Ottoman architecture devised ways to keep cool in summer and warm in winter, and those are used quite a bit even now. But there are other energy saving devices that put Turkey higher on the conservation scale than my own country.
But then it never had so much as to overuse it, so it's not really conservation, but rather adding something that they never had before. Like electricity. Or warm water. Or heating. Ottoman houses contain neither of these. New houses can include them of course, but these things are expensive to maintain, especially for those in rural areas.
So it was interesting to see house after house, new and old alike, with solar panels on rooves, attached to water tanks so access to warm water was now possible winer and summer.
As we moved through the country, we often spied clutches of windmills, mesmerizing with their languid turns.
Toilets were in a bit of limbo. One the one hand, there were so many more sit-down flush styled loos than even only a few years ago, but they do use a fair bit of water. Being Europe they almost always have a double flush button so some water can be conserved.
And on the other hand, there are still a lot of squatters, particularly in rural or commercial areas. A lot less water needed.
I remember one of my exercise instructors saying that countries in which people squat down habitually (not just to do the washroom business but also to cook or eat or whatever) have dramatically less hip problems in later years, and that we in the West would do well to practice squatting to keep our hips limber. So as long as they are clean, I have no problem with a squatter toilet any more - I thought of it as part of my daily exercise regimen.
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| old squat loo - note the handy footwear |
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| a modern squatter, with a tap and bucket for washing everything down the hole |
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| these would be energy saving, if only they were hooked up to something! |
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