Well there has been loads going on and I certainly feel greener even if I have not been updating the Blog as often as I should.

I am pleased to announce that I spent 8 hours Christmas shopping and managed to get everything I needed for my friends and family without the need for any plastic bags.   I had one of those wheelie things that you see people walking round garden shows with and two Hessian bags it was all I needed and it was great because I could simply roll my shopping around rather than having sore hands and arms from such an intensive shopping spree.

Also I have discovered something called Hypermiling it is the art of driving your car from point A to B using as little fuel as possible.  Now I am not going to support the extreme techniques of this art and will leave you to Google it for yourself but generally if you concentrate on your driving looking well ahead reading the road and driving extra smoothly you should see your fuel go further.  Little things like giving yourself plenty of time to get to your destination driving at speed limits as apposed to just a little above and not accelerating by putting your foot flat to the metal and instead just applying as much as is needed - before you know it you will be getting an extra 50 miles from a tank.

UPDATE - Hessian Bags

We have managed to order some of these with The Solar Centre branding and they will be available to buy from Friday 12th December and the plan is to give one away with any order over £30 as a little gift from us to you for Christmas.

What I am doing now that I never used to do is as follows:-

Turning off sockets at night

Recycling regularly and the correct things

Using Hessian Bags for shopping

Carrying a Plastic Bag on me at all times for emergency (Thanks Danielle for this tip)

Composting more - it never occurred to me to compost teabags and I drink a lot of tea!!!

Using Solar for my phone and my wife’s to keep them charged

Hypermiling

Keeping the heating lower than I normally would - 17 degrees centigrade (brrr and wearing extra jumpers).

and I have added solar lighting to my garden.

Things I still want to do are as follows:

Get my chimney swept in order to rely less on gas.

Walk more to the shops/work etc

Learn more about being Green

Day 3

I did do my co2 check online and was quite pleased with my results even though it takes a while to fill out it does give you direction as to what you should do to reduce you co2 impact.

My Results were

Home 1.31

Appliances 1.48

Travel 0

The National Average is

Home 1.93

Appliances 0.69

Travel 1.63

The appliances section I filled out as if I was leaving the sockets on in order that I could see what difference it would make to my results… the disappointing thing is it did not affect them - although I am sure it will make a difference.

I feel a bit of a cheat on the traveling aspect because I do drive a 2.0 litre diesel van to and from work but the survey states what non business vehicle do you drive. Still I know the van is not good so this is an area I will be looking at as well.

I bought myself a reusable bag from Tesco’s only a £1 so I brought two. I figured I had not done much today and was feeling guilty I did say I would do something every day to be green so this was how I eased my guilt.

I bought the reusable bag on the way to my Mums house and on getting there she informed me that she had a friend who made these bags for a business I will try and get these details and either offer them for sale in our shop or let you have the details to get in touch with her directly.

Day 4 - Sunday

I had a really lazy day stayed with my parents and watched TV with them and let my mum make me sandwiches for lunch. I guess this was green in a way because I was sharing the electricity usage with my parents as apposed to at home just me and Maddy watching TV and no energy was used to make dinner as we had ham and tomato sandwiches :o)

Day 5 - Monday

I now know that recycling week is this week and my calendar has been updated so time to start sorting the rubbish made sure that everything is separate ready for Thursday’s collection

Day 6 - Tuesday

Wash day - I have been sorting the washing and making sure I use the economy setting that our washing machine has so washing at 35 degrees as apposed to 40, this is as low as our machine goes. Also while the washing was on I did the washing up - no not loading the dish washer and turning it on - I actually filled the sink with hot water and manually washed the dishes. It is a good idea (I told myself) to let your dishes pile up in order that you can wash them all in one go rather than having a whole bowl of water for just a couple of dishes.

A few points from my action plan for me to do are:-

Turn down brightness on the TV.

Decrease heating by 1 degree.

And try to use public transport more!

Are dogs allowed on buses?

Wow there is so much I can do it is like a drug, I am now looking at everything I do and what others are doing and thinking of the many ways that things could be carried out in a more environmentally conscious way. This all started with me turning my sockets off and dragging the recycling bucket along with my bin to the end of the drive (about 70metres) only to discover there were no other recycling bins so I must have the wrong week!

Time to Plan

So I guess rather than do my usual (run head long into things like a kid in a sweet shop) it is time to formulate a plan… I am not sure where to start… My wife is the planner and she normally writes down lists so here we go:-

When is recycling week? Update calendar marking on what week is which.

While finding out from the council which week is which ask what is done with the recycling - where is it taken

Install Solar light in entrance porch - find out what savings are?

Get Chimney cleaned - rely on wood rather than gas (we have plenty of wood around the farm)

Do a co2 check on my life style at http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html just to see how I can reduce my emissions

I think that will do for a start the last point came about from driving in this morning  I only live 5 miles from the office but I do still drive, more necessity than anything as I need the van to do the post possibly deliver items during the day or picks things up on a very rare occasion, while driving in I noticed that every car I passed just had the driver - no passengers - that is a slight exaggeration there was one learner a taxi with passenger and a mother and child combo but that was it!!! why do more people not car share or walk I know it is winter and I know I live in one of the UK’s worst cities for CO2 emissions but really there has got to be something we can do…

I am going to look at leaving the van at work and walking occasionally, maybe biking… I do already not like this idea but will give it a go.

So today’s task is going to be to do the co2 check on http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html and to find out which week is recycling and update my calendar.

I have always wanted to be green, do my bit for the environment and maybe one day live off the land… Who needs modern electronics, luxuries and home comforts!!!  Back in the real world I have realised that as a part owner of a solar business which actively encourages people to be green, I myself do very little.

So I woke up at 3:55am with this going through my mind - what do I do, what could  I do, am I lazy,  what should I do, do I do enough… eventually at 4:48 I shut my eyes and tried to get back to sleep but with every intention of making myself greener in the morning.

What I intend to do is look at what I currently do - recycling, using low energy bulbs, composting, charging my phone by Solar etc and become more effective at this and also to research what else I could be doing, and try to find out the things I don’t know that I am not doing now!!!

David wishes he was as green as his wife

I may be naive but I do believe most people do recycle their paper, plastic bottles and glass.  I know I do (with a little pressure from my very green wife) I also know that occasionally I don’t, sometimes it is just easier to chuck a drinks can in the general waste rather than to put it to one side to take to a recycling point.

Another point that has been discussed in the office is, “What happens to our recycling?”  One chap said the council take it to the land fill along with the rest of the rubbish! I sincerely hope this is not true but I don’ t know that it isn’t.  I intend to find out and make sure that what I recycle gets recycled and that the effort I put in does reap rewards for the environment.

In discussing being green with my colleagues I have realised that I am in fact the least green and the one which can improve the most so I am going to endeavour to improve and record my progress here.  Hopefully along the way I will find new useful tips on how we can all be greener and benefit the environment and our back pockets together.

I am going to start with a simple task and ensure that all sockets in my house are turned off unless in use - apparently I am the only one in the office that does not do this - do you? Am I really that bad or that behind? Please do let me know any tips you may have or things I should look into to make myself greener your comments are welcome.

There are many solar spot lights on the market - some metal, some plastic, some bright some decorative. So how do you pick?

I have always believed that a spot light should be to highlight something, whether it a statue, a building or a tree.  However the majority of solar spot lights simply are not powerful enough - that was until i discovered the 8 LED Solar Garden Spot.  This really is a super powerful solar garden spotlight like none other on the market.

With 8 Bright LED’s all lined up in a row with a super reflective backing really make this solar light project over a great distance with a good spread of light also.

Solar Garden Spot

Now not everyone is like me, some would prefere a more subtle effect from their solar lighting but I don’t think i am alone in expecting the solar lights to work for 4-6 hours every night even in winter - in fact more so in winter as it gets dark earlier and not only do you need light for a longer period but it is when you get to show off your garden lighting for every one to see.  The Solar Garden spot is bright and does last 4-6hrs per night even in winter but if you want a slightly less bright light then my second choice would be the solar spot this again is trully a dusk until dawn solar light with amazing performance for its size - I would use this solar light for shrubbery and small garden sculptures it will light up a good 5 metre area though so still very powerful.

Want to know how to buy a garden light that will last all year round!

Dont know how to pick the right light for your needs?

I am going to try and help with this simple guide.

There are three main points to a light - The Panel, The Power (battery) and the Light (LED’s).

Most garden lights will have 1 (one) LED these are the sort of lights that are normally available as a set of four and are fairly cheap they are designed either to be decorative or as path markers. General Solar Garden Lights are available with 2 (two) LED’s through to 4 (four) LED’s. Any more than 4 LED’s and the light is either a solar spot light or a solar security lights and not meant to be lit all night.

Battery - generally the cheaper garden lights will have 1 (one) 600 mAh AA or AAA battery this can be replaced with a slightly higher powered battery if you want to, this will allow the light to last longer into the night during the summer monthes but will not improve winter performance. The higher the power of the battery the more LED’s it can power or the longer the light will remain on e.g. a light with a 1200mAh battery will last twice as long as a similar light with a 600 mAh battery.

A light with 1 LED and 600 mAh will last the same amount of time as a light with 2 LED’s and a 1200 mAH battery but the light with 2 LED’s will be brighter.

The final piece of the puzzle is the panel and although their is a science it is not one that has to be given much thought. As a general rule the bigger the panel the more power it will produce. If you have a light with four LED’s 2 x 1200 mAh batteries and a tiny panel then you will find the light will probably work for a couple of nights but struggle to work beyond this.

In Summary

The more LED’s the brighter the Light.

The higher mAh figure the longer the light will stay on for.

The larger the panel the more power will be put back into the battery.

In 2008 The Solar Centre took part in a few festivals and exhibitions to see what the market wanted and what people thought in regards to solar.
The general comment was “solar does not work” and then with a quick Solar Phone Charger demonstration a number of people changed their opinions to “Solar is the Future”.
In fact at the Glastonbury Festival we had many people coming back to us with friends for them to buy one and buying more as solar Christmas gifts for friends and family.
It really was an eye opening experience for us to see the lack of faith in solar and for our customers to see how far solar has developed.
We tried to take a range of solar gadgets and solar gizmos to demonstrate that solar means a lot more than simple solar garden lights. We also wanted to see what people were interested in buying whether it was a solar toy for them or the latest solar gizmo for a tech savvy awkward to buy for friend. The results were pretty conclusive with The Solar Mobile Chargers stealing the show.

My favourite just for the record was the Power Monkey a bit more expensive than the Freeloader but far better when you needed a charger to rely on over several days and when you wanted to charge your ipod as well as your phone in one day.

Have you used a Solar charger?  What do you think!  Let us know your comments.

There has been a lot of talk about the amount of carbon that is produced at Christmas from Fairy Lights.

People being deterred from decorating their trees and homes for fear of being un-eco and being judged for polluting the environment and increasing their carbon foot print.

“Carbon footprint” from the Oxford Street and Regent Street lights would take 215 trees 100 years to “offset”. (This is London 9/11/06)

Just one house, on a 25-night bling binge, could be chucking out about 25 metric tons of C02. With something like five million houses joining the party, the environmental cost is mind-boggling. And think of the electricity bills. One enthusiast, Peter Thomas (whose spectacular housebling in Wales made the cover of Christmas Houses), admits to spending an extra £480 a year on powering his December displays (telegraph 19/12/07)

Well we do not need to worry any longer with solar powered fairy lights that operate for 20 hours when fully charged, even here in the UK we can be Green this Xmas and save money on expensive electricity bills too.

When buying Solar Xmas lights do be aware of lighting times and charging times as you don’t want to set your lights up for them to only work for a couple of hours each night.

So be Green this Xmas and buy Solar Xmas Fairy Lights!

Roof tiles on the Paul VI auditorium are being replaced by 2,700 solar panels in move that will save over 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted every 2 weeks.

With a reported installation cost of £1.5 million the Pope is certainly lucky they’ve been donated by Bonn-based company, Solar World at no cost.

Surplus power will be fed back into the grid earning the Vatican a good chunk of revenue when it’s not being used to cool or heat the 6,000 seater hall.

See video footage of the installation here.

Thanks to the BBC for this story.

Nothing is more frustrating to honest solar retailers than the relentless flow of cheap solar lights available on petrol station forecourts and other retail outlets. We often take calls from customers who are keen to try something new, like a solar security light for example, but are having trouble recovering from their last solar light purchase which barley manages a whimper come dusk.

Some point the finger at China but this is often unfair as China simply manufactures to our demand. You can get great products from China and you can also get rubbish much like anywhere else.  More worryingly, others point the finger at solar itself as their ‘throw-away’ solar garden light flickers out its final flutter. This can do damage to the solar industry as a whole and also the wider environmental cause. Would you consider solar panels for your house if your only previous experience of solar was a garden light not fit for purpose?

The truth is that both solar and the Far East are capable of generating fantastic products and these products are readily available in our shop as well as many others and they needn’t cost the earth. It is our hope that as time moves on the questions will be about the difference between good solar products and bad solar products rather than the integrity of solar itself.