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Twenty Outdoor Activities That Cost Almost Nothing

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  Twenty Outdoor Activities That Cost Almost Nothing The Best Entertainment System May Already Be Outside Your Door In my previous article about alternatives to sitting indoors playing computer games, I argued that the best graphics card ever made is still the human eye. That was not an attack on gaming. Computer games can be creative, social, challenging and entertaining. They can develop problem-solving skills, introduce young people to programming and even inspire an interest in history, engineering or science. The problem begins when gaming becomes the automatic answer to every empty hour. It is easy to assume that outdoor activities require expensive bicycles, specialist cameras, boats, climbing equipment or costly memberships. Some certainly can become expensive once enthusiasm takes hold, but the starting point is often remarkably cheap. A phone already owned, an old notebook, a pencil, a drink bottle, suitable clothing and a willingness to look more carefully may be a...
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HOW HIGH CAN WE BUILD THE WALLS?

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 HOW HIGH CAN WE BUILD THE WALLS? Sea-Level Rise: The Sleeping Giant That Could Redraw Britain Britain’s coastline can appear permanent. We draw it confidently on maps. We build homes, ports, roads, railway lines, airports and businesses beside it. Coastal towns grow around the assumption that the sea will remain roughly where it is today. Yet coastlines have never been fixed. They move as tides, storms, currents, erosion and changing sea levels reshape the boundary between land and water. Now a major UK study has attempted to look much further ahead than most climate assessments. Instead of stopping at 2050 or 2100, researchers from the University of Bristol and Fathom have modelled possible coastal flooding outcomes all the way to the year 2300. Their conclusion is deeply uncomfortable: sea-level rise may be one of the slowest-moving consequences of climate change, but it could eventually become one of the largest. Professor Matt Palmer, who led the research, described it as the ...
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Could You Cut Your Electricity. Solar Panels Are Helpful—but They Are Not the Only Answer

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  Could You Cut Your Electricity. Solar Panels Are Helpful—but They Are Not the Only Answer When people talk about reducing household electricity bills, solar panels are often presented as the obvious solution. Generate your own electricity, use less from the grid and watch your bills fall. That sounds straightforward, but solar is not available to everyone. You may live in a rented property, a flat or a listed building. Your roof may face the wrong direction, be heavily shaded or need repairing. You may simply be unable to justify the initial cost. Does that mean you are trapped with high electricity bills? Not at all. In many homes, the first and most cost-effective step is not generating more electricity. It is making better use of the electricity already being purchased. By changing when electricity is used, improving efficiency and preventing heat from escaping, a household can make worthwhile savings without installing a single solar panel. The Three Ways to Reduce an Electri...
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Ten Smart Home Features That Are Actually Worth Buying

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  Ten Smart Home Features That Are Actually Worth Buying A Smart Home Should Reduce Bills—not Simply Add More Gadgets The phrase “smart home” can describe almost anything connected to an app: light bulbs that change colour, curtains that open automatically, speakers that answer questions and refrigerators that send notifications. Some of these products are entertaining. Some are convenient. Very few, however, produce measurable financial savings. A genuinely useful smart-home device should do at least one of three things: Identify where energy is being wasted. Automatically stop unnecessary consumption. Move energy use into cheaper periods. If it does none of these, it may still be enjoyable—but it is probably not an energy-saving investment. This distinction matters because every smart device consumes electricity, costs money to buy and may eventually need replacing. Buying dozens of connected products in the hope of becoming greener can easily become another form of consumption. ...
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