Northfield Photographs

Taking photographs often makes you see things in a different light. On Saturday I walked round the 1000 year old St Laurence Church area. I had driven through on a number of occasions but never stopped and had a look.
Northfield Ecocentre has just launched a photographic competition. The photographs have to be taken in Northfield but can be either of “Nature”, “Cityscape”, or “Community”. There are a number of age groups. So here is a chance to wander round with a purpose and see what you can find. You have until the end of May to find the perfect photo!
Details of the competition can be obtained by downloading:
The Brief
The Entry Form
There is a lot going on at the Ecocentre these days so keep an eye open for something that suits you.

It Pays to Produce Your Own Electricity

The government has recently announced that those people who produce their own electricity will be paid for doing so. The scheme is know under the name of “Feed in Tariffs” or FiT.
Some details are:
· The Feed-in Tariff makes installing micro generation much more financially attractive -it should be possible to finance the costs with a bank loan, with the income from the Feed-in Tariff helping to cover your repayments.
· Payments will be inflation-linked for all generators and tax-free for domestic properties.
· Payments are guaranteed for 20 to 25 years, depending on the technology.
· For small generators, the FiT will be paid for their total generation, including the units they use themselves.
For example - a household with a 2kW solar pv system
Installation cost: £10,500 (subject to survey)
Income (including savings made on electricity bill):£870 a year
Return on Investment 8%, payback period 12 years.
For example - a household with a 6kW wind turbine
Installation cost: £24,000 (subject to survey)
Income (including savings made on electricity bill): £2,700 a year
Return on Investment 12%, payback period 9 years
· Households should not consider installing any micro-generation technology until they have first addressed the energy-efficiency of their property.
· Technology must be appropriate for the situation - for example solar pv works best on a south-facing roof, and there is no point installing a wind turbine unless you live in a windy place.
· The scheme only applies to installations fitted after 15th July 2009 and even those get a lower rate per unit than brand new projects.
· Good Energy however will pay most people 15p a unit regardless when it was installed and can help with every stage of the process, from choosing the right technology to finding a grant to getting paid your FiT - visit www.generateyourown.co.uk to find out more

Church Photovoltaic Panels

Birmingham planners have shown Birmingham up as a “stick in the mud” department by recommending rejection of the planning permission to fit PV panels on St Mary’s Church Moseley. Councillors yesterday simply opted out by accepting the officers opinion. Some time ago I had heard that there were staff in that department who were climate change deniers so perhaps this reinforces that view.
St Marys is a grade ll listed building yet throughout the country there are examples of planning authorities granting permission for panels on even Grade l listed churches St James, Piccadilly shown above).

In rejecting the application the council has flown in the face of government advice to them which is that sustainability issues should have the highest priority when considering applications. They have even ignored the advice of one the city’s own sustainability officer who incidentally is also part of the planning team.

By this action the council has put the reputation of Birmingham as a progressive sustainable city, right to the bottom of the league

Helping the rain forests

There are a number of websites that make a contribution to a charity whenever you use them. The one below is a bit different.

Ecosia www.Ecosia.org is a search engine run by a non-profit group that uses 80% of revenue generated by leads to protect the Rain Forests.

I have put it on my desktop without any problems, it simply changed the little search box on the top RHS from 'Google' to 'Ecosia'. Every time I have used it, a small fee is paid to Ecosia and this is used for their work on the rainforests. I figure appears in the bottom right of your screen telling you how much rainforest you have saved.

If you find other websites that donate to environmental charities let us know.

Packaging

I do not often shop in Lidl but this morning we needed a few things so went in the one at Balsall Heath.
As I was coming out I noticed a lady who had past through the checkout and was packing her purchases into her bags. However before she put them in her bag she removed much of the packaging. For instance she took the bag of cornflakes out of its box and discarded the box.
I had heard of and seen this happening in Germany but never seen it in the UK.
Many of us moan about excess packaging but not many of us do something about it. I take my hat off to the Balsall Heath lady.
Incidentally Lidl do now stock some Fairtrade goods. I saw chocolate, tea, and coffee and there could have been more.

A New Year

Happy New Year to everybody. I hope you have all made resolutions to help improve the environment this year.

The start of a new year makes me start putting things in a new diary. Usually we start thinking about what plants we are going to grow particularly in the allotment. However as I write snow is falling outside so perhaps I will put it off for now.

However despite the supermarkets almost destroying the natural rhythms of the year by importing food when it is out of season there are a still a few things that can only be bought at certain times. The one that comes to mind in January is Seville oranges to make marmalade. This month is the only time of the year one can find them and even then one has to search.

I love marmalade so do go out and search and buy enough to make enough marmalade for a year. If you have not tried making your own now is the time! You can do it in the warm and ignore the weather outside.

Christmas Tree

Northfield Ecocentre in their Sustainable Christmas Tips
recommends getting a real Christmas tree with roots. We have been doing this successfully for well over ten years. We have just finished decorating the tree shown above. The tree spends the rest of the year in a big plant pot in the garden and is then lifted in just before Christmas each year. We have the decorated tree in the conservatory so that it does not get too hot and shed its leaves. Our particular tree started smaller but has grown a bit each year.

Climate Change

The last few weeks have brought out the sceptics about climate change. I suppose it is the build up to the Copenhagen talks that has made them realise that there is some publicity available for outlandish statements.

I wonder where all these people have been living for the last few years or is it just me that is showing my age.

When my children were young we bought two sledges because each year it was fun to go to the hill local park. Before they were teenagers we found we never got the sledges out of the loft as the snow was not thick enough! That was only twenty years ago. About the same time every year I would anticipate waking up at least a couple of times in the morning and find the snow too thick to even try and get to work. Only ten years later it was never a problem.

I keep some notes about when my trees and plants first flower or bear fruit. Over the years this has steadily been getting earlier. There is an occasional year which bucks the trend but the warmer weather is clearly there in my records.

Yes none of the above stand close scientific scrutiny but it convinces me that there is something happening. Surely all the sceptics can see the changes as well or do they not look out the window?