Dirty Old Coal is back on the agenda. Due to public and goverments’ panic around soaring oil prices (which seem to be on the decline again), there are plans the world over for more coal-fired power plants: India has plans to build another 73 coal plants in the next 10 years. There are plans to build over 150 new coal plants in the US in the next few years and my understanding is that China, Germany and the UK all have coal plants somewhere in the pipeline.

The world seem to be divided today between those who wants to go 150 years back and those advocating to invest all our resources in developing green and clean energy technologies. After reading few articles on this topic I must admit I’m rather confused. Coal has a high potential in future energy supply, only once new technology to reduce CO2-emissions from coal combustion will become economically viable. But currently they aren’t and the fact of the matter is that 40% of the global carbon dioxide emissions are due to coal.

If you want to read more on this subject you should read the debate between George Monbiot and Arthur Scargill few months back in the Guardian. The EU Energy Policy Blog also written some illuminating facts about the future of coal-based energy.

The reason for this lengthy introduction is a new Greenpeace campaign. Inspiring, engaging environmental campaigns are difficult to pull out. Especially these days, when the economic meltdown is contributing to the already short and fatigued attention span of the general public in relation to green issues you have to produce something that will stand out and cut through and I think that Greenpeace have managed to pull a nifty little campaign called….CoalFinger:

The campaign is topical and full of funny moments and the microsite is nicely designed with clear, plain English articulation of the problem.

Well done Greenpeace.

There is a misguided perception in some quarters that the looming energy crisis in the UK can only be solved if we accept that environmental damage is inevitable.

The argument goes something like this; if we rely on fuel imports then we are forever at the mercy of foreign governments. If we re-open the coal mines we can become self-sufficient but our carbon emissions will start to increase. If we take the nuclear option then we are left with the legacy of dangerous radioactive waste. The argument usually then goes on to claim that renewables are well-intentioned but will never provide enough energy to meet all our needs.

There is some truth in this latter point but only if we continue with our current high levels of energy consumption and gross inefficiency. A determined and courageous policy of large-scale investment in renewables coupled with energy-efficiency measures (e.g. legislation to compel manufacturers to remove stand-by buttons from appliances, banning patio heaters and standard light bulbs, etc…) could lead us to a truly sustainable future. It is a vision but an achievable vision.

We often hear about protestors who complain about wind farms looking ‘unsightly’, spoiling the landscape, killing birds and being noisy.

Living near to a wind farm set in a nature park, we often walk past the windmills. In the seven years that we have been walking this route, we have never seen a dead bird. The noise is a low swirling and humming, which is barely audible.

There is an aesthetic beauty about them too. Not only in appearance but also conceptually in the way they convert a free resource into useful energy, without producing pollution or causing global warming.

How can this be unsightly when compared to chimneys belching out smoke, traffic jams and smogs? And what about the oil that is imported from corrupt regimes, Middle East wars and climate wreaking emissions from what is ultimately a limited and increasingly scarce resource?

We don’t understand this at all.

One of the big problems in taking action to change things is knowing where you are to start with. Lack of public information allows Governments to announce big funding increases, get the brownie points then only later is it revealed that the money was actually allocated some time back under a different scheme but with equal aclaim! Similar is happening with the Governments Green policies and the anouncement this week of a massive increase in wind power projects!

But all of these projects are part of Phase II of the Government’s existing renewables scheme which was anounced last year and initially mooted back in 2004. This years anouncement adds nothing apart from an intention to support domestic generators, but again that’s nothing new, there has always been support of sorts, its just usually ill thought out and implemented! LCBP (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) was a disaster and in my opinion when looking at the way the preferred installers were selected - long established and reputable companies were sidelined, big companies with no experience in renewables were selected - verging on the corrupt!

What to do? Well, I’m developing an online a map of all major renewable energy schemes in the UK. There are loads, most in planning and about half on the map! See www.renewables-map.co.uk what with this most recent Govt smoke and mirrors I will be adding an additional field showing date project was 1st proposed! My own website is www.solarkent.co.uk

References:

• The Crown Estate: Round 1 and 2 Wind Farm Sites: (Initially proposed in 2004)
• The Crown Estate Offshore Wind Farm Map
• Low Carbon Buildings Programme - Wikipedia
• LCBP - problems with initial tender process leading to ongoing implementation problems

ECOutlet.co.uk have sponsored my GreenFestivalMan campaign with two products, including a Puma LED Dynamo Torch.

When I think of dynamo torches I think of big clumsy things, that need continual winding. This torch is the opposite of this . With a new generation 0.5W LED, one minute of winding gives you 20 minutes of light.

Sturdy, and slightly smaller than an average size mobile phone. The torch has 2 light intensities and also a strobe light. The robust dynamo gear tucks neatly behind the torch, preventing it getting in the way.

This is the brightest single bulb LED torch I’ve found to date. Apart from the obvious benefits like never having to buy batteries,or getting cut short in a situation with battery fade, the solid construction of this torch will make it suitable for a wide range of uses: general household use; camping or more extreme uses. (Battery life diminishes quickly in extremely cold environments - no battery, no more problems?).

This torch was perfect at Glastonbury Festival and I have every faith in it for my Arctic Survival Challenge for WaterAid in February 2006.

The Puma Dynamo Wind-up LED torch is available from Ecoutlet.co.uk and other good on-line shops.

One morning I was walking to work in London when I passed a woman unlocking her shop on Old Bond Street. I noticed that all the lights in the shop were on, yet she clearly hadn’t been inside that day as the shutters were still down.

Realising the lights had probably been on all night, I couldn’t shake a sense of curiosity at why she was wasting electricity.

I began to investigate the subject more and found similar concerns expressed on websites like Green Girls Global. I also began to make late night trips to Old Bond Street on my way home to see how many shop owners had the same attitude as the woman I saw unlocking her shop.

I was horrified to discover that nearly every shop on Old Bond Street left at least some lights on after dark even though they were closed.

One night I had a chat with the security guard who has the unfortunate task of patrolling the street at dark. He told me that my fears were right and that most of the shops left their lights on all night. Some were even timed to come back on as the sun went down.

In looking to understand why shop owners may leave their lights on at night I came across two main responses. The first is that it is for security reasons. This I think is a crazy excuse. Surely it would be better to turn the lights off as any thief breaking into a shop with its lights turned off would need a torch to see where they going. The security guards would find this torch light very easy to spot.

The second and more plausible reason is that the shop lights are left on to attract shoppers. This I find more convincing especially on a road like Old Bond Street with its overt sense of wealth and extravagance. However surely we should be putting the fight against catastrophic climate change above mere window shopping? There are so few people on Old Bond Street at night it doesn’t seem worth the bother of leaving all the lights on. Surely the act of saving energy would be a much more powerful and environmentally positive statement to their customers?

To spread my concerns I created a website called www.bondstreetbaddies.com which has the aim of publicising which shops leave their lights on and which are going green.

Obviously this is a problem that blights many streets and I’d encourage anyone interested in this subject to find ways of drawing attention to it. I’d also encourage people to ask at their favourite shop whether they turn off their lights at night and if not why not?

At first glance, the above choice seems pretty straight forward. A new hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, gets much better mileage, so how can it not be the greener choice? A recent article on Cut Your Carbon Footprint says that in many cases buying a used car is actually better for the environment.

How is this so? What your everyday mileage numbers don’t take into account is the amount of energy used up in actually building your car. If you buy a new hybrid, you drive it off the lot with a carbon footprint equivalent of burning 1000 gallons of gas. With a ten year old Tercel, for example, you don’t have to add that to your carbon footprint, giving you an instant advantage. It could take you years and thousands of miles to overcome that initial handicap before your ‘Eco-Friendly’ car is actually the better choice for the environment.

Certainly, this is simplifying the argument. There is something to be said for buying a hybrid car where the money you spend supports further products and investment in fuel efficient cars. As bad as most car manufacturers are for the environment, the truth is that if they didn’t make any money then we would be even further from having the more efficient and electric cars that are so badly needed to stop global warming.

Ultimately, the decision has to come down to the individual and there is no ‘right answer’ for everyone. But don’t get trapped by looking only at the mileage of a car when there are in fact so many other aspects of the car that contribute to your carbon footprint.

What do Food and Climate Change have in common? Well if you look at this Cars=13% of all carbon emissions and Livestock=18% of all carbon emissions eating less meat or even going Vegetarian/Vegan is better than switching to a hybrid car and even better if you go vegan and own a hybrid!

About 5 months ago I went Vegan and have loved every last bit of it and I feel great being a vegan so I decided to create this post since it is “Green”.

What is a Vegetarian/Vegan?

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish but permits milk and eggs.

Lacto Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish and eggs but permits milk.

Ovo Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish and milk but permits eggs.

Vegan (Strict Vegetarian): One whose diet excludes all animal products.

Why go Vegetarian/Vegan?

• Eating a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthy because you can prevent many diseases and cancers like heart attack, strokes, prostate and colon cancers and can even lower your cholesterol levels, lower your blood pressure, lower type 2 diabetes.
• You are less likely to become obese and you will lose weight and keep it off with exercise.
• You will discover you have more energy to do things, need less sleep and need little to no caffeine to keep you awake during the day.
• Raising livestock for food accounts for about 1/3 of all the US fossil fuels and about 50 of all the water in the US is used by the meat industry.
• Going vegan/vegetarian stops cruelty to the animals you eat because they feel pain too.

(Taken from http://www.sugarrocket.com/vegan/why-i-am-vegan.php)

Daily water usage in the US for…
An omnivore : 4,200 Gallons
A vegetarian: 1,200 Gallons
A vegan: 300 Gallons

Yearly land usage in the US for food…
An omnivore : 3.3 Acres
A vegetarian: 1/2 Acre
A vegan: 1/6 Acre
To make one pound of “food”…
Pound of beef = 2,500 Gallons of water
Pound of apples = 49 Gallons of water
Pound of lettuce = 23 Gallons of water

But don’t take it just from me do plenty of research at your local library, search on the internet on what vegetarians and vegans can eat and what items you can order when you go to a fast food/restaurant.

Also you don’t have to go completely vegetarian/vegan by incorporating a day or meal each week to be vegetarian/vegan friendly.

In conclusion: Going Vegan/Vegetarian reduces animal suffering, consumption of natural resources, makes you healthier and reduces your carbon footprint!

Posts by the Green Girls you may like:

Veganism – Part 1 (The Reasons)

Guest Editor: Vika Lebedeva - 10 myths about vegan

Useful Links:

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

http://www.goveg.com/healthConcerns.asp

http://www.tryveg.com/img/vsg0501.pdf

http://www.goveg.com/feat/chewonthis/index.asp

http://www.backwardshamburger.com/

http://www.veginity.com/

http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/index.php

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/

http://myhq.com/public/s/u/susanv/

http://www.viva.org.uk/goingvegan/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD67tltFyAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zhL1YUd8Q

Movies/Documentaries to see:

Earthlings

Fast Food Nation

Super Size Me

The Future of Food

When talking green, people naturally tend to focus on vehicles, but the fact is vehicle emissions have nowhere near the impact that the building industry does.

Buildings and homes use more energy and are responsible for over 35% of all man made greenhouse gases and energy used worldwide. By “greening” every structure with existing technologies and techniques, the world would see a reduction in CO2 by over 1,800 megatons per year. That is equal to the amount of CO2 released by all planes and vehicles in North America last year.

With energy cost rising at a steady pace, energy efficiency renovations are the most cost effective ways to green a home or building, even more so than investing in alternative energies. Increasing efficiency does not have to be a daunting task, there are plenty of quick and easy things you can do which are not very involved. Below is a list of 10 things you can do to increase your efficiency and they are listed from cheapest and easiest to more expensive and involved.

10 steps to Energy Efficiency:

1. Reduce Phantom Loads - phantom loads are those unforeseen “standby” electrical loads that rob about 11% of annual energy consumption. Most electrical products have standby electrical loads which use electricity even when the product is turned off. DVD players, TV’s, Computers, phone chargers, and many other products all use electricity on a constant basis. The solution is to plug these things into surge protector strips and turn the strip off when they are not in use.

2. Seal Up Leaks - Air infiltration is a major cause of increased energy usage. When a structure is not properly sealed, heat will be lost during the winter and gained during the summer, driving up heating and cooling cost. The solution is to perform a pressurization test to locate air leaks and use some sort of caulk or silicon sealant to seal the air leaks in your walls and ceilings.

3. Weatherize - Weatherizing is very similar to sealing air leaks, however, it is different in that it is applied to moving parts such as doors and windows where a caulk type sealant will not work. Weatherizing doors and windows require special products such as v-channel, foam strips and sweeps. For a more detailed tutorial about sealing and weatherizing your home or business, check out “Air Leaks & Energy Exchange” over at NeutralExistence.com.

4. Change Lights - Inefficient lighting is responsible for not only wasted electricity, but added heat gain. The incandescent light bulbs of yesterday are slowly being phased out to more energy efficient Compact Florescent bulbs and LED lightbulbs. A new energy efficient CFL bulb can save about 150 kWh of electricity annually and save you approximately $37 over the life of the bulb. LED lightbulbs, although more expensive up front, will last much longer than CFLs and use less energy as well.

5. Control Radiant Heat - Radiant heat is the most efficient form of heat transfer and in order to increase a structures heating and cooling efficiency, radiant heat transfer must be stopped. Radiant heat is responsible for excess heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The only way to stop radiant heat transfer is by using a radiant barrier which is a sheet of low emisivity, high reflectivity foil. Although radiant barriers come in many shapes and sizes, but be sure to find a well made, durable, two sided (for winter and summer protection), perforated radiant barrier. I highly recommend Ra-flect radiant barrier as a cost effective quality product (www.raflect.com).

6. Increase Water Efficiency - Massive amounts of energy are used to treat and move potable (drinkable) municipal water, so reducing water usage very energy efficient. There are a variety of things you can do to reduce your potable water usage such as using low flow faucet and shower fixtures, taking shorter showers, only running dishwashers and washer machines when they are full, not leaving the water running needlessly and using water banks in toilet tanks to reduce water used to flush toilets.

7. New Insulation - Insulation retards the passage of convective and conductive heat and is rated in R-values, which is the measure of the rate that heat energy is transferred through a material. If your insulation has been pressed down over the years or the R-value is not the proper value for your location, re-insulating your home is well worth the expense. In order to choose the most efficient insulation for your home or building check out the Energy Star website to find out: www.energystar.gov

8. Window Renovation - Windows are generally the most significant energy sink in almost every structures due to lack of insulation. Windows come in a variety of configurations such as single pane (not efficient), double pane, gas filled, mirrored, etc.. In cooler climates gas filled double pane windows with high R-values are excellent and well worth the cost of replacing old single pane windows. In hotter climates, these same windows are not as effective as they only reduce convective and conductive heat gain but fall short in stopping radiant heat gain. Stopping radiant heat gain in hotter climates requires exterior shading elements or the use of an energy film which helps to block the suns UV rays. Window energy films are applied directly to the glass with soap and water and will essentially make an existing window perform like that of an energy star rated double pane gas filled window.

9. Energy Star Products - Energy star is a governmental rating system which gives its seal to products, buildings, homes and devices which meet minimum requirements of energy efficiency as compared to the norm. When buying new devices such as refrigerators, washer machines, dishwashers and home electronics be sure to purchase products with the Energy Star seal as they will use less electricity than their competition. For more information about energy star and there rating system please see their website (www.energystar.gov).

10. Build Green - In order to increase your energy efficiency build green instead of buying an already made home or business. The benefits of having an architect design a green home or business for you are too many to count. Some benefits of building green include increased energy efficiency, better interior air quality, higher resale value, higher rental rates and occupancy rates for businesses and not to mention, you get the house or building that meets YOUR needs, not some generic home or building which may not be sized appropriately.

Efficiency IS greener than green

Anyway way you look at it, there is no getting around energy efficiency if you really want to green your lifestyle. Efficiency does not have to stop at your home or business, the idea of efficiency can be used in every aspect of your life, from shopping for products to driving around town, efficiency is the key to being green,

Adam Beazley is a LEED accredited professional and green architectural designer, who focuses on green, energy saving design techniques. He is also the founder of Neutral Existence, which is an environmental website dedicated to helping individuals green their life and save money in the process. The website has a plethora of tutorials, articles and products to help individuals reduce their energy consumption, entire environmental footprint and reliance on non renewable resources.
www.NeutralExistence.com

One of the greenest things you can do on a personal level is to stop using your car. Yes, wouldn’t that be nice. It all works out in that green version of reality I aspire to. Incidentally this is the same version of reality where a horse delivers my vegetables from a local farm.

Recently on the way back from holiday in Cornwall, my car’s engine died. The repair quote, £5800. I love my car, for one reason only, it emits 121g/CO2 per Km and I get 61 miles to the gallon. That’s 550 miles (approx 880 km) for £40. I don’t have £5800 lying around, and if I did I wouldn’t want to spend it on a car.

After a bit of research, I worked out that for the cost of my monthly fuel and insurance bill, I could go to work by train for the same price. Food shopping would be possible by using local shops and on-line shopping. My CO2 footprint would drop, my mountain bike would be given a new lease of life, and my doctor would love me for my new exercise regime. I had turned a nightmare situation into something positive.

But all was not well. With exams to sit, and a house move on the horizon, I couldn’t get away from a niggling feeling in the back of my mind. How I would cope without a car? I should add that during this time, someone I knew was also admitted to hospital, and the inconvenience of not having a car also became emotional. Not having a car was not going to be easy.

But then the answer came. I could resurrect the car with a second hand engine. Alleviating my guilt by the fact that I was still recycling (albeit still feeding my addiction to oil) I scoured the internet. My lifeline came from a engine part recycling website called 1st Choice Spares. Thanks to a good friend, before I long I’d worked out t that I could buy a recycled engine and get it fitted for a total of £1500. Less than it would cost me to get another used car of the same efficiency.

The engine took a while to arrive. It took a while to fit. During that time I lived out my green commute dream by train and cycle. The days were a lot less stressful, no idiots on the road to contend with, and I even caught up on my reading. My thigh muscles burned for the first couple of days, but all round I felt good and virtuous.

Fortunately I was never sold monthly ticket, because South West Trains were planning to strike. (This was subsequently called off). Daily tickets got me by, until a couple of weeks later, I got my car back. The price of diesel had risen, but it was nice to have it back.

I had a lot of time to think about the decision I was making. The fact that I was reading George Monbiot’s book, ‘Heat’ made my decision all the more poignant. Was it the lack of cheap reliable public transport, or the lack of clean cars that annoyed me? Who should I blame for the corner I found myself in. I felt disenchanted with the government for not doing enough to make public transport cheap and I felt angry that car makers for not doing enough to force me to buy a greener vehicles.

So what did I do? Well I channeled all that anger. I lobbied the EU parliament along with thousands of members Friends of the Earth to ask them to impose tough CO2 limits on the production of new cars, and made myself a note to talk about the train ticket price issue with my MP next time I saw him (this would have been another thing difficult to do without a car).

In reality we can all turn the lights off, buy green goodies and follow the grassroots movement for environmental improvement, but we still have to convince those that can make changes to the national grid or make deep structural improvements. With all the good will in the world, we still have to convince our leaders that there is no further wiggle room, otherwise everything we do today will be nothing but tokenism. It’s going to take governments and international agencies to make bold, unpopular decisions to save humanity from disaster.

Today I got stuck in a traffic jam.

Yours,

A guilty car owner.