Wind Energy Could Be Criminal in USA

Chairman Nick Rahall, a democrat representing West Virginia's third district, and the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources gave an opening statement on the “Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act of 2007" on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building. There he outlined HR 2337, containing amendments to seven of eight-four sections of the act under the committee's jurisdiction.

This bill is also being greeted with a hysterical reaction from the wind industry. Again, let me be perfectly clear. I am not against wind energy.
Nick Rahall (D-WV), Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources

The American Wind Energy Association stated in their press release of the same day that provision, Subtitle D of HR 2337, would:

• Stall all new wind projects until Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rules are issued and require FWS certification of every turbine
• Require all existing turbines, even small residential units, to cease operating 6 months after issuance of new FWS rules until they are “certified,” an unwieldy bureaucratic process applying to many thousands of turbines that, again, will take years
• Make it a crime, punishable by a $50,000 fine or a year in jail, to construct or generate electricity from an unapproved turbine, even for home use
• Undermine state and federal efforts to promote renewable electricity generation and subvert the growing movement to reduce global warming pollution
• Create an unworkable bureaucracy that will delay clean, emissions-free wind energy projects throughout the U.S.

The provision is being offered as a solution to protecting wildlife. However evidence from varying sources refute claims that wind turbines pose significant danger to wildlife. A report from the National Academy of Sciences states bird deaths caused by wind turbines are less than 0.003% of human caused bird mortality, and in the United States, turbines kill 70,000 birds per year, compared to 57 million killed by cars and 97.5 million killed by collisions with plate glass.

The National Association of Manufacturers believes that a comprehensive approach toward energy leads to the logical conclusion that the United States must diversify its sources of energy. Wind energy should be part of this mix. The new certification requirements of this section of H.R. 2337, however, would bring wind energy development across the United States to a halt, this despite the fact that the National Academy of Sciences has concluded wind turbines cause less than 0.003 percent of human-caused bird mortality. Furthermore, the broad mandate directing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review every existing and planned wind project is far beyond the agency’s resources and capabilities.
John Engler, President, National Association of Manufacturers

In the UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds concluded that "The available evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds." It notes that climate change poses a much more significant threat to wildlife, and therefore supports wind farms and other forms of renewable energy.

So what can you do to ensure that wind energy can continue to flourish and provide clean sustainable energy for America?

• Take action on the issue at the Legislative Web Page
  
• Contact your House Representative, you can find them here
• Sign the epetition against provision, Subtitle D of HR 2337

This provision will result in restrictions on one of the cleanest forms of energy available, adding red-tape and bureaucracy to an industry which process high standards of wildlife protection and continues to implement steps to address new environmental concerns. These restrictions will have a resulting factor on the uptake of wind power as a renewable energy source and threaten those jobs in the industry in the USA. The impact will negatively affect the economy as a whole.

Just my thoughts please leave yours.

Wind energy requires no mining or drilling for fuel, no fuel transportation, no hazardous waste disposal, and no water use; and wind energy generates electricity without toxic pollutants like mercury, without greenhouse pollution, and of course without the conventional pollutants that cause smog and acid rain. Is this really an energy sector Congress should close down, for environmental reasons?
Gregory Wetstone, AWEA Senior Director of Government and Public Affairs (View Testimony *PDF)

Video: Wind is Free

"Wind is Free" is a simple animation promoting the financial benefit of wind energy being free. With the costs associated with implementation of wind power technology at an all time low, this form of energy is set to double in capacity every three years.

Pressure The Prime Minister

If you have a campaign in the UK, environmental or not, and want to gain support for your cause you can try to use the UK government epetition website. Petitions have long been sent to the Prime Minister by post, or delivered to the Number 10 door in person. epetitions are welcome in the same way.

Downing Street is working in partnership with the non-partisan charitable project mySociety to provide a service to allow citizens, charities and campaign groups to set up petitions that are hosted on the Downing Street website, enabling anyone to address and deliver a petition directly to the Prime Minister.

To be eligible to sign the an epetition being hosted on the site you must either be a British citizen or resident. Since the inception of the epetitions service at the Downing Street website, there have been over 2.5 million signatures, and currently there are over 3,000 live epetitions available for signing.

mySociety have even included an Environment section. Some of the featured campaigns include;

• Encourage people to cycle by removing VAT on bicycles, tricycles and human powered vehicles and on all cycling parts and spares
• Support the carbon saving measures as set out in the Energy Efficiency and Microgeneration Bill
• Ban plastic shopping bags
• Remove VAT from energy saving products and renewable energy source for the home
• Phase out regular lightbulbs in homes to reduce CO2 emissions
• Introduce recycling to London Underground

If you have an environmental campaign you are working on and would like to publicise it further feel free to email us at support@howtosaveenergy.co.uk

Belfast City Council Waste Fair 2007

Belfast City Council will be holding Waste Fair 2007 from Wednesday 6th June 2007 to Saturday 9th June 2007 in the grounds of Belfast City Hall. The annual event hopes to inspire and encourage young and old alike to reduce, reuse and recycle. You can do your bit for the environment and still enjoy life to the full.

At the event will be a host of stalls, including Blooming Bottoms, which offer reusable nappies and environmentally friendly baby products. Raspberry Berry, vintage clothes and HOBO designs, which manufacture clothing from recycled material.

In addition to this on display will be a sculpture made from eWaste, the Second Chance Fashion Show, with vintage clothes selected from charity shops modelled by local television and radio personalities (Cafe Vaudeville, Arthur Street, Thursday 7 June, 20:30). Custom House Square will also be host to the Urban Sports Day hosted by Belfast Urban Sports as part of the the fair (Custom House Square, Saturday 9 June, 15:00)

The Waste Fair will run daily from 10:00 to 19:00 (Saturday, 17:00)

As part of the event you can also obtain a free reusable mug and tote shopping bag. Click the links for the locations.

I will be in attendance at this year's fair with camera at hand. Look out for the upcoming post.

Pedal Power: Borrow a Bike Because its Fast

In the recent annual commuter race by Transport Alternatives, to see whether two, four or many wheels were fastest in New York, of course the bike won. Whilst the study was not statistically proven it this case it was the fastest method of transport from the starting point at a Brooklyn cafe to the finishing point at East 26th Street and First Avenue Manhattan. The 15 minute, 4.13 mile ride was completed by Luci Olewinski, a nursepractitioner who bikes to work regularly. That aside it was also the cheapest, most environmentally friendly and healthiest option.

"I'll be relaxing in the park before my competitors even cross the East River"
Luci Olewinski, Predicting her imminent win before the start of the commuter race

The bike industry in the US has annual sales in excess of $5.8 billion, accounting for new bike sales, parts and maintainance. 2005 was an all time high and this trend is continuing. New York City alone has seen an increase of over 50% in daily cyclists in the last ten years, up to 120 000 from 75 000. According to 2000 Census figures, New Yorkers have the longest average commute in the country, about 45 minutes.

However, the average bicycle commute in New York City only takes 30 minutes. Across the other side of the Atlantic one high street retailer has been trying to enlighten the residents of London to get back on their bikes. Halfords, for one month placed ten bikes at ten locations as part of their Borrow the Bike project. The idea was that people could take the bicycles when needed and ride to their desired location, leaving the bike to be picked up by someone else to continue the usage. The scheme attracted lots of attention and thousands of people went to the dedicated site to leave comments.

“What a great idea – I found one at Euston station. The bike saved me from a packed rush hour tube. I was home in minutes!”
Dawn, London

In Dublin, Ireland, they have also implemented a similar scheme to reduce traffic congestion in the capital city, where an estimated 25 000 people cycle to work every day. The council plans to have 500 bicycles located at 25 points around the city for public use 24 hours a day. The bikes are "virtually vandal proof", will not get a puncture and have no visible cables. For a small fee, you can collect a bike from one of the 25 collection points and with that cycle to your desired location, leaving the bike at another collection point. Each bike will have a micro chip to allow it to be traced should it not be retuned to a designated point. The scheme which should be available to use in three months time is funded by JC Decaux, in exhange they will be allowed to erect a further 120 permanent advertising boards and remove 1800 other boards as part of the overall deal.

"We have to do something about the chronic traffic problems and congestion in the city centre, but I'm a bit concerned that the council isn't operating the scheme independently and is linking up with an advertiser"
Bronwen Maher, Dublin City Councillor, Green Party

Whilst the Dublin scheme is being fully implemented it doesn't offer the full unrestricted and free service that the Halfords short term scheme offered. By restricting the usage to the end user, and with that the additional charge I fear this will deter many from using the scheme. This is where the Halfords scheme excelled. However, the Halfords scheme did have one proble, none of the bikes were returned. The idea was, at the end of the scheme the £160 Carrera Subway bikes would be donated to the charity Bikes4Africa. The bikes would then be distributed to students who face ten mile walks to school.

If you have an old bike which is not being used consider donating it to Bikes4Africa.

"None have yet been returned. We know they are still out there. We have had reports of sightings but nothing specific. We probably won't get them all back."
Halfords, Borrow The Bike

Channel 4: Dispatches: Bin Wars

Channel 4, tonight aired Dispatches, a documentary investigating fortnightly bin collections. The show gave an even sided view of the problem from various members of different communities who have implemented the scheme.

Whilst I appreciated many of the findings in the documentary, I have to say I did disagree with those that felt that fortnightly collections of waste lead to increased maggots, flies and odour. I have had fortnightly collections for several years now, and have not had the problems encountered by those in show, but the lack of recycling receptacles clearly need to be addressed to further encourage householders to recycle. Small crates simply do not fulfil the requirements of even an one-person household. Over a fortnight my green recycle bin is easily half to three-quarters full in a three person household.

One way to reduce the burden from household food waste which was the major concern in the documentary is to create a compost heap in the garden. A compost heap should not have a bad odour and can take up to 60% of household waste.

To find out how you can start a compost heap, view our Guide to Composting.

In addition the unstatistical way in which many of the tests were carried out. For example the bin test, in which 60 households received bins clearly knew who had received which bin. In an area with such objection to the policy of fortnightly bin collections it is highly likely individuals could have interfered with the experiment. Similarly the bins were give indiscriminately to households without ensuring the number of participants were similar.

I do agree that manufactures need to reduce the amount of packaging they use, in addition I believe that they need to find a solution to the packaging issue in such a way that it makes it easier to recycle the current plastic recycling system is complicated and many consumers are unable to identify, and even if they are, facilities do not exist to recycle plastics. If the facilities exist plastic can only be in some cases recycled once.

"What do the Numbers on Plastic Mean?" may help you decipher the numbers on plastic.

Overall the documentary certainly helped ensure that the issue of household waste and recycling is back on the public agenda.

For more information on this documentary visit Dispatches: Bin Wars. You can join the debate at Bin Wars Moblog. If you have any comments please feel to leave them in the comments section.

Watch Dispatches: Bin Wars in full.

Marks & Spencer to Charge for Plastic Bags

It was announced today that Marks & Spencer will be implementing a trial at their Northern Ireland stores to charge customers for each plastic bag used. The charge which will be imposed from 1st July will be five pence per bag. To ensure customers are given a fair deal, from 4th to 14th June, M&S will distribute a "Bag for Life" to all customers in it's food halls. The bags will be produced from recycled material and will come in three designs by the illustrator David Downton.

If the trial is a success the scheme will be rolled out across the rest of the UK. When the Republic of Ireland introduced their plastic bag tax in March 2002, this saw plastic bag use initially fall 95% and generate an annual income of 10m Euro for environmental projects. However, the five pence will not be going into the pockets of M&S, who today also posted a 28.5% increase in annual pre-tax profit to £965.2m. The money will be donated to Groundwork Northern Ireland, the money raised will help fund projects that will address evironmental issues.

"We have all got into the habitof using too many carrier bags and we want to explore how we can encourage people to change their behaviour"
Neil Hyslop, Divisional Executive for Ireland, Marks & Spencer

The introduction of a charge on plastic bags is part of M&S's drive, called "Plan A", towards ethical trading and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. The five-year scheme will see M&S become carbon neutral, stop sending waste to landfill and extend its sustainable sourcing by 2012.

The news has been greeted by many who believe that the tax is a step in the right direction towards a UK tax on plastic bag, and this as Hong Kong also implements a tax on plastic bags of $0.50 or about three pence. However, all this legislation does not include paper bags which as we have seen from the article "Paper or Plastic?" has just as much if not a larger impact environmentally. Should we tax paper as well as plastic?

Paper or Plastic?

Never has the issue of how we pack our groceries been such a hot topic, with supporters for plastic and paper pushing their side, in addition to this we now have many stores stocking canvas bags as the next solution to reducing our dependance on paper and plastic bags. So which is the best solution? I've been researching each to find the related pros and cons, and would love to hear your arguements in the comments section of what you use and why.

Having already previously touched on plastic bag reduction last month in the article "Would You Like a Bag?" but not really gone into much detail. Plastic has long been used in the UK, and is used by the majority of shopping outlets, big and small from cornershop to supermarket. Plastic grocery bags consume 40% less energy to produce, 80% less transport energy and generate 80% less solid waste than paper bags. However, plastic bags can take 1,000 years to decompose compared to paper bags which take about a month to decompose (not if they are landfilled). In addition as plastic bags degrade in landfill the bags can emit toxins to the soil. A fact from the Environmental Protection Agency suggests that if every New York City resident used one less plastic bag a year, it would result in a saving of 2 250 tonnes of waste and $250 000 in disposal costs.

To combat the ill effects of plastic a sturdy, reusable bag can be obtained from many stores, including Tesco and needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags. Tesco launched a scheme last year to reward UK shoppers who manage to work their way through 18 billion bags a year. A shopper gains a loyalty point for each, bag, box, wheelbarrow or other receptical that they bring with them to carry their goods home.

Co-op was the first supermarket in the UK to make use of biodegradable shopping bags to replace the plastic bags that they had previously used, these have the benefits of plastic bags without the environmental impact, however this does come at a cost to the organisation. On 1st May 2007, the town of Modbury became, what they believe the first town in Europe to be plastic bag free. All 43 local traders agreed that they would no longer offer plastic bags and instead only use 100% biodegradable corn-starch bags, recycled paper bags or reusable cotton or jute bags.

So what about paper bags, are they as friendly as they are made out to be, their popularity has fallen since the introduction of plastic bags in 1977. Paper bags are made from trees, which are a renewable resource, however they many not be sourced from sustainable forests. Most plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources. Paper bags now accounts for less than 20% of all bags used in USA. As stated before paper bags are alot heavier, 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, 2000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. Paper therefore requires more transport energy and more landfill space.

It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper, and in manufacture more than four times as much energy to produce a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. The energy required to produce the bags (in British thermal units): Safeway plastic bags: 594 BTU; Safeway paper bags: 2511 BTU. Statistics show that in reality a higher proportion of paper bags are recycled than plastic. But 80% of paper bags were still sent to landfill, and to add to this current research demonstrates that paper in landfills does not biodegrade at a rate substaintially faster than plastic. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light, oxygen, and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed.

So what is the solution, to the question Paper or Plastic?, the real answer is neither. Reusable canvas totes seem to have been adopted by many environmentalists as the real solution to the problem, and not only are they environmentally friendly they are the latest fashion accessory adorned by celebrities. This has caused loads of stores online and offline to start selling the bags and prices can range from $3 - $24. So if you want to get canvas tote bags without the price tag, I will be posting an article on how to make your own, with a video on You Tube very soon. In addition I will be giving away a few freebies too.

Watching the Electricity Meter

I thought it would be a good idea to see how much electricity my household uses, whilst I could have used a bill to compare to this would be an average and most of our bills have been estimated at some point and would be less accurate. I wont be telling the other two members of the household so that they will continue to use electricity as normal. The idea is so that I can track our daily usage and see how much we use over one week, and then in the second week I will tell them to be more active in conservation and see how much electricity we can save, or not save, so far Saturday has yet to yeild a positive result.

I want to track the daily usage for the possible future installation of solar panels to cover our daily energy needs. I will add the daily readings here.

Starting Meter Reading at; 96,184 (or else I will forget)

Sat - 17 KWh (96,201)
Sun - 19 KWh (96,220)
Mon - 14 KWh (96,234)
Tue - 18 KWh (96,252)
Wed - 17 KWh (96,269)
Thu - 20 KWh (96,289)
Fri - 14 KWh (96,303)

Sat - 25 KWh (96,328)
Sun - 13 KWh (96,341)
Mon - 17 KWh (96,358) (Bank Holiday at Home)
Tue - 21 KWh (96,379)
Wed - 15 KWh (96,394)
Thu - 14 KWh (96,408)
Fri - 17 KWh (96,425)

Competitive Enterprise Institute Airs Co2 Pollution Denial Ads

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has produced two 60-second television spots focusing on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use. The ads are airing in 14 U.S. cities from May 18 to May 28, 2006.

But it is no surprise that they believe "Co2 is life" as they are funded by ExxonMobil Corporation, with over $2 million in contributions between 1998 and 2005. In 2002 the company gave $405,000, in 2004 it gave CEI $180,000 that was earmarked for "global climate change and global climate change outreach.

Other companies that donate on an annual basis include;

Ford Motor Company
Phillip Morris
Texaco Inc

With all this funding from such specific companies one wonders how much thinking this think tank really does, and does it extend beyond the next annual donation.

You can see the videos (if you really want) at You Tube (1|2)

Please leave your comments here about the videos.

Update: Wind Energy in the UK

The third Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report presented in Bangkok cited that wind energy is one of the key technologies available to avoid climate change. None more so is this true in the United Kingdom which harnesses 40% of the total wind energy of Europe. At the beginning of February, the UK surpassed the 2GW milestone, for the total installed capacity nationwide, this was met with the opening of Braes O'Doune wind farm near Stirling, and worldwide capacity has increased to 75GW, about 1% of total worldwide electricity generation.

Whilst the UK has such potential for wind energy it is falling far behind that of other European countries, such as Germany and Spain which currently have install capacities of 20.6GW and 11.6GW.

"It is sometimes said that wind energy, for example, does not reduce carbon dioxide emissions because the intermittent nature of its output means it needs to be backed up by fossil fuel plant. Wind turbines do not displace fossil generating capacity on a one-for-one basis. But it is unambiguously the case that wind energy can displace fossil fuel-based generation, reducing both fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions"
The Costs and Impacts of Intermittency, UK Energy Research Council, March 2006

Wind power as a renewable energy source, is also a clean energy source. In the production of electricity it generates no emissions. In comparison fossil fuel plants emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulates, or any other type of air pollution.

Some argue that wind turbines generate a large amount of emissions through construction, whilst this is true, similarly other types of energy plants would also emit emissions through construction. One study has concluded that the net energy gain (energy return on investment or EROI) to be from 17 to 39 times the energy invested through manufacture, installation, operation and decommissioning for a wind turbine. A similar Danish study suggested the payback ratio could be as high as 80 times, resulting in a wind turbine paying off its energy debt within 3 months. In comparison coal power plants, and nuclear power plants offer energy payback ratios of 11 and 16 times respectively.

"The available evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds"
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Not only is the wind turbines safe for birds, and humans, with 50,000 machines installed around the world, no member of the public has ever been harmed by operating wind turbines. There is however a but, or a bat, some near-shore sites may be particularly hazardous to local bat populations and more research is urgently needed.

With little objection to wind farms in general, and most new farms taking advantage of the benefit of being sited off shore, which offers 90% greater energy output. In the past year the number of planning applications for wind farms has exploded. On Wednesday plans were unveiled for the world's largest off shore wind farm off the coast of Devon. If the plans get the go ahead the £3bn Atlantic Array scheme will have 350 turbines and generate enough clean energy to power more than 1,000,000 homes. Reducing carbon emissions by 2.3 million tonnes per year.

Farm Energy is the Devon-based company behind the scheme, originating from the London Array project in the Thames Estuary, currently the world's largest offshore wind scheme, which received offshore consents from the DTI and Defra in December 2006.

"Atlantic Array is a game-changing proposal which will have a major influence on the Government's thinking on the best areas for offshore wind, currently assumed to be shallow water off the East of England coast and in the Irish Sea"
Matthew Spencer, Chief Executive, Regen SW

With the continued investment and the potential of wind energy in the UK, we will continue to see more developments like that of the Alantic Array and London Array as a way of meeting our energy needs for the future and also reducing our overall emissions.

If you want to convert to green energy from your supplier (it might even be free) visit Carbon Free Electricity.

Pedal Power: Bike to Work Day

With today being Bike to Work day I thought it would be nice to show another simple clip from Lets Green This City of someone riding a bicycle. Not only is biking to work environmentally friendly, 19% of those that cycle consider the commute the best part of their day, more than those that drive at 2%. So there really is no better way to start the day than a bike ride to work!

Mobile Phone Recycling

Every hour in the UK 1712 people upgrade their mobile phone. Only 30% of the redundant phones will be eventually recycled with the rest abandonned in drawers or sent to landfills. In the UK alone it is estimated there is in excess of 80m outdated phones gathering dust with an annual increase of 10m.

Waste from mobile phones has become a major environmental issue, in particular some of the many substances used to manufacture mobiles contain the deadliest toxins known to man, these include Arsenic, Mercury, Cadmium, Palladium, Lead and Beryllium. It therefore is essential that mobile phones are recycles to ensure disposal of any harmful toxins in a controlled manner.

Phones that are able to be refurbished are often refurbished, to an as new standard, extending the product life, the phones are then exported to developing countries providing affordable first time communication equipment and improving local communities and economies.

Phones that can be broken down for parts that can be reused, materials that can be extracted and recycled into the production of new phones. Remaining unsalvageable parts are sent for certified safe disposal to meet WEEE legislation that governs the cycle of electrical waste into the environment.

In the UK there are many schemes and companies offering mobile phone recycling, here are a few;

Tesco, has for several years offered mobile phone recycling, for exchanging your old functioning mobile phone you can claim 500 clubcard points or alternatively donate £5 to charity. Also available is ink jet cartridge recycling.

Oxfam recycle phones with all profits going towards their charitible work. In the UK alone their scheme has ensured 22 500 kilos of electronic waste has been diverted from landfill sites.

In the US the following organisations offer cellular phone recycling;

Collective Good offer a recycling service, a donation is made to a chosen charity for each phone and the owner of the phone is able to claim a tax credit.

Wireless Recycling offer a database of 40 000 locations where you can recycle your phone and help charities.

If you would like to recycle your mobile phone but can not find a solution in your country or area you can send them to, eWaste Recycling, 1 Conway Street, Lisburn, BT27 4AD, United Kingdom. For each working phone received a minimum donation of £5 will be given to Christian Aid. Christian Aid work in over 50 of the world's poorest countries regardless of race or faith.

How to Choose the Right Sized Bike for Children?

With biking becoming a popular mode of transport due to environmental and health benefits there has been growing demand for bicycles around the UK. One age group which has always been large sector of bike users are children and choosing the right size bicycle for you child improves comfort and more importantly safety.

Most stores will be more than able and willing to give you advice as to the size requirement. Below is a general guide that most stores will work to.

Always ensure safety equipment is used when riding a bike.

Age of Child	Inside Leg	Height of Child	Frame Size	Wheel Size
3 - 5 Years Old	13.5" - 16"	Under 90 cm	8.5"	12"
4 - 7 Years Old	15" - 17.5"	90 - 115cm	9"	14"
5 - 7 Years Old	17" - 20.5"	105 - 120cm	10"	16"
7 - 11 Years Old	20" - 23"	115 - 140cm	11"	20"
7 - 11 Years Old	21" - 24.5"	115 - 140 cm	12"	20"
11 - 14 Years Old	23" - 26.5"	Over 135cm	13"	24"
11 - 14 Years Old	23.5" - 27"	Over 135cm	14"	24"

Picture: RePower 5MW Wind Turbine

The 900 tonne RePower 5MW wind turbine, being installed 15 miles off the east coast of Scotland. With an impressive blade diameter of 126m, the blades sweep an area of about 12000 square meters. The turbine operates in wind speeds of 7 to 70mph and is expected to achieve 96% operational level. 38% operational level at full power or about 3300 hours per year. At full capacity it should generate enough electricity to power about 6000 homes. Another five are planned for installation this year.

Guide to Home Composting

With the average person in the UK disposing of 517kg of waste each year, the increasing need to reduce waste being landfilled is an environmental and financial dilemma for most councils and governments. The Environment Agency's National Household Waste Analysis project suggests that about 60% of all municipal waste is biodegradable and by 2020 the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill must be reduced to 75% of the amount produced in 1995 to meet targets set by the UK government.

One way we can assist is through composting our biodegradable waste. I have now collected my composter from my local council for only £5. A quick look on the website with the accompanying literature suggest that the recommended retail price is £40. Many councils in the UK offer this reduced and subsidised scheme, some will even give you an accompanying kitchen caddy and free delivery. Find your local council to see what scheme they offer.

For more information how to reduce your household food waste.

Financially each tonne of waste is taxed by government at £24, then the additional cost charged by the landfill owner per tonne, if this is the council then they incur cost through construction and this ultimately passed to the local community in council taxes .

So you have your composter, what should you do?

Place your compost bin on well-drained soil in a sunny part of the garden, loosening soil beneath the composter. This improves drainage, and encourages worms and bacteria to enter the composter from the surrounding earth.

By placing a layer of manure or kitchen waste on to the loose soil this will attract worms and bacteria quicker.

It is best to add different types of materials in levels, 3 to 6 inches in depth.

If not included get yourself a kitchen caddy or bucket, this will save you having to travel to the bottom of the garden at the end of every meal.

A good mix of waste is essential to aid in the decomposition of waste.

What's In

• Vegetables and Fruit
  High in essential nitrogen and carbon
  Best in small pieces, peelings are fine but chop up full sized waste fruit
• Tea Leaves & Coffee Grounds
• Crushed Egg Shells
• Weeds
  Compost heaps should rise above 66 degrees Celsius killing off weed seeds and disease
  Do Not Compost - Couch grass, bindweed or creeping buttercup, the conditions in a compost heap are ideal for them to keep on growing
• Grass Cuttings
  High in nitrogen, they act as a good activator
  Mix with kitchen and woody waste
• Hair
  From people and pets, it will all break down
• Paper
  Ideally in small amounts and shredded
• Animal Manure
  Vegetarian pets only
  Best mixed with straw
• Evergreen Clippings
  Taking a long time to decompose (especially conifers), these should be used sparingly
• Leaves
  Contain lignin, taking a long time to decompose, best composted separately
• Prunings
  Add only in small amounts and chopped up well
• Straw & Hay
  Used is best
  Dry straw and hay should be soaked before adding
• Spent Hops
  High in nutrition
• Vacuum Dust
  Only from woollen carpets
  Synthetic threads will not break down
  
  

And what to avoid ...

• Disposable nappies, used tissues and excrement
  In case disease is not destroyed by the composting process
• Hard objects, stones, bits of glass, metal and plastic
• Household or garden chemicals
• Brightly coloured or shiny card or printed papers
• Meat (cooked or raw)
  The smell can attract animals

To get the best results your composter should be kept warm, moist and oxygenated. Placing the composter in direct sunlight, and away from wind will allow the the plastic to absorb UV rays and heat the compost. By ensuring the lid is on at all times allows the heat and moisture to be confined. If your compost starts to dry out, add water as and when required. Most compost bins are specifically designed to allow the sufficient aeration, however you turning the materials you will increase aeration and speed up the decomposition process. You can add air pockets with scrunched up newspaper or shredded paper.

Your compost when ready should be an odourless crumbly brown material, by digging it into your soil in early spring or late autumn you will improve the soil structure, it will also act as a fertiliser. Mixing with clay soil will improve drainage and aeration, whilst mixing with sandy soil will slow over-draining and hold essential moisture.

Using a 3" mulch of compost around the garden helps retain moisture and prevent weeds. In releases its nutrients into the soil and improves texture. Worms will pull the mulch down into their burrows, passing it through their gut breaking it down even more and mixing it into the soil at the same time.


Troubleshooting

• Compost is not getting hot enough to break down material
  Compost mix not right, add more soft sappy nitrogen-rich activating materials (eg grass)
• Composter slows in winter
  Bacteria slow down, add additional activators in the compost heap will increase the heat
• Compost heap dries out
  Evaporation of water due to heat, water you compost until moist, keeping the lid on should help lock in the moisture
• Flies
  Larvae feed on the vegetation.They are not a nuisance, however excessive levels are unwanted. Avoid pesticides. Cover the pile with paper and bury kitchen scraps
• Unpleasant smell
  Not enough air is getting to the compost. Aerate the compost using a fork or aeration stick.

It may sound that composting is a pretty arduous task and may not be suited to everyone, however once you get used to separating the waste and composting once a day. It should take no longer than five minutes work. By composting you will prevent a large proportion of your household waste going to landfill, by composting you will also save your local authority some cash each year to spend on real things not big holes in the ground.

For more indepth information on composting visit Master Composter

Video: You Have The Power to Save Energy

A video from the Victoria Government, Melbourne. This is another great video (maybe I am just easily pleased), displaying how in reality we are releasing Co2 and other toxins through the misuse energy. Its interesting to compare the angles used by each country in their efforts to reduce emissions as each country is trying different methods.

Two other commercials in this series can be found at Energy Saving Campagin.

Green to the Core ... A Greener Apple

Apple have been in the past critised for its impact on the environment. In April it ranked at the bottom of electronics manufactures compiled by Greenpeace, and their Cupertino offices and conferences have seen banner-waving activists driving the issue to the forefront of the mind of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

"Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products"

A Greener Apple, Apple Inc

So it was no surprise that Apple announced yesterday, in a press release from Steve Jobs on the home page of apple.com that they said the company would stop using toxic and hazardous chemicals in manufacturing. In the statement Apple explained what it had already done to clean up its manufacturing processes and laid out how it was planning to make them greener.


Summary of "A Greener Apple"

• Apple now no longer offer CRT monitors (A typical CRT monitor contains 1.3kg of Lead)
• Apple phased out Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Decabromodiphenyl Ether in all products several years ago to comply with RoSH
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008
• Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in its products by the end of 2008
• All the ewaste collected in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal
• Apple started recycling in 1994 and today it operates recycling programs in countries where more than 82% of all Macs and iPods are sold. By the end of this year, that figure will increase to 93%
• All of Apple’s U.S. retail stores, which now number more than 150, take back unwanted iPods for environmentally friendly disposal free of charge. As an incentive, they even offer customers a 10% discount on a new iPod when they bring their old iPod to their stores for proper disposal

"Today we're changing our policy."
Steve Jobs, Apple Inc CEO

Greenpeace reacted to the statement by ... releasing a statement, praising the efforts of Apple "bringing us closer to the greener apple that Mac users all over the world have been asking for."

However one issue that has arisen is the US only commitment not to dump ewaste on Asia and India. Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow's ewaste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling, if Apple really want to compete on green credentials they should too.

"They've made clear what they want-- an Apple which isn't just skin-deep green, but green to the core"

Tasty News From Apple, Greenpeace

Hopefully other electronics firms will follow suit and reduce the harmful chemicals contained in their products. But this also raises concern of how our ewaste is disposed, with large numbers of CRT monitors still in homes around the world. In Europe, disposal of CRT monitors are covered by the WEEE Directive. In October 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency created rules for disposing of CRTs stating that they must be brought to special recycling centres. In November 2002, the EPA began fining companies that disposed of CRTs through landfills or incineration.

If you have a CRT monitor you need recycled in the UK, contact the manufacture direct or contact your local authority. Contact details are available from DirectGov.

Picture: Europe's First Solar Power Station

Europe's first commercially operated power station making use of solar energy. Solucar the operator proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity.

What Do Those Numbers On Plastic Mean?

Plastics are one of the most difficult items to recycle in terms of collection and sorting. There are hundreds of variations of plastic, they can be recycled, however not all plastics can be remade into the original product. Plastic drinks bottles (PET), for example, come back to life as plant pots or garden seats which cannot be recycled a second time.

There are 7 main classifications which are known as resin codes and these are found on most plastic items that can be recycled. But more often than not they are sent to landfill as the facilities to process them are unavailable. Most UK council areas offer doorstep recycling, but this is often limited to PET bottles and HDPE. Other plastics are just not feasible environmentally or financially.

So what do the resin codes mean;

1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
   Used in water and soft drinks bottles
   
   
2. High-density Polyethylene (HDPE)
   Used in milk and water containers, and detergent bottles
   
   
3. Polyvinyl Chloride (flexible, pPVC)
   Used in soft plastic wrapping
   Polyvinyl Chloride (rigid, uPVC)
   Used in window frames and car components
   
   
4. Low-den-sity Polyethylene (LDPE)
   Used in shopping bags and bin liners
   
   
5. Polypropylene (PP)
   Used in rigid containers such as yoghurt pots
   
   
6. Polystyrene (PS)
   Used in insulated food containers
   
   
7. All Other Plastics
   Not always marked
   
   

The options for recycling and processing plastic waste is unavailable in most areas in the UK, resulting in under 9% of all plastics being recycled. Plastics are derived from energy resources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, so any material recovered is an energy savings. 90% of the manufacturing process energy needs to produce new plastics is saved by recycling. Those that are not recycled ultimately end in our landfills leaking additives such as phthalates into the water supply. If they are incinerated some plastics release chlorine into the atmosphere and leave heavy metals in the incineration ash. We should all try to reduce our plastic usage and search for environmentally sound packaging solutions to rival the current inadequate solutions.

May's Questions & Answers

I run night clubs. is it better for the Environment to have the fridges on timers or constantly running?

Due to the variation in brands models and styles, I would say I dont know which way to swing, plus I am aware cooling and warming of certain beverages will have an affect on their quality.

What I would suggest is that you do a trial at one club. By taking a meter read immediately as you switch off at 4am then again at 5pm after switching them on again at 2pm. And on a simmilar day at 4am leaving them on until taking a read at 5pm. Obviously try to keep factors the same as best as possible. I know most over night equipment use in food establishments is pretty constant.

I would suggest these other money and energy saving tips;

• You could reduce your fridge usage on quiet mid week nites. For example if operations allow operate with only 3 or 4 fridges Sunday - Thursday. Then for the busy weekend increase to full capacity. (This could be a big money saver if operations allow)
  
• Try to keep stock naturally cool. This will help when restocking fridges as the energy to cool them will be decreased.
  Increase the fridge temperature slighty, increasing gradually to see if it has an affect on quality, you might beable to get it as high as 5 degrees celcius and will save alot of energy.
  
• Try not to open and close the fridge door too often. This is very difficult for catering establishments.
  
• Don't overstock your fridges, it's important for air to circulate.
  
• If your fridge has coils, dust them regularly to remove dirt, which stops them working efficiently.

If an event such as an NFL game uses enough power to power 2,000 homes, what would be the carbon footprint?

According to two sources (BBC News & Times Online) they suggest that the electricity required to power 2000 homes is between 2MW and 3 MW, thus for this assumption I will use the mean, 2.5MW. Taking the average length of an NFL game, 3hrs 06 minutes, this would equate to 7.75MW of electricity. According to DEFRA research from 2005, the average emissions per KW/h was 0.43kg. 7.75MW is equal to 7750kW and multiplied by the Co2 per kWh would equal 3333kg or 3.33 tonnes of Co2.

How much litter is collected in the united states per year?

The United States generated approximately 245.7 million tons of waste in 2005, a decrease of 1.6 million tons from 2004. Excluding composting, the amount of waste recycled increased to 58.4 million tons, an increase of 1.2 million tons from 2004. This is a 2% increase in the tons recycled. The tons recovered for composting rose slightly to 20.6 million tons in 2005, up from 20.5 million tons in 2004. The recovery rate for recycling (including composting) was 32.1% in 2005, up from 31.4% in 2004. This equates to 4.54 pounds per person per day. This is a decrease of 1.5% from 2004 to 2005. The recycling rate in 2005 was 1.46 pounds per person per day. Discards sent to a landfill after recycling declined to 2.46 pounds per person per day in 2005.

For information on why we should recycle see our article Why Recycle?, Also for information on reducing household waste see our Guide To Home Composting and There's Nothing Wrong with Mouldy Cheese.

How much of the UK/Britains energy is provided by Fossil Fuels?

In the year 2005 the percentage of energy derived from major sources was as follows;

• Natural Gas 40%
• Oil 33%
• Coal 17%
• Nuclear 8%
• Renewable 2%

If you would like to switch to renewable energy from your supplier, some offer this switch for free, but have not publicised it. For more information visit Carbon Free Electricity.

Does anyone know how to get swansea council to start back up the plastic collection?

I don't understand why a council would stop recycling plastics. Even if they were to only collect the most common plastic PET. The questions you should pose are not only environmental but financial.

The current government landfill tax is £24 per tonne, plus a fee to the landfill owner. In addition to that each tonne of PET generates revenue of up to £270 per tonne. So by failing to collect PET it would cost them about £294 tonne in net revenue plus the landfill owner charge. If the collection network is in place and bins are provided, in a council area the size of Swansea substantial revenue could be generated at little cost.
Incinerating plastic releases chlorine into the atmosphere and leaves heavy metals in the incineration ash. If plastic is put in landfill, additives such as phthalates can leak into the water supply.

Plastics are derived from energy resources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, so any material recovered is an energy saving. 90% of the manufacturing process energy needed to produce new plastics is saved by recycling.

PET bottles and other plastics also take hundreds of years to break down, added to that the space they will also be taking up in landfills especially if not flattened would be large. Leading to the need for additional landfills, if constructed by the council or not this cost will ultimately be borne by the local residents through increases in council tax.

Legislation which is particularly relevant to plastics is the 1994 European Union Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste 94/62/EC (the Packaging Directive), which aimed to establish producer responsibility for packaging waste. The directive was implemented in the UK through the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 and the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 1998. The former sets targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging wastes, including plastics packaging waste. These targets are currently being revised by the EU. The UK government has published the national packaging recycling and recovery targets for 2006 and beyond. These require 23% of plastics waste to be recovered by 2006, rising to 25.5% by 2010.

After checking the Swansea Council website, they collect paper and glass, these both generate revenue substaintially less than that of PET, Glass about £20 a tonne most likely will be mixed, and paper, from £60 - £140 a tonne.

They state on their website;

"Plastic is collected at two of our Civic Amenity Sites.

Plastic is a very difficult and expensive item to collect for recycling (collection methods however are already in place ??). There are currently no appropriate plastic recycling companies in the local area, so any plastic collected for recycling needs to be transported long distances across the UK to a processing company. Plastic is very light and would need to be sorted into the different types, squashed and baled to make it cost and environmentally effective to transport it these long distances. (then why collect them at amenity sites at all ??)"

I did a search for a reprocessor of PET bottles, using google maps there is one located a mere 76 miles away, and upto 6 or 7 within 200 miles. Is this really a long distance which would be evironmentally ineffective to transport the bottles too? Using some figures I have it would be feasible to transport them to the supplier and the energy saved would be far greater than that of the road transport.

You need to contact your council to ask for a real reason why they have halted collection of plastics. Many other councils areas in the UK can sucessfully collect PET bottles for recycling without the problems encountered by Swansea Council.

email: recycling@swansea.gov.uk

tel: 01792 635600

fax: 01792 511925

You should then send them a formal letter addressing your concerns environmental and financial. Obviously the more support you can generate from the community. You may wish to contact a local newspaper about the issue and let the community know the affects of not recycling plastics again financial and environmental.



If you have any Questions please feel free to ask them in the comments section or email us at support@howtosaveenergy.co.uk. If you need immediate answers for that question that's just nagging you why not try out Yahoo! Answers Environment & Ecology section where you can get a plethora of answers from other members of the public.