watervole: (Save the Earth)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2012-01-07 10:10 pm

Climate Change

 Kerravonsen recently stuck her head above the parapet and invited people to ask her questions about her faith.

It's always hard to talk about topics that polarise opinion and hard to talk about them when you can get strong negative reactions.

Yet some things are always present in our lives.

With Kerravonsen, it's religion, with me, it's climate change.

I often don't talk about it, because I can't always cope with the stress of dealing with people who refuse to accept that we're changing our planet.  (sometimes, it can be equally stressful talking to people who accept it is happening, but don't want to change their lifestyle)

Yet, it's central to much of what I do.

I turn out lights by reflex.  Yes, it saves money, but I do it primarily because wasting energy is a sin. (And I'm not using the word 'sin' casually)

I haven't travelled overseas in a decade and will probably never do so again - the CO2 emissions from air travel dwarf any saving you can make elsewhere in your life.

We live in an exceptionally well insulated house and don't heat above 18C (though it can get warmer than that from passive solar heating).

We grow quite a lot of our own veg.

I try not to buy food from overseas - if I do, I try and ensure it has not travelled by air (Riverford are very good in this regard - they never ship by air)

We're not perfect.  It's actually quite hard to maintain a low carbon footprint in a country where few of us can afford to buy the land to produce our own food - unless you have that safety net to fall back on, then you have to have a paying job and that means a car and heating and lighting and all the rest of it.  There are also some things that I'm not yet willing to do without, my computer for one. 

Yet, if everyone did no more than I do, we could probably slash this country's carbon emissions.

It's a new year, why not see what you can trim from your carbon emissions?

[identity profile] alexmc.livejournal.com 2012-01-08 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
> I turn out lights by reflex.

For certain types of strip lights this isn't a good idea if you are going to switch it back on within about 20 minutes...
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[identity profile] watervole.livejournal.com 2012-01-08 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, that was true 30 years ago, but isn't now. For most modern strip lights the power to start them up is equivalent to a few seconds use.

[identity profile] johnrw.livejournal.com 2012-01-08 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
For all fluorescent lights each start cycle shortens the lifespan. The current generation are designed to survive up to 20,000 starts before it dies. For earlier generations (less than two years ago) the number of starts was a fraction of this. Even so each cycle does increase the wear on the tube (which gradually reduces it's light output) and it's electronics. True the start only costs a few seconds of power but you lose lifespan/efficiency. At this point the cost/benefit balance is probably lower than 15 minutes but a lot depends upon the cost of the light - if you're using daylight balanced lighting this pushes the time upwards towards the ten to fifteen minute window.

If you are in the habit of switching lights on and off frequently look at the newer LED based lights. They use half of the electricity of fluorescents last in excess of 30,000 hours and have no limitations on switching frequency. (Ebay has possibly the lowest cost LED suppliers, but otherwise I've found that http://www.ledcentre.uk.com have a good range and customer support).
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[identity profile] watervole.livejournal.com 2012-01-10 09:23 am (UTC)(link)
I thought you'd be the one to have accurate data. You're always my expert on anything electronic. I'm very keen on the idea of LED lights, but am having problems to find ones in the current range to suit what I need.

I use overhead lights and I don't want to fit a false ceiling. LEDs are still fairly low on equivalent wattage and a lot of them seem to be limited to spotlights.

The page you link to is very good, but there's almost too much information.

I just want a simple "Is there and LED equivalent to a traditional 150W bulb?" (I'm using a compact florescent, but I still think of it as an old 150W when comparing.)

[identity profile] johnrw.livejournal.com 2012-01-10 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"I just want a simple "Is there and LED equivalent to a traditional 150W bulb?" (I'm using a compact florescent, but I still think of it as an old 150W when comparing.)"

Off the top of my head a plug in replacement would be around 12 to 15 watts as a LED and I can't call to mind one either at http://www.ledcentre.uk.com/ or http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/ (my favourite source for daylight balanced fluorescent lighting) The closest would probably be on Ebay. For example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280687560279?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 The 'corncob' design isn't the most aesthetic but it's an interesting compromise.