Err, pardon my ignorance, but doesn't a Faraday cage need to be iron/steel? I thought an aluminum shell would do nothing at all.

My understanding was that the ferrous metal acts like an antenna, converting most of the electromagnetic wave to electricity in the cage rather than inside the electronic equipment. If properly grounded, the charge would be shunted to ground.

But I'm not an engineer, so I defer to those who know better.

You are certainly correct about the inefficiencies of a traditional fireplace, and this would be very significant living in Canada.

But some of us reside in sunnier climes, like southern California. In thirty years in So Cal, I have never seen frost in my town and on only one occasion on an outlying island. So we can dedicate fireplaces to their highest and best uses, toasting marshmallows and raising morale. They are pretty good at chasing the chill away.

An addendum to my previous post. Another very fine solar powered light would be any of the Luci (brand name) inflatable lights. There are probably other makes which follow the same basic scheme. A small solar panel, an array of LEDs, and an inflatable bag provide a very fine diffuse light, suitable for dining or use in a tent. They are also very cheap and quite compact when not inflated. In uninflated condition, they perform decently as a flashlight.

I like the Luci inflatable light and have put two of the Lux (warm white version) in my Amazon.com cart. Thanks for the tip.

For the record, the Luci Lux lights I received work great. The battery is 3.7 volt lithium polymer and I ran one all last night as a night-light in the kitchen. Plenty of illumination and softer hues than the normal wall socket night light.

Because of a little problem with our kitchen lighting last night, I broke out the Luci's, suspended over the kitchen sink and work counter. My darling DW, who does not care for the dark, and I both agreed that the Luci's lent a festive atmosphere to the surroundings.

Dollar for dollar, they are an excellent value in emergency/supplementary lighting. I'll probably pick up a few more myself. (I love Luci??)

I am going to take a stab at this one: First - I am not an engineer. Second - I am a regular with a little (very little) electrical/electronics background. Third - I would say that since aluminum does conduct electricity (electromagnetic energy) it could be used as a Faraday cage.

Absolutely. Our old (vintage early 1970s) house had aluminium wiring.

The aluminium will shield the electrical component of the electromagnetic energy but it cannot shield the magnetic component.

Transmitted radio waves consist of both and one cannot exist without the other. (It's complicated)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_field

Brittle and resistive. Many a house on wheels went up in flames due to aluminum wiring being the incorrect gauge.