The Environment Thread :-)
59 watchers
Jul 2020
10:03pm, 5 Jul 2020
4,247 posts
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run free
Ahh yes Foz - soz - read too fast. But think overall it is generally harder for wealthy people to be more sustainable compared to everyone else. Wealthy are people who live in a house, have a garden, travel, have an education and have stuff. People who are truly poor, are very frugal, have very little impact on the planet. Toothpaste is not actually necessary. Have been using baking soda and coconut oil for 3 years now. My dentist said my teeth are good. Met a guy whose teeth look lovely (has been homeless in his former life & a wanderer and also chained himself to trees when they began taking down a forest he was living in). He said he just chews on particular types of bark. Ben Laws is a man who built his dream: granddesignsmagazine.com When I met him, he had zero waste - his solar panels, batteries, wind turbine were all second hand. He had a circular economy in his household. He is not money wealthy, but was certainly rich with his love for nature. Thank you for the link 
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Jul 2020
10:04pm, 5 Jul 2020
4,248 posts
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run free
FR - your place sounds like the Knepp Estate. Well done on getting the grants. Hope your estate is able to work for you long term. Agree with you all about the govt. their priorities have so far certainly not been for the environment and it looks like we are about to go backwards in order to make deals. So am gathering people in my area to take charge from councillors to businesses to the church to the people and see if can plant seeds of collaboration. |
Jul 2020
9:04am, 6 Jul 2020
35,482 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
We've got a quite a lot of space - if we were investing in renewable, would we do a turbine, solar or ground source? Or all 3? If find navigating the grants / gov't schemes absolutely impenetrable. I take my hat off to those who understand them! We haven't even filled in our farm status return thing since we came here, because it's too hard. Really must do it though. G
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Jul 2020
11:43am, 6 Jul 2020
10,539 posts
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rf_fozzy
Well Happy, it depends on how much you've got to spend. A 4kWp (p = peak) solar array with inverter will set you back around £4-5k. It depends on how much roof space you have and orientation etc. But that would be first thing I'd do personally. If you have the cash, you could get a battery too (e.g. tesla powerwall) - these are still pricey though from my last look. What this means is you'd use all the power you generate. There's some debate about "small" wind turbines as to whether they actually pay back the embedded carbon or not. I suspect they probably do, but it's worth doing some research. You can get ~kW wind turbines, and again you can hook this to your battery. You'd have to look at how viable it is for you. But wind+solar+battery would see you more likely to be an exporter to a grid most of the time (i.e. your electricity bills would be negligible!) Heating is perhaps both an easier and more difficult question. First thing is insulation, insulation, insulation - this is the most cost effective thing you can do. Put in the thickest insulation you can get. Double glazing is a minimum. Triple glazing if you can afford it (perhaps even with solar glass to generate more electricity). Then think about insulation of doors and windows - e.g. door curtains, blinds on windows as well as curtains, making sure all seals etc are good. Then think about alternative heating solutions (for the main thing if you've got a good gas combi-boiler type thing, they're v efficient) - ground source I think more efficient than air source, but prices still high - hence insulation first to allow the price to keep falling. Scottish govt likely to be better with grants (particularly renewable heat grants) than UK govt. |
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Jul 2020
11:45am, 6 Jul 2020
10,540 posts
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rf_fozzy
Also If you have the roof space, then doing solar thermal for hot water is a no brainer - it's massively efficient.
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Jul 2020
11:52am, 6 Jul 2020
60 posts
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bja61
rf_fozzy this is a great summary, thank you. Do you have any views on the best system for solar thermal for hot water? We have a small pool (set up as a hydrotherapy pool for my wife’s arthritis as she get take any of the usual drug treatments and this is the only thing that helps) but the environmental impact is terrible given we currently use electric heating. Solar hot water via a heat exchanger might help with some of that...
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Jul 2020
11:57am, 6 Jul 2020
10,541 posts
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rf_fozzy
RF - i think we're having different discussions. I view sustainability as minimising our environmental footprint as much as possible within the framework in which we live. It's not about having no footprint at all, although that would be the long term aim. Re: Coconut oil (and this isn't a criticism btw) - the impact of this is not negligible - although the impact of many cocount plantations is low, there's some evidence that as demand increases, mangroves are being cleared to make way, which is bad (mangroves store carbon). Then you've got to fly it from Sri Lanka or wherever to the UK. It some circumstances the synthetic option can be more sustainable. Although I don't know, for the example of toothpaste. |
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Jul 2020
11:59am, 6 Jul 2020
10,542 posts
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rf_fozzy
bja61 - no I'm afraid. I only look at the general trends, ideas and technologies from what I read - I wouldn't be able to recommend specifics! My advice would be to google solar thermal and where you live and then talk to some of the experts/professionals in the field. |
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Jul 2020
1:18pm, 6 Jul 2020
10,545 posts
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rf_fozzy
Since I've been "banned" from discussing this on the electric car thread, I'll post it here: timkastelle.org Basically about why Kodak completely missed the boat when it came to digital cameras (despite why they were fully aware of it) - and it's the same argument as to why some think that a lot of car manufacturers will disappear soon too as they've been too slow to adopt and adapt to the EV market. This is quite a good article about how disruptive technology works too: lesswrong.com There are some good past examples in there too. |
Jul 2020
1:28pm, 6 Jul 2020
7,774 posts
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jda
Tim Harford also discussed that sort of thing in a recent podcast. I say recent, it might have been some time ago, I have a whole backlog which I work through steadily. |
Useful Links
FE accepts no responsibility for external links. Or anything, really.- why Kodak completely missed the boat when it came to digital cameras
- rf_fozzy: This is quite a good article about how disruptive technology work
- run free's Grand Designs example Ben Laws is a man who built his dream
- Carbon Commentary carboncommentary.com
- UK ombudsman for problems with electricity or gas
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