In yesterday's blog I looked at the circular economy and the more sustainable purchase of goods and services and previously I have covered local food and recycling .
Today I want to look at, particularly at a time when there is so much disruption to normal life, how one can become more resilient and perhaps deal with the unexpected.
The dislocation of trade that perhaps many were expecting by now was a no-deal Brexit. This is still very likely (please take this seriously!) but having done some prepping for possible food supply disruption in the event of no-deal we were very well prepared for the situation that arose in March 2020 where there was panic buying ahead of the coronavirus lockdown and many foods became unavailable in the supermarket overnight. Even our local butchers was cleaned out on one day! However, our freezer was well stocked, we had cans of various vegetables and beans, pasta and various other foodstuffs so we could manage pretty well. The only thing we should have restocked was gluten free pasta but we managed to get some eventually.
Consider what you use over a two week period in terms of fresh foodstuffs, what vegetables and fruit and meat you use. Many vegetables will store for two weeks in a fridge and a sack of potatoes will keep for a few weeks. Fruit such as apples and pears will store well in a fridge or indeed in boxes in a cool, dark place - we store our own apples and pears from the allotment for - in the case of apples - up to four months or so. However, such as mushrooms are only able to be kept for three or four days and it is these sorts of foods that don't keep that are worth looking at having in a more preserved form. Any wholefood shop has dried fruit for sale and many fruit and vegetables are easily available in tins, jars or frozen. Take advantage of any offers in supermarkets to stock up or bulk buy online from wholesalers if you have the space and need.
If you have space to grow food, then look at crops that can be preserved - beetroot and gherkins can be pickled, soft fruit can be put into jam or put in sugar solution or frozen. Tomatoes can be dried or turned into puree, chutney or sauce.
Keep a good stock of dried food, pasta, noodles, rice and cereals as well as foods that - although not that healthy if you eat too many - provide lots of energy in a small, cheap boost such as biscuits, chocolate or indeed trail bars combine energy and goodness.
Other items such as jars of ready made sauces such as for curry or Chinese food will add variety. Plenty of canned items including oily fish. Oakcakes are a good substitute for bread. Keep some long life milk and some mature cheese which will last longer.
My one major worry is if we had a power cut for longer than around six hours which would start affecting the fridge-freezer. Kept closed, a fridge-freezer will keep food cold for some time and a tightly packed freezer will also help keep food frozen for longer. If you have money and the practicalities are right for solar or wind energy then a system combined with backup batteries may well be a good investment if you are going to be staying put in the same property for many years. I am going to look at this again when our combination gas boiler - now twelve years old - gets to the point of needing replacement as being able to convert one's heating system to using renewable energy - whether that be own generated or from the grid - is a good carbon emission cutting measure too.
Make sure you have some alternative means of heating food whether that is a barbeque or camping stove or even somewhere you can light a fire for cooking on and keep some fuel handy for these. We have a small camping stove in the shed and if the weather is fine and dry I have plenty of wood from allotment tidying for making a fire.
Keep your car (if you have one) at least half full of fuel, or if electric then make sure there is enough charge to get you to a nearby town with medical facilities. Keep your first aid kit topped up and know the basics of first aid and assistance. I had to stop a relative choking once and having attended several first aid courses in which this was covered I was able to immediately offer assistance and sort the issue out promptly. You never know when the knowledge will be needed.
Give your finances a good look over. The cost of basic items is rising all the time, and indeed I have noticed recently that, for instance, the council tax bill has risen quite a lot over the past few years. It all cumulatively erodes your finances. Of course, not everyone has the means to be able to put some money away for a rainy day but everyone can at least look at all their contracts, all their spending, take advantage of offers on food and other goods that need replacing, and consider what is necessary spending in your lives. Make a will and make sure that your affairs are in order so that someone else can, if necessary, deal with those things that need to be dealt with in a straightforward manner. I've known of someone who went to work one day and didn't come back, hit by a bus.
If you have spare cash, then consider a donation to those causes that help those who don't - food banks, homelessness services and other charities that support people in such need. If you know someone in your community that needs assistance, first of all ask them what they need, and then if you can't help directly, try and signpost them to services that can. I once encountered a homeless man in a nearby town and if I have the opportunity I will in such situations often go and buy some food for these people. In this case I did that, went to a bakery and got them something warm and came back to discover that many people had already had the same thought and there was a huge pile of bakery items in his bag behind him! Whilst of course it is good to make sure people are fed, there was more food there than what he could reasonably manage before it went off! Sometimes what someone actually needs is someone to talk to.
Ask yourself what you actually need. It is of course good to treat oneself now and again, and we shouldn't all live like hermits, but - as I said in my previous blog - buying clothes secondhand contributes to the circular economy and will often help a charity, a lot of the larger charity shops have furniture, electricals and many other items for sale, in the one I work in you could get most of what you need to kit out a house in one go. Advertisers of course want to lure you into buying something new, get the upgrade, buy now, pay later, but - apart from the mortgage - I have always only bought with money I actually have. Credit has its place of course if something unexpected happens and you need to spread the payments for a replacement, but it is in my opinion better to save up for something if you can. If you can put away a bit of money against a "rainy day" then so much the better but I do recognise that many can't do this.
Make sure you have a list of emergency contacts on your phone or in a notepad. A bit of cash handy - I know that of late there has been encouragement for safety reasons to go cashless and contactless but glitches can and do occur with the banking system. A multi-tool penknife and a set of other tools for basic repairs and spares of various items such as batteries, light bulbs, fuses etc as well as torches and candles. A wind up radio and torch are good items to have too as well as a rechargeable power pack for a phone. I have tried mini solar recharging kit and whilst it is good while it lasts the ones I used several years ago had a tendency to blow their discharge capacitors with long term repeated use but I suspect improvements have been made now.
Two go-to people I follow on the internet are James Patrick and Guy Dorrell and they have put together some resilience documents and podcasts which can be found from here . There is of course plenty of prepping resources on the internet and you can go into it as far as you want depending on your circumstances or needs. But everyone can make improvements and you never know what situation might arise.
Showing posts with label energy saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy saving. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Lockdown Day 79 -Small Steps-Part 3
In yesterday's blog I looked at local food options, food miles and ethical food options, and today I want to look at how purchases of consumer goods and services can be done more sustainably.
You may have heard about the "circular economy". This is where products are re-used, recycled, re-manufactured, repaired making minimal use of inputs. I looked at recycling in my first "Small Steps" blog two days ago. But the concept goes much further than just recycling. You may have heard of Repair Cafes - where consumer goods, rather than being thrown away when they are broken, (as it has been hitherto easier and cheaper to just buy a new item than get it repaired through the manufacturer) are repaired while-you-wait by people with those skills in the community. How this will continue in the new normal of coronavirus remains to be seen but the concept needs to somehow as the amount of electronic waste, for instance, thrown away each year is huge - in 2013 a UN Report found that the UK generated 1.5Mt of electronic waste and much of this could be either repaired or recycled. When I used to work in IT, I used a firm that would collect from us - for free if over 40 items/boxes - all our redundant electronic items, cables etc and then crushed and melted it down to extract all the different metals from it, including gold from the circuit boards and other rare earth metals.
At the charity shop I work for any donated clothes that are too damaged to sell are sent to a clothing recycling firm and the charity gets money for this, and we also send to another company things like sharp knives (that we can't sell for safety reasons) and broken jewellery and receive money for this. So you have local people donating things they no longer want, which we either sell to (in general) local people or, if we can, recycle if not saleable, where the money earned goes into supporting a local hospice which (aside from the support of end of life care) keeps local people in jobs who then spend money in the local communities and so on.
Unfortunately, the options there are to support truly local businesses have been in decline for decades. Look at any high street - with a few notable exceptional localities - you'll see mostly big chain stores, chain restaurants, chain pubs, chain takeaways where the profit is sent into one big - often shareholder owned or remote ownership - pot and many of these have become quite adept at avoiding the taxes they are supposed to pay on that profit. Whilst of course these also employ local people and indeed can provide valuable work and training for many local people, ultimately much of the profit from the business leaves the local area, maybe even overseas. If they require contractual services - for instance building work or maintenance, these are also often subcontracted out to big companies or firms that have no connection to the local area - I once saw a firm of shopfitters from Leeds working on a shop in Bournemouth (whilst this is of course providing the shopfitters with work, aside from maybe a bite to eat or perhaps a stay in a guest house, most of the money for the job leaves the local area where the work is taking place)
Compare this to a small business shop owner who will most likely live fairly locally, who will (in general) contract services from firms in the local area, will spend more of their money made through profit in the local area and perhaps work more closely with other local businesses in the promotion of the local area and in other community activities.
The rising cost of rents and business rates are often partly to blame for the demise of local shops, the trend over decades now to large out of town retail parks has diminished town centres, small shops like greengrocers and butchers can't compete on economies of scale that large supermarkets can, even though, for instance the product a local butcher may supply will often have come from a farmer he/she will know well in the local area, and you are getting a much more personal service than when you get from a row of pre-packaged meat in a chiller cabinet at the supermarket with much more traceability. The product itself may well be much more ethically produced than in a major retail service sector where the pressure is on - for reasons of cost cutting in order to appear the cheapest - to cut corners and produce more intensively.
In terms of the actual products themselves, there are a number of criteria by which a product should be evaluated for ethical standards. Where was the product made/produced? What proportion of the cost of the produce does the actual producer get? - a principle of fair trade. How was the product made or produced, using what materials and how sustainable is this? Can the product be recycled? How are the workers treated by the manufacturer? How local is the production? (there can for some products be a balance between this local criteria and the other factors - for instance you may wish to buy a product produced by a cooperative working in Africa, traded using fair trade principles rather than a more locally produced factory version). How durable is the product - the Buy Me Once website specifically looks at products that are built to last.
On the last point - products being built to last - how many of you have older items - for instance kitchenware cutlery, maybe white goods or other consumer items that were built or made twenty to thirty years ago (or even older) that are still going strong? Have you noticed that a lot of products nowadays have what seems to be a built in obsolescence or the manufacturers or retailers want you to ditch what is a perfectly good and working piece of equipment in order to upgrade to the next model or get some features that may or may not be useful but just sound good? How many of those now redundant items get sold on or recycled?
We have quite a bit of Sheffield cutlery at home perfectly useable, my mum uses a pre-Second World War jam pan, our original microwave only recently gave up the ghost after, I think, twenty-six years of service. The wok is now thirty years old. I have a printer and a printer/scanner that are over ten years old at least, both bought second hand from charity shops. Our piano is late Victorian and about a solid an instrument as you are ever likely to get! Plenty of opportunity to buy durable old items at charity shops and outdoor fairs and second hand markets.
We bought a Liebherr fridge/freezer as it does seem the case that German made brands (especially kitchenware) are designed with durability and efficiency in mind - though we noticed on our last trip to Germany that there is much less production in Germany than previously with some manufacturers succumbing to using imports from the Far East unfortunately.
So, there's plenty of ways in which you can be more sustainable and ethical both in terms of the products you buy and the community that you buy them in.
Tomorrow I look at household resilience
You may have heard about the "circular economy". This is where products are re-used, recycled, re-manufactured, repaired making minimal use of inputs. I looked at recycling in my first "Small Steps" blog two days ago. But the concept goes much further than just recycling. You may have heard of Repair Cafes - where consumer goods, rather than being thrown away when they are broken, (as it has been hitherto easier and cheaper to just buy a new item than get it repaired through the manufacturer) are repaired while-you-wait by people with those skills in the community. How this will continue in the new normal of coronavirus remains to be seen but the concept needs to somehow as the amount of electronic waste, for instance, thrown away each year is huge - in 2013 a UN Report found that the UK generated 1.5Mt of electronic waste and much of this could be either repaired or recycled. When I used to work in IT, I used a firm that would collect from us - for free if over 40 items/boxes - all our redundant electronic items, cables etc and then crushed and melted it down to extract all the different metals from it, including gold from the circuit boards and other rare earth metals.
At the charity shop I work for any donated clothes that are too damaged to sell are sent to a clothing recycling firm and the charity gets money for this, and we also send to another company things like sharp knives (that we can't sell for safety reasons) and broken jewellery and receive money for this. So you have local people donating things they no longer want, which we either sell to (in general) local people or, if we can, recycle if not saleable, where the money earned goes into supporting a local hospice which (aside from the support of end of life care) keeps local people in jobs who then spend money in the local communities and so on.
Unfortunately, the options there are to support truly local businesses have been in decline for decades. Look at any high street - with a few notable exceptional localities - you'll see mostly big chain stores, chain restaurants, chain pubs, chain takeaways where the profit is sent into one big - often shareholder owned or remote ownership - pot and many of these have become quite adept at avoiding the taxes they are supposed to pay on that profit. Whilst of course these also employ local people and indeed can provide valuable work and training for many local people, ultimately much of the profit from the business leaves the local area, maybe even overseas. If they require contractual services - for instance building work or maintenance, these are also often subcontracted out to big companies or firms that have no connection to the local area - I once saw a firm of shopfitters from Leeds working on a shop in Bournemouth (whilst this is of course providing the shopfitters with work, aside from maybe a bite to eat or perhaps a stay in a guest house, most of the money for the job leaves the local area where the work is taking place)
Compare this to a small business shop owner who will most likely live fairly locally, who will (in general) contract services from firms in the local area, will spend more of their money made through profit in the local area and perhaps work more closely with other local businesses in the promotion of the local area and in other community activities.
The rising cost of rents and business rates are often partly to blame for the demise of local shops, the trend over decades now to large out of town retail parks has diminished town centres, small shops like greengrocers and butchers can't compete on economies of scale that large supermarkets can, even though, for instance the product a local butcher may supply will often have come from a farmer he/she will know well in the local area, and you are getting a much more personal service than when you get from a row of pre-packaged meat in a chiller cabinet at the supermarket with much more traceability. The product itself may well be much more ethically produced than in a major retail service sector where the pressure is on - for reasons of cost cutting in order to appear the cheapest - to cut corners and produce more intensively.
In terms of the actual products themselves, there are a number of criteria by which a product should be evaluated for ethical standards. Where was the product made/produced? What proportion of the cost of the produce does the actual producer get? - a principle of fair trade. How was the product made or produced, using what materials and how sustainable is this? Can the product be recycled? How are the workers treated by the manufacturer? How local is the production? (there can for some products be a balance between this local criteria and the other factors - for instance you may wish to buy a product produced by a cooperative working in Africa, traded using fair trade principles rather than a more locally produced factory version). How durable is the product - the Buy Me Once website specifically looks at products that are built to last.
On the last point - products being built to last - how many of you have older items - for instance kitchenware cutlery, maybe white goods or other consumer items that were built or made twenty to thirty years ago (or even older) that are still going strong? Have you noticed that a lot of products nowadays have what seems to be a built in obsolescence or the manufacturers or retailers want you to ditch what is a perfectly good and working piece of equipment in order to upgrade to the next model or get some features that may or may not be useful but just sound good? How many of those now redundant items get sold on or recycled?
We have quite a bit of Sheffield cutlery at home perfectly useable, my mum uses a pre-Second World War jam pan, our original microwave only recently gave up the ghost after, I think, twenty-six years of service. The wok is now thirty years old. I have a printer and a printer/scanner that are over ten years old at least, both bought second hand from charity shops. Our piano is late Victorian and about a solid an instrument as you are ever likely to get! Plenty of opportunity to buy durable old items at charity shops and outdoor fairs and second hand markets.
We bought a Liebherr fridge/freezer as it does seem the case that German made brands (especially kitchenware) are designed with durability and efficiency in mind - though we noticed on our last trip to Germany that there is much less production in Germany than previously with some manufacturers succumbing to using imports from the Far East unfortunately.
So, there's plenty of ways in which you can be more sustainable and ethical both in terms of the products you buy and the community that you buy them in.
Tomorrow I look at household resilience
Monday, 8 June 2020
Lockdown Day 77 - Small Steps - Part 1
In this blog I mention a few small steps that most people can take to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable in their everyday lives. Now, not all changes will possible for all people, whether that be through location, accommodation type, financial ability and so on, but it is my opinion that everyone can do something.
1. Recycle all you can. Look at what a product is packaged in when making the purchase.
This can be difficult. Not all councils collect all types of currently recycled material. Some may be doorstep collected but some may need to be taken to a collecting point, whether that be at a supermarket or car park, or council waste centre, which may be some distance away. However, we currently recycle the following at some point:
1. Recycle all you can. Look at what a product is packaged in when making the purchase.
This can be difficult. Not all councils collect all types of currently recycled material. Some may be doorstep collected but some may need to be taken to a collecting point, whether that be at a supermarket or car park, or council waste centre, which may be some distance away. However, we currently recycle the following at some point:
- Plastic bottles including milk, shampoo and fabric softener bottles
(we rarely get plastic milk bottles as we use a milkman)
- Plastic yoghurt pots, margarine tubs (I am a bit disappointed that there's not many recyclable yoghurt pot lids yet)
- plastic food trays
- Plastic chocolate boxes - we always try to choose Easter eggs that have the minimum of packaging or have recyclable packaging.
- Clean ready meal trays (plastic or foil) - very rare we get a ready meal but at least we can recycle the package should we need to
- Empty aerosols (I think there is just the shaving foam for my legs but at least it can be recycled!)
- Glass bottle and jars
- Clean foil including takeaway containers (not often we have a takeaway but as well as recycling, we have used some of the clear plastic rectangular tubs you often get curries in for our own leftovers in the freezer.
- Empty tins and cans
I was going to start recycling crisp packets via this scheme (which covers a lot of other recycling options as well) but my nearest collection points are schools at least four miles away and given the current coronavirus restrictions it would, I think, be a mistake to go calling at a school with these just now.
Tetra Paks - we take to a collection point at a Askham Bar Tesco near York, there's quite a lot of collection points for these at many supermarkets.
Milk Bottles - we send back to the milkman
Paper and Card - doorstep collection
Boxes have a variety of second uses although we do recycle some.
Yoghurt pots also have a second life with us as plant pots, with a hole drilled in the bottom. Similarly for cottage cheese pots.
Batteries and electrical equipment and light bulbs - should we need to dispose of any - go to our council recycling centre.
Jiffy bags have a second life used for sending out presents and other post.
However, it is better to try and not use plastic in the first place - we get most of our vegetables and fruit from a farm shop and a greengrocer in paper bags and those we get from a supermarket we use paper bags for or end up really annoying (not deliberately) the checkout assistant with lots of loose fruit as we have some padded bags that we put apples or oranges in to protect them on the way home!
There doesn't seem to be a way of not getting meat wrapped in plastic or in a plastic bag from our butcher (unless we were to take our own containers) and in any case we often buy in bulk so need plastic bags for meat put into the freezer.
As you can see, even just covering recycling there are sometimes compromises to be made - for instance getting our meat from a local butcher supplied by farms within a few miles radius is of course a really good thing, but then it uses plastic that can't be recycled easily.
All our waste vegetable and fruit peelings, stalks etc go into composting. Some councils have food waste bins that cover a wider set of food waste.
Hopefully it will be back open again soon, but we had started using a zero-waste shop (which used to be known as "scoop shops") near where I work for loose dried fruit, pasta, rice and other dried goods. These are often fairly good value too.
Re-use of items, turning them into something new, is also good if you have the skills or opportunity - this blog http://www.cashandcarrots.com/2013/07/recycling-in-allotment.html covers a few things that we have re-used. A long time ago an old upholstered chair got turned into a dolls' house three piece suite! Old worn out clothes can be used for rags, used for patching (or indeed doll's clothes if you have children!) or to make a face mask, or can be sent to rag recycling via various charities that then get some money for them. Of course any still sell-able clothes can be donated to charity shops along with bric-a-brac and many other items. I am really quite happy to be part of that process of the circular economy in my job in a charity shop and we can also send away for recycling many items that can't be sold - damaged clothes, sharp knives, broken silver/gold jewellery and some other items that we can't sell for a variety of safety reasons, and receive some money for these.
I appreciate that this can take a little bit of forethought and remembering to separate things out, which can take a few minutes, but we only generally one third fill our household general waste bin every fortnight. Some people go a long further into the zero waste methodology than we do, but we do look for ways in which we can improve - like I said, everyone can do something for sustainability and the environment!
In Part 2 I look at local food options.
Friday, 8 May 2020
Lockdown Day 46 - Road to Recovery Part 4
This post is the fourth in my essay looking at different aspects of how the recovery from Covid-19 should be done in order to tackle climate change, environmental destruction and help fix some of the inequalities in our society.
Part 1 can be found here
Part 2 can be found here
Part 3 can be found here
In this part I look at I look at how investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency can play a part in powering the recovery from this virus.
Over the past ten years or so, the strategic investment in renewable energy here in the UK has been one of start and stop. The UK Government virtually halted the construction of onshore wind farms with withdrawing subsidies in 2016 after believing that their supporters were "fed up with them".
It has though has recently lifted this ban - albeit with conditions - with onshore wind being the cheapest form of renewable energy from wind, after internal polling amongst Conservative membership shows overwhelming support for the technology.
The withdrawal of funding for feed-in tariffs where householders received a subsidy for energy their solar panels were providing to the National Grid back in 2015-16 also was a significant setback, and many companies installing these in what was quite a successful industry were affected.
However, the good news is that renewable power generation here in the UK overall has been increasing, now at 43% (and indeed the generation of power from coal is now often zero for days at a time.) Much of this power is provided by offshore wind farms and indeed there's vast arrays of them now out in the North Sea off the east coast of England and in other areas too. Many of these can be seen from the coast on a clear day including this one (pictured) off Hornsea, East Yorkshire which is 1.2GW and currently the largest operational wind farm project.
Many more are under construction offshore . In the recovery from Covid-19, the ongoing development of these, perhaps speeding up the go-ahead and contruction of these both on and offshore can help secure jobs in what is one the UK's leading sectors in green energy generation.
In terms of solar power, it would be sensible to have solar panels (or even solar tiles when they become available and more cost effective) incorporated into every new build property, in fact the whole build and design standards for new properties need overhauling to ensure that energy efficiency and eco-friendly materials are built into the specification from day one. For council properties, one way of helping low income households with energy bills will be to have the council fund solar panels and other energy efficiency improvements such as home insulation, better windows etc although for such as rollout, central government funding will have to be in place. However, this again will create lots of jobs in the rollout and improve the housing stock and the lives of many tenants as the quality of their home improves.
A question that gets asked by some is what happens when it is not windy or sunny. Many photovoltaic panels will generate some power even when it is cloudy and efficiency of these is improving all the time, around 28-30% efficient in the newest models. Battery technology is also improving and being able to store the energy provided by the sun or the wind for use at night or on days when generation is low is something that is being incorporated into home installations (for instance via the Tesla Powerwall) and moves are afoot to start putting these into the UK powergrid.
Alongside the generation of electricity, the rollout of electric vehicle charging points should take place at scale, with street level - to the household - infrastructure being brought into use across the UK. One of the problems many households (including ours) have is that we don't have a driveway and as it is illegal to trail an unattended electricity cable across a public footpath or road it would be impossible to charge an electric car or van. There would be synergy I think with the rollout of fibre broadband in some places, i.e. dig up the pavement or road once for more than one job and both would create lots of skilled jobs. The cost of electric cars is, at the moment, out of my reach even with finance options and indeed down the line you have a significant cost of replacement batteries after a few years - don't get me wrong the technology is good but if you want mass adoption you need to have options for the many millions who can only afford a cheap secondhand car.
Electric bicycles are starting to increase their range and become an option. I have seen a lot of use of these in the Netherlands and these also get over the problem of where to charge them as they can be charged indoors or in an outbuilding. However, the range isn't that great on them currently and there are regulatory issues around the speed at which they can travel on electric power. Retro-conversion kits are available for un-powered bikes.
We all - whether we can afford high value items or not - can play a part in improving our energy efficiency. LED light bulbs are cheap nowadays and when replacing an appliance such as a fridge, washing machine or vacuum or indeed a consumer electronic item, go for the most energy efficient that can be afforded. Try and get a sense of the longevity of the item - the longer the item lasts the more chance that the embedded emissions - those caused by the manufacture and distribution of the item - will be outweighed by the energy saving from the use of the item compared to the item it replaces.
There is now a movement for "repair cafes" (obviously before lockdown and once it finishes!) so that electrical and other items can be repaired rather than scrapped and replaced. Thanks to various YouTube videos I have managed to resurrect a hoover by learning how to fault find then replace a component. Being mindful of energy use within the home, whether switching off appliances and lights when not in use or investing in a secure smart meter (there have been issues with the network security of some in the past) and simple things like only boiling the water you need all help.
Maybe a public information campaign to help instill "good" behaviours in various ways and help lock in the unexpected environmental benefits from this period of lockdown would be useful.
My final post will look at the political reforms needed to help make our governance fairer, less open to abuse and for the benefit of all, not just a privileged few.
Part 1 can be found here
Part 2 can be found here
Part 3 can be found here
In this part I look at I look at how investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency can play a part in powering the recovery from this virus.
Over the past ten years or so, the strategic investment in renewable energy here in the UK has been one of start and stop. The UK Government virtually halted the construction of onshore wind farms with withdrawing subsidies in 2016 after believing that their supporters were "fed up with them".
It has though has recently lifted this ban - albeit with conditions - with onshore wind being the cheapest form of renewable energy from wind, after internal polling amongst Conservative membership shows overwhelming support for the technology.
The withdrawal of funding for feed-in tariffs where householders received a subsidy for energy their solar panels were providing to the National Grid back in 2015-16 also was a significant setback, and many companies installing these in what was quite a successful industry were affected.
Many more are under construction offshore . In the recovery from Covid-19, the ongoing development of these, perhaps speeding up the go-ahead and contruction of these both on and offshore can help secure jobs in what is one the UK's leading sectors in green energy generation.
In terms of solar power, it would be sensible to have solar panels (or even solar tiles when they become available and more cost effective) incorporated into every new build property, in fact the whole build and design standards for new properties need overhauling to ensure that energy efficiency and eco-friendly materials are built into the specification from day one. For council properties, one way of helping low income households with energy bills will be to have the council fund solar panels and other energy efficiency improvements such as home insulation, better windows etc although for such as rollout, central government funding will have to be in place. However, this again will create lots of jobs in the rollout and improve the housing stock and the lives of many tenants as the quality of their home improves.
A question that gets asked by some is what happens when it is not windy or sunny. Many photovoltaic panels will generate some power even when it is cloudy and efficiency of these is improving all the time, around 28-30% efficient in the newest models. Battery technology is also improving and being able to store the energy provided by the sun or the wind for use at night or on days when generation is low is something that is being incorporated into home installations (for instance via the Tesla Powerwall) and moves are afoot to start putting these into the UK powergrid.
Alongside the generation of electricity, the rollout of electric vehicle charging points should take place at scale, with street level - to the household - infrastructure being brought into use across the UK. One of the problems many households (including ours) have is that we don't have a driveway and as it is illegal to trail an unattended electricity cable across a public footpath or road it would be impossible to charge an electric car or van. There would be synergy I think with the rollout of fibre broadband in some places, i.e. dig up the pavement or road once for more than one job and both would create lots of skilled jobs. The cost of electric cars is, at the moment, out of my reach even with finance options and indeed down the line you have a significant cost of replacement batteries after a few years - don't get me wrong the technology is good but if you want mass adoption you need to have options for the many millions who can only afford a cheap secondhand car.
Electric bicycles are starting to increase their range and become an option. I have seen a lot of use of these in the Netherlands and these also get over the problem of where to charge them as they can be charged indoors or in an outbuilding. However, the range isn't that great on them currently and there are regulatory issues around the speed at which they can travel on electric power. Retro-conversion kits are available for un-powered bikes.
We all - whether we can afford high value items or not - can play a part in improving our energy efficiency. LED light bulbs are cheap nowadays and when replacing an appliance such as a fridge, washing machine or vacuum or indeed a consumer electronic item, go for the most energy efficient that can be afforded. Try and get a sense of the longevity of the item - the longer the item lasts the more chance that the embedded emissions - those caused by the manufacture and distribution of the item - will be outweighed by the energy saving from the use of the item compared to the item it replaces.
Maybe a public information campaign to help instill "good" behaviours in various ways and help lock in the unexpected environmental benefits from this period of lockdown would be useful.
My final post will look at the political reforms needed to help make our governance fairer, less open to abuse and for the benefit of all, not just a privileged few.
Tuesday, 28 April 2020
Lockdown Day 36 - Road to Recovery Part 2
In the first part of my essay entitled Road to Recovery here I consider the sorts of investments needed in the recovery from Coronavirus that also help us meet our climate change mitigation goals and also look at how local food has been rediscovered. This time, I discuss how transport policy needs to change and how the provision of good quality public services will help recovery for all sections of society.
During the lockdown, many employees have been working from home rather than going into the office, my partner among them. Whilst she does actually use public transport to get to work, it is expensive and the journey, including walking at either end, takes ninety minutes even when everything is running to time. Accidents and bad weather affecting the roads can extend the bus journey considerably or result in cancelled services. Having worked at home for the past four weeks, there is very little she is not able to do at home that would need her to be in the office, the only exception being some post being scanned into the online document management system but this is taken care of by someone in the office (and will, I suspect, be reduced over time as more invoices and bills go electronic). A survey of 3642 businesses conducted recently shows that nearly half of the respondents have staff working at home.
Traffic volumes in general have been down 65-70% during the lockdown here in the UK. Details can be found in the datasets used in the daily updates from the UK Government. There has been a significant reduction in air pollution. This is welcome considering the amount of traffic in the UK has been going up steadily over the past twenty years. The main areas that are affected by air pollution issues are cities and it is in the urban areas and wider suburban and urban fringe settlements that investment in public transport, electric vehicle infrastructure and cycle and pedestrian route networks needs to take place as part of the recovery.
We should be
prepared to listen to those calling for abandonment of HS2 and use the money
elsewhere. It is very clear that many businesses can operate with staff working
at home, and the idea that many will need to travel to a business meeting or to
an office as regularly as before is something that is being steadily
demolished. High speed fibre rollout, starting in more rural and more socially
deprived areas is now as necessary as many other utility services, in fact the
need to include rebates in the same way that low income households can get for
certain services on broadband is actually an imperative for social inclusion.
The least well off are hit with not being able to access many governmental and
local council services online, not get savings that others do on utility
services, and indeed at the moment children in those households are put at a
great disadvantage compared to more well off peers in terms of being able to
access educational resources. Money from the HS2 pot could be redirected to
urban light rail or electric bus services, in fact I worked out that the £100bn
could pay for 66 32km urban tramway systems with some underground sections
based on the average of such schemes in the UK (e.g. Nottingham) and abroad
(e.g. Dortmund - metro system pictured above).
EV (Electric Vehicle) charging points
to the home should be rolled out asap to encourage quicker take up of EVs, new
models of rental or finance and indeed types of vehicle to drive down costs, and indeed electric bikes are gradually becoming an option for some journeys although the range on the low-mid range models is not that far at present. There were quite a few people using electric bikes when we cycled across the Netherlands in Autumn 2018 and they are economical to run.
There is also a case to look at re-introduction of rail services to some of the places that were cut off from the railway network during the 1960s and indeed there are some freight lines that could be brought back into use for passengers. In West Yorkshire over the past thirty years many railway stations have been brought back into use and a number of new stations built and the problem now is one of overcrowding at peak times, especially on routes running into Leeds. That being said, rail passenger numbers are predicted to still be well below the previous totals even after the lockdown is over, as some people will continue to work at home part or all of the week, or do not wish to be in crowded places with potential risk of infection with Covid-19. The last thing we want is more people switching back to car use but there are of course legitimate concerns to be addressed and rail franchise contracts may need to be looked at again in light of predicted future usage and safety concerns.
So, the recovery from this crisis presents opportunities to invest in the transport and infrastructure links to embed low carbon emission behaviours and choices.
However, in Part 3 of this I will look at is how communities and public services can be invested in and tailored to embed social equality and inclusion, and reduce the huge inequalities and poverty that now affect millions of people here in the UK.
Sunday, 11 June 2017
Your environment needs you!
Even in the most built up suburbs, we all have some connection with the environment. Whether this is a few street trees, a small park, window boxes or bird feeders on a balcony, it is still a connection, a chance for wildlife and fauna to exist and to flourish.
Much has been written about the benefits of having trees in built up areas, they absorb CO2 and pollution, they act as shade and mitigate the heat effect of the city environment, they will support some form of other life, even it is just a few sparrows and invertebrates. And yet, for some, they are inconvenient, too hard to maintain, to mow around. Sheffield City Council and Amey PLC are chopping down large numbers of trees against local wishes in Sheffield and campaigns such as @thesadsquirrel on Twitter among others are fighting to try and save them. Some of these trees even act as memorials to soldiers lost in the world wars, but this doesn't seem to be enough to spare them.
And now, we have as Environment Secretary here in the UK a man who regards wildlife and environmental laws as inconvenient, who is completely unprepared and unqualified to do this job. The Government itself is prepared to do deals with a political party who (among many other controversial policies) has climate change deniers and creationists among its MPs!
So, what to do? There are plenty of organisations who are prepared to stand up for nature, for the environment, to campaign against destructive policies, actions and developments. Everyone canm write to their MP about issues in the local area and online petitions can be promoted to garner widespread support. Any MP wishes to keep their seat, especially at the moment with such a fluid and evenly balanced situation in Parliament, and enough local opposition to a proposal will cause them to take notice, especially in marginal constituencies. Collective. focused action can work, and even direct protests, done in the right way, can have an effect on public opinion and those in power.
We can also get involved, with volunteering, donations to wildlife and environmentally friendly organisations, to enable them to do projects to protect species, habitats, to lobby and campaign and for collective action. Each of us can some something positive directly for nature, from a bird feeder, a patch of wildflowers in a garden, plants good for pollinators (though do be careful and have a look at the work of Dave Gouldson on supposedly bee-friendly flowers on sale in certain stores), leaving a pile of twigs in a corner for a hedgehog to make its home, or a patch of nettles or buddleia for butterflies.
On a wider scale, we can change travelling habits, not quite as easy as it sounds sometimes, local public transport can sometimes be expensive or infrequent or not convenient to get to work. Changing to a more fuel efficient car, or if affordable an electric one. In the house we can use energy efficiently, recycle as much as possible and choose products that minimize impact on the environment and wildlife. Again, not easy sometimes and making certain choices may be difficult for some. But most people are in reach of a store with local produce, or a market, or can choose produce as local as possible from the supermarket where possible. Or grow your own! Even in a flat, like my grandparents were 10 floors up, you can grow tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers!
The message is, don't give up, keep looking at ways to change habits and purchasing in favour of the environmental benefit, and do the best you can under whatever circumstances you find yourself financially and physically.
Much has been written about the benefits of having trees in built up areas, they absorb CO2 and pollution, they act as shade and mitigate the heat effect of the city environment, they will support some form of other life, even it is just a few sparrows and invertebrates. And yet, for some, they are inconvenient, too hard to maintain, to mow around. Sheffield City Council and Amey PLC are chopping down large numbers of trees against local wishes in Sheffield and campaigns such as @thesadsquirrel on Twitter among others are fighting to try and save them. Some of these trees even act as memorials to soldiers lost in the world wars, but this doesn't seem to be enough to spare them.
And now, we have as Environment Secretary here in the UK a man who regards wildlife and environmental laws as inconvenient, who is completely unprepared and unqualified to do this job. The Government itself is prepared to do deals with a political party who (among many other controversial policies) has climate change deniers and creationists among its MPs!
So, what to do? There are plenty of organisations who are prepared to stand up for nature, for the environment, to campaign against destructive policies, actions and developments. Everyone canm write to their MP about issues in the local area and online petitions can be promoted to garner widespread support. Any MP wishes to keep their seat, especially at the moment with such a fluid and evenly balanced situation in Parliament, and enough local opposition to a proposal will cause them to take notice, especially in marginal constituencies. Collective. focused action can work, and even direct protests, done in the right way, can have an effect on public opinion and those in power.
We can also get involved, with volunteering, donations to wildlife and environmentally friendly organisations, to enable them to do projects to protect species, habitats, to lobby and campaign and for collective action. Each of us can some something positive directly for nature, from a bird feeder, a patch of wildflowers in a garden, plants good for pollinators (though do be careful and have a look at the work of Dave Gouldson on supposedly bee-friendly flowers on sale in certain stores), leaving a pile of twigs in a corner for a hedgehog to make its home, or a patch of nettles or buddleia for butterflies.
On a wider scale, we can change travelling habits, not quite as easy as it sounds sometimes, local public transport can sometimes be expensive or infrequent or not convenient to get to work. Changing to a more fuel efficient car, or if affordable an electric one. In the house we can use energy efficiently, recycle as much as possible and choose products that minimize impact on the environment and wildlife. Again, not easy sometimes and making certain choices may be difficult for some. But most people are in reach of a store with local produce, or a market, or can choose produce as local as possible from the supermarket where possible. Or grow your own! Even in a flat, like my grandparents were 10 floors up, you can grow tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers!
The message is, don't give up, keep looking at ways to change habits and purchasing in favour of the environmental benefit, and do the best you can under whatever circumstances you find yourself financially and physically.
Saturday, 23 July 2016
Renewables and Brexit
One of the many concerns around Brexit is what this might do for our obligations under the EU Climate Change treaties.
Obviously, after Brexit we would have no specific obligation to meet any new EU target but we have incorporated measures into the Climate Change Act already.
Unfortunately we seem to have gone backwards somewhat, with a hard brake on solar power and onshore wind subsidies (when the industry was expecting a gradual reduction and phase out).
The Carbon Capture and Storage proposal fund has been shelved and vested interests, political interference and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes often oppose what are sensible schemes for generating more power from renewables.
The cabinet reshuffle the other week doesn't bode well for environmental protections generally but with the axing of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the responsibilities passing over to another department more focused on business vested interests will still mean such as gas and oil and coal will be preferred over renewables.
Many other countries are investing heavily in renewables and some examples as below:
Portugal - 48% renewable generation
Netherlands Plans for offshore wind generation
China Some controversial schemes but huge turnaround from the coal dependent generation a few years ago
(In fact if you're a train enthusiast and want to see some of the last "service" steam locomotives in use in the world there's only a few dozen left in China now with, I think, just one passenger service which uses steam due to diesels not coping with the high altitude of the line. There's (surprisingly) a handful in Bosnia at a coal mine as well! There were a few in Ghana as well but India went diesel/electric a few years ago)
I'm reading An Optimist's Tour of the Future by Mark Stevenson and this, although written about 3 or 4 years ago now, gives so many different projects that people are working on, such as carbon capture, improving solar cells and so on. There's a really low tech way of improving soil and grazing and conserving water in the Australian Outback simply by changing the way cattle herds are managed!
In summary, with the right investment, right cooperation across countries, business and institutions, and with the proper steer and commitment and investment from Government, we can bring down the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, run on cleaner generated energy, become more energy efficient and sustainable.
But an isolationist, populist departure from the EU, together with vested interests having too much influence at the top of Government (and quite frankly some selfish and short-termist views of some of those in power) is going to be very bad for the environment and for the climate generally.
Obviously, after Brexit we would have no specific obligation to meet any new EU target but we have incorporated measures into the Climate Change Act already.
Unfortunately we seem to have gone backwards somewhat, with a hard brake on solar power and onshore wind subsidies (when the industry was expecting a gradual reduction and phase out).
The Carbon Capture and Storage proposal fund has been shelved and vested interests, political interference and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes often oppose what are sensible schemes for generating more power from renewables.
The cabinet reshuffle the other week doesn't bode well for environmental protections generally but with the axing of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the responsibilities passing over to another department more focused on business vested interests will still mean such as gas and oil and coal will be preferred over renewables.
Many other countries are investing heavily in renewables and some examples as below:
Portugal - 48% renewable generation
Netherlands Plans for offshore wind generation
China Some controversial schemes but huge turnaround from the coal dependent generation a few years ago
(In fact if you're a train enthusiast and want to see some of the last "service" steam locomotives in use in the world there's only a few dozen left in China now with, I think, just one passenger service which uses steam due to diesels not coping with the high altitude of the line. There's (surprisingly) a handful in Bosnia at a coal mine as well! There were a few in Ghana as well but India went diesel/electric a few years ago)
I'm reading An Optimist's Tour of the Future by Mark Stevenson and this, although written about 3 or 4 years ago now, gives so many different projects that people are working on, such as carbon capture, improving solar cells and so on. There's a really low tech way of improving soil and grazing and conserving water in the Australian Outback simply by changing the way cattle herds are managed!
In summary, with the right investment, right cooperation across countries, business and institutions, and with the proper steer and commitment and investment from Government, we can bring down the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, run on cleaner generated energy, become more energy efficient and sustainable.
But an isolationist, populist departure from the EU, together with vested interests having too much influence at the top of Government (and quite frankly some selfish and short-termist views of some of those in power) is going to be very bad for the environment and for the climate generally.
Friday, 16 May 2014
Green data centres
Working in IT, you are conscious of the amount of energy your computers, especially your servers use. The trend over the past few years has been in virtualisation, where multiple virtual servers sit on one physical server and by extension cloud services, where racks of such servers are hired out to multiple companies on an upon-demand basis.
The articles below considers the energy efficiency and environmental impact of such data centres
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27405810
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/comment/icelands-data-centre-saga-continues-127966
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22879160
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Perhaps we all ought to sit in the dark and cold!
This past couple of weeks, the main energy companies have all been putting up their prices. A lot. Like 10-12%. This is despite making huge profits, and paying those at the top massive wages and bonuses.
And leaving their lights on - as was pictured in a couple of newspapers..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2471428/Lights-headquarters-Britains-largest-energy-firms-left-night.html
And the head honcho of one of them having a big country pile with heated swimming pool...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2467039/Sammy-Two-Pools-The-British-Gas-chief-plans-build-SECOND-swimming-pool-mansion-millions-families-struggle-pay-energy-bills.html
At least John Major, who I had assumed had gone to live out his retirement at Lords or the Oval, was willing to put his head above the parapet to complain about the injustice of it all. Although he probably doesn't need to worry about a 10% increase in the cost of his leccie....Nor I assume do the rest of the present government especially as presumably quite a lot of the cost of the energy they use comes from the public purse....
It's not just gas and electricity, look how the petrol price has stayed at over 130p for ages now. I think that it the Government adjusted the tax such that petrol was a stright £1 a litre, then this would reduce haulage costs, thus decrease the cost of goods in the shops, increase employment by increasing profitability and reducing costs for business, and give people money back in their pockets which could then feed back into the economy by increasing purchasing and investment. More employment means more tax receipts, more profits means more business tax paid and so on.
And leaving their lights on - as was pictured in a couple of newspapers..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2471428/Lights-headquarters-Britains-largest-energy-firms-left-night.html
And the head honcho of one of them having a big country pile with heated swimming pool...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2467039/Sammy-Two-Pools-The-British-Gas-chief-plans-build-SECOND-swimming-pool-mansion-millions-families-struggle-pay-energy-bills.html
At least John Major, who I had assumed had gone to live out his retirement at Lords or the Oval, was willing to put his head above the parapet to complain about the injustice of it all. Although he probably doesn't need to worry about a 10% increase in the cost of his leccie....Nor I assume do the rest of the present government especially as presumably quite a lot of the cost of the energy they use comes from the public purse....
It's not just gas and electricity, look how the petrol price has stayed at over 130p for ages now. I think that it the Government adjusted the tax such that petrol was a stright £1 a litre, then this would reduce haulage costs, thus decrease the cost of goods in the shops, increase employment by increasing profitability and reducing costs for business, and give people money back in their pockets which could then feed back into the economy by increasing purchasing and investment. More employment means more tax receipts, more profits means more business tax paid and so on.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Little ways to save energy - 10 tips
1. Switch off lights when not in the room and use natural daylight as much as possible.
2. Switch off the cooker ring - if using electricity - before the end of cooking time, the residual heat will keep a pan boiling for several minutes afterwards.
3. Drive slower - I generally drive at 60mph and get average of 41.5mpg from a 2005 Renault Scenic - in a mixture of urban and motorway and A road driving.
4. Boil only what you need in the kettle. I have heard that it is more energy efficient to boil water in a kettle for vegetables than heat the water up on the hob, but this needs verifying.
5. Invest in a wind-up radio, you get exercise as well from all the winding!
6. Shut curtains at dusk - a lot of energy escapes through windows at night.
7. Put a jumper on rather than the heating when reasonable - obviously there comes a point where the heating needs to go on!
8. Laptops and tablets use less power than PCs
9. Share a bath! (You may do this anyway for reasons other than energy saving!)
10. Re-use heat - keep your toast warm by heating the plate up on top of the toaster, removing just before pop-up! Put plates in the oven to warm, do more than one dish in the oven, or do enough for 2 or 3 days in one go - e.g. Sunday + Monday plus a tub full for the freezer.
2. Switch off the cooker ring - if using electricity - before the end of cooking time, the residual heat will keep a pan boiling for several minutes afterwards.
3. Drive slower - I generally drive at 60mph and get average of 41.5mpg from a 2005 Renault Scenic - in a mixture of urban and motorway and A road driving.
4. Boil only what you need in the kettle. I have heard that it is more energy efficient to boil water in a kettle for vegetables than heat the water up on the hob, but this needs verifying.
5. Invest in a wind-up radio, you get exercise as well from all the winding!
6. Shut curtains at dusk - a lot of energy escapes through windows at night.
7. Put a jumper on rather than the heating when reasonable - obviously there comes a point where the heating needs to go on!
8. Laptops and tablets use less power than PCs
9. Share a bath! (You may do this anyway for reasons other than energy saving!)
10. Re-use heat - keep your toast warm by heating the plate up on top of the toaster, removing just before pop-up! Put plates in the oven to warm, do more than one dish in the oven, or do enough for 2 or 3 days in one go - e.g. Sunday + Monday plus a tub full for the freezer.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Energy saving tips
It is amazing how much energy some people waste! You would think in these days of high energy costs, everyone would be switching things off at every opportunity, and insulating everything in sight!
10 ideas for energy saving
1. Lights off when you don't need them! Same goes for the TV and other electrical appliances - one of the neighbours seems to leave the TV on all night!
2. Drive slower, I drive at about 60mph now on A roads and motorways, and now get about 550 miles to 50 litres of petrol (car is a 1.6l Scenic). The way you drive is also a factor, steady not zooming around from junction to lights etc
3. Turn the heating down - adjust the timer for the times you really need it, and turn down to 16 or 17 deg C, plenty warm enough apart from in really cold snaps. Heat the rooms you are in.
4. Close the curtains at dusk, make sure windows are shut when the heating is on.
5. Change energy supplier - I have just changed and will save about £100-150 a year all being well. Look at your energy use in cooking, electric rings stay hot for a while after switch off, food will still cook with the remaining heat, switch off the kettle before the end, it's boiling quite a bit before it switches off.
6. Look at your appliances and central heating - I went from a G rated back boiler to a A rated combi, most appliances are A or even A+ rated nowadays
7. Keep doors shut - retain the heat in the rooms. Make sure visitors do the same when they come in!
8. Look at renewables if you have the spare cash to invest, and can justify the payback time. User solar or wind up chargers for phones and radio etc.
9. Grow your own - better for you (if organic), better for the environment (massive food miles by supermarkets), buy local
10. Insulate - loft grants are still available, as are cavity wall ones. If you don't have cavity walls, put a layer of loft insulation on a bare wall, with wooden slats between the lengths, then tongue and groove panel over the top to give a nice insulated wall, and it stops damp as well on cold walls.
Above all, just think about what you do, and what you can do to save energy!
10 ideas for energy saving
1. Lights off when you don't need them! Same goes for the TV and other electrical appliances - one of the neighbours seems to leave the TV on all night!
2. Drive slower, I drive at about 60mph now on A roads and motorways, and now get about 550 miles to 50 litres of petrol (car is a 1.6l Scenic). The way you drive is also a factor, steady not zooming around from junction to lights etc
3. Turn the heating down - adjust the timer for the times you really need it, and turn down to 16 or 17 deg C, plenty warm enough apart from in really cold snaps. Heat the rooms you are in.
4. Close the curtains at dusk, make sure windows are shut when the heating is on.
5. Change energy supplier - I have just changed and will save about £100-150 a year all being well. Look at your energy use in cooking, electric rings stay hot for a while after switch off, food will still cook with the remaining heat, switch off the kettle before the end, it's boiling quite a bit before it switches off.
6. Look at your appliances and central heating - I went from a G rated back boiler to a A rated combi, most appliances are A or even A+ rated nowadays
7. Keep doors shut - retain the heat in the rooms. Make sure visitors do the same when they come in!
8. Look at renewables if you have the spare cash to invest, and can justify the payback time. User solar or wind up chargers for phones and radio etc.
9. Grow your own - better for you (if organic), better for the environment (massive food miles by supermarkets), buy local
10. Insulate - loft grants are still available, as are cavity wall ones. If you don't have cavity walls, put a layer of loft insulation on a bare wall, with wooden slats between the lengths, then tongue and groove panel over the top to give a nice insulated wall, and it stops damp as well on cold walls.
Above all, just think about what you do, and what you can do to save energy!
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Introduction to Cash and Carrots!
Whilst on - of all things - a satellite TV forum the other day, I replied to a post from someone who was really starting to struggle with money and was asking for ways in which they could save it.
Having had an allotment for several years, and trying to live in a way such that we reduce waste, recycle, re-use, save energy etc, I gave a number of useful pointers to this user, but also had the idea that I would like to share these tips and ideas with a wider community.
So, having once had a blog on Yahoo 360 (no longer on the net) about allotments, I have decided to take up this and write up my thoughts and experiences regularly for you all!
Take care and I hope you find something useful!
Michelle
Having had an allotment for several years, and trying to live in a way such that we reduce waste, recycle, re-use, save energy etc, I gave a number of useful pointers to this user, but also had the idea that I would like to share these tips and ideas with a wider community.
So, having once had a blog on Yahoo 360 (no longer on the net) about allotments, I have decided to take up this and write up my thoughts and experiences regularly for you all!
Take care and I hope you find something useful!
Michelle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)