Posts

Why Are Your Windows Wet Every Morning—and What Can You Do About It?

Image
  Why Are Your Windows Wet Every Morning—and What Can You Do About It? Water on the inside of your windows is trying to tell you something about your house. You pull back the curtains and find droplets running down the glass. The sill is damp again. Perhaps there are small black spots around the frame. It is tempting to wipe it away, turn up the heating and carry on. But if it happens repeatedly, it is worth asking three questions: Where is the moisture coming from? How can it leave? Which surfaces are getting cold? Occasional misting that clears quickly is not necessarily a serious problem. Persistent water, damaged finishes and mould deserve attention.[1] For me, this is a useful Going Green subject because it connects energy saving with something more fundamental: having a comfortable home that works properly. Saving heat matters. So does giving moisture a way out. Why water appears on the glass Water vapour is an invisible part of indoor air. When air next to a surface cools to...
Post a Comment
Read more

The £25 Resilience Challenge: What Could You Put Away for an Unexpected Emergency?

Image
  The £25 Resilience Challenge: What Could You Put Away for an Unexpected Emergency? Preparing for an emergency shouldn't require a garage full of expensive survival equipment. Imagine the electricity goes off just as you are preparing dinner. The kitchen is dark, your phone is running low and the torch is somewhere in a drawer. There is plenty of food in the house, but much of it needs cooking. This is where a modest amount of preparation can make a difference. Can £25 improve a household's ability to cope with a short disruption? Yes—particularly when it fills gaps in what you already own. Can it buy everything every family needs for several days? That is a much bigger claim. The challenge is to spend thoughtfully, using familiar food, useful equipment and a little planning. Start With Your Cupboards, Not Your Shopping Basket My starting point would be a question: what would become difficult in the first few hours? I enjoy technology, but this is one situation where I would b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eco, Natural, Plant-Based: Are You Paying More for Words on a Label?

Image
  Eco, Natural, Plant-Based: Are You Paying More for Words on a Label? A green label can make a product look environmentally friendly. It doesn't necessarily make it so. Stand in front of a supermarket shelf and you could be forgiven for thinking that buying washing-up liquid now requires an environmental science qualification. One bottle is natural. Another is plant-based. A third promises an eco formula. There are leaves, waterfalls, brown cardboard and reassuring shades of green. Some of these products offer worthwhile improvements. Others leave us with a warm feeling and very little information. The challenge is to tell the difference—and decide whether a higher price buys a benefit that matters. The answer begins with three questions: What exactly is being claimed? What evidence supports it? What does the product cost each time it does its job? The Greenest-Looking Bottle May Have the Least to Tell You Imagine two labels on a household cleaner: “Kind to nature. Inspired by pla...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is an Electric Car Still Cheaper to Run If You Can't Charge at Home?

Image
  Is an Electric Car Still Cheaper to Run If You Can't Charge at Home? Going Green — by Philip M Russell Two people can drive the same electric car and pay very different amounts to keep it moving. One plugs in on the driveway and lets an overnight tariff do the work. The other lives in a flat, parks on the street and relies on public chargers. Same car. Same distance. Very different electricity bills. That matters whenever an advertisement promises motoring for a few pence per mile. The calculation may be perfectly valid for someone with a suitable home charger and tariff. It may tell you very little about the cost of using the same car from a terraced house without off-street parking. An electric car can still be cheaper on energy without home charging. But the advantage depends on the public prices you can actually access, the car's efficiency and the petrol or diesel vehicle you are comparing it with. The useful starting point is a practical question: what would 100 miles c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plant Now, Save Next Spring — Five Garden Jobs That Will Cost You Less Later

Image
  Plant Now, Save Next Spring — Five Garden Jobs That Will Cost You Less Later The cheapest way to improve next year’s garden is to start before this year has finished. On a grey November afternoon, it’s easy to look at the garden and think that everything can wait until spring. Then March arrives. There’s a gap in the border, last year’s pelargonium has turned to mush and the vegetable bed is already growing something you certainly didn’t sow. I like to approach the garden as I would a practical in the lab. Start by looking at what you’ve got, decide what you want to achieve and try one small job you can check later. A plant you divide now, a seed envelope you label properly or a pot you get under cover before a frost can all make a difference. The saving only counts if it replaces something you’d otherwise buy. Sometimes the real gain is having one less job to do on the first fine weekend in March. 1. Split a healthy clump and fill a gap for free Walk round the borders and look f...
Post a Comment
Read more