No, we don't have a wood burner

 

I'm so glad we didn't decide to fit a wood burner when we bought our current house. Instead we took the chimney out and eventually had a new, high efficiency boiler fitted. 12 years on, if we were renovating it now, we would probably be looking at a heat pump, but that's a discussion for another day.

I ought to say that there was a time I would have gone down the wood burner road. Seeking to move away from fossil fuels, wood burning seemed more sustainable and less impactful on the environment. But then comes the bad news. Even wood burners that meet the most recent criteria for emissions are actually very bad for the environment. 

One study shows that wood burning stoves that meet the regulations still emit 750 times more small particulate matter (PM2.5) than a heavy good vehicle, and that domestic wood burners are the single biggest source of PM2.5 air pollution in the UK, producing three times more pollution than road traffic. And the problem isn't just what goes up the chimney. These microscopic particles (PM2.5 refers to particles that are 2.5 microns in size) pass directly into the blood stream once they enter the lungs and every time you open the door of your stove, they are released into the room. 

Along with the particulates two dangerous chemicals are also released. Benzene and formaldehyde are both known carcinogens and are by products of burning wood. 

So they might look nice and cosy, they might be nice and warm and they be reducing the amount you have to spend on gas or oil, but they are not the long term solution to home heating and reducing our use of fossil fuels. 

If I could start a movement

 In previous post I talked about writing about an idea, an idea to start a movement. I suggested a very simple aim: To leave the world in a better state than we found it. 

This is an environmental challenge but it is also a socio-economic one too. It's about a sustainable and equitable world. More and more wealth is being concentrated in a decreasing proportion of the population.  A little bit of research shows that in 2018 there were over 2,000 billionaires worldwide. That was an increase of 40% in a 5 year period. But that's not the only significant figure. The wealthy saw their wealth grow at a staggering rate. Elon Musk, for example, added over $120 billion to his fortune in 2021 alone.

Clearly our economic systems are skewed and it might be time we asked whether billionaires ought to exist at all in an equitable economic landscape. But money and wealth are not the only problem. The burden of government policy also has a role to play as do some parts of the media. Much of our (UK) recent government policies have disproportionally impacted the poorer parts of our communities. One simple example is that if you're not earning enough to pay income tax, then either raising the threshold for paying tax or lowering the rate of tax (particularly at the high end) doesn't benefit you at all. Whereas rating the levels of VAT or duty does. 

So something needs to change and we may need to be willing to pay more in order to make those changes. Of course some parts of the media will always present ideas that seek to bring about such change as a danger to the very fabric of our lifestyles. But the bottom line is that if we are going to make the sort of wholesale changes that are needed to avert the climate emergency and create a more sustainable and equitable future, it has to be properly funded and the rich are going to have to pay their share. 

Having said all of that, what might this movement look like? Here are some thoughts.

What is the core idea?

To harness and leverage the skills, knowledge and influence of the “retired” generation to campaign and work to leave the planet in a better place than when we inherited it. Working together we add our collective voice to those of the younger generation to encourage, and support their efforts to bring about a more sustainable and equitable world.

The How

In no apparent order, here are some ideas:

• Encourage personal change

We can’t change the world as individuals and yet we can’t wait for someone else to charge it for us. The change begins with us. If we make small, individual changes (fly less often, choose a hybrid or electric car, lower the thermostat etc) we can contribute to a collective movement for change.

• Be trendsetters and let others follow
• Challenge business and government to be bold
• Invest ethically and environmentally
• Learn to repair and recycle stuff (I saved us over £300 by repairing a Kenwood Chef mixer!)
• Develop a course if you have skills to pass on. 
• Become better informed about climate science, economics, alternative energy.
• Change one product you purchase regularly for a sustainable alternative.

Bigger ideas?

• Arrange web based seminars on topics like climate, finance etc. 
• Find resources to help inform/act/change
• Build community based action groups
• Engage with environmentally positive business/projects. Eg wind farms, solar farms.

Can this happen? It can if we make the effort. 

Bigger things to do

 Some things are simple, fairly inexpensive things we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint. Some things fall into a more expensive category. Here are some we've done.

1. Invest in a solar array. We had solar panels fitted in 2018 or 19 (I can't quite remember). We also had a battery storage system fitted (2.4Kw). Our array can generate up to 4Kw (the maximum you can have in the UK when it's connected to the grid system). The cost of the system fully installed was around £6000. We've saved around 33% on our grid electricity usage, dropping from 3500kwh to 2500kwh. At current rates, that's about £200 a year for us. We also export some power to the grid which I think gives us around £150 a year back. Over the expected lifetime of the system it's doubtful that it will pay for itself, but that's not why we did it.

2. Invest in a wind farm. Not as crazy as it might sound. In the UK there's an organisation called Ripple Energy. They allow you to buy shares in a cooperative that builds and runs wind farms. you get savings back through your supplier. Compared to solar panels it's cheaper and of course you can take it with you when you move unlike a solar array. There's a limit to how much you can invest, but because you can take it with you, it will pay for itself eventually. 

3. Go EV. We bought an EV recently. Again it was an environmental decision rather than a financial one. Although having said that the EV we chose (Vauxhall Mokka e) was a very similar price to our Toyota CHR hybrid. The running costs are much lower (no road fund licence at the moment, no petrol), On the road in the UK it was about £32000 new. Not a cheap option. We had a home charge-point fitted and generally the car gets charged once a week or maybe 10 days.  electricity prices as they are it costs around £10-11 to charge the car at home. That gives me around 160-180 miles. Compare that to my hybrid that would use about £50-60 of fuel and it's still good value.

4. Add cavity wall insulation. We've had a quote of £1400 to insulate our 3 bed-semi. 

5. Replace the double glazing. We have DG but we could replace it with something more efficient for around £6000.

So none of these things are cheap, and some maybe more cost-effective or have a better RTO (return on investment). You have to decide what is best for you and why you are doing some things. Is it environmental or is it about reducing your bills.

What can "I" do?

 This is a generalised "I" because it's really about what we can do, but it can't be me prescribing a list of things for you to do that I'm not prepared to do myself. Some things are high cost like solar panels or buying an electric car, but some things can be low cost like choosing something with less plastic packaging.

So here are a few things that we are doing or considering doing to change out footprint in the world.

1. Buy fewer clothes. It's astonishing to realise the amount of clothing that is wasted each year. About 30% of unwanted clothing ends up in landfill in the UK alone. That's around £140M of useable clothing. 

2. Use our heating systems differently. You'd think that some people think their heating system is designed to make their homes a tropical paradise. You could have an AI based thermostat system fitted (We have a Nest system) that learns your habits and controls you heating so that the house isn't heated when no one is there. Or you could simply turn the thermostat down when you go out and back up when you get home. And wear a jumper! 

3. Buy shower gel and shampoo in larger quantities and refill those single use bottles or have dispensers that you refill. We buy ours in 5l bottles (yes they are plastic) and decant into smaller bottles for use in the shower. I reckon we've taken between 12 and 20 single use bottles out of our footprint by doing this.

4. Don't waste money on water. A number of companies (Smol, Homethings) sell cleaning products in tablet form. You just add the water rather than paying for it and transporting it home. We haven't done this yet, but it's definitely on the list to explore.

There are just four ideas. There's plenty more we can be doing as individuals got have a positive impact on  our planet. The plastic problem won't go away overnight, but we can do something about it.  It is not an overwhelming problem without any workable solutions. We just need to make some choices.

A Change of Direction

 This blog has always been a bit of a mixture of things. I've talked about woodwork, railway modelling, theology and probably a few things I can't even remember. I've also used it as a place to store ideas, articles and links. Writing that makes me realise that at the very least this blog reflects who I am and how my life has changed over the decades.

So I'm going to add a new stream to my thoughts. There's a project idea that's been wandering aimlessly around my mind for some time now. My background is quite diverse, but work began in R&D after completing my degree in Environmental Science and Chemistry. A lot has changed since then but what remains true, and has become more urgent, is that we are having a deeply damaging impact on the environment and time is running out to do something about it. It is that serious.

The problem is that although we know we must act, we're not sure anything we do as individuals will make a difference. I had this conversation with a friend of mine some time ago. He was very supportive of the things I was doing because I knew things needed to change and I wanted to be part of the change. But his attitude was almost to suggest that I was wasting my time because one person can't make a difference.

Well I think otherwise. One person can make a difference and, if that one person can inspire another, then two people can make twice the difference. It's a matter of simple maths. One becomes two, then four then eight and the change becomes exponential. 

So what's my change of direction? Well, I'm going to start writing about an idea I have for a movement. It sounds grand that way, but why not? Why not start a movement? The movement has a simple aim: To leave the world in a better state than we found it. This is an environmental challenge but it is also a socio-economic one too. It's about a sustainable and equitable world. 

I know that this blog has very little traction and very few people stumble across it. I'm not looking to become well-known, I just want my grandsons to inherit a better world. Perhaps you will join me on the adventure.

Am I in trouble over plastic roads?

Apparently I might have dropped my council in it as a result of my innocent enquiry about plastic roads. I wrote a short email to my local representatives to ask whether the council had looked at the use of waste plastic additives in road surfacing and in their reply I was told that:

Several trials around the Country have taken place and the feedback we’ve received so far is that the material has failed due to various such as temperature issues with the mixing of the addictive.  Therefore we’ve decided to hold fire and continue to monitor for further developments.  We do not want to waste tax payers monies on a treatment that may have a shortened design life.

I'm guessing that something is missing between "various" and "such as", but that's how it came. Well, further investigation was required, so I did a search of the internet and couldn't find any related research about failure rates in asphalt using plastic additives. The obvious next step for me was to ask the company about it, and they were let's say surprised.

Reading the LA's response carefully, it seems to imply that the problem isn't with the additive but with the production process. I understand the local authority's need to be cautious, but where's the evidence for failure? If it's the process, then who is monitoring the process in order to get it right? It would be nice if they had responded with some data. All the research I've been able to read points to longer lifetimes for these surfaces not shorter ones. Polymer modified bitumen has been around for some time, but using plastic waste diverted from landfill and recovered from the oceans is new. So the process ought to be within the grasp of industry.

20M tonnes of asphalt is produced in the UK each year and using waste plastic as an additive could recycle 60,000 tonnes of waste that currently goes into landfill. So I think it must be worth pursuing this technology and if there is an issue, then let's see the evidence.

Plastic Roads

Screenshot from the Macrebur website

I often wonder if studying Environmental Science in the late seventies was a decade or two too early. Were we ahead of the curve in a world that was only just waking up to some of the realities of what we were doing to our environment? Perhaps it's still true given that we have an incumbent in the White House who denies climate change, has relaxed EPA targets for the coal industry and apparently would prefer fossil fuels rather than have a wind farm obscure his view across a golf course.

Anyway, I still consider environmental stuff to be an area of interest, and it's clearly something that should concern us all. I keep an eye on the developments of ocean clean-up programmes, and would one-day love to build a near-zero carbon footprint house. Personally I'd like to see all new build housing have solar panels and battery storage, rainwater collection and recycling. Although I've never investigated it, I wonder if that's part of the reason some new developments have ponds and lakes so that rather than sending all the rainwater into the sewer system, it diverts to a water feature.

Back to the point, plastic roads. While we look to reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic used in our day-to-day lives, we also need to think about what to do with the accumulated waste, and that's where plastic roads come into the picture. Some time ago I saw a short news item about a company that was investing in and developing the use of plastic waste as an additive for road surfacing. A recent article in the Guardian reminded me of this and I did a quick search for the company.

It's working. Road surfaces are being laid across the country using a pelletised form of recycled plastic as part of the mix. Not only is this using waste, it's also potentially extending the life of the road surface and of course reducing the usage of raw materials. You can read more about it on the company's website: Macrebur.

I've written to my local councillors to see if my council is exploring the idea and I hope they either are or will be doing so.

Got an old bike?

I used to cycle a lot. Well around 120 miles a week, but that is a long time ago. I actually came to cycling quite late, never having a bike when I was a kid. At university I learned the skills to ride by buying a bike and getting back on it every time I fell off until I stopped falling off!

Sadly my cycling days are long gone, mainly due to a knee that reacts rather painfully to the stop and start routine. Oddly I can ride a bike at the gym without problems, but on the road eventually my knee complains and I have to stop. So my bike sits in the shed along with Anne's and two of Ally's bikes.

We're moving soon and I have been thinking that painful as it would be, it's time to get rid of these bikes and clear some space. But I didn't really want to throw them in a skip. Today, while I was looking at something else I came across an organisation that takes old bikes and reuses them in Africa. The main collection point is on Colchester, just an hour away from me. I think I've found a new home for my precious Raleigh tourer!

Bicycle Aid for Africa sounds like a great idea, and they don't just want your old bike, they are interested in bike tools and general workshop tools. If I'm honest I could probably supply a complete small workshop if I took the time to sort out all the tools I've inherited and bought over the years. So maybe a few spanners and hammers might find their way out of my garage and into a more regular place of use.

If you have an old bike, don't throw it away, consider instead donating it. The website has a list of UK-based bike recycling charities if you're not close enough to one of their own collection points.

Oil, but at what cost?

There are many reasons why I've been following the story of the oil disaster impacting the Gulf Coast in America. As someone who has a background in environmental science I'm interested in the processes involved in stopping the leak, and sorting out the damage. It amazes me that it has taken so long. I understand it's a complex business at the kind of depths that are involved, but where was the contingency plan? Why do the oil companies between them appear not to have a strategy for this kind of thing?

Then there is the clean-up. We don't seem to have made much progress at all in dealing with oil spills. The technology looks little different to the things that were in use in the 70's. Different chemicals I guess, but I haven't seen much that suggests innovation.

But there is also the need to ask questions about our continually increasing dependence upon oil, a dependence that drives us to more risky attempts to extract the oil form the earth. It seems to me that we must ask questions about a development model that puts our environment as so much risk.

Which do you think is the greater eyesore, offshore wind farms or large areas of coastline covered in crude oil and uninhabitable to wildlife?

Bikes for hire

You see these bicycle racks all over Barcelona. For a fee you can get access to these bikes. From what we saw, you enter a key-code and the bikes are unlocked so that you can lift one from the rack. 

When you've finished with it, you just leave it in any one of the 200 racks around the city. 

Barcelona has a network of bicycle routes criss-crossing the city, so this is a really convenient way of getting about with using a car.

We walked everywhere, the knees aren't up to cycling anymore, but we saw plenty of people using these community bikes to get about.

Plumbing

Today was a plumbing day. I don't mind plumbing, but it can be quite stressful. The object today was to add some long needed control to the heating system in the manse. I've talked to various folk about it before, and I hope the deacons don't mind, but the impending increases in gas prices has been a strong encouragement to get this done.

It's been over 20 years since I was actively involved in heating system control. it was part of my job as a research scientist with British Gas to know my way around a wiring diagram and more. So today's task, whilst not straightforward, was familiar ground to a certain degree.

It was actually Anne's idea to get cracking and do the job, so I enlisted her help as we set out to shop for the component parts for the job.

We went to Screwfix for most bits, Plumb Center for one part and Focus Do it All for some 6 amp cable. We needed a 28mm 2-port zone valve for the hot water circuit and Plumb Center was the easiest place to go for this. It's 28mm because the system in gravity fed. This means that there is no pump for the hot water part of the heating system. The radiators are pumped and the boiler is an uncomplicated bit of machinery.

The other parts we needed were a cylinder thermostat and a room thermostat. We chose a simple cylinder stat, but, because of the problems with running wires around the house, we went for a remote control room stat. This uses an RF signal to transmit information between the thermostat and the boiler controls. Very posh.

The first job we tackled was draining the system down ready to do the bit of plumbing to install the zone valve. A zone valve simply controls where the water from the boiler goes. In our case the pump acts as a valve on the heating circuit so all we needed was a valve on the hot water side of things.

Whilst the system was draining down, we set to work installing the new programmer and the cylinder and room stats. I have to confess that the wiring was a little more of a challenge on this system than I imagined, but eventually we got it all working. And in truth, had I paid more attention to the wiring diagrams in the zone valve pack, I'd have got in working much sooner than I did.

So we now have the ability to set different programmes for the week and weekend, or we can switch to different programmes for each day. We have a very flash room stat that we can programme and move around the house to find the best position in which to use it.

The big plus is that the hot water no longer has to be heated to the same temperature as the boiler. I don't know how much that was costing us, but it will be interesting to see how much less gas we use this winter compared to previous years.

All in all a successful day and the stress has turned to delight as we tested the new controls and checked for leaks. Doing this sort of job just takes a little time and knowledge of how heating controls are meant to work. You also need to know how to empty and refill a system too and some basic plumbing skills. Actually the job is more about wiring than it is about plumbing. Permanent lives, switched lives, auxiliary switches etc, are all simple things if you know what you are doing. 

 Total cost was about £200 for all the controls, but that includes £40 for the remote room stat and £70 for the 28mm zone valve. I'm hoping that we'll knock that off the gas bill pretty quickly. I'm guessing, but I think on hot water cycles alone the boiler will now be off for 60-80% of the timed cycle. I think we'll get better heating output too when the hot water circuit shuts down and all the boiler output goes into the radiator circuit.

And to think , some people might have been tempted to suggest that I'd wasted my time at British Gas.

Electric cars

A few weeks ago we were out shopping when we came across an exhibition about environmental things. Among the exhibits was a new, electric Smart Car. Now if you don't know what a basic Smart looks like, it's a simple two-seater car designed for city driving. The electric version has a range of 50 miles, which would actually suit us fine for getting in and out of our local town. Anne could use it everyday to go to the station, and a single charge would most likely last her a week.
But here's the catch. I've always had a concern about electric cars because the electricity you use to recharge them comes from power stations that burn fossil fuels or maybe even from a nuclear station, which while CO2 clean, is not that environmentally friendly over the long haul. So while the car may be clean, the power generator is isn't. But now there's a choice. Green energy. I'm seriously considering switching to a green energy supplier like Good Energy. By doing this an electric car, I think, becomes an option because neither the energy generator nor the consumer product produce CO2 emissions. The downside? For some reason it seems that Smart are only releasing the electric Smart to companies, not the ordinary consumer.
There are probably good alternatives, especially for longer journeys. I particularly like the look of the hybrid technology that's available. The problem here is that the choice is also limited, but maybe that's just an excuse.
I guess the point is that I really don't have to keep buying cars that burn lots of petrol or diesel anymore, and next time I change my car, I'll give some serious consideration to buying something that's good for the environment and good for me too.

Me and my environment

It's very easy for Christians, especially those of us from an evangelical perspective, to become complacent about the environment. After all, we have the eternal destiny of humanity on our minds and hearts, is there really enough room for the environment too?

Well, the short answer is of course that there has to be room for it. After all we are stewards of creation and I can't imagine that anyone of us would interpret the Bible as giving us the authority to strip our small blue-green planet of all it's resources and drive it to near extinction. Whatever our theology, we can all take seriously the challenge to do something that will make a difference to the health of our ecosystem.

In my ideal world these are some of the things I want to work towards doing:

1. A carbon neutral church. I know it will cost money, but I'd like to see the day when churches lead the way in using renewable energy. We have a large, south-east facing roof. I'm sure there's room for a big PV cell and/or solar panels. I wouldn't be surprised to find that we could derive a considerable amount of heating and hot water resources this way, even in our northern climate. If ever I'm involved in a new-build project, I will be a strong advocate of such a system.

2. Recycle what we can. Recycling is still a bit hit and miss in many parts of the UK. Different councils use different systems. Unfortunately it's not possible to recycle everything that could be recycled in my local area, but I'm sure we could do more. I watched as we cleared up after an event the other day and was saddened to see how much recyclable stuff was just thrown away for the sake of convenience. Recycling is not pain free. You have to sort your rubbish and that take more time and effort than simply tossing it all in the same bin.

3. Change the lights. Low-energy lightbulbs are getting smaller and more cost-effective. It's time to get the ladders out and change the bulbs in church. We must have three to four dozen lights in the main building alone that we could change to low energy versions.

4. Walk when ever you can. I once saw an interview with a man in his 70's who was very fit. When asked how he'd stayed so fit his answer was simple: If it's less than five miles, I walk. Whilst I can't imagine walking five miles and carrying all the equipment and stuff I sometimes have to carry, it is possible for me to arrange some things in a way that means I can walk. And you know what, when I walk I get to meet more people. As a church we could at the very least organise our housegroups so that everyone could walk if they are able. And just think what that might mean for the neighbourhood.

5. Change the car. I'll confess I drive a people-carrier. And I'll also confess that when I next change my car I'm going to have a good look at the current crop of hybrids (it shouldn't take long I only know of two in the UK!) We're also considering a small, maybe even electric, car for those short journeys of 5-10 miles. Now I know that an electric, whilst it sounds good on paper (zero emissions), it has to be recharged using electricity normally supplied from a power station that does produce greenhouse gases, but there are renewable energy suppliers out there, and maybe it's time to switch to one of those.

I could go one and write more, but I guess the point is simple: work out what steps you can take and then figure out how to take them. Remember, God gave us the responsibility to care for our environment, let's not shirk that responsibility.

Blog action day

I came across this through another site via a blog entry elsewhere.... The internet is a wondrous place for "rabbit trails" of the unexpected!

Anyway, Blog Action Day (Oct.15th 2007) is for everyone who has something they want to say about the environment. It's a sort of mass action via the blogosphere. I'm going to take part and post some thoughts about the environment. It's an odd things but I actually studied environmental science back in the 70's when I went to university in Wales. It wasn't a particularly fashionable thing to do then, I actually applied to do biology. But when I saw the environmental studies course that was on offer, I knew it was what I wanted to do. It just really appealed. Ever since I've taken an interest in the environment although it has been an obsessive one.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it in case you wanted to get involved too.