What little things have you done

[hash tag]

We dont have nor will have Christmas lights at home. Don't mock. Listening to You and yours recently, someone noted for their lights in Nottinghamshire said to the reporter his lights had less of her carbon footprint
than all her recent flights (recording from 2+ years ago). They went on to state a silly amount the electricity costs the Americans for these lights each year.
A quick search for the UK - £4 million a year ....https://www.fool.co.uk/personal-finance/your-money/learn/christmas-lights-cost-brits-nearly-4m-a-year-heres-how-to-keep-yuletide-energy-costs-down/

 

[StoneRoad]

Needed to brighten things up this year.
So bought some replacement exterior lights.
All LEDs and their draw is tiny compared to various previous iterations.

We had some very power hungry floodlights on a daisy chain supply a couple of decades ago.
(they gradually died and the last working section were nicked out of the garden one afternoon just before 12th night).

 

[hash tag]

I have found myself using the switches on the hifi as opposed to using the remote and thus prolonging the life of the battery in the remote.

 

[hash tag]

Asthma inhalers...................

Forget recycling asthma inhalers, they way to go must be dry powder inhalers as opposed metered dose inhalers which contain greenhouse gases equivalent to 100 miles in a car.
I drag this up now because I heard an article about it on the BBC in the wee small hours which I cannot find. Other links here though

Tools and resources | Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management | Guidance | NICE

www.nice.org.uk

Asthma carbon footprint 'as big as eating meat'

Seven in every 10 inhalers prescribed in England contain propellants harmful to the environment, researchers say.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[StoneRoad]

Asthma inhalers...................

Thanks for that - OH is about to ask for more inhalers [only used occasionally], so I'll pass that one on.

 

[StoneRoad]

We had a small amount of damage from Storms Arwen & Barra ... very little, tbh.
Just the top out of a Scot's Pine, a few other big branches and a load of thin twigs.

However, we have also had the OHL people doing some tree trimming.

So, since the weekend, we've cut most of that pine up for firewood - too badly damaged for anything else. Although we still have a little bit more tidying up to do, most of that is now done. This is now stacked to season before we use it, especially the largest lumps ...
We've also made some inroads into the tree pruning heaps, ie cut out the biggest bits for firewood and the thinner stuff for kindling - all the remaining brashings are being added to heaps for small mammal shelter & minibeast habitats. Several piles suitable for birds' nests have been compiled ! Still got about another third to do ...
Next time, I'll have my chipper available to help the clear-up !

The result has been a collection of firewood, that will keep us going if we need extra warmth - or the power's off.
I do want to use some of the stock to reduce our reliance on LPG for space heating, as the cost per litre is eyewatering atm.

 

[8ball]

We dont have nor will have Christmas lights at home. Don't mock. Listening to You and yours recently, someone noted for their lights in Nottinghamshire said to the reporter his lights had less of her carbon footprint
than all her recent flights (recording from 2+ years ago). They went on to state a silly amount the electricity costs the Americans for these lights each year.
A quick search for the UK - £4 million a year ....https://www.fool.co.uk/personal-finance/your-money/learn/christmas-lights-cost-brits-nearly-4m-a-year-heres-how-to-keep-yuletide-energy-costs-down/

That's, what... a few pennies per person in the country per year? If everyone in the country had a cup of tea it would probably cost that.

 

[Dandred]

All lights in the house are LED, triple glazed, most efficient gas boiler, sort the recycling, even take all the labels of plastic and glass, drive a 1 liter petrol car when I could easily drive round is something much bigger. Only eat meat twice a week. Buy our electric from green suppliers.

 

[hash tag]

That's, what... a few pennies per person in the country per year? If everyone in the country had a cup of tea it would probably cost that.

"Little things".
They all add up

 

[8ball]

"Little things".
They all add up

Ok, let's have a "one less cup of tea to keep the lights on" drive.

 

[8ball]

All lights in the house are LED, triple glazed, most efficient gas boiler, sort the recycling, even take all the labels of plastic and glass, drive a 1 liter petrol car when I could easily drive round is something much bigger. Only eat meat twice a week. Buy our electric from green suppliers.

Got kids?

 

[hash tag]

Ok, let's have a "one less cup of tea to keep the lights on" drive.

I'm making 3 cups with one boil of the kettle and keeping it in a flask

 

[Sasaferrato]

but then you have the tick-tick-tick and while i can sleep in a room with every light on, i can't tolerate noise.
though come to think of it, you probably like ticks.

I've literally slept under shellfire. If you are knackered enough, you will sleep.

 

[Sasaferrato]

That's, what... a few pennies per person in the country per year? If everyone in the country had a cup of tea it would probably cost that.

Mrs Sas's strings of outside LED Christmas lights come to less than 30W. So, say six hours a day for 20 days 30x6x20 = 3,600 W.

Boiling 2kW kettle for ten minutes = 20,000 Watts.

 

[StoneRoad]

The majority of household lights - inc exterior, sheds and decorative - are now LED.

The last holdout area was the garage / workshop and the replacement fittings are now ready to install.

 

[8ball]

I've literally slept under shellfire. If you are knackered enough, you will sleep.

...unless you have a sleep disorder.

 

[Badgers]

I'm making 3 cups with one boil of the kettle and keeping it in a flask

Am also doing this got a big decent Thermos for about £20. Knock up a load of coffee in the morning and kettle is done with a boil have also got a smaller one for soup and such.

No doing much elsewhere. Have always shopped second handclothes and household things. Used to fly a lot but that is past. Never waste food

 

[stavros]

More general environment than climate change per se, but I forwent rocket in the new recipe I cooked this evening, because I could only find plastic bags of it in my local greengrocer and the nearby farm shop.

I may have missed out, but the meal tasted good all the same.

 

[stavros]

I cooked a lovely new recipe this evening, where I switched celeriac in for the prescribed swede, because the latter's not in season but the former is.

Or at least my Hugh FW book says that's the case; Eat the Seasons says they're both in at the moment.

 

[StoneRoad]

As I have probably noted in the 'Gardening Thread' I have been doing quite a bit of tree trimming, ably assisted this winter by Arwen and friends. There has been quite a pile created by the OHL vs trees team ...
This is largely "green" timber and I don't want to burn too much of it, because of the claimed particulates and it's way too smokey unless the wind is blowing hard, but that also makes the fire in the log-burner draw too fast/much.

This morning, I finally finished clearing the heaps of twiggy stuff [heaped up as wildlife habitat] and extracted those branch sections thick enough to call logs. Therefore, by this afternoon, I had managed to get proper access to the previous pile of logs that had had the newer stuff heaped up against it. Having looked at it again, there are some good sized logs in there. So, the next fine day [when it is not blowing half a houlie or more] we'll chop that lot up into useable lumps and pile up the fresh stuff that needs to dry, and probably add to it over the next week or so. I need to speak to some near neighbours on the same subject [sourcing more logs].

I'm going to need a few more trees planted, most of the ones I've thinned out were planted 25 years or more ago ...

tl;dr - making firewood out of dead[ish] trees

 

[stavros]

I cooked a lovely new recipe this evening, where I switched celeriac in for the prescribed swede, because the latter's not in season but the former is.

Or at least my Hugh FW book says that's the case; Eat the Seasons says they're both in at the moment.

My error; I meant squash rather than swede.

 

[dessiato]

I’ve bought another car with a smaller engine. I don’t drive it very often, it’ll be Easter before I next use it.

 

[LDC]

I generally hate all the personal lifestyle change stuff as I think it's missing the point/letting the companies off the hook etc, but I do know that we are going to have to change some aspects of how we live. Anyway, I like this article, even though it suggests personal changes, as it's clear, feels doable, isn't preachy, and is much more egalitarian if this was the level people aimed for together. (Plus all the other more structural changes elsewhere obviously.)

Six key lifestyle changes can help avert the climate crisis, study finds

Research shows that governments and individuals making small changes can have a huge impact in reducing emissions

www.theguardian.com

 

[Sasaferrato]

...unless you have a sleep disorder.

I've always had problems getting to sleep, but once I'm asleep, I stay asleep. I use an MP3 player, playing an audiobook now.

I once had a prolonged period of working eight hours on, eight hours off in a noisy environment, getting to sleep was not a problem then. Eating breakfast at midnight was a bit bizarre. I had a lab tech colleague with a vicious sense of humour, he cleared half the midnight breakfast queue (you tend to feel slightly nauseous anyway, tired and life completely out of sequence) with his comment re tinned plum tomatoes 'Just the thing for a hearty breakfast, an aborted mouse', cue green tinted faces fleeing.

 

[Sasaferrato]

I’ve bought another car with a smaller engine. I don’t drive it very often, it’ll be Easter before I next use it.

I've gone from 1600 to 1368. Driving at a steady 60, over 50 to the gallon.

Filling at the half tank stops me from bursting into tears these days.

 

[StoneRoad]

Half-jokingly, I've thought about using one of my two smaller m/bikes to commute to the workshop, instead of the car - when I don't have either the need to be there asap or large items to transport, that is.
Certainly a thought for in the summer [warmer] months.

 

[dessiato]

I've gone from 1600 to 1368. Driving at a steady 60, over 50 to the gallon.

Filling at the half tank stops me from bursting into tears these days.

At Xmas I rented a C1 which would give up to 75 to 100mpg, indicated.

 

[Sasaferrato]

At Xmas I rented a C1 which would give up to 75 to 100mpg, indicated.

Hmmmmm.... I've checked mine by filling it to the brim, then working out distance/fuel used.

 

[sojourner]

Found myself pondering the possibility of getting some kind of hook-up 'thing' to attach to my exercise bike, to generate small amount of electricity. Wondering if it could be stored up, in a battery or something, for use later.

 

[hash tag]

Half-jokingly, I've thought about using one of my two smaller m/bikes to commute to the workshop, instead of the car - when I don't have either the need to be there asap or large items to transport, that is.
Certainly a thought for in the summer [warmer] months.

I gather many bikes do not qualify for ULEZ