How can I be greener this winter?

[TheSmithster]

Hi all,

I have a recently vowed as my new year's resolution to be greener this winter as, truth be said - I have not been as environmentally friendly as i should have been the past few years. :ambivalence:

I was wondering if there was any suggestions? I have considered things like fuel alternatives, maybe heating, and most certainly a better engine. I currently have quite a thirsty Yamaha outboard that drinks fuel faster than you can say petrol! So something a bit more economical might be better. I have a small shetland day boat so nothing too large, but also own a small holiday home which I am moored at, so if there are any suggestions on making that greener too then please let me know!

I understand this is a bizarre thing to post on a boating forum, but boating equipment I have found is usually more environmentally friendly than other industrial areas, and previously owning a canal boat has made me more aware of the alternatives. Help!!

Cheers

 

[sailorman]

So this gas guzzler are you going to break it so it cant be used by a fellow less green than thou.
was the canal boat used at trolling speeds

 

[Wansworth]

Stay indoors.

 

[Danbury]

Dont' buy anything from China and don't eat beef... everything else you could do is a total waste of time !

 

[Alfie168]

Paint yourself green.

Tim

 

[Concerto]

If you consider the total energy concept, buy a more fuel efficient engine is a total waste of time when you work out the energy used to make the new engine. Your best alternative would be to fit a mast and sails, or fit large sweeps (oars). Both will be more efficient and save you even more fuel than a new engine.

Best advice to be a bit greener at home is turn the heating down and put on more layers.

 

[planteater]

Best advice to be a bit greener at home is turn the heating down and put on more layers.

True. Plus switch power supplier to Ecotricity and stop eating fish.

 

[JimC]

If it's not too late, don't have any children. We are the main pollutant by virtue of our plague proportions. The other evils are just side-effects and by-products of us. Failing that you might want to consider an electric outboard for your boat and a pellet burning stove for your house(s).

 

[pmagowan]

Insulation is the key to reducing heating bills both on and off the boat. Buying pellet (industrial mass produced embedded carbon) boilers or other 'green technology' is simply missing the point. You can insulate enough to require no additional heating.

From then on it really depends what you mean by being 'green'. I don't see other humans as a plague and generally I like most of the ones I meet which I don't equate as a characteristic of a plague. If green is about saving carbon then probably number one is to not have a pet dog or cat, reduce your meat consumption and travel and vote for nuclear power. If green is about preserving the planet in a similar condition to how it is now then you could get political, avoid products that cause deforestation such as palm oil and tropical hardwood and perhaps plant a few trees.

For the boat I would simply rig up a sail.

p.s. Children are the solution to our problems. Always have been and always will.

 

[SimbaDog]

I normally spend most of the winter trying to stop my boats going green!

 

[PCUK]

Campaign to save the rainforests. Ask the government why there is no research on artificial photo-synthesis! Stop China and India manufacturing anything.

 

[NickRobinson]

We need the scientific and (arith)metical literacy to make good decisions. Few have.(present company excepted)

My very economical car uses hugely more fuel on my 350 mile round trip to the boat than the boat will over a weekend.
People will drive 10 miles to drop off a bag of bottles in the bank, turn off items on standby but leave the heating on when the go on holiday. etc.. etc.. I have a friend who recycles but has an unlagged hot water tank in the uninsulated garage and no timer. Orders of magnitude?

The CO2 (not carbon, grinds teeth, its like saying we put sodium a highly reactive metal, on our chips) emitted by making, transporting and fitting a possible replacement boat engine will dwarf the any emissions the existing will make in their respective life times. If the current one is dead, yes, fit a better replacement. If not leave it if green is the only consideration, not reliability, resale value, noise, etc.

For example, here's the real time dashboard for electricity- shoots the wind's fox I'm think. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Rant over.. back to hammering the car's wheel bearings

 

[sailorman]

We need the scientific and (arith)metical literacy to make good decisions. Few have.(present company excepted)

My very economical car uses hugely more fuel on my 350 mile round trip to the boat than the boat will over a weekend.
People will drive 10 miles to drop off a bag of bottles in the bank, turn off items on standby but leave the heating on when the go on holiday. etc.. etc.. I have a friend who recycles but has an unlagged hot water tank in the uninsulated garage and no timer. Orders of magnitude?

The CO2 (not carbon, grinds teeth, its like saying we put sodium a highly reactive metal, on our chips) emitted by making, transporting and fitting a possible replacement boat engine will dwarf the any emissions the existing will make in their respective life times. If the current one is dead, yes, fit a better replacement. If not leave it if green is the only consideration, not reliability, resale value, noise, etc.

For example, here's the real time dashboard for electricity- shoots the wind's fox I'm think. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Rant over.. back to hammering the car's wheel bearings

This is even more revealing
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/

 

[planteater]

Interesting. I'm surprised that the French demand is so much higher than the UK. Maybe we're doing a bit better with energy efficiency.

The two sets of figures indicate to me that we could meet all of our demand with nuclear and renewables if the will was there.

 

[sailorman]

Interesting. I'm surprised that the French demand is so much higher than the UK. Maybe we're doing a bit better with energy efficiency.

The two sets of figures indicate to me that we could meet all of our demand with nuclear and renewables if the will was there.

They sell >2GW of that to us

Now my LVM Aerogen is back on stream this w/e i should have full batteries o/b ( Boaty see )

 

[Skylark]

If it's not too late, don't have any children. We are the main pollutant by virtue of our plague proportions. The other evils are just side-effects and by-products of us.

Have you read Dan Brown Inferno? The mad scientist evidently wants to go eco green, too.

 

[Danbury]

There was a Danish study a few years ago... they worked out that if EVERYONE in the UK lived as green as possible (turning off lights, save water, recycle everything, fully insulate houses etc. etc.) you would delay any global warming by less than 1 SECOND.

This is kind of obvious if you look at the globe... the British Isles are TINY compared to the rest of the world... what we do in this country makes a very very insignificant difference. If we are serious about averting some kind of global catastrophe (raising sea levels, drought etc.) at the very least, we need to halve the worlds population !! But it's a brave man who proclaims that one !!

It's a shame that the UN don't take the lead and demand that EVERY country in the world take control of it's population... zero growth now... then a gradual reduction... instead we get UN staff like that Brazil Nut investigating our housing welfare policies !!

Nothing will ever change...

 

[pmagowan]

There was a Danish study a few years ago... they worked out that if EVERYONE in the UK lived as green as possible (turning off lights, save water, recycle everything, fully insulate houses etc. etc.) you would delay any global warming by less than 1 SECOND.

This is kind of obvious if you look at the globe... the British Isles are TINY compared to the rest of the world... what we do in this country makes a very very insignificant difference. If we are serious about averting some kind of global catastrophe (raising sea levels, drought etc.) at the very least, we need to halve the worlds population !! But it's a brave man who proclaims that one !!

It's a shame that the UN don't take the lead and demand that EVERY country in the world take control of it's population... zero growth now... then a gradual reduction... instead we get UN staff like that Brazil Nut investigating our housing welfare policies !!

Nothing will ever change...

Utter rubbish, sorry.

 

[Concerto]

The idea that our contribution to reduce CO2 emmissions will really do anything is madness. China produces more CO2 than Europe and USA combined. So lets tackle the big poluters like China and India before we screw ourselves into the ground whilst they laugh at us by undercutting us to produce goods as they no environmental controls.

Putting up wind turbines and other green electical production sources is too expensive and we almost ignore the cheapest energy source of nuclear, unlike the French who use nuclear for most of their electrical production (including that we buy from them).

Just remember we are an overpopulated country that everyone seems to want to live here. The real surprising thing is we have stringent planning controls, which causes high property prices and a massive shortage. Yet only 2% of the UK land area is covered with buildings and roads. This means we have very high concentrations of population in very limited areas and they cannot see the vast underpopulated places. Thm population is now so great that we cannot produce sufficient food to feed ourselves, so we are now reliant on importing about 40% of the food we eat. May be the solution would be for all of us to just sail away.

 

[prv]

The idea that our contribution to reduce CO2 emmissions will really do anything is madness. China produces more CO2 than Europe and USA combined. So lets tackle the big poluters like China and India

All completely true, but it would be ridiculous to try to persuade China to be cleaner without having sorted our own act out first. That is the value of reducing emissions here - not that it will make any difference directly, but that it gives us a somewhat credible platform to stand on when we ask the big producers to follow suit.

Pete