Posts from — November 2007

Can’t even send it back

December 6, tree lights in Trafalgar Square will illuminate a 75ft-high Norwegian spruce, writes Catherine Gregory the sixty-first of its kind to make the journey from Oslo to London since the tradition began in 1947. That’s a lot of tree-miles. Is it perhaps time to end this annual tradition?

“The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a central part of Christmas in London,” says Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Christmas trees add a special seasonal atmosphere to public areas, which is increasingly important in combating disbanding communities and the anonymity and animosity of the metropolis. But the spruce that stands beneath Nelson’s Column for a month each year is just one of six million Christmas trees in Britain alone. At a time of year when waste rises by 25 per cent and power stations are working over-time, it is worth reminding ourselves that we are cutting down the very things that absorb our harmful emissions. (more…)

Outages at Drax 2, Ferrybridge 3, West Burton 1

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – The following table lists current outages at Britain’s larger
power stations. Data is sourced from a National Grid website (www.bmreports.com).

CURRENT OUTAGES
PLANT CAPACITY DURATION OWNER TYPE
Dungeness B21 555 Nov 10-? B.Energy nuclear
Hartlepool 1 605 Sept 5-? B.Energy nuclear (more…)

A battle is on to save the Utopia Experiment from its founder’s decision to pull the plug on the unique off-grid community in Scotland which was featured in Nick Rosen’s book How to Live Off-grid: Journeys Outside the System.

Nice place to write a book

The academic behind the ground-breaking experiment in surviving a social collapse, Dr. Dylan Evans, this weekend announced the end of the matter in a short email. But the volunteers who had tilled the land, grown the vegetables and built the yurts in which the group now live were not happy to be dismissed in this way, and are vowing to continue the project. “You can end the experiment, but you can’t kill the white mice” said Agric, one of the founder-volunteers in charge of all planting and growing.

Agric has recently been writing a column on self-sufficent veg for Off-Grid. (more…)

A biodigester is a simple renewable energy resource that is largely overlooked. Mainly because it has two main componenets that people don’t like to talk about. Feces and methane. Over Thanksgiving my Uncle reminded me about digesters and how they can be a great source of alternative energy. Especially in rural environments, where livestock is kept.

The nice thing about a biodigester is that as long as you have plentiful water, the other main ingredient, you should be able to harvest the stored energy that is discarded by all living animals. Plus the solids that are removed after the digestion has occured makes great fertilizer. For working livestock farms the cost for a biodigester can be $250,000 or more depending on your stock and numbers, but then again having all your energy needs produced from something you need to get rid off anyway is a big plus since it can cost upto $200 per cow per year.

For those of us who are looking into a digester instead of composting a great article was found aboutBiodigester Design and Construction. It is from Rural Costa Rica.com and shows how to build our own personal digester as well as pointers on what is required daily. After looking into digesters, designs, output and input, it has to be seen as a viable option for personal as well as farm/ranch energy source.

Another plus is that even the solids have uses. From fertilizer for your crops, bedding for livestock, to plant pots, and now even flooring. Researchers at Michigan State University and the U.S.Department of Agriculture think that floors made from manure are the next big step. According to a news article from Discovery Channel on Feb 12, 2007 flooring made from these solids match or beat the quality of those made from sawdust. So who knows what else can be made from these solids.

Energy, water nutrients — the three big things a plant needs. All are essential.

Surprisingly similar to you and me, really.

Turnip: light, water & feed me

The main difference is the source of energy – plants get it from light by photosynthesis using their amazing chlorophyll invention, we animals eat organic material and breathe in oxygen.
Photosynthesis

Liebig says: growth is determined by the scarcest resource, not the total of resources.
Law of the Minimum

You need to remember that. Provided pests and disease don’t afflict your plants their success will be determined by the most lacking of these three essential resource types. (more…)

Natalie Portman is one Hollywood stars whose charity work is more than just PR puff.

More stars like Natalie

Rather than ‘just’ be the face of a charity visiting this or that beleaguered country, she works with the Foundation for International Community Assistance (Finca), which offers micro-financial investment to women in developing countries, often running businesses in villages with no power or running water. It’s a very under-the-radar – and unshowy – charitable initiative.
You can see a recent interview with her here.

‘Well, yeah, because I wanna do something meaningful,” she told The Observer newspaper. “They ask you to do 4,000 charity things a year and all of them are worthy. But I don’t think you can really make an impact unless you do [just] one thing and really devote yourself. And it’s been important to me.’ (more…)

Should you retrofit your home with solar power? The short answers are: probably (for your hot-water); definitely (for your pool); and likely not (for your household electrical needs).

Solar – bettar watar heatar

Water Heating
Your hot-water heater is an energy hog, accounting for up to one-quarter of your household’s energy consumption. Add greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional hot water heating – between 600 and 760 kilograms a year – and endlessly renewable, non-polluting sunshine seems a no-brainer.

Quallium, an Ottawa-based startup company, (more…)

Cate needs a green role

Cate Blanchett�s delighted Australian PM Kevin Rudd is on top of the green agenda, but don�t believe everything in the garden is suddenly groovy. Penny Wong as Climate Change Minister is an excellent choice, but she does not have a firm party power base if the going gets tough. Peter Garrett had been Labor�s environment spokesman in opposition and now he is Minister for Drought. But the former Midnight Oil band member is a party hack.

We wish Rudd had found a place for Cate Blanchett, who has proved her commitment to real environmentalism. Just because her third child�s on its way, we hope doesn�t rule Cate out as Oz’s new green ambassador. (more…)

The ongoing Ditchmonkey diaries continue…..

Mmmm! Grass snake

I arose with the sun, muscles aching from the previous day’s activities, my hands were stinging from the combined effects of scratches, blisters, insect bites and lacerations from handling bamboo. Looking down at my hands, I hardly recognised them, filthy despite having been washed, covered in callouses and deep cracks. No time for contemplation now, time to grimace as I ease my way back into yesterday’s filthy clothes, grab something to eat and set to it once again.

The machete fits easily into my hand now, the skin is toughened were it rubs and I am getting used to it’s ways knowing from long practice exactly how hard and at what angle I need to strike green bamboo, dead bamboo or any type of woods that I might come across in order to achieve a swift clean cut. (more…)