IT IS a quiet and picturesque parish in the Scottish Borders, but Ayton is on the cusp of a revolution in the way renewable energy can be used to run our homes.
Building work begins today on the town's Beanburn Road, to create what it is believed will be Europe's first hydrogen-fuelled, zero-carbon home.
It will be the house of the future - a home completely independent from the national grid, which will make Scotland a worldwide centre for excellence in renewables. It will be equipped with a wind turbine and solar cell and generate hydrogen from water.
Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), which is behind the project, thinks it is the first of its kind in Europe and says it will make Scotland a world leader in the renewables industry.
The pilot will be in social housing, with a family recruited to live in it before it is completed in March 2008, but if the technology proves successful it could be rolled out to private homes
The scheme will see a photovoltaic - or solar power - system added to the house, along with a wind turbine. The energy produced by these will be used to electrolyse water to split it into oxygen and hydrogen.
The hydrogen will be stored in underground tanks - each of which will be capable of producing a month's worth of electricity and heat.
"In effect, you end up with a power station within the home," said Mr Brown.
LINDSAY MCINTOSH
full article
Monday 12 November 2007
Sunday 11 November 2007
The green home goes underground
BEETLEBANK, Earwig Green, does not sound the most attractive of addresses. But down a narrow, hedge-lined lane in the Weald of Kent, where half-timbered, tile-hung cottages and converted oast houses are the norm, is a stunning modern home of yellow brick, green oak, plate glass and slabs of crystalline schist rock... with a view down the upper Medway valley, with woods, fields grazed by cows, and the stately pile of Penshurst Place beyond.
“We are so lucky to live in this wonderful valley,” says the owner, John Morrison. John and his wife Helen, both 58, have just moved in after 18 months of building work overseen by their son, Robert, who acted as project manager.
It is not the first home on this site. The previous house was a wooden Red Cross first-aid hut, erected in the First World War, that had been added to over the years. “When the wind blew, there were so many holes in it that the building whistled,” says Robert, aged 31. “It was a pull-down job and start from scratch.” And what a scratch it was – 7m (23ft) deep, served by three trenches for geothermal heating that were 50m long and 1.8m deep.
“The earth below the frost line remains at a relatively constant temperature, which equates roughly to the average annual air temperature,” says Robert, who trained as an oceanographer. “Here that is 12C (53F). The trenches contain pipes in the form of loops that bring the water and antifreeze solution out and back to the house. A heat exchanger in the house heats the water for two storage tanks, one to service the underfloor heating pipes and one to provide hot water for the kitchen and bathrooms. Each night, Economy 7 electricity is used to heat the water to 60C or 65C, to prevent legionnaires’ disease, but by the time the showers are used in the day the hot water temperature will be around 40C, about right for a shower.”
Beetlebank is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so planning procedures meant that it was two years before the diggers were on site, in March 2006. “To get the living area my parents wanted,” Robert says, “we had to go into the ground; there are an awful lot of unknowns when you do that.”
Beetlebank is a lightweight steel structure with living space half above ground, half below. A central atrium brings light into the section below ground, which has a utility room, bedroom, media room, and an indoor pool and sauna full of natural light, supplemented by 100 low-energy LED lights. The pool has an underwater speaker. A cine-system can project TV or films on the wall. At ground level the living room has floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a west-facing patio. The east side is all glass with a view towards Penshurst. There is an open fireplace on the north wall. The kitchen is open plan. On the south side of the atrium is the master bedroom with more great views. Another bedroom overlooks a water feature in the patio, across which is a two-man office.
Throughout, the flooring is of natural stone – crystalline oyster schist containing natural colours of blue and muted reds, with sparkling patches of fool’s gold. The same stone is used for the adjoining patio areas. If you walk over this flooring in bare or stockinged feet, you can feel the warmth rising up.
Find out how to build your own green home at timesonline.co.uk/greenhouse
FACTFILE
Most homes require a heating load of 8kW to 12kW. Installation costs about £1,000 per kW. Recouping the investment takes about ten years.
Ground-source heating systems can cut costs by 35 to 75 per cent, carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 60 per cent, compared with a traditional fossil system.
The geothermal heating system for Beetlebank was designed by EarthEnergy, 01326 310650, www.earthenergy.co.uk . Robert Morrison: 020-7738 1557.
full article
“We are so lucky to live in this wonderful valley,” says the owner, John Morrison. John and his wife Helen, both 58, have just moved in after 18 months of building work overseen by their son, Robert, who acted as project manager.
It is not the first home on this site. The previous house was a wooden Red Cross first-aid hut, erected in the First World War, that had been added to over the years. “When the wind blew, there were so many holes in it that the building whistled,” says Robert, aged 31. “It was a pull-down job and start from scratch.” And what a scratch it was – 7m (23ft) deep, served by three trenches for geothermal heating that were 50m long and 1.8m deep.
“The earth below the frost line remains at a relatively constant temperature, which equates roughly to the average annual air temperature,” says Robert, who trained as an oceanographer. “Here that is 12C (53F). The trenches contain pipes in the form of loops that bring the water and antifreeze solution out and back to the house. A heat exchanger in the house heats the water for two storage tanks, one to service the underfloor heating pipes and one to provide hot water for the kitchen and bathrooms. Each night, Economy 7 electricity is used to heat the water to 60C or 65C, to prevent legionnaires’ disease, but by the time the showers are used in the day the hot water temperature will be around 40C, about right for a shower.”
Beetlebank is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so planning procedures meant that it was two years before the diggers were on site, in March 2006. “To get the living area my parents wanted,” Robert says, “we had to go into the ground; there are an awful lot of unknowns when you do that.”
Beetlebank is a lightweight steel structure with living space half above ground, half below. A central atrium brings light into the section below ground, which has a utility room, bedroom, media room, and an indoor pool and sauna full of natural light, supplemented by 100 low-energy LED lights. The pool has an underwater speaker. A cine-system can project TV or films on the wall. At ground level the living room has floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a west-facing patio. The east side is all glass with a view towards Penshurst. There is an open fireplace on the north wall. The kitchen is open plan. On the south side of the atrium is the master bedroom with more great views. Another bedroom overlooks a water feature in the patio, across which is a two-man office.
Throughout, the flooring is of natural stone – crystalline oyster schist containing natural colours of blue and muted reds, with sparkling patches of fool’s gold. The same stone is used for the adjoining patio areas. If you walk over this flooring in bare or stockinged feet, you can feel the warmth rising up.
Find out how to build your own green home at timesonline.co.uk/greenhouse
FACTFILE
Most homes require a heating load of 8kW to 12kW. Installation costs about £1,000 per kW. Recouping the investment takes about ten years.
Ground-source heating systems can cut costs by 35 to 75 per cent, carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 60 per cent, compared with a traditional fossil system.
The geothermal heating system for Beetlebank was designed by EarthEnergy, 01326 310650, www.earthenergy.co.uk . Robert Morrison: 020-7738 1557.
full article
Saturday 10 November 2007
Green tax puts extra £1,000 on family cars
The Times has learnt that the review of low-carbon cars, commissioned by the Government and due to report in February, will recommend a range of tough measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Drivers who choose high-emission vehicles, including family saloons, will face much higher excise duties and a purchase tax. But grants are likely for people who opt for cars powered by alternative fuels and choose vehicles that are fitted with devices that reduce fuel consumption.
The Government has already raised vehicle excise duty to £300 for cars in Band G which produce more than 225g/km of CO2. The Band G rate is due to increase to £400 next year.
Department for Transport research found that the differential between each band would have to be increased to £300 to persuade most drivers to switch to lower-emission cars. The differential between bands E and F, which account for the majority of larger cars, is now £40.
The RAC Foundation said that the review should consider the impact on families of any tax changes.
Edmund King, the foundation’s director, said: “Many families need larger cars and it would be unfair to penalise them. Big increases in road tax could also be counterproductive because it can be greener for a low-mileage driver to keep running a larger car than switch to a hybrid.
“Professor King should beware of knee-jerk price signals based on the green agenda. Any changes must take effect slowly. People cannot be expected to change their cars overnight.”
full article
Drivers who choose high-emission vehicles, including family saloons, will face much higher excise duties and a purchase tax. But grants are likely for people who opt for cars powered by alternative fuels and choose vehicles that are fitted with devices that reduce fuel consumption.
The Government has already raised vehicle excise duty to £300 for cars in Band G which produce more than 225g/km of CO2. The Band G rate is due to increase to £400 next year.
Department for Transport research found that the differential between each band would have to be increased to £300 to persuade most drivers to switch to lower-emission cars. The differential between bands E and F, which account for the majority of larger cars, is now £40.
The RAC Foundation said that the review should consider the impact on families of any tax changes.
Edmund King, the foundation’s director, said: “Many families need larger cars and it would be unfair to penalise them. Big increases in road tax could also be counterproductive because it can be greener for a low-mileage driver to keep running a larger car than switch to a hybrid.
“Professor King should beware of knee-jerk price signals based on the green agenda. Any changes must take effect slowly. People cannot be expected to change their cars overnight.”
full article
60 ways to go green
Want to know how you can reduce your carbon footprint and be more ecologically friendly as a family? As part of the Western Mail’s Environment Month, Friends of the Earth Cymru have come up with a 60-point guide to going green
AT HOME
The global warming carbon emissions we produce from our homes account for a massive 25% of total emissions in the UK. So everything we can do to reduce this will help
1. Just boil the amount of water you need for one cup of tea, rather than half a kettle full and save cash with each cuppa.
2. Use a lid on saucepans. In this way you’re saving energy and money with every meal.
3. Switch to energy-saving light bulbs. They cost a little more, but save up to 10 times the price over their lifetime and use at least two-thirds less energy than standard bulbs.
4. Turn off appliances. Switch off PCs and TVs when not in use. And never leave them on standby – appliances on standby wastes at least 6% of domestic electricity use in the UK.
5. Make sure your hot-water tank is dressed correctly. A British Standard lagging jacket costs £10 and the insulation for the pipe leading to the hot-water tank from the boiler costs £3 a metre. The yearly saving on your bill? Up to £20.
6. Produce your own energy by installing small-scale renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or wind turbines. Grants are available from the Low Carbon Building Programme. See www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk if you’d like to find out more.
7. Save water. Did you know that having a shower instead of a bath can save about 40 litres of water? But avoid power showers as they can use more water than baths. Install spray taps for new sinks, as they use less water than normal taps.
8. Do all you can when it comes to household recycling. If you have a collection service – use it! Go to www.recyclenow.com for lots of information on recycling in your area.
9. Avoid disposable batteries and use rechargeable ones. You can even use a solar-powered recharger – try www.naturalcollection.com for eco-gadgets.
10. Recycle mobile phones and printer cartridges. If you really need that new phone, find a home for the old one. Recycle through your local Oxfam shop or call ActionAidRecycling on 0845 3100 200.
11. Most high-street opticians will take your old glasses to give to people in need around the world.
12. Only print when absolutely necessary. If you do print, use both sides of the paper.
13. Candlelit dinners are not just for the romantics. Inside and out, try leaving the lights off to save electricity. Citronella or beeswax candles will also keep insects away.
14. Try a local grocer or a vegetable box delivery scheme instead of highly-packaged supermarket goods.
15. Buy refills. Using refills saves you money on the products you use in large quantities like laundry and dish-washing detergents.
16. Glass bottles can be re-used as many as 20 times. So use your milkman!
17. Buy green kitchen appliances. Choose fridges and washing machines which have the highest energy rating and the longest guarantees.
18. Close the fridge door. Each minute the fridge door is open takes three minutes of energy to cool down again. And don’t put hot or warm food straight into the fridge – allow it to cool down first.
19. Defrost your fridge regularly. It keeps it running efficiently and cheaply. If your fridge seems to frost up quickly, check the door seal.
20. Keep your freezer in a cool room or garage. It won’t need to work as hard, and so uses less energy.
21. Wash at low temperatures. Wash laundry loads on the low-temperature programme.
22. Dry your clothes outside. Use a washing line whenever it’s not raining, and you can enjoy the fresh smell that only comes from line-dried clothes.
23. Don't dry clothes on a radiator. It stops heat reaching the room, creates damp and encourages mould.
IN THE GARDEN
If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, there’s so much more you can do. Growing your own veg, making compost, helping wildlife and avoiding nasty chemicals can all help create a green haven just outside your door
24. Avoid energy-hungry patio-heaters. There are 2.3 million domestic patio heaters in the UK. Every one of them uses twice as much energy as a kitchen hob. For those evenings in the garden when it gets a little chilly, put a jumper on.
25. Collect rain water in water butts for using in the garden. A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day.
26. Make your own compost. Almost one third of our domestic waste could be composted, but ends up in landfill. Shop-bought compost for the garden costs about £2.50 for 20 litres. A heap in your back garden is absolutely free.
27. Get your children into gardening. Give them their own little veg patch and enjoy the cheap food. A bunch of radishes costs about 45p. A packet of 1,000 radish seeds costs about £1.
28. Grow hedges. For £25, you can buy 50 hedge plants that will give you 10m of thick hedge. Takes time to grow, but a lot nicer than a typical fencing panel which costs £25 for just under 2m, excluding the cost of posts and concrete, and wildlife and birds will love you for it.
29. Go peat-free. Avoiding peat-based composts means stopping the destruction of our peat bogs, which are invaluable habitats for a wealth of wildlife.
OUT AND ABOUT
Going green doesn’t need to stop once you leave your front door
30. Use the car less. Cycle or walk instead and get some exercise. The average cost of a gym session is around £3.80, but the cost of pedalling fast to work is nothing.
31. Stick to 70mph where it says so – or keep under it. Not only is it illegal when you go over, but fuel costs can go up by as much as 4p a mile for small cars cruising at 80-85 mph on the motorway. According to the Slower Speeds Initiative, driving at 50mph instead of 70mph can reduce fuel consumption by a further 30%.
32. Use retreaded car tyres. You don’t need to always buy new. For more info, contact the Retread Manufacturers Association.
33. Start a walking bus group. Get the kids to class without having to do the school run twice a day.
34. Become a skipoholic. Rather than spend, spend, spend at the DIY store, look out for usable materials in local skips. Ask the owner of the contents before taking from any skips.
35. Libraries don’t just loan books. Lots of them hire out music cassettes and CDs, movie videos and DVDs, and even PlayStation games. Use your library to save yourself the cost of building up your own collection.
36. Shopping locally will cut out food miles and support your local economy. Large out-of-town supermarkets are driving the smaller local shops out of business so support your local shops and help the environment too.
37. Re-discover your local area. Holiday nearer home to avoid excessive travelling. You’ll be supporting the local economy, and discover a new appreciation for your area.
38. Avoid flying. It’s easy to get to anywhere in Europe by train. One call to Rail Europe on 0870 8371 371 will tell you all you need.
SAVE CASH AND SAVE THE PLANET
If you think going green is just for those who can afford it, think again. Lots of what you can do that’s good for the planet is good for your wallet too
39. Carry out a financial health check. Could your money be doing better financially and ethically? You could be banking with an ethical institution and getting as good a deal or better.
40. Do you really need it? Buy less and avoid waste. You can then spend more on things which you really need, and buy quality that will last.
41. Babies don’t need special baby food, especially not at up to a pound a jar. Buy a hand-held blender for £5 and purée ordinary, UK-grown organic food, such as potato, carrot, cauliflower and pear.
42. Give your time. Rather than searching for a present that may never be used, you could help with decorating, gardening or a big clear-out.
43. Cut the cost of cleaning. Add lemon juice (59p for 250 ml), soda crystals (51p a kilo) and bicarbonate of soda (44p for 200g) to your shopping basket to get your taps sparkling, dissolve grease, and shift stains on your work surfaces. All for £1.54.
44. Banish aerosols. Air fresheners fill your home with a toxic soup. Avoid wasting money and open a window instead.
45. Ditch disposable nappies. Switch to reusables. This could save you up to £600 in total. A set of 10 reusable nappies with simple Velcro fasteners costs about £70 new.
46. Save energy, save money. Use less energy in your home by improving insulation, draught-proofing, heating controls etc. Call the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512 012 for free advice.
47. Pack your own lunch. Making your own sandwiches instead of buying over-packaged snacks could save you more than £4 a day.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
There’s only so much that each of use can do in our daily lives. But there’s a lot more that our politicians can do that affects us all. Make sure the Government knows that you want a greener Wales
48. Campaign. Take part in letter writing campaigns, postcard campaigns, petitions, online actions – it does make a difference, honest!
49. Demand strong leadership on climate change. We need strong leaders to take tough decisions and come up with creative solutions. If Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ken Livingstone can do it, you can too, Rhodri Morgan.
50. Educate and inform. Ask the Welsh Assembly Government to launch a high-profile awareness raising campaign to improve understanding of climate change and the many solutions we can implement to reduce its impact.
51. Demand they spend our money wisely. The Assembly Government should move some of the expenditure from roads (50% of Welsh transport budget at present) to support better public transport, cycling and walking schemes.
52. Email you MP now. Ask your MP to take strong action on climate change by emailing them at www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/email_mp.
GET TOGETHER
If there’s so much that each of us can do alone, there’s so much more we can achieve if we work as one
53. Join a Friends of the Earth local group. If you want to do more for the environment both locally and globally, join one of Friends of the Earth’s many local groups around Wales. For information on your nearest group phone 029 2022 9577 or visit www.foe.co.uk/cymru/english/local_groups.
54. Have a clothes swapping party. Get together with you friends and swap clothes. This way you can get a whole new wardrobe for nothing and save the planet too!
55. Use your affiliations to magnify your input. As an employee, a union member, or a member of a club or society you’ll have more influence, so encourage your organisation to make itself heard.
56. Make your town a Transition Town. The transition network is all about people taking control of their own communities, and making a difference by working together. Find out more at www.transitiontowns.org.
57. Join ‘Cymruaction’ at www.foe.co.uk/cymru/english/press_for_change/mailing_list and become part of a powerful email campaign to protect the environment of Wales.
58. Share transport. Get together with work friends to car share.
59. Share tools and DIY equipment. Does every house in your street need a £70 lawnmower, a folding workbench for £30, and a steam cleaner at £100? Share with your neighbours, and it’ll do wonders for your community spirit too.
60. Join Friends of the Earth’s Big Ask Online March. Film yourself on a digital camera or a mobile phone and upload it at www.thebigask.com, and you’ll be joining Welsh luminaries Cerys Matthews, Goldie Lookin Chain and Huw Stephens and many others in asking the Government for a really strong climate change law. Or go along to The Point tonight at the Cardiff Swn Festival, where you can visit Friends of the Earth Cymru’s video stall and they’ll do the filming for you.
full article
AT HOME
The global warming carbon emissions we produce from our homes account for a massive 25% of total emissions in the UK. So everything we can do to reduce this will help
1. Just boil the amount of water you need for one cup of tea, rather than half a kettle full and save cash with each cuppa.
2. Use a lid on saucepans. In this way you’re saving energy and money with every meal.
3. Switch to energy-saving light bulbs. They cost a little more, but save up to 10 times the price over their lifetime and use at least two-thirds less energy than standard bulbs.
4. Turn off appliances. Switch off PCs and TVs when not in use. And never leave them on standby – appliances on standby wastes at least 6% of domestic electricity use in the UK.
5. Make sure your hot-water tank is dressed correctly. A British Standard lagging jacket costs £10 and the insulation for the pipe leading to the hot-water tank from the boiler costs £3 a metre. The yearly saving on your bill? Up to £20.
6. Produce your own energy by installing small-scale renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or wind turbines. Grants are available from the Low Carbon Building Programme. See www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk if you’d like to find out more.
7. Save water. Did you know that having a shower instead of a bath can save about 40 litres of water? But avoid power showers as they can use more water than baths. Install spray taps for new sinks, as they use less water than normal taps.
8. Do all you can when it comes to household recycling. If you have a collection service – use it! Go to www.recyclenow.com for lots of information on recycling in your area.
9. Avoid disposable batteries and use rechargeable ones. You can even use a solar-powered recharger – try www.naturalcollection.com for eco-gadgets.
10. Recycle mobile phones and printer cartridges. If you really need that new phone, find a home for the old one. Recycle through your local Oxfam shop or call ActionAidRecycling on 0845 3100 200.
11. Most high-street opticians will take your old glasses to give to people in need around the world.
12. Only print when absolutely necessary. If you do print, use both sides of the paper.
13. Candlelit dinners are not just for the romantics. Inside and out, try leaving the lights off to save electricity. Citronella or beeswax candles will also keep insects away.
14. Try a local grocer or a vegetable box delivery scheme instead of highly-packaged supermarket goods.
15. Buy refills. Using refills saves you money on the products you use in large quantities like laundry and dish-washing detergents.
16. Glass bottles can be re-used as many as 20 times. So use your milkman!
17. Buy green kitchen appliances. Choose fridges and washing machines which have the highest energy rating and the longest guarantees.
18. Close the fridge door. Each minute the fridge door is open takes three minutes of energy to cool down again. And don’t put hot or warm food straight into the fridge – allow it to cool down first.
19. Defrost your fridge regularly. It keeps it running efficiently and cheaply. If your fridge seems to frost up quickly, check the door seal.
20. Keep your freezer in a cool room or garage. It won’t need to work as hard, and so uses less energy.
21. Wash at low temperatures. Wash laundry loads on the low-temperature programme.
22. Dry your clothes outside. Use a washing line whenever it’s not raining, and you can enjoy the fresh smell that only comes from line-dried clothes.
23. Don't dry clothes on a radiator. It stops heat reaching the room, creates damp and encourages mould.
IN THE GARDEN
If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, there’s so much more you can do. Growing your own veg, making compost, helping wildlife and avoiding nasty chemicals can all help create a green haven just outside your door
24. Avoid energy-hungry patio-heaters. There are 2.3 million domestic patio heaters in the UK. Every one of them uses twice as much energy as a kitchen hob. For those evenings in the garden when it gets a little chilly, put a jumper on.
25. Collect rain water in water butts for using in the garden. A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day.
26. Make your own compost. Almost one third of our domestic waste could be composted, but ends up in landfill. Shop-bought compost for the garden costs about £2.50 for 20 litres. A heap in your back garden is absolutely free.
27. Get your children into gardening. Give them their own little veg patch and enjoy the cheap food. A bunch of radishes costs about 45p. A packet of 1,000 radish seeds costs about £1.
28. Grow hedges. For £25, you can buy 50 hedge plants that will give you 10m of thick hedge. Takes time to grow, but a lot nicer than a typical fencing panel which costs £25 for just under 2m, excluding the cost of posts and concrete, and wildlife and birds will love you for it.
29. Go peat-free. Avoiding peat-based composts means stopping the destruction of our peat bogs, which are invaluable habitats for a wealth of wildlife.
OUT AND ABOUT
Going green doesn’t need to stop once you leave your front door
30. Use the car less. Cycle or walk instead and get some exercise. The average cost of a gym session is around £3.80, but the cost of pedalling fast to work is nothing.
31. Stick to 70mph where it says so – or keep under it. Not only is it illegal when you go over, but fuel costs can go up by as much as 4p a mile for small cars cruising at 80-85 mph on the motorway. According to the Slower Speeds Initiative, driving at 50mph instead of 70mph can reduce fuel consumption by a further 30%.
32. Use retreaded car tyres. You don’t need to always buy new. For more info, contact the Retread Manufacturers Association.
33. Start a walking bus group. Get the kids to class without having to do the school run twice a day.
34. Become a skipoholic. Rather than spend, spend, spend at the DIY store, look out for usable materials in local skips. Ask the owner of the contents before taking from any skips.
35. Libraries don’t just loan books. Lots of them hire out music cassettes and CDs, movie videos and DVDs, and even PlayStation games. Use your library to save yourself the cost of building up your own collection.
36. Shopping locally will cut out food miles and support your local economy. Large out-of-town supermarkets are driving the smaller local shops out of business so support your local shops and help the environment too.
37. Re-discover your local area. Holiday nearer home to avoid excessive travelling. You’ll be supporting the local economy, and discover a new appreciation for your area.
38. Avoid flying. It’s easy to get to anywhere in Europe by train. One call to Rail Europe on 0870 8371 371 will tell you all you need.
SAVE CASH AND SAVE THE PLANET
If you think going green is just for those who can afford it, think again. Lots of what you can do that’s good for the planet is good for your wallet too
39. Carry out a financial health check. Could your money be doing better financially and ethically? You could be banking with an ethical institution and getting as good a deal or better.
40. Do you really need it? Buy less and avoid waste. You can then spend more on things which you really need, and buy quality that will last.
41. Babies don’t need special baby food, especially not at up to a pound a jar. Buy a hand-held blender for £5 and purée ordinary, UK-grown organic food, such as potato, carrot, cauliflower and pear.
42. Give your time. Rather than searching for a present that may never be used, you could help with decorating, gardening or a big clear-out.
43. Cut the cost of cleaning. Add lemon juice (59p for 250 ml), soda crystals (51p a kilo) and bicarbonate of soda (44p for 200g) to your shopping basket to get your taps sparkling, dissolve grease, and shift stains on your work surfaces. All for £1.54.
44. Banish aerosols. Air fresheners fill your home with a toxic soup. Avoid wasting money and open a window instead.
45. Ditch disposable nappies. Switch to reusables. This could save you up to £600 in total. A set of 10 reusable nappies with simple Velcro fasteners costs about £70 new.
46. Save energy, save money. Use less energy in your home by improving insulation, draught-proofing, heating controls etc. Call the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512 012 for free advice.
47. Pack your own lunch. Making your own sandwiches instead of buying over-packaged snacks could save you more than £4 a day.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
There’s only so much that each of use can do in our daily lives. But there’s a lot more that our politicians can do that affects us all. Make sure the Government knows that you want a greener Wales
48. Campaign. Take part in letter writing campaigns, postcard campaigns, petitions, online actions – it does make a difference, honest!
49. Demand strong leadership on climate change. We need strong leaders to take tough decisions and come up with creative solutions. If Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ken Livingstone can do it, you can too, Rhodri Morgan.
50. Educate and inform. Ask the Welsh Assembly Government to launch a high-profile awareness raising campaign to improve understanding of climate change and the many solutions we can implement to reduce its impact.
51. Demand they spend our money wisely. The Assembly Government should move some of the expenditure from roads (50% of Welsh transport budget at present) to support better public transport, cycling and walking schemes.
52. Email you MP now. Ask your MP to take strong action on climate change by emailing them at www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/email_mp.
GET TOGETHER
If there’s so much that each of us can do alone, there’s so much more we can achieve if we work as one
53. Join a Friends of the Earth local group. If you want to do more for the environment both locally and globally, join one of Friends of the Earth’s many local groups around Wales. For information on your nearest group phone 029 2022 9577 or visit www.foe.co.uk/cymru/english/local_groups.
54. Have a clothes swapping party. Get together with you friends and swap clothes. This way you can get a whole new wardrobe for nothing and save the planet too!
55. Use your affiliations to magnify your input. As an employee, a union member, or a member of a club or society you’ll have more influence, so encourage your organisation to make itself heard.
56. Make your town a Transition Town. The transition network is all about people taking control of their own communities, and making a difference by working together. Find out more at www.transitiontowns.org.
57. Join ‘Cymruaction’ at www.foe.co.uk/cymru/english/press_for_change/mailing_list and become part of a powerful email campaign to protect the environment of Wales.
58. Share transport. Get together with work friends to car share.
59. Share tools and DIY equipment. Does every house in your street need a £70 lawnmower, a folding workbench for £30, and a steam cleaner at £100? Share with your neighbours, and it’ll do wonders for your community spirit too.
60. Join Friends of the Earth’s Big Ask Online March. Film yourself on a digital camera or a mobile phone and upload it at www.thebigask.com, and you’ll be joining Welsh luminaries Cerys Matthews, Goldie Lookin Chain and Huw Stephens and many others in asking the Government for a really strong climate change law. Or go along to The Point tonight at the Cardiff Swn Festival, where you can visit Friends of the Earth Cymru’s video stall and they’ll do the filming for you.
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