We are having an “Indian summer” in October here in Scotland and we are still getting decent amounts of solar hot water. I had a very warm shower late morning with no gas input at all. We had extra sockets put fitted in the spring and we had to have the floor up in our bedroom. This meant the pipes which carry the water from the panel to the hot water tank were reachable and I insulated them, meaning more hot water than ever.
Neil
“Bradford cathedral” has installed a solar array. One of the clergy involved was one of my ministers (a long time ago) and was at our book launch at Greenbelt. Well done everyone.
Neil
This “site” (shrinking the footprint)is worth checking out. Their Facebook page has some videos on creation care with both the Archbishop of Westminster and Canterbury weighing in. Which just shows you despite doctrinal differences we can unite on the issues of cutting carbon emissions and dealing with peak oil. Please fill in our poll on the right and like us on facebook.
Neil
There is a lot of competition this week (unlike last week) for this category. I could have mentioned record renewable energy production in the UK in the second quarter… The snippet I heard on the radio 4’s today programme that over the summer petrol and diesel sales have fallen the UK, or that Germany is cutting its coal powered generation and still exporting electricity to its neighbours thanks to its dramatic increase in renewable energy production and despite its nuclear shutdown…
No, this weeks amazing fact stood out as early as last Sunday. This is that the latest album by the rock band Muse “2nd Law” is partly about peak oil. In our book we have put a section on peak oil in popular culture (we believe this is unique in peak oil books). Its a very short section but it looks like it may have to be extended a bit…
Neil
I’ve done a guest blog at Richards connexions blog here. We would like to thank Richard for his kind support and his blog is well worth checking out. He blogs about politics, poetry, faith and climate change amongst other things, check him out at the link above or on Facebook. In the meanwhile vote in the poll and like “No oil in the lamp” on FB…
Have you ever tried powering a light-bulb using a cycle powered generator? Last Wednesday I went to screening of the film “Chasing Ice” organised by take one action in which we were to power the entire presentation by cycling. I’ve had a go at cycled bulb lighting before and its hard work. Getting an incandescent bulb to light up anything like fully is a challenge even Wiggo wouldn’t relish. Compact fluorescent bulbs are easier but still take great effort. When I last tried it LED’s weren’t on offer, but these must be fairly easy since thay use 20% or less of the electricity of an incandescent bulb. So when I turned up for the outdoor screening at Edinburgh’s Botanic gardens I was expecting a small army of pedal power and spend the entire time pedalling. In actual fact the entire screening could be powered by 7 cyclists, 5 for the visuals and 2 for the sound (see pictures below). These powered a smallish screen back projected by an overheard projector and a reasonable sound system all linked to a laptop with the film on.
cyclists powering the sound
The cycle generator
The audience
I had a go at pedalling for about 15 minutes at the beginning, but there was a small but constant queue of eager volunteers wanting a go. Lucky I’d bought some warm clothes, for if you have heard of smellavision, this was freezeavision. Whilst the film showed ice melting we sat there freezing. Unfortunately the technology let us down. Heavy rain at the previous nights showing had damaged the equipment on the visual side and something went wrong with the sound side connection. It meant that in practical terms we powered about a quarter of the evenings sound and three quarters of its vision.
As an experience it was interesting and the film was very good if depressing (but that is the subject of a future post). There are, however, some lessons here for our use of energy. The first is that its surprising what 7 cyclists can power. Technology has improved and electronics is getting more and more energy efficient. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have more and more stuff and this overwhelms the efficiency gains. Our house is typical with often 4 out of 5 of us on computers. This makes us socially isolated and increases our energy use. To be fair the children are often doing homework and we have not reached the level of the mother who wrote an article in the Guardian Family supplement who banned all electronics for some months after she started telling her children dinner was ready by posting the news on FaceBook! We do sometimes sit down and all play a game together. In addition I’m trying to make sure I take time to read a book or play my guitar.
Links to the film and Take one action can be found on our Facebook page (but no meal time directives). Please vote in our poll also on the right hand side. If you like this article like us on Facebook at “No oil in the lamp”.
Neil
Lit this for the first time on Saturday. My daughter said she could see her breath. I commented “why are you sitting in the lounge in a T-shirt?” My wife was having some reflective prayer group friends round later. By that time the room was nice and toasty and the Leylandii logs from my late neighbour over the road burnt well.
Neil
Make wealth history has an interesting link to an article in Bloombergs with the title above.
Thanks for those filling in the user poll, you can “like” us on Facebook as well, there is a link at the bottom of the page.
We love our cars and like driving so naturally had 2 (him and her) cars! When we moved near to our in-laws, there were always going to be advantages and disadvantages. We have a good relationship, sharing, caring and they love spending time with the grandchildren. One we hadn’t really thought of was needing fewer cars. We had 2 and she had 1. However we did find that most of the time there was always one car on the drive, even when we were all out! Having thought through a few logistics, agreed what days we really needed a car and sorted the insurance so we could all drive every car, we managed to lose one – well not actually lose one, more sell one. We worked out that even if we had to hire a car twice a month for a couple of days it was still going to cost us less than owning a third! The cost savings are significant although the maintenance and petrol costs for each remaining car has increased slightly; our overall consumption and costs have decreased, plus we have (near) live in babysitters and a safe neighbour to watch the house, kids and cats. As an added benefit, when we do want a car (rather than need), there are great buses and even the bike!
