Saving Energy

The nights are drawing in so it is also the time when we starting putting the lights on in the evening and even think about switching the heating on again.
This is therefore the time when we also start increasing our energy use which also means costs. The graph above shows my energy use throughout the year and it is clear that the gas soars in the winter starting in the next few weeks.
If you have not already done it perhaps a word with our energy advisers at Northfield Ecocentre might help reduce the bills that will inevitably follow the start of the winter. We have several trained advisors who may be able to maker some practical suggestions on things you can do fairly quickly to keep the costs down. Ring 01214480119 or email info@northfieldecocentre.org for an appointment.

Hire Bikes

I have just returned from a couple of days in London so it was the first time I had seen the new hire bikes. They seem to be a lot of parking places. We saw them all over the centre and up to a couple of miles out. People were using them. The racks above were quite full but many I saw were half empty and it was quite noticeable the number being ridden. I am told they are quite heavy with low gears.
For those who have registered the first half hour is free and the up to an hour £1. You can get quite some distance on a bike in half an hour.
I wonder whether anyone in Birmingham is thinking of how they could be introduced here? They are certainly a way we could reduce our use of carbon.

Fashion

Thanks to Bovey Climate Action for the information shown below:

· In 2009, women brought nearly 3 times as many garments as they brought in 1999.
· We don't even wear 20% of the clothes that we buy.
· Two million tonnes of textiles go into UK landfills every year.
· In 1970, t-shirts and top cost around £2-10 each. They cost much the same now, but as we now earn around10 times as much money, we buy far more.
· Clothes are very cheap now, because almost all of them are made in countries with very low wages and living standards.
· Wool is probably the most sustainable fibre there is; less than a hundred years ago, it was a valuable product. Now, because we prefer oil-based, man-made fabrics, a sheep's fleece is only worth about £1 - the cost of having it sheared.
· Our modern textile industry is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gasses on Earth.
· Even the growing and processing of natural fibres causes pollution! Growing cotton needs vast amount of water. Irrigating cotton is causing acute water shortages in many poor countries.
· Man-made fabrics are made from petro-chemicals. Did you know that you're probably wearing oil?
· If you 'shop till you drop', you're probably making climate change worse....
Well, what can we do about it, and still look good?
· Choose your clothes carefully and look after them - you can enjoy them for years!
· Try to buy organic wool, cotton and linen
· Get a basic sewing kit, so that you can sew on buttons and mend your clothes.
· Find out how to make, alter and remake your clothes, so that you can always look cool!
· Try Charity Shops for fantastic bargains with tiny footprints.

Energy Tax Penalises Those Paying the "Tradional Way!"

It has been revealed that customers paying for their utilities by cash or cheque could be paying more than those paying by direct debits. The BBC has already accused Energy Companies of charging the average household on prepayment meters £118 more than those who pay by direct debit following the latest round of price increases, but the Energy Companies defend these accusations by saying this is simply because they are phasing out traditional methods of paying.

We all know that the ability of these companies to hike their prices up and down as and when they feel like it is their best commodity, which means the best way to avoid paying more as a consumer is to be energy savvy, but with so many tariffs, ways to pay and ways to save energy, it can all be quite confusing!

Northfield Ecocentre knows this and as such offers all local people a free Energy Consultation.
In this sessio, all of your energy use is reviewed, as well as your bill to identify any hidden charges and help you to make changes that will cut your energy bills.

If you would like further information on this service, please visit our website www.northfieldecocentre.org
Or just pop in and visit us! We are open Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays...

Wolseley Sustainable Building Centre

Only a few years ago finding tradesmen in the building industry who understood some of the renewable technologies was almost impossible. This is changing and the Wolseley Sustainable Building Centre is one of the driving forces.
The Centre is run by one of the large building material suppliers. They built the £3M centre to demonstrate to the building industry what is available and how it can be fitted. It is a building packed with both passive and active ways of reducing energy in all types of buildings and also demonstrating that materials used in buildings can be chosen to reduce their impact on the environment.
I was lucky enough to be invited to visit the centre with a party from Optima Community Association who are themselves building and planning eco homes. I was glad to hear the centre was not only emphasising climate change as an issue but also the alarming speed that peak oil and peak gas may overtake us.
There were many interesting things that came from the visit but one that struck me was that since the feed in tariffs were introduced in April PV panels have been flying off the shelves. Likewise solar hot water panels are also very popular.
Wolseley are to be congratulated for taking the lead within the building industry and I thank them for the visit and Optima for inviting us to accompany them.

Garden Water

I try to collect rainwater for all the needs of the garden, conservatory, and greenhouse. Most years we usually manage but during the last few days it was a close thing. We emptied the last water out of the three butts yesterday so were delighted when it started raining this morning and at least half filled the butts up again.
A special adapter is required from the house downpipe but any bit of guttering and pipes from skips will do for greenhouses and sheds. An old dustbin will do as the container.

Election

Polling day draws near and I am still waiting for all the parties to really tell us what they are going to do to slow climate change down. In the leaders debates it was hardly mentioned. I went to a hustings for my constituency and it was not mentioned. I have looked through the leaflets that have come through the door and the most I can find is reference to recycling.
Luke at Northfield Ecocentre has produced a useful summary of what each of the parties has said about environmental issues in their manifestos. You can read that here .
This is all very disappointing as although the economy is important the environmental disaster awaiting the world due to climate change is likely to be worldwide. If the parties are not planning for it one is left wondering who will?

Heat Pumps

Last time I wrote about the solar hot water panel at the Northfield Ecocentre. This week the blog is about the air source heat pump. The “air source” bit is because it grabs the heat out of the air whereas other heat pumps grab it from the ground.
If ever you have looked behind your household fridge you will see there is a coil. If the fridge is working then the coil will be warm. This is how the heat pump works. In the case of the fridge a pump is taking the heat out of the fridge and getting rid of it through the coil. In the case of an air source heat pump it takes the heat from outside air and heats a coil which we use as a radiator to heat the building. The physics of it means that for every kilowatt of electricity we use to drive the pump then over two kilowatts are put into the radiators to heat the building. It seems like magic to me! Of course one still has to pay for the electric but only half what it would have cost with conventional electric heating. However they do say that if gas is available it is still more economical to use gas for heating. For rural and isolated buildings it is well worth a study.
The graph above shows the electricity used by the Ecocentre heat pump and the heat produced. You will see that the output is about twice the input. Unlike the solar panel the graph is at present reducing as the weather gets warmer. Our peak was at New Year when we had a pipe frozen and had to leave the heat on overnight to thaw it out. We regular update the graph and this is shown here.