THE ENERGY HOUSE

A useful resource to see how you can create changes in your home and what the likely costs are. So for instance, if I thought I could install solar panels that would be great but the cost is in fact quite high to produce 850 units. I may do better by changing the lightbulbs, getting energy efficient appliances, changing to a green power supply, insulating my roof, changing my boiler to a a condensed boiler system and having double glazing. I think the energy house model provides an opportunity to assess costs versus saving and allows you to make decisions that fit in with your budget.
Give it a go here. There are a lot of resources on that link to follow through.

As an aside I did watch the programme on BBC2 last night about global warming, its cause and whether this might be just a historical energy balancing pattern by the earth. It was very obvious that although we have had temperature variations from warmer by a few degrees to mini ice ages that the reason the climate is hotting up is due to Co emissions which started at the beginning of the industrial age. So the message really is to reduce those emissions as much as possible. I still think there is not enough information out there on how this can be achieved by individuals ( the armchair activist in me can do that bit), and of course the majority of CO emissions is due to travel, transport and the way we move goods and people around the world. So shopping locally, growing your own veg, eating in season and generally reducing our needs in that area has to be a positive. To survive it appears also that a sense of community will be needed, so that we can not only be self sufficient for our families but also help others in our community. For instance, it could make sense to employ local contractors for the work even if the quote is a little higher because they will have less travel to do. Lots to think about and possibly adapt. Small steps needed here.

As it is fair trade week, I have received my energy bars from my kids ( because I am running low). My DH brought home a chart showing the personal energy being used up with activities and that has set me thinking. What I can do on a personal level with my energy by pacing it, also will have an effect on a global scale. Now that is a good incentive to get fit using what is around.

Bush might say that the USA will come up with technology and that is one possibility but not the only one, to be effective in my mind it needs us all to work together and reduce our energy needs while increasing technological energy that uses natural resources such as solar power, bikes etc. It is all out there, I personally have become just a little dependent on the easy life and simpifying it by less is more is my reaction.

The request from the programme is that they want to use computer models of global warming to come up with a likely outcome so that it will inform us what we can expect if we continue as we are doing. That sounds scary to me but if we do not know what is ahead we cannot adapt to making changes.

So over to you, are you in to make changes?