the birth dearth that we’ve created,” he explained.  “Of those 250,000 immigrants, not all of them are children, obviously.  People come to Canada, then they sponsor their brothers, their sisters, their parents.  You’re not actually dealing with your population disparity problem.  The problem cannot be solved that way.  It has to be solved in the natural way: by increasing the birth rate.”

“Our first gig was in April 2002, and since then we’ve travelled Canada three times over,” says Keith Maurik, rhythm guitarist for Toronto five-piece Maximum RNR. “We put out a seven-inch every time. This time we put out the six-song CD instead of the seven-inch. We got a lot of mileage off those six songs.”

Maurik has also gotten a lot of mileage out of his van, learning that when you’re a rock and roll band touring the country, you’re fair game for bored traffic cops along the Trans Canada Highway.

“We’re pretty fucking unlucky when it comes to cops,” he says. “We don’t speed, because we know if they can see us coming along, we’re pulled over for no reason. The second time we were going out west, we were doing the drive to Thunder Bay. It’s such a long drive, and the dudes in the back were like: ‘Fuck man, I’m going to have a beer.’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, whatever, go for it.’ We get pulled over. The first thing the cops ask me is how much I’ve had to drink. I’m wondering why, and then it hits me. The whole van reeks of booze because of the guys in the back. They were fucking loaded. The cops pulled us out of the van, and all the empties fell out. They started grilling us about drugs and shit. Our drummer, who has never done drugs in his life, took over at that point and said: ‘Drugs, what drugs? We’re a beer-drinkin’ band. We don’t do drugs.’ We all just nodded. I had a half-ounce of pot on me, so I stayed quiet.”

“Anyway, we got a $215 ticket for illegal conveyance, or whatever they call it. Open liquor. I paid it off, then got the cheque back with a little note saying the ticketing officer had never submitted the ticket. We got off. It was crazy.”

That van has also served as home for Maurik, lead guitarist Keith Carman, vocalist Louie Durand, bassist Mike Sydney and drummer Mike Childs for those long tours. Maurik says that bunking out the van so they can get sleep on the road has helped Maximum RNR juggle the demands of touring and day jobs.

“Sleeping in the van is a little hard, but if you’re tired enough or drunk enough you’ll pass out,” Maurik says. “Many a time, we’ve driven to Halifax and back to Toronto all through the night Saturday, and all day Sunday to show up Monday morning at 9:30 and go straight to work. We’ve done that quite a few times. Our singer Louie used to work on weekends at 7:00 in the morning. Often, we’d dump him off at work right after a gig.”

“It’s been a long, steady grind,” says Maurik about the progress of his band. “It seems to be growing organically, like a cottage industry. We’re having to put in less and less money. At first, you have to buy a van, get your instruments, blah, blah, blah. Once we had the merchandise going and the releases coming, money started coming back.”

This is why Maximum RNR has opted to put off shopping around for a major label deal for the time being.

“I don’t want to be distributed by Universal,” Maurik says. “I don’t want the stigma that’s attached to that.”

If you’re looking to catch some ear-splitting, heart-pounding, whirlwind rock and roll any time soon, check out Maximum RNR’s web site (http://www.maximumrnr.com) for upcoming shows.

Jagermeister, vodka, deviant behaviour, Spongebob, secret devil signs, vandalism, pyrophilia, projectile vomit, detox, assault, black-outs, sex, drugs and, of course, rock and roll. Toronto’s Fresh Meat is not a band that lets something as trivial as day jobs diminish the intensity of a punk-rock lifestyle.

“My audition for the band was, like, ‘first you play and then you have to see if you can keep up with us drinking,’” says bassist Scooter, recovering from the night before on the patio of Tortilla Flats. “I said ‘what are you talking about? You’ve got to see if you can keep up with me!’ I woke up at my parents house not knowing how I got there. I got out of going to the drunk tank because the cops took me to the hospital instead.”

And so began the legend that is Fresh Meat. Talking to Scooter, guitarist/vocalist Tina, and guitarist Jesse (George, the band’s drummer, was… indisposed and couldn’t make it to the interview), it’s hard to believe these guys have only been together for a little over a year. They’re not only bandmates and partners in crime, but close friends who can’t get enough of cracking each other up with stories of past exploits. Well, the stories they can remember anyway.

“We signed a contract saying we wouldn’t drink until further notice,” Tina says. “We didn’t drink for a whole week, and then Scooter called and said he was having a beer.”

“We also signed a contract saying we wouldn’t make out anymore,” Scooter adds. Although Tina insists that they haven’t made out anyway, Scooter says: “According to the staff at the Big Bop and the Zen Lounge, we were making out a lot. Apparently I make out with people when I’m drunk.”

“So do I,” says Jesse. This elicits peals of laughter from the group.

“You have to keep me and Jesse drunk away from each other,” says Scooter. “Bad things will happen.”

“I’d want pictures,” Tina laughs.

But beneath the endless stories of alcohol, misdemeanour charges and hospitalizations lies a band that kicks ass on stage. On June 7th, part of the Meaty Monday showcase the band hosts on the first Monday of every month at Kathedral, Fresh Meat displayed all the intensity and charisma in their performance as they do in real life. This band signals hope for a Toronto live-music scene that has been languishing for years. If there’s one band that’s going to break the scene open and get people out to see rock shows again, Fresh Meat’ll be it.

For more information, check out http://www.thisisfreshmeat.com.

After a spate of terrorist attacks, conspiracy web sites and Michael Moore films, the secret organization that really runs things in this world – the Illuminati – has been blamed for everything from the rising cost of bottled water to George W. Bush’s choice of shirt-and-tie combos. As any multinational organization hell bent on world domination knows, reputation is everything.

“Their marketing team wanted to improve their world image by sending out a kickass rock and roll band,” says bassist Nick Sewell.

Sewell and guitarist Les Godfrey were the nucleus of Toronto garage-metal sensations Tchort. The duo didn’t languish between projects looking for creative “vision” as many musicians do after the breakup of a successful band. After the dissolution of Tchort, The Illuminati hit the ground running.

“Our last show with the old band was August 28,” Sewell says, “and our first show as Illuminati was 6 days later. We opened for Danko Jones in Kingston.”

The Illuminati have since opened for such big-name international acts as Andrew W.K., Nashville Pussy, The Darkeness, and rock legend Alice Cooper.

“It was awesome to play that Hallowe’en show with Alice Cooper at Massey Hall,” Sewell says.

“I smashed into him with some guitar cases,” Godfrey recalls. “I was coming through the doorway and he was coming around the corner, and I smashed right into his knees. It looked like I hurt him, but he was cool about it. He said he wouldn’t sue me or anything. He was a total gentleman, but I felt so bad that I hit Alice Cooper with a guitar case.”

When asked for other interesting tour stories, Sewell responded: “Nothing we’re at liberty to discuss. We’re a secretive band. Hence the name.”

The secret on The Illuminati is getting out. Shows are generally packed with converts to the band’s brand of party-rock. Things are looking good in Toronto, and Sewell is looking forward to their fall tour, when the band will promote its newest album, On Borrowed Time.

We want to get this new batch of songs ready because we intend to play the shit out of them on this upcoming tour,” Sewell says. “You get to see what works with a song. Something that conceptually sounds really good might not work as well live. There’s no place like the stage to battle test something and see if it’s actually an idea that holds water of if it’s just academic.”

“Sometimes they way you want to have the set on the record, it’s okay to put a couple of more obscure tracks on them,” Godfrey adds. “Live, it’s better to have things fast and furious. The more experimental stuff we’ll just put on the record.”

For more information on this musical secret society, check out http://www.theilluminati.ca

There is a lost valley in the great Land of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It is a place settled by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Stooges; a place where Earth gently tilled the seeds of what would later grow to be heavy metal; a place that shares a loosely defended border with The Blues, and psychedelic rainbows still streak the sky.

Toronto’s Evil Doers have pieced together the ancient maps, followed the legends, and found this place where rock is still in its teens. The band has learned the spells whose chants are vocal distortions and wah-wah pedals, mastered the language of this forgotten land and brought it back to make it their own.

Who’s Evil?, the band’s debut 5-song EP, updates the exploratory sounds that were fresh in the sixties, and proves that everything old is, indeed, new again. This 3-piece ensemble isn’t content playing the pop-punk chords that have prevailed for way too long. From the marching drums of the CD’s opening track, “Branded,” to the frenzied climax of “The Jimi Hendrix Theory,” the energy of this band can’t be denied. Who’s evil? They are. And they love it. I can’t wait to see these guys live.

Jagermeister, vodka, deviant behaviour, Spongebob, secret devil signs, vandalism, pyrophilia, projectile vomit, detox, assault, black-outs, sex, drugs and, of course, rock and roll. Toronto’s Fresh Meat is not a band that let’s something as trivial as day jobs diminish the intensity of a punk-rock lifestyle.

“My audition for the band was, like, ‘first you play and then you have to see if you can keep up with us drinking,’” says bassist Scooter, recovering from the night before on the patio of Tortilla Flats. “I said, ‘What are you talking about? You’ve got to see if you can keep up with me!’ I woke up at my parents house not knowing how I got there. I got out of going to the drunk tank because the cops took me to the hospital instead.”

And so began the legend that is Fresh Meat. Talking to Scooter, guitarist/vocalist Tina, and guitarist Jesse (George, the band’s drummer, was… indisposed and couldn’t make it to the interview), it’s hard to believe these guys have only been together for a little over a year. They’re not only bandmates and partners in crime, but close friends who can’t get enough of cracking each other up with stories of past exploits. Well, the stories they can remember, anyway.

“We signed a contract saying we wouldn’t drink until further notice,” Tina says. “We didn’t drink for a whole week, and then Scooter called and said he was having a beer.”

“We also signed a contract saying we wouldn’t make out anymore,” Scooter adds. Although Tina insists that they haven’t made out anyway, Scooter says: “According to the staff at the Big Bop and the Zen Lounge, we were making out a lot. Apparently I make out with people when I’m drunk.”

“So do I,” says Jesse. This elicits peals of laughter from the group.

“You have to keep me and Jesse drunk away from each other,” says Scooter. “Bad things will happen.

“I’d want pictures,” Tina laughs.

But beneath the endless stories of alcohol, misdemeanor charges and hospitalizations lies a band that kicks ass on stage. On June 7, part of the Meaty Monday showcase the band hosts on the first Monday of every month at Kathedral, Fresh Meat displayed all the intensity and charisma in their performance as they do in real life. This band signals hope for a Toronto live-music scene that has been languishing for years. If there’s on band that’s going to break the scene open and get people out to see rock shows again, Fresh Meat’ll be it.

For more information, check out http://www.thisisfreshmeat.com

Not just an urban legend

It is the stuff of horror movies and science-fiction novels: human body parts harvested, bought and sold on an open market. In recent years, this scenario has emerged from the depths of our nightmares to find its way into reality. Although many stories of organ thefts and “body stealing” have been debunked as urban legend, it is a problem that not only exists, but is of growing concern to many people.

Mark Crutcher is the founder and president of Life Dynamics. His organization exposes companies and individuals who harvest tissue from aborted fetuses for medical research purposes. “Nothing is being done, and nothing’s going to be done” about fetal tissue trading, Crutcher told The Interim.

“In the United States,” Crutcher explained, “we have a very corrupt political system that ignores this problem. They claimed, when they wrote the laws originally, that they put safeguards in there so that there wouldn’t be trafficking in the parts. In reality, what they did was placate people by putting these ’safeguards’ into place, but then they put loopholes in these safeguards that are big enough to fly a 747 through. The problem is, the Democratic party is in bed with the people who sell the parts: the abortion clinics. The Republican party is in bed with the people who buy them: the pharmaceutical companies, the research universities, the biotech companies. Those political entities have a vested self-interest in seeing that (fetal tissue trading) continues. It’s a conspiracy of a common agenda.”

Aborted babies aren’t the only victims of this macabre, but growing, market. Increasingly, poor people in Third World countries are becoming organ and tissue banks for a Western medical establishment that is strapped for raw materials. Nancy Scheper-Hughes is the director of Organs Watch, an organization that documents and investigates allegations of organ sales for transplant surgery. In a paper entitled “Global Traffic In Human Organs,” published in the journal Current Anthropology in April of 2000, she cited “the deficiencies of the global capitalist economy, particularly the erosion of social values and social cohesion in the face of the increasing dominance of anti-social market values” as factors driving people to sell their own organs.

Scheper-Hughes continued: “The problem is that markets are by nature indiscriminate and inclined to reduce everything – including human beings, their labour, and their reproductive capacity – to the status of commodities … Nowhere is this more dramatically illustrated than in the current markets for human organs and tissues to supply a medical business driven by supply and demand.”

An example of this phenomenon came out of Uganda’s Sunday Monitor on June 20, 2004. On that day, police in the capital city of Kampala confirmed that they were investigating a “well-organized racket” involved in exporting human body parts to the United States and Europe. The racketeers’ defence to these grisly allegations: they are cannibals.

“There is no law in Uganda under which one can be charged with cannibalism,” Sunday Monitor journalist David Kibirige wrote. “Surprisingly, people in Mityana told police that the home of the suspected cannibals used to be frequented by posh cars.” Kibirige also points out that the victims’ bodies were missing vital organs, prompting police to believe the cannibalism story is a “cover-up.”

More disturbing than the markets for medical research and transplant surgery is a growing market catering to idle curiosity seekers.

On July 28, 2004, according to The Moscow News, a court in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk acquitted Vladimir Novoselov, the head of the Novosibirsk regional bureau of forensic medicine, of charges of illegally transporting dead bodies to Germany. It is alleged he was supplying “artist’s materials” to Gunther Von Hagen. Von Hagen, through a process called “plastination,” preserves bodies and body parts, places them in poses – one of the most widely photographed being a skinless corpse playing basketball – and places them in museums as installation pieces.

If people can hide behind the laws of other countries to justify the commodification of the very organs that keep us alive, and even our own laws are not sufficient to protect the most vulnerable of us, one is left to ask who is truly safe from the “global free market” of this gruesome trade.

A few things to look for when buying a used air conditioner

The summer heat has descended upon the city, and the lazy oscillation of the table fan just isn’t enough to cut through the crushing humidity. While thoughts of an air conditioner filling an open window are enticing, the price of a new air conditioner (not to mention all the cardboard, plastic and packing foam that comes with it) to cool a room for a couple of months can seem a little steep.

It’s easy to save a few hundred dollars by purchasing a used air conditioner. 6,000 BTU units, which are good for cooling a room of about 200 square feet, can be found for around $100 used as opposed to nearly $300 new. Be warned, however, that not all units are created equal. A little research will help you keep your cool without generating surprise energy bills.

BTU and You

BTUs (British Thermal Units) are the standard measure for an air conditioner’s cooling capacity. A simple way to figure out how many BTUs you need in an air conditioner is to measure the space you want to cool, then multiply that by 30. For instance, if your room measures 15 feet by 12 feet, you would need an air conditioner with enough power to cool 180 square feet, or 5400 BTUs.

Keep in mind that this calculation doesn’t take into account things like high ceilings, large windows and air leaks. Seal any cracks (which will also help you with winter heating) to keep cool air in the room. If you have high ceilings, look into installing ceiling fans or buying a more powerful air conditioner. Direct sunlight warming the room can be balanced by keeping curtains or blinds closed during the day. In any case, adding 2000 BTUs to your cooling requirements is a good idea, just to be sure the air conditioner isn’t overworked.

Raw Energy

Now that you’ve brushed up on your math skills at home, it’s time to take your calculator into the field. When it comes to energy efficiency, the federal government has made comparing new appliances easy with EnerGuide and Energy Star labeling systems. The energy efficiency ratio (EER) is plainly visible on the unit, and comparing the energy efficiency of similar air conditioners is as simple as looking for the lowest EER number. Figuring out the EER for a secondhand air conditioner is a little more difficult. The label may have been removed, or the unit may have been built before the EnerGuide labeling requirements came into effect.

Fortunately, any electrical device has a label on it somewhere indicating its power usage. The label may be easily visible on the back or side of the unit, or you may have to remove a panel in the front or near the power cord to find it. If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to get the person selling the air conditioner to uncover the label in order to avoid a you-break-you-buy situation.

On the label, look for the air conditioner’s wattage. If the watts aren’t on the label, you can multiply the amps by the volts to get what you need. Divide the air conditioner’s BTUs by the number of watts, and that gives you the units EER. For example, a 6,000 BTU air condition using 840 watts has an EER of about 7. Another 6,000 BTU air conditioner using 1200 watts would have an EER of about 5. The higher the number, the less energy is required to cool your room.

The Ministry of Natural Resources website (http://nrcan.gc.ca) contains detailed information on energy uses, and tables to help you estimate the cost of running your air conditioner for the summer. For example, if you’ve got an 8,000 BTU unit with an EER of 9.7, you can expect to use 585 kilowatt-hours of electricity for the average Toronto summer. At 4.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, expect to add $27.50 to your bill.

Window Seat

There are few things in life that can make a person feel more foolish than hauling an air conditioner up the stairs in 32-degree heat only to find that it’s too big for the window you’ve planned to set it up in (trust me, I know from experience). Make sure you take accurate measurements of the window before you purchase a unit, and compare those measurements to the air conditioner before you purchase it. Eye-balling doesn’t always work.

Be sure to choose a window that’s close to an electrical outlet, preferably one that’s not being used for anything else. Air conditioners use a lot of power and cause electrical interference that can damage other appliances – particularly computer or stereo equipment – that might be plugged into the same circuit. Power bars and extension cords should also be avoided.

Do your best to ensure that you purchase the right air conditioner for the type of window you’re installing it into. Although an air conditioner meant for vertical-sliding windows can be rigged with a board to fit into a window with side-sliding panes, it won’t often work the other way. Air conditioners meant for side-sliding windows usually don’t have a support bracket along the top. Installing this type of unit into a window with vertical-sliding panes leaves very little between your air conditioner and the pavement below.

Another thing to be aware of when buying a used air conditioner is the possibility that the unit required special mounting hardware to keep it secure. Empty screw holes or evenly-spaced scratches along the top or sides of the unit are tell-tale signs that there may be more to installing it than just sitting it on the window sill. Ask someone knowledgeable about air conditioner installation if there are additional brackets needed to hold the unit up. If you’re not sure, it’s best to pass on that particular unit and find a model that looks like it’s an easier installation.
When installing the air conditioner, make sure the unit is level so that the moisture it draws out of the air can drain outside properly and not form a pool of water on the floor. Also do your best to seal the area around the unit so no outside air can get in around it. This will ensure that the air conditioner can cool the room as efficiently as possible.

Relief is here

Getting the right air conditioner ready to go requires a lot of thought and work. Being able to sleep comfortably on those short summer nights makes it all worthwhile. With proper servicing, even a secondhand air conditioner can last for many years. Consider making a trip to the local library and checking out a book on basic air conditioner maintenance. Simple things like changing filters regularly and keeping electrical contacts clean will keep the unit running efficiently and can help prevent bigger, more costly problems down the road.

Sooner or later the time will come to dispose of your air conditioner. Remember that air conditioners contain hazardous chemicals and require special disposal arrangements. Check out the City of Toronto’s household hazardous waste guidelines (http://www.toronto.on.ca/hhw) for more information.

When your air conditioner gives up the ghost, there still may be a use for it. Local used appliance dealers might offer some money for a unit they can use for parts. Look around your neighbourhood for community or school programs that refurbish old appliances. It’s surprising to see how many different uses old machines have when you take the time to look.