How to use the Christmas break?

Many of us get a week or so off over Christmas (whether we celebrate Christmas or not). For two days there are no shops open, though there is always online shopping and social media to keep us amused. But don’t you think the winter break should be special?

Special means different. Different can mean different things but it needs to involve a change of pace and a change of focus. I like to take a walk and see what I can see, or meet up with friends and have a natter with no distracting mobiles. The important thing is to slow down and look outside of yourself – at people you (think you) know well, or complete strangers, or just the world. The main thing is to look and to listen.

 

I am no photographer but here are some pictures I have taken on my walks around Cambridge at Christmas time.

 

This picture was taken on Christmas Day last year. The saddle cover must be 9 years old because the pantomime is dated 2014.

 

Frosted spider web, woven on temporary fencing by Jesus Lock, which was under maintenance.

An attic window which has frozen up on the outside. These frost patterns seem to be increasingly rare, presumably due to climate warming.

 

Not Christmas Day - Feb. 2024- but it's a lovely picture anyway. Floods are getting more common but it is still possible to have fun like this little boy (click on the picture for a larger version).

Transition Cambridge likes to celebrate the new year with a gentle walk. Next year we will meet by the Green Dragon bridge. All welcome, old friends and new.

Transition Cambridge New Year's meander last year (or was it the year before?) From the Chisholm Trail, near the football ground. From the left, Ben, Liz, Anna, Sam, me (Nicola), Charlotte, Tamsin, Rory and Jacky.

Making Halloween and Christmas fun *and* sustainable

I saw a ghostly crisp packet in the road last night – it seemed to be positively luminous but it was just reflecting the street lights. This, plus a black dog in evil demon costume, reminded me we are fast approaching Halloween, which is a great opportunity for harmless fun. Ghoulish costumes to startle passers-by, sweets to enjoy, maybe some ancient magic spells …

Photo by Beth Teutschmann on Unsplash

However, like the plastic crisp packet, Halloween and Christmas can be very wasteful - if we are not careful. Cheap (plastic) spooky costumes that we wear once and then throw away and sweet wrappers that do not get recycled – these are the main sources of extra waste at Halloween. WRAP has much to say about this.

Here are some easy ways to reduce waste at Halloween and Christmas:

Making a rain garden

This new little garden is flooded after the storm - but no worries because it is a rain garden and this is meant to happen. The idea is to take water off the road - hence the kerb cuts to allow water to flow into the three new sunken gardens along the grass verge. Fallowfield has poor drainage and floods regularly after heavy rain, but this time there was much less flooding than usual and it dissipated more quickly. The plants need to tolerate both floods and droughts, as that is the weather we get these days.

After the rain, Fallowfield rain garden number 1

Why a water usage survey?

Transition Cambridge is running a survey on how we use water, and what water saving measures we take. Why? Water shortage has been a concern for some time but seeing the film Pure Clean Water reminded me again of the acute need for us to reduce water demand. Lack of water has recently stymied government plans for growth but even with no extra homes or businesses we do not have enough water. I could go on but perhaps you know already – or you can read about it here.

Suffice to say, climate change means more extreme weather – wetter winters like this one but also drier ones and longer droughts. Our water supply from the chalk aquifer under the Gog Magog hills buffers some of the variation but has its limits – and our current level of demand has already caused irreparable damage to chalk streams which is why Nine Wells is no longer an SSSI [1].

Our water is incredibly cheap: in Cambridge the average water bill (excluding sewerage) is currently £163/year – 45p/day - which is 29% lower than the national average [2]. This price hardly reflects its value to our health and wellbeing, and does little to encourage water saving, even if you do have a meter. However there is a lot we can do with little or no effort. How often do you wash your clothes or bedlinen? Do you save water from cooking vegetables to pre-soak the dirty dishes? Do you flush the toilet every time you have a pee?

A Christmas wish – community heating in Cambridge?

District heating is a potential low carbon option for some homes, though it is hard to say at the moment which homes (if any) will have the opportunity. Compared to switching to a heat pump or getting an electric storage boiler, district heating can be a low hassle option - as villagers in Swaffham Prior have discovered and it seems likely that residents of Grantchester will also get the opportunity too. Compared to air source heat pumps, community heating is quiet, less bulky and you don’t need space for an outside unit; also it is a lot less weighty than an electric storage boiler: a 40kWh Tepeo weighs 375kg. A community heating system means digging in the street and into your home for the pipework. Apart from that you swap your boiler for a heat interface unit that provides you with heat and meters your consumption. Depending on the setup, you may also need hot water storage. There is no need for an annual service, as you should have with a gas boiler.

Transition Cambridge at 15

Transition Cambridge is now 15 years old. Here is an extract from our AGM, listing the various activities we have been doing over the past year.

 

Hydrogen for domestic heating is not going to happen

Experts have been saying for years that hydrogen is not a sensible solution for home heating on any scale. However gas suppliers and gas suppliers are very keen to convince us of the opposite. This has been going on for a long time and the government has been sitting on the fence. The Heat and Buildings Strategy published in 2021 delayed the decision until at least 2026 – after trials at village and town scale. However, the village trial – at Whitby – has been cancelled after massive opposition from the residents. Now Grant Shapps, the Energy Minister, has indicated that it is ‘less likely’ that hydrogen would ever be piped into people’s home, because of issues on cost, safety, and continuing reliance on fossil fuels.

What are the other options?

Do you have a low carbon heating strategy for your home? Have you been crossing your fingers and hoping for hydrogen? Unfortunately this is looking ever more unlikely. Alternatives include various sorts of heat pump, electric storage boilers and direct electric radiators. For a small proportion of homes, bottled biogas could be a solution but supplies for biogas are limited and they will also be in great demand for industrial uses. (There will be an Open Eco Homes talk on low carbon heating options on 9th October. This should be announced mid August.)