The Solar Centre Blog -

The UK’s Greenest Cities

April is here and British Summer Time is well and truly underway, and April isn’t just the month where we tend to spend more time outdoors, it’s also the month of Earth Day. Celebrated for almost 50 years, Earth Day is an international event to help raise awareness and show support for the environmental protection of our planet Earth.

Here at The Solar Centre, we wanted to get involved and help raise awareness of Earth Day and inspire people to be more environmentally friendly. We recognised that sometimes it can be difficult to understand the impact we have on our environment – especially when there are over 7 billion people in the world. So, we wanted to make sure we focused on the environment in the UK and areas which would matter to you.

We’ve taken 10 different factors which are affecting our environment and collected data for each factor in 52 different cities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and scored each city between 0 – 10 based on the data. Some of these environmental factors include:

CO2 emissions
Fly-tipping
Traffic congestion

We then averaged the rankings across all the factors to crown the greenest city in the UK. We hope this will inspire you to make a difference in your local area, whether you live in a city or not. You can view our Greenest Cities interactive which shows all the rankings here and find out which city was crowned the greenest.

Can you spot the hidden Rudolph?

We’ve created another Christmas brainteaser for you to solve. We’re asking if you can spot the Rudolph with the bright red nose hiding in the Christmas trees

Only 1 in 5 people at The Solar Centre can spot him within a minute! So how quickly can you find him?

Did you find him? You can see where Rudolph is hiding here.

We have even more Christmas puzzles for you solve here.

Merry Christmas from The Solar Centre!

Everybody loves a good brainteaser, so we’ve put together some festive puzzles for you to enjoy and solve!

We’re asking people if they can see the word hidden in the Christmas lights and only 10% of people can spot the hidden word in under 30 seconds! So how long does it take you to see it?

Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the string of lights?

The quickest time to spot the word here at The Solar centre was an impressive 7 seconds! Can you find it any faster?

Christmas Brainteaser

Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the star of lights?
This one took us slightly longer to solve with an average time of 49 seconds!
Christmas Brainteaser

Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the reindeer of lights?
This proved to be the hardest with 21% of people here not being able to see the word at all!
Christmas Brainteaser

We hope you’ve enjoyed these and if you still don’t know the answers click on the links below to reveal the answers…

Answer 1

Answer 2

Answer 3

You can check out our range of Solar Fairy Lights here.

Which Love Islander Should You Couple Up With?

If there’s one thing that’s gripped the nation this summer (apart from the World Cup of course) it’s Love Island! Here at The Solar Centre, we’ve looked to the stars and the planets in our solar system to work out the astrological love matches in the villa.

Our Love Island Star Sign compatibility matrix tells us if there could be a cosmic dance between contestants or a meteor shower and shows who should (according to science) be grafting who. Find out which Love Islander you should couple up with below…

Recycling Rates in England

There is an EU target for the UK to recycle at least 50% of household waste by 2020. With less than 2 years to go, we’ve looked at how close England is to meeting that target and revealed the best places at recycling and the areas that are letting us down!
Our map shows the recycling rates across the country. We’ve compared the worst areas for recycling to the millennial population and political party areas to show some interesting results about who the worst recyclers are.

See the full piece here: www.thesolarcentre.co.uk/blog/recycling-rates-england

Life on Mars: How Would Humans Survive?

Inspirational works of Sci-fi have allowed our minds to run wild about what life would be like out in deep space or, closer to home, on Mars. However, as breakthroughs are made towards the goal of colonising Mars, it’s important to decipher between what’s science and what’s fiction.

When Matt Damon in The Martian became stranded on Mars he farmed potatoes (*Spoiler Alert*) through fertilising soil with human waste, but would it really be that easy to produce food? Today, ambitious scientists and entrepreneurs are preparing for the future of life on Mars – SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced earlier this year that he wants to colonise Mars as early as 2025 and other organisations such as Mars One and Virgin Galactic are also keen to get humans to Mars. But what will Mars really be like? We’ve done our research and looked at all the facts about the red planet and how we would be able to survive and live on Mars.

Mars is a very different planet compared to Earth, with a year being almost twice as long, as our red neighbour takes longer to orbit the Sun. Humans there would also experience 62.

5% less gravity than we’re used to, meaning they could jump nearly three times higher on Mars compared with Earth. Despite most of Mars being made up from red rock desert, the planet is a lot colder, with average temperatures of -63 °C. Brr! These conditions mean that simply arriving on Mars and starting a new life will not be easy, complex environment-changing steps would need to be taken for basic human survival.

We’ve taken a look at the steps mankind needs to take in order to be able to live on Mars and unearthed (pun intended) what researchers and companies have planned to work on in coming years to solve the problems we will face. Our posters below imagine how would we get to Mars, and create the four basic needs for survival, Oxygen, Water, Warmth, and Food.

Incredible Natural Phenomena and Where to Find Them

Our planet is bursting with amazing natural beauty, from stunning white sand beaches to the spectacular mountains. So, it’s no doubt that the earth is a wonderful place. But some things are like no other and can truly take our breath away, we call these phenomena. And it might be hard to believe that these marvels actually exist!

At the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, a lightning storm lasts up to 10 hours per night offering an electrifying light show for any onlookers. If you’ve ever dreamt of wandering through the clouds, you should book your next trip to the Bolivia where the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni create a mesmerising reflection of the sky.

At The Solar Centre, we’ve listed the most incredible natural phenomena and where in the world you can find them. So, if you fancy a mind-blowing experience, add these destinations to your bucket list!

17 Bizarre Superstitions You Probably Didn’t Know About

Every country has their own culture and beliefs and they also have their own superstitions too. In the UK, there are plenty of common superstitions from avoiding walking under ladders, to broken mirrors being a sign of bad luck. Some of these may sound farfetched but some superstitions can be scientifically rationalised, such as the well-known saying; red sky at night Shepard’s delight, red sky in the morning Shepard’s warning. This is based on the reddish glow of the sky in the morning and evening caused by haze or clouds related to storms in the region.

Nevertheless, other superstitions are just plain weird, like the belief that sleeping with your pyjamas inside out and a spoon under your pillow will mean there’ll be snow the next day. At The Solar Centre, we’ve discovered the most bizarre superstitions from around the world that you probably didn’t know about!

Record Breaking Weather Extremes

The weather is something that us Brits can’t help but talk about, the unpredictability and changeableness has triggered many conversations about the sun, wind and rain and how it’s either too hot or cold to go outside! We do love to grumble about British weather but what about extreme weather conditions? Many countries from across the globe have encountered intense weather conditions caused by the climate and natural disasters.

Here at The Solar Centre we’ve created an infographic that looks at the hottest corners of the earth, the biggest storms to hit countries and even the highest waves in our oceans. Not only are these weather conditions extreme to say the least, but they’ve all broken world records!

How to Lighten Up Your Holidays with Solar Energy

Summer has arrived and that means the camping season is in full swing.

When planning your summer holiday, have you ever considered incorporating the benefits of solar energy?

Our article, 5 solar power tips for camping has already provided many with insights into the different wearable solar options, but now we have another ultimate alternative to take your travel experience to the next level.

Just imagine, driving along on a sunny day and not having to worry about your energy supply in the evening because the solar panels on your vehicle’s rooftop will take care of everything.

This can be a very convenient and innovative way to lighten up your travels, while also being environmentally friendly.

To find out more about the other benefits of traveling with solar panels and what items you’ll need in order to make the journey your own, have a look at the infographic below.

You can find out more about solar panels here.