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| Eco Column
To contribute to the Elham Going Green column in the Elham Newsletter,
contact Kay Hoar on 840631 or email kayhoar@talktalk.net
April 09: How to drive economically
The
key to fuel efficient driving is to keep your speed consistent,
avoiding sharp acceleration and heavy braking. This involves lifting
the foot off the accelerator earlier. Coasting to a halt in gear is a
big fuel saver.• Check your tyre pressure regularly
– Under inflated tyres are potentially dangerous, and also increase the
rolling resistance between the tyre and the road, causing the engine to
work harder and use more fuel.• Shut windows and use the air conditioning sparingly – Air conditioning significantly increases fuel consumption.• Roof boxes & rails – External
fixings including bike racks increase the aerodynamic drag, which
increases consumption. Remember to remove them when not in use.• Remove car clutter – Golf clubs, pushchairs, or any extra unnecessary weight in the boot, can be removed to lower consumption when not needed.• Avoid short journeys – When
the engine is cold it uses more fuel than normal until it reaches the
optimum working temperature. The catalytic converter in the exhaust,
which reduces harmful emissions, is also less efficient when cold.• Avoid idling – If
you’re stuck in a traffic jam, switch the engine off if you expect to
be there for more than a minute or two. Cutting the engine will save
fuel and reduce emissions.• Maintain your car – Change your air filter annually and ensure your engine is working effectively.• Plan your journey – Plan journeys to avoid congestion, road works and getting lost.SOURCES: BP and www.climatecare.org
March 09: Eco Fair
The Elham Environment Group is holding an Eco Fair on Saturday 28 March at
Elham Primary School between 10am and 3.30pm.
At the event, we will showcase some of our initiatives, including:
• Trees for Elham: our tree planting campaign, organised with and sponsored by the Elham Gardening Society• Operation Energy Saver: our campaign to help residents identify household energy losses using a thermal imaging camera • Launch of the Elham Valley Fairtrade cotton shopping bag
The
Eco Fair will include the planting of a celebration tree at 11:00am in
the school playing field. This will be the last of about 60 trees
planted around the village. We will also display some results from our
Operation Energy Saver exercise, and there will be exhibits of energy
saving solutions.
Everyone
is warmly invited to attend, and residents will be able to pick up
their (confidential) thermal images. Entry to the Eco Fair is free, and
coffee, tea and cakes will be on sale.
EEG
volunteers will be visiting homes in Elham between 20 February and 20
March to offer free light bulbs, thermal images, and advice on how to
save energy
February 09: Heat Loss Detective UPDATE
The Elham Environment Group (EEG) has won £4,000 funding from Kent
County Council (KCC) for a campaign to encourage energy saving in the
home. As part of this campaign, residents will be given the chance to
have their homes photographed using a thermal imaging camera to
identify where they are losing heat.
The
campaign, named ‘Operation Energy Saver’, will involve training
volunteers to visit homes in the community and offer advice on how to
cut energy bills. They can also help residents identify any relevant
grants.
We plan to start the exercise in late February.
Operation
Energy Saver is part of the EEG’s ‘Elham Going Green’ project, aimed at
cutting carbon emissions in the Elham area by 20%.
ANY RESIDENTS INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING TO HELP AND GAIN EXPERTISE IN THERMAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGY please contact:
Kay Hoar: 840631, email kayhoar@talktalk.net
Chris Jelly: 862933, email chris@cjelly.plus.com
KCC
awarded a total of £10,000 to four communities through its Low Carbon
Challenge Fund. Elham and Hadlow each received £4,000, while Eastchurch
and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe received £1,000.
Hadlow
plans to develop a grower group to cultivate fruit and vegetables on
land owned by the agricultural college. Eastchurch will put its share
towards providing low energy street lights, while St Margaret’s is
looking at the feasibility of using renewables.
Diary date
We
will hold an event to showcase Operation Energy Saver and celebrate our
Tree Planting programme at Elham Primary School on 28 March.
Details to follow in next issue
December 08: Heat Loss Detective/Stopping junk mail and unwanted phone calls
Heat Loss Detective
No! Not a snooper but a new tool to help you see where your home is
losing its warmth. The Elham Environment Group are hoping to use a
‘thermal camera’ to help those in the village who would like to see
where they are losing heat, wasting money and, of course, adding to
their carbon footprint. The EEG have applied for a grant to help fund
this and their other projects during 2009. Come to the Fair on March
28th. in Elham School.
Stopping junk mail
The average home receives 224 items of junk mail a year, most of which
ends up in landfill. Preventing them could save about 4kg of carbon
dioxide per household per year. (It might also improve your mood and
make your hallway look tidier).
The BBC provides information about how to stop junk mail at this web address:
www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/junkmail.shtml
For junk mail, the BBC recommends using the FREE Mail Preference
Service: www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/. Or phone 0845 703 4599.
For unaddressed Royal Mail door-to-door, email optout@royalmail.com.
Or write to
FREEPOST RRBT-ZBXB-TTTS
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Outs
Kingsmead House
Oxpens Road
Oxford OX1 1RX
Stopping unwanted phone calls
To
stop unsolicited sales & marketing telephone calls, use the FREE
Telephone Preference Service: www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/. Or phone 0845
070 0707.
Other things you can do to stop unwanted mail and phone calls include:
• When you register to vote, make sure you tick the ‘opt-out’ box on your registration form to stop your address being used for marketing
• Whenever you fill in your details on a paper or online form, check for small boxes at the bottom to ensure you are not added to a mailing list, or your details passed to third parties.
November 08: Trees for Elham
Trees for Elham is an Elham Going Green initiative aimed at helping reduce the carbon footprint of the Elham Parish.
In
co-operation with the Elham Gardening Society, an extensive survey and
review has been carried out to choose possible sites. Fourteen sites
have been identified and tree species chosen.
We
approached the charity Kent Men of the Trees, and the chairman, Dr Alun
Griffiths, has agreed the sites and species selection. The charity will
provide over 100 trees and some hedgerows at no cost to us and help
plant them in December. We will be seeking volunteers, and then form
working parties from Elham and Dr Griffiths' group. A launch ceremony
is planned for later this year – details will be given in a later
Newsletter.
Great
care was taken in selection. A typical example is the Cricket Ground,
where there will be 12 field maples along the approach drive, with two
tall maples and five walnut trees and some Birch, Hornbeams and
Whitebeams in the actual ground area. Other sites include the
Canterbury Road (Elham Triangle end), Large Leaved Red Oak and North of
Bereforstal Farm, 6 Wych Elms and 6 Walnut trees. In the churchyard,
there will be Dark Purple and White Lilac.
All
the trees will need careful staking and some will need cattle guards.
Permissions from landowners, the KCC and Parish Council are being
sought.
To
help fund the project, the Gardening Society has donated £300, and
Susan Carey of Kent Count Council has committed a £500 grant to help
towards the cattle guards. The Elham Primary School, which will have 15
trees, and is also showing great interest in the project.
The
Elham Environment Group, which is implementing Elham Going Green, and
Gardening Society expect to extend the programme in 2009.
Elham Fuel Club - Update
Thankyou
to all those who have responded so far. We currently have over 30
members and so far have secured a 2-3p reduction in the market price
per litre. We will be in touch to arrange deliveries.
If
you would like to join the club, please hand in your details - name
address, email and/or telephone number, the size of your tank, the type
of fuel you use, and any access restrictions - to the village shop.
By
clubbing together we not only get a better price, but we can cut down
the number of delivery tankers coming into the village. If you have a
neighbour or friend in the village who would like to join, please tell
them to get in touch - our target is 100 members!
October 08: Jumping Downs nature reserve
Do
you know about the Jumping Downs nature reserve? Located south-west of
Barham, adjacent to Covert Wood, it comprises 14 acres of south-facing
Chalk Downland.
Lightly
wooded along the top of the slopes and the hillside, Jumping Downs
provides an ideal position for a wide variety of plants, herbs and
grasses to thrive, with a swathe of good pasture running along the
bottom of the slopes.
Surveys
in 2001 showed 70 different species of herbs and 3 orchids – the bee,
the pryamidal and the lady. Other common plants to look out for include
common cantaury, marjoram, salad burnet, yellow wort and wild
strawberry.
Wildlife
also includes a healthy lizard population, adders and badgers. Kestrels
are seen regularly and merlins have been spotted occasionally.
Between
the 1920s and 2000 this area of land was used for motor-bike
scrambling, before it was purchased from the farmer by a consortium of
local residents and put into trust. It is managed jointly by the
trustees and the Kentish Stour Countryside Project.
The site is an ideal learning environment for children, and education packs are available for school groups. Jumping Downs welcomes volunteers, and organises practical tasks, wildlife surveys and events throughout the year.
To find out more, contact Tony Seymour, Jumping Downs Trust on 01303 862142.
Biodiversity in Kent – key facts• Kent is internationally important for its chalk grassland and for three of its estuaries. It has 43% of the UK’s shingle habitat• Kent’s
varied geology and long coastline has resulted in a diverse range of
habitats, and its more continental climate means that several species
of plant and animal which occur in Kent are found nowhere else in the UK• Kent is the UK stronghold for species such as dormouse and nightingale• Some 30% of Kent’s deciduous and mixed woodland have been lost in the last 30 years
SOURCE: Kent County Council
Worried
about the rising cost of heating? If you want to cut your fuel bills
this winter, we have a solution. The Elham Environment Group plans to
organise a fuel club which would pool deliveries of heating oil to
homes in the Elham valley.
Currently
over six companies deliver oil to the Elham area, averaging a minimum
of 10 trips every week by tankers, large and small. By clubbing
together, Elham residents can combine their purchasing power to obtain
significant discounts and cut the number of tankers driving into the
village, helping to reduce our carbon footprint and congestion.
We
aim to arrange regular deliveries and negotiate a discount of at least
a 3p per litre on your behalf. We will try to source oil as locally as
possible.
If
you want to find out more, fill out the questionnaire and hand it in to
the Valley Stores by 1st October. We will send further information and
details for joining the Fuel Club. Any information will remain
confidential.
July 08: Elham Parish home energy survey
As
a community we have a greater problem than average because of older
housing (77% were built before 1965). But as most houses in the Parish
are owner-occupied (91%), we have a powerful opportunity as
owner-occupiers to act now.
Steps
we can take include installing loft insulation and switching to energy
saving light bulbs. Over 90% of all households in Elham do not have the
required standard of roof insulation. That is much higher than the
average of all surveys in Kent. And while most households in Elham have
some energy saving light bulbs, only 12% have all such bulbs.
Without
mains gas, 71% of households in Elham are dependent on oil for their
main heating systems. It may be worth considering alternative
technologies, such as solar panels to heat our water or generate
electricity. About 4% of households have installed a renewable
technology and 5% use a green electricity tariff.
Nearly
all of us have a car and 54% of households have two or more. Anyone
interested in cutting down on car journeys through a car share scheme
should contact the Elham Environment Group (EEG).
June 08: Green electricity
Our
photo-voltaic panels, for generating electricity, were installed on our
roof in August 2007. Our installers were contractors approved by Kent
Energy Centre.
We
were first contacted a year earlier, after filling in one of the home
energy efficiency questionnaires and expressing interest in a greener
approach to energy production.
We
received a grant of £2500, about 14.5% of our cost, through the Low
Carbon Buildings programme administered by the Energy Savings Trust.
To
qualify for the grant, you have to have done the usual things:
thermostatic control valves on radiators, 10” loft insulation, cavity
wall insulation. You also need details of proposed equipment, approved
installer and planning permission if required.
Shepway
Planning Department advised us to apply for planning permission because
of implications in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, although we
are outside the Conservation Area. The process went quite smoothly,
with the added expense of photographs, Ordnance Survey maps and details
and pictures of the equipment.
The
installers were responsible for obtaining permission from distributor
to connect the output (converted to AC) to the house electric supply so
that we could use what we make and export the excess to the grid. They
also provided the completion certificate and wiring diagrams etc so
that the grant process could be completed.
We
then investigated electricity suppliers to see which would give us the
best price for our exported units. We found it difficult to get the
right person either through the websites or by phone. Some companies
only pay as much as they charge and some charge to install an export
meter. Most will undertake the bureaucratic chore of applying for ROCs
(Renewable Obligation Certificates) and incorporate the money from the
scheme into the payment they make to the householder for the green
electricity.
The
best rate we found was 18p per exported unit, charging 12p for imported
units. Costs are difficult to compare because of different tariff
structures, standing charges etc. One electricity supplier estimates
that most private generating systems export half their production and
will pay for half the generated units rather than installing an export
meter.
Between 1 January and 1 April 2008 we generated 501 units and used 725 units, so theoretically we cut our electricity by 69%.
Until
our export meter is installed on 20 May, we will not know how much will
be exported and paid for by our new supplier. We shall have to remain
aware of the price paid for ROCs and current electricity prices in case
we have to switch suppliers.
We have also now installed solar water panels, but it is too early to know the benefits.
For information on grants for solar electricity or hot water panels, call the Kent Energy Centre helpline on 020 8683 6683. | |
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