Following SEA's Low Impact Living evening in March
2010, it was decided to try to get down on paper some of the ideas that came
up, and here they are. From my point of
view, having spent 12 years living on board a boat with my husband in the
Mediterranean, we soon learnt (as did Ellen MacArthur!) that every drop of
water was precious, as was every scrap of electricity. So we developed habits of saving both water
and electricity. Then every time we came
home we were shocked by how much people normally waste.
So see what you
can do avoid waste of all sorts. All
these tips may sound a bit of a chore,
but they soon become second nature -- look on it as a kind of game as to who can save the
most! One important point – the whole
document may look overwhelming but you don’t have to do everything all at
once. Glance through it and pick out maybe
just one thing that you think you could work at improving over the next
few weeks. Then when you’ve got that one
going well, go back and choose another item to work on. Things take time, but think of the fable of
the Tortoise and the Hare.
We are sure that many more ideas will emerge, so
please, if you have any further suggestions, do let us know: email me at:
james.yachtphaeacian@virgin.net
Claire
James, Coordinator [Saltash Environmental Action]
Things written in red in this document are suggestions for
the SEA Committee to take up.
Transport
a.
Avoid unnecessary journeys.
b. Walk whenever
possible.
c. Use a bike.
d. Use public
transport rather than the car.
e. Try
to
organise
car sharing if you have to use the car – see
http://www.shareacar.com./ or
www.carsharedevon.com
f. Maximise fuel
economy in your car by "
Hypermiling"
or eco- driving.
See
www.hypermiler.co.uk or www.devon.gov.uk/ecodrivingfilm
for more information.
Change your aim,
from 'getting to your destination as fast as possible', to 'saving as much
petrol as you can'!
See also the AA
website at
www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/drive-smart.html.
·
Drive more slowly! Above about 55mph, the faster you go the more
fuel you use per mile. According to the
AA website above, cruising at 80mph can use up to 25% more fuel than at 70mph,
which in turn uses up to 15% more than at 50mph.
·
Be aware of the road ahead so that you can avoid sudden
braking. Every time you brake
you turn fuel into heat and brake dust!
Look well ahead so that you can anticipate changes before they occur,
and then just allow the car to slow down naturally. Leaving an adequate distance between you and
the vehicle in front of you is essential.
·
Reduce speed or decelerate gradually up to stops and turns
-- simply remove your foot from the accelerator when approaching a junction or
red light. Again, forward-planning is
needed for this.
·
Turn off the Engine when Stopped, even for just
a couple of minutes.
·
Minimise Revving.
·
Use the Highest Gear Possible.
·
Drive like you would Ride a Bike. When using pedal power you try and conserve
energy, since it's your own
energy! You do this without
realising. So do the same in your
car.
·
Pump up the Tyres to Correct Pressure [this
increases the efficiency of your car].
·
Streamline your Car (e.g. remove roof rack
when not in use).
·
Empty the Boot and keep car as light as
possible.
·
Some people recommend you should Fit a Bioflow
Magnet -- a special magnet that fits on the car's petrol feed to make
it more efficient. Available from Bioflow
www.simplymagnetic.com/. I don't
know of any scientific proof and I've never used one myself, but I have used their magnetic pain-relief
wrist-bands, and they certainly work for certain types of pain -- particularly
those that benefit from improved blood-flow.
g. "WFH"
-- i.e. Work
From Home if possible
h. Avoid Flying
if there is any possible alternative available -- in terms of greenhouse
gases, it's the most damaging means of travel per mile..
i.
Use SatNav or maps where possible to avoid
getting lost and making unnecessary detours.
j.
SEA should work on trying to get improvements in the Bus
Services for the Saltash area. Saltash
to Plymouth Centre is good, but many other areas in PL12 are poorly served. For example we need more buses from Saltash
to Derriford, and better services for the rural areas and small towns/villages.
Reduce
Household Energy Use
a. Change
to a green renewable energy company such as "Good Energy" [www.goodenergy.co.uk]
, "Switch to
Ecotricity" [www.ecotricity.co.uk], www.greenenergy.uk.com/ or
"About
Juice" [www.npower.com/web/at_home/juice-clean_and_green]. Go to www.cornwall-switch.org/suppliers-of-renewable-energy.htm
to choose which. This is much more
effective than just changing to a green tariff with your existing company because
they are obliged by law to provide a certain proportion of green energy, so if
you sign up to this you may just be forming part of what they're doing anyway,
rather than forcing them to provide more green energy. Some of the above offer a choice between 100%
renewable electricity [which may be a bit more expensive] versus 10%, and some
also provide a dual fuel tariff. In
addition some offer guidance on generating your own energy.
b. Better
still, Generate
Your Own Electricity [see end of document].
c.
Insulate your house thoroughly -- most of your
heating is wasted replacing heat lost to the outside.
Grants are available through the
Energy Saving Trust [www.energysavingtrust.org.uk].
Reduce your costs, increase the value of your
home and reduce your eco-guilt!
Other
things you can do to save on the heating bills [and thus reduce greenhouse
gases] are:
·
Draw the curtains, to keep the heat in -- windows
are poor insulators, even when double-glazed.
Curtains
should be Lined to increase insulation.
·
Eliminate draughts, since these allow the warm
air to escape, being replaced by cold air.
·
Only heat the rooms you most use.
·
Keep doors shut between heated areas and
unheated areas -- especially the outside doors!
A lot of heat can be lost in a short time through an open door.
·
Turn down the central heating by a few degrees
-- this makes huge savings and you can still keep perfectly warm by wearing
more clothes [many layers are more effective than one thick layer].
d. Reduce use of electrical
appliances wherever possible, and whenever you have to buy new, make
sure you buy A-Rating appliances – they use far less energy..
e. Become a
'Wooden-Spooner' i.e. use manpower rather than electrical gadgets
whenever possible. Try to avoid using a tumble
dryer, washing machine, food processor, electric tin opener etc. Soups can be mashed instead of whizzed, cakes can be beaten, veg can be chopped with a knife, as long as you have average strength
in your arms! Hang washing out to dry
rather than using a tumble drier. If
it's raining, use a warm part of the house, or over the bath [if you use the
green house, turn clothes inside out, to avoid bleaching from the enhanced
sunlight]. If you have to buy power-guzzling
equipment, make sure you buy eco-friendly types.
f. Use energy monitoring
meters to find out how much you are using, and where, and to work
out where you could most easily make savings [you can borrow one from SEA -- email:
info@sea.pl12.org.uk].
g. You
can use a lot less energy with the kettle, in the following ways:-
·
Only boil as much water as you need -- if you
heat more, the excess energy is totally wasted.
·
Always put lids on pans [even if not fully on,
when heating things that will boil over easily, like milk and pasta]. Apparently
a saucepan covered with a well fitting lid uses a quarter less energy when
boiling than a saucepan without
a lid [quotation from tarvinenvironment.org.uk/docs/low_carbon_diet.pdf].
·
Allow cold tap-water to heat up to room temperature
naturally, in a jug, before boiling it -- boiling water straight
from the cold tap wastes a lot of energy [but don’t drink water from the hot
tap if you have a storage tank in the roof – the water becomes dirty!].
·
Make use of the heat of the kettle after boiling – absorb
the heat into some cold water, and store it in a thermos flask. You can save the excess heat after using the oven in the
same way [if you don’t need it to heat the house]. Put some jugs of water in the hot over, and
you’ll be surprised at how hot they are after half an hour. The water can, again, be stored in a thermos flask.
h. Use energy-saving
light bulbs -- they may be expensive but they last far longer and
use a quarter the energy.
i.
Always turn everything off that you are not using,
including lights. Each one may not use
much energy, but it all adds up, and it's only too easy to leave things on
unnecessarily.
j.
Don't leave things on standby -- this saves a
lot of energy!
k. Fridges
use a lot of energy, so:
·
Turn the fridge-setting down a bit (it uses
far less power at higher temperatures), though obviously it must be sufficiently
cool to keep your food safe -- about 4°C / 39°F is good. For further info, see http://www.health.state.mn.us/foodsafety/cook/temperature.html
·
Consider keeping your fridge or freezer in a cooler place,
and insulate
it more. Most of the energy
it uses is to make up for coolness wasted through poor insulation.
·
Restock the fridge in the early morning, when the
drinks etc. in your store-cupboard are at their coolest. Then less power is needed to cool them.
·
Put things back in the fridge quickly before
they have time to warm up.
·
Don't put things directly from fridge to oven
-- allow them to warm to room temperature first, or your oven will have to do
it, using more energy.
·
Equally, allow hot things to cool naturally before
putting them in the fridge: to cool a casserole etc quickly, place it in a bowl
of cold water.
·
You might even be able to try living without a fridge, if
you have an old style larder or cupboard in a cold corner of the house -- or at
any rate, you could manage with a much smaller fridge.
·
Keep your refrigerator's coils clean. Brushing or vacuuming the coils can improve
efficiency by as much as 30 % [and not doing so can contribute to fridge
breakdown]. Some hardware store sell a special refrigerator-coil
cleaning-brush. Go to
http://www.hometips.com/diy-how-to/refrigerator-coils-cleaning.html for
instructions.
l.
Defrost the fridge and freezer regularly --
they use much less energy that way.
m. Keep the
freezer as full as possible. This
also keeps energy bills down -- there's less airspace for warm air to rush in,
the core temperature remains more constant, and in the event of failure it
stays colder for longer. But freezing
does use a lot of energy, so if you are buying one, don’t buy a bigger one than
you need, and make sure it’s an A-Rating one.
n. Use a halogen oven
-- cooks food a lot faster, so saves energy. Available widely.
o. Develop hobbies
that use less electricity -- for example, read a book or play a game
or some music or craft, rather than sticking the TV or computer on.
Save Water Whenever Possible.
You might think that this
isn't necessary given the amount of rain we get, but in fact saving water is important. For a
start, saving tap-water means saving the energy, chemicals etc used in
purification; and secondly, our weather patterns are already changing and
giving us less variation, so we get long periods of rain followed by long droughts. Climate Change could greatly increase this
pattern in the future.
a.
Save rainwater in water-butts
[as many as you can afford and have room for], and use it for the garden,
greenhouse, fishpond etc.
Watering the
garden with a hose uses huge quantities of expensively treated water, so the
more you can save of the water that falls freely from the skies, the better
[and the plants and fish much prefer it].
If you haven't got much room, Sankey do large [250 litres / 55-gallon]
slim-line butts [available at Tamar View Nurseries or possibly cheaper on the
Internet e.g. http://www.waterbuttsdirect.co.uk/spacesaving.htm].
See lefthand photo [ask for further details] .
If you can get bigger ones still, all to the
good.
South West Water provide
subsidised water butts [
www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/],
but they don't do these
large
slim-line ones.
If you want really big butts, get the non-drinking-water ones from Mole Valley Farmers, beyond Liskeard [see righthand photo].
b. Alwaysuse the least amount of water that you can -- for example:
·
Have fewer, smaller baths -- and share a bath when
you do have one.
·
Have a shower rather than a bath, and shower less often! Our generation have got into the
habit of showering every day – do we really need to?
·
Strip-washing uses even less water.
·
Wash-up in a bowl of water not the sink and
save the rinse-water.
·
Use the washing machine as rarely
as possible. Wait until you have a full
load -- and if you have to use it only partly
full, use the "Partial Load"
setting so that it uses less water and power.
·
If you do a
hand-wash, reduce the rinse-water needed by using less soap, and by wringing out
the clothes to the maximum each time. In fact, just soaking and rubbing clothes in
warm water with no soap gets a surprising amount of dirt out, and avoids the
need to rinse much [which saves you a big effort as well as a lot of
water!]. The latter also applies to
hair.
·
Only wash clothes when actually necessary, not
automatically every day/week or whatever.
·
Only flush the Loo when really necessary.
c. Turn off taps
whenever not in use -- for example, turn the tap off while cleaning
your teeth. A running tap uses vast quantities of water, so never let it run to waste unused down
the drain.
d. Never throw water
away if you can possibly use it for something else. If you have to leave the tap on for a moment,
always run it into a bowl -- for example, the cold water that comes out of hot
tap before the water runs hot. Then you
can save it for
future use, as follows:
e. If
the saved water is clean, use it for rinsing the washing up, or for rinsing
vegetables before eating them.
f. Slightly
soiled water can be used in the following manner:
·
To give dirty vegetables a pre-wash, or
·
If salt-free, transferred to a watering-can and
used for watering the plants, or
·
Transferred to a bucket or 5-litre bottle and used
to flush the loo -- either directly from the bucket, or by filling the cistern
from your bottle [immediately you have flushed the loo, before it has time to
refill from the mains]. You could even use
clean bathwater for this.
Shopping
a. Use local high street
shops whenever possible, especially the independent retailers. They have a lot to offer in terms of cheap
prices and local goods. If we don't use
them we may lose them -- and it saves petrol.
b. Obtain a
Saltash Discount Loyalty Card.
The SALTASHCARD costs £2 from the Guildhall, Library or Bookshelf. There are over twenty shops in the scheme,
many offering 10% discount, e.g. Cornish Farm Produce, Palfreys Bakery, Saltash
Sports, Evans Hardware, and Rogers Blinds.
c. Over-packaging
has many ill effects -- embedded carbon and resource depletion from making the
packaging, extra weight and volume leading to higher carbon emissions in
transport, and problems of waste disposal. And it probably costs more too! So:
·
Buy goods with less packaging -- food,
stationery, household items, tools etc.
·
Avoid plastic packaging -- so much of it ends
in the oceans, killing many marine creatures.
·
Patronise shops that sell things loose and in paper bags.
d.
SEA ought to mount a campaign about this problem.
Sharing
as Much as Possible
a. Share equipment
and tools with friends and neighbours, instead of everyone owning
everything
b. Share any surplus
products from your garden -- fruit and vegetables, seedling veg plants,
cuttings, etc.
c. Shop at Charity
Shops [many sell household goods as well as clothes], and donate unwanted
items to them rather than throwing them away.
d. Use the Worldwide
Freecycle Network www.uk.freecycle.org/
-- a grassroots movement of people giving (and getting) stuff for free locally.
Freecycle groups match people who have things
they want to get rid of, with people who can use them. "
Our goal is to keep usable items out of
landfills. By using what we already
have, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on
the earth. It encourages us to get rid
of junk and promotes community involvement”.
[However, we don't recommend inviting unknown
customers into your home etc!].
Saltash
group covers Plymouth and most of SE Cornwall, go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycle-saltash/
e.
SEA could perhaps set up its own Freecycle Network, with people advertising their needs in the Newsletter, if
they didn't want to join the official network
Food
a. Supermarkets waste
vast quantities of fresh fruit and veg -- I heard on TV that one third of what they buy in ends up in
land-fill. This is a shocking statistic:
·
Firstly, because it is such a waste of good food
·
Secondly, because we are running out of landfill
space
·
Thirdly, because unlike composting where aerobic
bacteria help the food to decompose to produce a useful soil conditioner,
sending it to landfill creates an environmental problem. Aerobic bacteria cannot survive in landfill so
as food rots it produces the very powerful green-house gas methane.
It
was felt that this was so important, SEA
should run a Coordinated Campaign to encourage better practice. We already are contacting various groups who
are doing something about this elsewhere in the country to get ideas -- www.re-plenish.org
and The Fareshare Organisation.
b. It
is not just supermarkets that waste a lot of food -- research has shown that most
people do too, either by over-buying or by failing to arrange to eat things
before they go off.
If you
reduce your own
food waste, you will save money, in addition to avoiding the disadvantages
outlined above.
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has
plenty of tips.
c. Use in-season
fruit and veg. More and more
people buy expensive foreign-grown or out of season produce, "Because it's there, and it’s nice". But it uses vast quantities of energy, either
flying it in from abroad or keeping it chilled for long storage. These things are nice once in a while -- but
seasonal fruit and veg are nice too. I'm
greatly enjoying winter vegetables picked from my garden at the moment [March]
-- carrots and leeks in white sauce, roasted
parsnips and celeriac [scrumptious], steamed cabbage and curly kale or, when I
feel like something more exotic, frozen Ratatouille, made last summer from
home-grown tomatoes, aubergines, onions and peppers. [I know -- I've used the deep-freeze! but while it's there, it’s more efficient to
keep it full]. Flying in year-round
green beans from Kenya, new
potatoes from Egypt and raspberries from who knows where, is crazy -- and not having them all year round makes them
seem even nicer when they do come into season.
d. Equally,
try to
buy locally
grown food that hasn't been transported miles, using up totally
unnecessary energy.
The Cornish Farmer's
Shop in Saltash Fore Street uses local producers when it can, and there is a
list of local suppliers on the website [
http://www.sea.PL12.org.uk].
Better
still, grow some of your own – it’s not that difficult, and they taste
delicious [see photo of a basket of veg from the garden, and of my fan-trained Victoria Plum Tree].
e. SEA should try to reinstate
the Saltash Market. One would have thought that all the farmers
who are apparently ploughing back into the ground fields-full of broccoli and
other veg because they aren't quite up to standard for the supermarkets, would
welcome another opportunity to sell their produce, but I gather it's something
to do with EU Subsidies. Maybe we should
be lobbying parliament!
f. Don't buy
bottled water -- our tap water is safer, nearly two thousand times cheaper,
and is delivered through an energy-efficient infrastructure.
In contrast, bottled water is an incredibly
wasteful product.
The annual carbon-footprint
of bottled water used in the USA alone [including pumping, bottling, transport,
refrigeration and bottle disposal] is the equivalent of over 50 million barrels
of oil -- enough to run 3 million cars for the same period [Source:
earth-policy.org]. "
For a fraction of the amount spent on bottled water everyone on the
planet could have safe drinking water and sanitation" [
www.commondreams.org].
g. Buy
concentrated fruit juice – why do we import concentrated fruit
juices only to then add water to them and sell them diluted? Selling it concentrated would reduce
packaging, transport fuel, and cost! Nag
your fruit juice supplier -- some health food shops (e.g. A&N) already sell
concentrated apple juice, or can order it for you.
h. Use "Fresh
Pod" Fridge Fresheners – they extend the life of fruit and veg by slowing down the natural ageing
process. Available from
www.ecokitchensonline.com, who say, "Saves
money, less waste, reduces food miles and shopping trips. Fresh Pod is 100% natural and safe and will
not harm your produce in any way. The
kit contains four sachets that last for a year.”
i.
Change to a lower-meat diet. Animals give off huge amounts of methane,
especially cows. Also, it is far more
efficient to use a primary food-source such as plants, than a secondary one such as animals
[which have to eat the primary source to turn it into meat]. Thus, the less meat you eat, the better for
the environment.
j.
Try to avoid products containing Palm Oil -- The Indonesian
Rain Forest is being rapidly destroyed to make way for it. See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8523000/8523999.stm, "Many biscuits, margarines, breads, crisps
and even bars of soap contain an ingredient that is feeding a growth industry
that conservationists say is killing the orang-utans -- palm oil: the cheapest
source of vegetable oil available, and one that rarely appears on the label of
most products.”
k. Make homemade yoghurt,
hummus, etc rather than buying them in lots of plastic pots.
l.
Start a Baking Circle – get together with
friends, make a big batch and then share what you make. It is a much more efficient use of oven-power
if small families get together.
Household
General
a. Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle. In other words:
·
In general, reduce the products you use to a
minimum
·
Reuse old things instead of buying new
·
Recycle when you really have no more use for
something
b.
Don't replace things just for the sake of it
-- everything you buy has a heavy carbon footprint.
c. Don't keep changing
your mobile phone for a new one when the old one still works. And next time it actually stops working (due
to annoying built-in obsolescence) try life without one – you may survive! Our Mayor Elect has coped so far and he could
definitely argue that he is very busy and needs one!
d.
Repair rather than buy new
e. Keep printing to
a minimum, reduce margins, and always print double-sided
f. Buy concentrated
cleaners etc to reduce packaging and transport.
g. Refill containers
where your shop provides this service
h. Buy large quantities
of necessities and
decant to smaller bottles / packets to reduce packaging
i.
Think laterally -- find new uses for things
rather than throwing away, e.g. instead of buying new plastic garden labels,
use old used-up biros and felt-tips to make recycled labels by writing on them
in marker pen.
Use
Eco-Friendly Products
A
number of specific recommendations were made, including:
a. Use Peat-Free compost. This is important both because the
over-depletion of the peat bogs releases huge quantities of the stored greenhouse
gas carbon dioxide, and also because the loss of the bogs greatly reduces the
land's ability to store water, leading to flooding lower down the valleys.
b. Minimise the chemical
products you use -- for example, fabric conditioner
c. Don't use chemical
air fresheners -- use home made room sprays if you really want them.
Add 5-10 drops of two essential oils of
your choice to tap water, and put it in a little pump action spray -- plastic
ones are available from Superdrug, or glass ones from aromatherapy oil shops.
d. Use Microfibre
or ‘e-Cloths’ -- need no detergent or other chemicals to clean a
wide range of stuff such as bathrooms, windows etc. The Woollen Mill, Trerulefoot was mentioned
at the meeting, but widely available.
e. Use compostable "Enviro Friendly Grease Filters" for your cooker hood -- available
from www.betterware.co.uk [difficult to find on the website, so type the
product number 37410 into the search bar].
f. Use
"Ecover Products". Look
this phrase up on Google, or go to www.ecover.com. They say about themselves, "Ecover is the world’s largest producer of
ecological detergents and eco-friendly Cleaning and Laundry products -- washing up liquids, household cleaners,
laundry and personal care products.”
Refill your Ecover containers at the Health Food Shop in Saltash or at Lawson's
in Plymouth.
g. Try the new Eco
Friendly company "WIKANIKO" [we-can-eco] -- degradable
plastic bags, skin-care, garden products etc.
You may have seen their stall at the Saltash May Fair.
Visit
www.youkaneco.co.uk
h. Use washable nappies
-- The "Cornish Real Nappy Project" offers a range of advice from how
to use, to where to buy washable nappies in Cornwall : http://www.crnp.org.uk/
i.
If changing your toaster, think about buying an eco-toaster
which has a closed top so uses far less heat.
j.
Buy natural deodorant stone -- no chemicals,
no aluminium. Widely available on the
Internet, e.g. from www.buyinconfidence.com, or www.wikaniko.com [who say "The pure natural rock crystal eliminates
odour causing bacteria, allowing perspiration without body odour. Does not block pores"]
k. Use
"Holistic
Toothpaste" -- no harmful chemicals for us or the environment.
"Oraheal" was mentioned at the
meeting [
www.oraheal.com] but there
are many others available in the Internet.
l.
Range of products, e.g. Joint Gel, made locally
from "Healing Oils", 50
Culver Road, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 4DT; Tel 01752 291 396; www.healingoils.org.
m. Use
multi-purpose
soap bars (shampoo and soap in one bar) from
www.cornwallsoapbox.co.uk
(plus a range of other useful products).
All natural ingredients made in Cornwall -- but
watch out for products containing Palm Oil.
Make Your
Own Compost
This
is very easy, and has three advantages:
·
It is very good for your garden
·
Making your own saves you from the expense of
buying
·
It saves the peat that is dug up to make bought
compost. To use home-made compost for
potting, you may need to sieve it first, depending on how well it has rotted
down.
a.
You can make compost in
any old pile, but it is better covered perhaps with old carpet, to keep it
warm. I make mine in home-made Compost
Bins, see photo [ask for further details]. While this particular system works extremely
well and is very convenient, it was rather expensive!
b. Key points to making
good compost are:
·
Putting the right things in it [see below].
·
Getting a good mixture of soft material with a
good nitrogen-content like grass-mowings that will encourage it to heat up, and more
solid material like cut-down herbaceous plants, that will form the base of the
compost. If you have no grass-mowings, use a compost activator -- a special
form of comfrey [www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php#comfrey4] can
also be used for this.
·
Compost will rot down in time if simply left in
a pile and not allowed to dry out, but it works much better and quicker if you turn it at intervals.
·
Don't let it dry out or get too wet.
c. Suitable material
for compost is almost any herbaceous or vegetable-based material, such as:
·
Grass-mowings [must be composted for at least six months after treating lawn with
weed killer]
·
Weeds [excluding weed-seeds, and the roots of
persistent weeds such as bindweed or dandelions]
·
Non-woody prunings
·
Woody-prunings if shredded [shreddings from a
large commercial shredder will need much longer to rot, and even more
grass-mowings added to encourage the process]
·
Uncooked kitchen scraps [e.g. vegetable
peelings, cauliflower-bottoms chopped up, banana-skins]
·
Non-shiny paper soaked in water, squeezed into a
mush and then spread out and mixed in
·
Non-shiny cardboard ditto
·
Egg-shells [and also egg-boxes if made from
natural material]
d. Grass-mowings
are a key ingredient, although they must be well mixed in.
Many people have grass-mowings going to waste,
while other people want to make compost yet haven't got enough of them.
The key is to
share with your neighbours.
However, your neighbours may well have the
same problem as you rather than the opposite one, so we feel that
SEA could coordinate
this sharing for members.
So
contact us [
info@sea.pl12.org.uk]
if you either have grass-mowings [or kitchen waste etc] you want to share, or
alternatively if you want to receive these -- we will try to put one in touch
with the other.
e. Even
if you don't do this, recycle garden waste by either putting it out
for green-collection [you have to pay for this, nowadays], or taking it to the Recycling Centre near Waitrose
f.
Another suggestion was that we should get schools involved
in making compost -- children could be educated in how to do this, and could
bring suitable materials from home if they were not needed there. This happens in Devon as part of Don’t let Devon go to Waste, and may well happen
in Cornwall through WRAP [www.wrap.org.uk], who help businesses and individuals
reduce waste, and use resources efficiently.
Clothes
a. Excellent
clothes can be bought at Charity Shops at minimal prices, if you choose
carefully and shop around -- this saves manufacturing new ones, with their associated
carbon footprint.
b. Wear
larger shoes in winter so more layers of socks can be worn!
c. Someone
brought along to the meeting some long-lasting Spanish/Menorcan sandals with
soles made from recycled car tyres -- available from
varca@varca.com and possibly elsewhere e.g.
www.sand-monkey.com/
Consider
Installing your own Green Energy Generator
a. Solar
Panels. There are two types: Solar Thermal Panels which heat your water,
and Photovoltaic
Panels which convert energy to electricity, which you can then sell
to the National Grid. The former are
less useful since they generally only heat your hot-water, which is only a
small proportion of your heating bill.
The latter are more expensive but will save or earn you much more
money. [See Below]
b. There
are also other possibilities, such as
Wind Generators, Ground Source Heat Pumps,
etc.
More information from the
Energy Saving
Trust [www.energysavingtrust.org.uk]
c. Grants are available
through the
Energy Saving Trust [though
not for Solar Voltaic Panels].
There was
also a new Government scheme for
Green Home Loans being planned, which
may cover these, see
www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn2010_037/pn2010_037.aspx
and below.
Grants and loans for
businesses from www.carbontrust.co.uk.
d. Good Energy
have a home generation scheme that pays people for energy they
produce at their own homes or businesses.
They offer
guidance on generating one's own electricity at
www.goodenergyshop.co.uk.
Install Your Own Solar-Voltaic Panels
I have wanted to install Solar-Voltaic Panels (turning solar radiation
into electricity) on my roof for many years, to help reduce my carbon impact,
but it always seemed too expensive.
However things have changed – new government legislation in 2010 made it
extremely profitable financially!
Because the government had legally binding carbon-reduction targets,
they set up a scheme, called the Feed-in Tariff Scheme, which they hoped will,
through big financial incentives, persuade large numbers of the general public
to invest in small-scale low-carbon electricity-generation, in return for a
guaranteed payment for all the electricity they generate
[whether they use it themselves, or sell it back to the National Grid]. Feed-in Tariffs, or FITs, are offered for
Wind Generation, Solar Photo-Voltaic, Hydro, Micro-CHP Boilers, and a few other
systems, but it is the Solar that I investigated.
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Cornwall is one of the best areas of the country for solar radiation,
and your roof does not have to face south to be effective, though obviously
it’s better if it does. But anything
from southeast to southwest is acceptable.
Whatever level of Feed-in Tariff payment is agreed when you commission
your system is guaranteed for 25 years, index-linked and tax-free. Up until recently, the Feed-in Tariff payment
was 43.3 pence for every kilowatt-hour generated [as compared with perhaps 10
to 14 pence which your supplier charges you].
Because costs are constantly reducing, the payments also will be reduced
each year, and because so many people were taking advantage of the bonanza that
the Government were running out of money to pay for it, unfortunately they have
recently halved the level of payment to 21p -- and it is not clear by how much they
will drop in future. It is most
profitable to install a “4 kW system” -- this cost me about 16½ thousand pounds
in mid 2011 [and there were cheaper panels available]. But
with the 43.3 pence per kilowatt-hour, I hope to earn about £2,000 a year from
it. This would pay off my initial costs
in about 8 years – and from then on, it’s all profit! The cost for my panels had dropped to £12½ thousand
by Christmas, but of course the Feed-in Tariffs for new customers has now
dropped a lot more than that, so this
will obviously lengthen the payback-process considerably -- but again, the
reduction in costs will help enormously.
However, it does make it even more important to get a good deal, because
the profit/loss balance is on a much finer knife-edge.
For a very useful general guide to installing renewable energy, go to http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ Resources/Publications/Renewables/A-buyer-s-guide-to-renewable-and-low-carbon-technologies, and click on “Download the Publication”. Of course, the one thing you can’t be absolutely sure about, is how much energy your panels will actually produce –one is always afraid that predictions are exaggerated. But I have a friend who’s had solar panels for a year; so before I made up my mind, I fed his details into the on-line solar calculator, and he actually generated more than the predicted amount, not less. This was very satisfying. The On-Line Calculator is at http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/clean_energy_cashback_calculator/ [Click on “Change our assumptions”, and put in your Post Code and Roof Angle Don’t try to indicate “How much you can afford” –it doesn’t seem to work. Go for either square meters or size of system]. It’s best not to look at at predictions for the future, go by the first year figures–anything else depens on so many assumptions, like future oil-prices.
But it is not only the Feed-in Tariffs that
affects the issue, but the cost of electricity.
I generated 1816 kWh from 18th June to the end of December, which earned
me about £800 Feed-in-Tariff; but of course my electricity bill will also be
lower, which will save me more money. However,
the amount I save here, will depend on how I use my electricity. I have discovered that it is very
advantageous financially to use the electricity as it’s generated. Forgetting about the Feed-in-Tariff, which
you get automatically for everything generated, you must consider what
happens next. If you use it as it’s
generated, it’s free, so you gain the 12p or so per kilowatt-hour that you
would have paid your supplier for it [a kilowatt-hour is the amount of energy needed
to use a one kilowatt appliance
for one hour]. If you don’t use it as it is generated, then
it’s sold back to the grid – but you only get 3p /kWh, so you are 9p /kWh worse
off. So it’s well worth checking what
you are generating, and making sure you boil the kettle at the right time. You also don’t want to use two appliances at
once, if you’re only generating enough to cover one. If you do, you pay for the second one. If you use them at different times, both will
be free. I have just had my electricity
bill, and was staggered to learn that my electricity usage had gone down by a
factor or two compared with the same period in previous years. A friend lives nearby and has the same system
-- her usage had only gone down by a quarter, because she hadn’t be able to
make so much use of the electricity as it was generated, and she hadn’t made as
many savings as I had in other ways [as described earlier in this document]. [Unfortunately, my bill didn’t go down
anything like as much, due to the way the one gets charged more for the first
amount of electricity you use, and less for later amounts, which is the bit I was
reducing! I need to see if there might be
a better tariff].
If you can’t afford to pay for Solar Panels yourself,
there are other alternatives. The
government’s original plan was that the rate of return should be sufficient for
people to be able to make a profit even if they have to take out a mortgage in
order to pay for the panels. If even
this is beyond your resources, then there are companies who will install them
for you free. I have not investigated
these, but I understand that you get some free electricity [whatever you manage
to use as it is being generated, see above description], but they take all the Feed-in
Tariffs – which is by far the greater part of the profit! [See http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/aug/14/free-solar-panels].
If you wish to go ahead
with Solar Panels, it is important to go about things the correct way.
1).
To be
eligible for FITs support, projects must use eligible products installed
by MCS-accredited installers. The
Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is an independent certification
scheme, which assesses installer companies and products against robust
standards. MCS gives assurances about
the likely quality, durability and performance of installations. Go to http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/mcs-consumer/installer-search.php
to find a [long] list of accredited installers.
Or email me and I will tell you who installed my panels – I’m thrilled
with the result!
2).
Write to your
electricity supplier in advance, and tell them that you
wish to install Solar Panels, and that you want to apply for the Feed-in
Tariff. They will tell you what you need
to do.
Other
Organisations not mentioned above:
a. Join
"Fair
Shares, Fair Choice" -- Charity Sustainability South West's
campaign for everyone who supports the principle of a 'globally fair and safe
carbon share for everyone’.
b. "Fareshare"
is a national organisation that redistributes surplus produce from the food and
drink industry to organisations working with disadvantaged people.
c. Earth Café
is a friendly space for environmental, animal and human rights networking,
generally held in the Cellar Bar at
The Fortescue,
Mutley Plain, Plymouth: www.plymouthenvironmentcentre.org.uk
d. Get
tips from
'Surfers
Against Sewage' -- a UK-based organisation campaigning for clean,
safe recreational waters, free from sewage, toxic chemicals, marine litter and
nuclear waste [
www.sas.org.uk].
Claire James:- james.yachtphaeacian@virgin.net
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