The other thing that occurs to me about time saving is layers of paint. Sounds odd, I know. But the kitchen I now have has deep dark red over every wall, and its appalling, frankly - when I switch the light on at night, it doesn't make any difference really :(
My sister gave me some kitchen paint - excellent! Brilliant white too, so thats fine. But it needs a minimum of 3 coats, and could actually do with a fourth. And in contrast, a friend came round and swore that the One Coat paint would cover even this dismal crimson in one coat, as long as I did it with a roller. Is she exaggerating? Whats in it that it will give such coverage? I know that oil based paints are not only bad for the environment they make me feel sick for at least two days afterwards.... is One Coat paint as bad? And is *any* kitchen paint bad - why is it more stain resistant, why is it wipeable?
And another green issue in all of this - this kitchen paint, I've been given it. Is it more green to throw it away unused because its not green, or at least use it now that I have it, use the resources that have been taken out of the earth and give them meaning, rather than discarding them uselessly?
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Using our time
I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently, both before and after the move. And I'm convinced that good use of our time is extremely green - deep, dark luscious green, actually :)
Of course, permaculture theory said it first, with zones in the garden according to how often you visit each one, and planting to go with ease and accessibility - herbs by the kitchen door, wildlife area furthest away from it, and so on. And they have taken it into the house as well.
But its more than that, its across everything - like the old time management studies, but in a green way - the less energy goes into doing something, the more energy is conserved - either to do other things, or to be left where it is. In relation to time, that means that either we can fit something in (like, going into town and visiting half a dozen shops or banks or charities or whatever) or have the time free (to sit in our green gardens and admire the flowers, or read a book).
The point is liberation!
Of course, permaculture theory said it first, with zones in the garden according to how often you visit each one, and planting to go with ease and accessibility - herbs by the kitchen door, wildlife area furthest away from it, and so on. And they have taken it into the house as well.
But its more than that, its across everything - like the old time management studies, but in a green way - the less energy goes into doing something, the more energy is conserved - either to do other things, or to be left where it is. In relation to time, that means that either we can fit something in (like, going into town and visiting half a dozen shops or banks or charities or whatever) or have the time free (to sit in our green gardens and admire the flowers, or read a book).
The point is liberation!
Friday, 24 September 2010
Getting back on track
Last weekend, I went to one of the eco house Open House events, run by The Sustainable Energy Academy, which is a charity with the following aims:
"finding new SuperHomes, assessing their carbon savings and coordinating Open House events. We also feed into reports on energy efficient refurbishment and offer advice to organisations promoting energy efficiency and renewable technologies."
Sounds good to me. This is the one I went to visit:
http://www.sustainable-energyacademy.org.uk/get-inspired/superhome-locator
It was beautiful. And energy efficient. And light, airy, easy to clean, All Good Things.
I've had lots more paid work than usual this week, so working on my own house has been difficult, but I did combine the visit to the Superhome with a trip to Burgess Hill, to the Wilkinsons there - a very different level of quality, but still, not bad. A steel shower curtain rail, a brushed steel curtain pole for the front door and the associated windows, plus bogstandard, very cheap lampshades to take the glare of some of the bulbs here .... about £37, not bad at all.
And I was working hard on the garden - I'm getting the buddleias back into shape, so they don't fall against the spiffy new fence over the winter. I'm keeping and shaping the beautiful hazel tree, which is home to lots of birds and squirrels. I'm definitely getting rid of most of the rhodendrons - most! in a garden this size, fifty feet long, they're ridiculous, as well as no good for native wildlife.
I plan to widen the southern facing border to plant things that I love - more of that later - and some foodcrops too - but that will have to wait till we've found the drains so the second toilet can be installed, and till the fence is weatherproofed, and we've finished tramping all over the border.
Its a juggling act.
"finding new SuperHomes, assessing their carbon savings and coordinating Open House events. We also feed into reports on energy efficient refurbishment and offer advice to organisations promoting energy efficiency and renewable technologies."
Sounds good to me. This is the one I went to visit:
http://www.sustainable-energyacademy.org.uk/get-inspired/superhome-locator
It was beautiful. And energy efficient. And light, airy, easy to clean, All Good Things.
I've had lots more paid work than usual this week, so working on my own house has been difficult, but I did combine the visit to the Superhome with a trip to Burgess Hill, to the Wilkinsons there - a very different level of quality, but still, not bad. A steel shower curtain rail, a brushed steel curtain pole for the front door and the associated windows, plus bogstandard, very cheap lampshades to take the glare of some of the bulbs here .... about £37, not bad at all.
And I was working hard on the garden - I'm getting the buddleias back into shape, so they don't fall against the spiffy new fence over the winter. I'm keeping and shaping the beautiful hazel tree, which is home to lots of birds and squirrels. I'm definitely getting rid of most of the rhodendrons - most! in a garden this size, fifty feet long, they're ridiculous, as well as no good for native wildlife.
I plan to widen the southern facing border to plant things that I love - more of that later - and some foodcrops too - but that will have to wait till we've found the drains so the second toilet can be installed, and till the fence is weatherproofed, and we've finished tramping all over the border.
Its a juggling act.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Isn't life strange
Well, was I ever unprepared to move! I thought I'd prepared so carefully - been decluttering, because this move was a downsize - this included selling stuff on Amazon and Ebay, giving to charity shops and via freecycle, and dumping things at the recycling tip, as well as the landfill bin being stuffed to the gills every week. Contacted builders beforehand about the work I wanted done. Printed out Building Control forms from the new District Authority. I even used up food I didn't want to take with me, and used T shirts and whatnot to pack some electrical goods I don't use very much. I thought I was *so* ready....
Turns out I wasn't. And one thing I crucially didn't take care of properly was my telecoms: I told Virgin Phone people I was moving, but I didn't tell Virgin Broadband. The result was that I waited almost 3 weeks longer than I should have to get my phone and broadband connected up - which was wasteful financially, if not in resources.
And because I didn't do enough planning and preparation beforehand, a lot of things that could have been recycled, weren't. They went to landfill. And it turns out I *didn't* use one of the removals firms that use green materials or collect the boxes back or anything like that, because there wasn't time to contact them - there was only two weeks between exchange and completion.
Its been a chastening experience.
Turns out I wasn't. And one thing I crucially didn't take care of properly was my telecoms: I told Virgin Phone people I was moving, but I didn't tell Virgin Broadband. The result was that I waited almost 3 weeks longer than I should have to get my phone and broadband connected up - which was wasteful financially, if not in resources.
And because I didn't do enough planning and preparation beforehand, a lot of things that could have been recycled, weren't. They went to landfill. And it turns out I *didn't* use one of the removals firms that use green materials or collect the boxes back or anything like that, because there wasn't time to contact them - there was only two weeks between exchange and completion.
Its been a chastening experience.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Been on holiday ....
And its made me think. Loved it, of course, but I was thinking about this blog on the way back.
There was a microwave in the self catering cottage we rented, of course. And there was an induction hob, which I think is the most efficient form of cooking: but it was a weird one - there was no indicator on the switch to tell you which way the thing was pointing! How mad is that? With the result that we were constantly switching the it on and off to check whether or not it was on. It was a bit mad.
How do we know how long to charge rechargeable batteries? We're always being moaned at for leaving them on for too long, but how long is long enough?
There were no energy saving lights at all, zilch. And the cistern on both toilets was huge! *And* the taps were practically flooding the basins, they let through so much water. I appreciate that people don't want to feel so careful when they're on holiday, but I'm sure there are some issues there for landlords - things can be done that would make no difference at all to the experience for the holidaymakers, but would make a fairly substantial difference to their own bills. And I'm equally sure some of that could be applied to us as homeowners.
There was a microwave in the self catering cottage we rented, of course. And there was an induction hob, which I think is the most efficient form of cooking: but it was a weird one - there was no indicator on the switch to tell you which way the thing was pointing! How mad is that? With the result that we were constantly switching the it on and off to check whether or not it was on. It was a bit mad.
How do we know how long to charge rechargeable batteries? We're always being moaned at for leaving them on for too long, but how long is long enough?
There were no energy saving lights at all, zilch. And the cistern on both toilets was huge! *And* the taps were practically flooding the basins, they let through so much water. I appreciate that people don't want to feel so careful when they're on holiday, but I'm sure there are some issues there for landlords - things can be done that would make no difference at all to the experience for the holidaymakers, but would make a fairly substantial difference to their own bills. And I'm equally sure some of that could be applied to us as homeowners.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Water saving tips
This isn't about either renovation or DIY, so much as about our behaviour. Some of these are taken from other websites, some are from my own experience.... check out if any of them are relevant to you ......
- get a water butt! Get another water butt!
- use a bucket and sponge to wash the car, if you have one.
- cistern displacement devices - hippos! A clean jamjar with the lid screwed on tightly, full of water, used to do the job perfectly well, and give rise to no extra production costs.
- nearly everyone has to run the hot tap for a bit before they get the hot water.... I let a little bit of that water down the drain, to help keep it fresh, but 90% of it I capture in a jug, which either contributes to a big bowl that flushes the toilet every now and then, or to watering the plants, or even soaking pans before I wash them.
- don't use a toilet as a waste bin! If you flush it, you're wasting water (and potential compostables). Even if you don't flush, you might be helping to create a blockage in 5 years time, especially if there isn't much of a drop in the soil pipe. This point was inspired by my mother, who goes into the garden every morning to brush her hair, so the birds can have it for nesting materials (and then she didn't have to clean it off the floor, of course - talk about multiple outcomes!) but in the winter, she flushed it down the toilet, and created an expensive, embarrassing problem for herself, with a good-sized toilet blockage.
- if you like drinking cold water, fill a jug and put it in the fridge ready - don't just run the tap till its cold enough.
- remember this mnemonic about flushing the toilet: "if its brown, flush it down; if its yellow, let it mellow". On one memorable occasion, we had a toilet that got bunged up with toilet paper by following this too well, so we give ourselves some leeway these days...
- fix dripping taps, it really is important.
- replace even one bath each week with a shower - saves lots, all at once!
- make sure dishwashers and washing machines are full before you put them on. And if you need to replace them, even if you have to buy second hand, buy the most energy efficient you can.
- re-use water if you can - half empty glasses of water, for example, can be put into the saucer of a houseplant.
- another way of reusing water might be to take a bucket into the shower! It would have to be a clean bucket, of course :)
- is anyone into siphoning off bathwater and lugging it out into the garden, or running a hose from the bathroom window to a water butt? Its theoretically possible, and I've seen it done on a farm in Africa - they didn't bother with the water butt, the hose was so long there was no heat transfer by the time the water got to the garden :)
- don't let the tap run when you're washing the dishes, or peeling veg, or cleaning your teeth, for that matter! It has a handle, turn it on and off!
- only boil as much water as you need - thats the kettle.
- when you only have the hot water on, and not the central heating, you probably don't need to have the boiler switched on for as long as you think you do. I have a modern hot water tank and an old boiler, and even so 20 minutes was absolutely fine, for more than a day's hot water.
- don't lose the bung for the water butt - the inside will promptly become slimy and algae-ridden, definitely unpleasant.
- get a water butt! Get another water butt!
- use a bucket and sponge to wash the car, if you have one.
- cistern displacement devices - hippos! A clean jamjar with the lid screwed on tightly, full of water, used to do the job perfectly well, and give rise to no extra production costs.
- nearly everyone has to run the hot tap for a bit before they get the hot water.... I let a little bit of that water down the drain, to help keep it fresh, but 90% of it I capture in a jug, which either contributes to a big bowl that flushes the toilet every now and then, or to watering the plants, or even soaking pans before I wash them.
- don't use a toilet as a waste bin! If you flush it, you're wasting water (and potential compostables). Even if you don't flush, you might be helping to create a blockage in 5 years time, especially if there isn't much of a drop in the soil pipe. This point was inspired by my mother, who goes into the garden every morning to brush her hair, so the birds can have it for nesting materials (and then she didn't have to clean it off the floor, of course - talk about multiple outcomes!) but in the winter, she flushed it down the toilet, and created an expensive, embarrassing problem for herself, with a good-sized toilet blockage.
- if you like drinking cold water, fill a jug and put it in the fridge ready - don't just run the tap till its cold enough.
- remember this mnemonic about flushing the toilet: "if its brown, flush it down; if its yellow, let it mellow". On one memorable occasion, we had a toilet that got bunged up with toilet paper by following this too well, so we give ourselves some leeway these days...
- fix dripping taps, it really is important.
- replace even one bath each week with a shower - saves lots, all at once!
- make sure dishwashers and washing machines are full before you put them on. And if you need to replace them, even if you have to buy second hand, buy the most energy efficient you can.
- re-use water if you can - half empty glasses of water, for example, can be put into the saucer of a houseplant.
- another way of reusing water might be to take a bucket into the shower! It would have to be a clean bucket, of course :)
- is anyone into siphoning off bathwater and lugging it out into the garden, or running a hose from the bathroom window to a water butt? Its theoretically possible, and I've seen it done on a farm in Africa - they didn't bother with the water butt, the hose was so long there was no heat transfer by the time the water got to the garden :)
- don't let the tap run when you're washing the dishes, or peeling veg, or cleaning your teeth, for that matter! It has a handle, turn it on and off!
- only boil as much water as you need - thats the kettle.
- when you only have the hot water on, and not the central heating, you probably don't need to have the boiler switched on for as long as you think you do. I have a modern hot water tank and an old boiler, and even so 20 minutes was absolutely fine, for more than a day's hot water.
- don't lose the bung for the water butt - the inside will promptly become slimy and algae-ridden, definitely unpleasant.
Friday, 9 July 2010
Energy Saving Trust website on water
Under the "At Home" section, Water is one of the seven main areas. The fun bit there is the energy calculator, which takes you through each room in your house, but it wildly overestimated my costs, and so probably my useage too - by a factor of over 100%
It said I should be paying £280 for 48,800 litres of water, and I actually pay £120, with £50 credit having built up on that basis. The savings suggested were watering my garden morning or evening, to avoid evaporation - I already do this; to save £10/4000 litres a year, to use a shower rather than a bath, to save £11/2,900 litres a year - a bath is a treat for me, not a regular thing, so I've discounted this suggestion; and to fit a trigger nozzle on the garden hosepipe instead of having a continuous flow. This would save £11/4,500 litres a year. And thats a really great suggestion, but out of place in this report, as I'd told it I didn't use a hosepipe!
So the calculator is quite fun, but not particularly intelligent.
There's a guide to how to instal a water butt - excellent! There's currently no videos on youtube about it that I can find, so this is helpful, even as simple photos.
There are water saving tips - basic, but there doesn't seem to be as many ways to save water as there to save fuel, for instance, so I'll take what I can get. Some day, I'll write up *all* the tips :)
Water efficient products - now, this is the real deal! Shower heads, appliances, insulation, toilets, taps, butts, hoses and labelling. Fantastic! This gives me a really great idea of where to start in my new house.
Quite a bit for the garden, including more tips - I think the garden is going to need a separate blog :)
Hmmm.... Water Saving Week was in June, just a few weeks ago as I'm writing this. I certainly never noticed. As the school reports used to say, Could Do Better.
Some good links - including Water Wise, the Consumer Council for Water, the Environment Agency, and the Bathroom Manufacturers Association's Water Efficient Product Labelling Scheme. I've already taken note of quite a few organisations around water - how many does the UK need, exactly? I bet they all have their own tips pages, as well.
There's a video! It says its on youtube, hmmm...and its Kate Humble. With water saving tips. Damn, I'm *definitely* going to make a page of tips.
It said I should be paying £280 for 48,800 litres of water, and I actually pay £120, with £50 credit having built up on that basis. The savings suggested were watering my garden morning or evening, to avoid evaporation - I already do this; to save £10/4000 litres a year, to use a shower rather than a bath, to save £11/2,900 litres a year - a bath is a treat for me, not a regular thing, so I've discounted this suggestion; and to fit a trigger nozzle on the garden hosepipe instead of having a continuous flow. This would save £11/4,500 litres a year. And thats a really great suggestion, but out of place in this report, as I'd told it I didn't use a hosepipe!
So the calculator is quite fun, but not particularly intelligent.
There's a guide to how to instal a water butt - excellent! There's currently no videos on youtube about it that I can find, so this is helpful, even as simple photos.
There are water saving tips - basic, but there doesn't seem to be as many ways to save water as there to save fuel, for instance, so I'll take what I can get. Some day, I'll write up *all* the tips :)
Water efficient products - now, this is the real deal! Shower heads, appliances, insulation, toilets, taps, butts, hoses and labelling. Fantastic! This gives me a really great idea of where to start in my new house.
Quite a bit for the garden, including more tips - I think the garden is going to need a separate blog :)
Hmmm.... Water Saving Week was in June, just a few weeks ago as I'm writing this. I certainly never noticed. As the school reports used to say, Could Do Better.
Some good links - including Water Wise, the Consumer Council for Water, the Environment Agency, and the Bathroom Manufacturers Association's Water Efficient Product Labelling Scheme. I've already taken note of quite a few organisations around water - how many does the UK need, exactly? I bet they all have their own tips pages, as well.
There's a video! It says its on youtube, hmmm...and its Kate Humble. With water saving tips. Damn, I'm *definitely* going to make a page of tips.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)