Posts from — October 2006

Classic, re-released in green

The Velosolex, that iconic French motorised bicycle favoured by such celebs as Gerard Depardieu has been given a makeover for the 21st century writes Mark Houghton.

Called the e-solex (www.e-solex.net), this brand new model junks the classic old 49cc air cooled 2-stroke motor in favour of an ultra modern Lithium Ion battery pack. Of course you will have to make sure you charge it up using green electricity, or better still – your own solar panel. (more…)

watch out, chemicals about

Our intuitions tell us it must be true that the chemicals in our daily groceries are doing us harm. Read the labels. There are so many of them.

The Toxic Consumer(click here to buy it from Amazon UK)presents the facts about the chemicals that surround our lives, and provides easy-to-follow practical advice on how to minimise your exposure. (more…)

……….Same old, same old

The UK Government leaks about its planned Climate Change Bill are nothing to celebrate.

Setting new, tougher targets, whether or not they are legally binding, represents little advance in containing carbon emissions in the UK, which has just emerged as the most wasteful energy consumer in Europe. It is only if those targets are strongly enforced each year that the Climate Change movement will be able to claim a victory.

The plan to create a new committee dedicated to following the science on global warming and setting targets on carbon emissions decade by decade is a move by government to wash its hands of responsibility in the short term and shift blame for policy failure – an important benefit in the runup to an election. Various members of the Green movement will sit on the committee, thus stifling them from debate. “The Bill will be in the next Queen’s Speech on November 15, reported the Guardian.

In a speech today Environment Secretary David Miliband (pictured above with Tony Blair) will also propose that Britain’s eight biggest cities should create energy service companies that make profits from reducing carbon use rather than selling more energy. This is the same David Miliband who floated the idea of Personal Carbon Allowances in a July speech but then did absolutely nothing to follow it up. Enquiries to his Department revealed that it hopes to set up a study group at some point, but has not been able to find any civil servants to sit on it. (more…)

eco-hideaway

We are Bob & Diane Kirkwood, we live in France, have done so for about six years, and over the last two we have become accidentally involved in the world of off-grid living and holiday lets.
About three years ago we managed to get hold of a small parcel of woodland, two and half hectares, just down the lane from our house. Its a lovely spot, a heavily wooded valley with a small, source-fed lake. Set back from the edge of the lake is our holiday rental cabin. It is small, only 5 meters by 4 meters, but it contains all you need to live. (more…)

Bill Kemp – knows everything

The Editor of Home Power magazine says there are 180,000 off-grid homes in the US. But there’s a bidding war going on. William Kemp, author of Renewable Energy Handbook, and its urban sister publication $mart Power says there are 250,000 off-grid locations in the US.

It’s the battle of the experts. Home Power has a formidable reputation, but the thoroughness and technical expertise in these two books, puts Bill Kemp up there with the industry leaders. If he says there are a quarter million of us out there, then there probably are.

Smart Power: An Urban Guide to Renewable Energy and Efficiency – buy it from Amazon

The Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living – buy it from Amazon (more…)

Bill Kemp – knows everything

The Editor of Home Power magazine says there are 180,000 off-grid homes in the US. But there�s a bidding war going on. William Kemp, author of �Renewable Energy Handbook�, and its urban sister�publication �$mart Power� says there are 250,000 off-grid locations in the US. (Click on the link in the left column to buy his book).

It�s the battle of the experts. Home Power has a formidable reputation, but the thoroughness and technical expertise in these two books, puts Bill Kemp up there with the industry leaders. If he says there are a quarter million of us out there, then there probably are.

The difference between the two volumes is that the Handbook is aimed at solving energy requirements in off-grid locations. $mart power is aimed at grid-connected urbanites. They do overlap, so you certainly would not want to buy both, and I consider the Handbook the better of the two. But most people live in towns and cities are grid-connected and they will need $mart power. The key information is on page 8. Wind turbines and solar panels are not $mart. They may be smart � as in good for the environment, or as a protection against a collapse in civilisation, or your local power station being taken out by Al Quaeda, but you are never gonna save cash that way (at current and predicted energy costs). The same is true of solar water heaters. The same is also true of wood burning stoves, although if you love the sight of fire and you want to scavenge for your wood in the street and building sites, then that would tip the score heavily in favour of the stove.

The place that urbanites (and people living off-grid) can get smart about power, is in energy-efficiency � designing your home so that it needs less power, and buying products that consume less power, like low-energy light bulbs. Kemp�s book does the math, and lays out the massive savings that can be made.

It has to be said that The Renewable Energy Handbook and $mart Power are in no way a fun read, and feel more like Bill�s lecture notes in book-length form. That said, they offer great value in terms of the depth of information given. They are absolutely fact-crammed and largely reliable guides to most of the technical questions you are likely to ask about renewable energy systems to generate electricity in the home, whether off-grid or on. Both books also covers Water heating and space heating, and cooling.

People actually living off-grid, whether full time or part-time, will want �The Renewable Energy Handbook� rather than $mart Power. When it comes to understanding and installing the essential elements of off-grid power, from whole energy systems to the heating unit in your hot tub, Bill Kemp is The Man.

The books make no claim to cover off-grid water systems, or anything else. Just Energy, like it says on the cover.

Monbiot- sceptical

Radical thinker George Monbiot has told this web site he is in favour of off-grid solutions for poor or remote places. But he doesn’t believe renewable energy has much to offer households in the rest of the world. This article (reproduced from the New Scientist with the permission of the author) explains why:

Micro-generation can’t solve climate change. by George Monbiot.
In seeking to work out how a 90% cut in carbon emissions could be achieved in the rich nations by 2030, I have made many surprising findings. But none has shocked me as much as the discovery that renewable micro generation has been grossly overhyped.

=”Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning” the latest book by George Monbiot – buy it from Amazon UK

(more…)

NY to Fair Isle

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has advertised for two new families to live on the tiny island of Canna in the Hebrides, off the West Coast of Scotland, which has just 15 inhabitants left. The closing date for applications is 10 November.

“Canna: The Story of a Hebridean Island” - buy it from Amazon

NTS had huge success with a similar initiative recently on Fair Isle when a family gave up their home in upstate New York to start a new life on the most remote inhabited island in Britain. Tom Hyndman, his wife Liz and their son Henry, five, will leave Saratoga Springs, a city with a population of about 35,000, and some 100 restaurants, later this month for their new home on Fair Isle with just 70 residents and a two-and-a-half-hour ferry journey from their nearest neighbours. The island has no pub, hotel or restaurant and just a small primary school, bird observatory and shop. (more…)

One more convert

One of Britain’s leading newspaper columnists is preparing to make himself energy self-sufficient.

Times writer Matthew Parris is, as he admits, in the fortunate position of owning a 20 acre estate in Derbyshire where he lives in an old, stone farmhouse. He is south-facing (good for solar), and on a hill (good for wind) and he has been planting trees on the land. (more…)