Creative self sufficiency (part 1 - introduction)

Being environmentally conscious, and/or self sufficient is not just about installing solar panels to your roof (although admirable), for those that are serious it also means you can get to try many creative activities too!

It gives you the opportunity of reconditioning items, turning old things into new and prolonging its life, or producing healthier alternatives than bought ones.

Such activities can include weaving, wine/beer or bread making. Making your own jewellery or candles, or even restoring old toys and furniture. There are countless hobbies, pastimes or projects that you can turn your hand to if you look around and put a little thought into it.

The benefits to you, your family, and the environment definitely worthwhile. Producing any of your own food, or wines for example means that you know exactly what you are eating or drinking. From a health perspective this is priceless.

Mass produced foodstuffs including simple things such as bread, not only contain hidden ingredients such as preservatives and other chemicals, they're also less nutritious than what you are able to make for yourself.

You can start small at first such as a simple pot of herbs growing on your kitchen window sill, and progress to having a whole section of your garden dedicated to growing your own fruit and vegetables. The flavours of home grown food can also taste so much better than those bought from your local supermarket.

Once you have grown it .. learn to cook with it (if you can't already!). Remember, start small, start simple, and build up slowly. There is no rush, just take everything one small step at a time and everything will eventually fall into place. Taking on too much in one go is one of the main reasons many people giveup or fail. They are overwhelmed. Yes it will require effort, but the rewards for your effort are so much greater all round.

You can turn old 'rubbish' into something new, restore it which will not only save you money, but also prevent you having to throw it out, adding to the increasing landfill. As well as the environmental benefits, you will become more creative and self sufficient in the process! This is the most creative form of recycling that you can partake in.

Doing any of these activities will give you a real sense of achievment - the satisfaction of producing or creating something for yourself. It will provide you with an interest, a hobby to persue, as well as the opportunity to share ideas with others or just show off your latest project!

This isn't a dated 'hippy' outlook, but a way of living that will help you to survive in this fast paced, modern age of waste, mass production, and disposable everything.

The next three or so articles will show you a few projects I have personally completed lately, including some how to's and photographs. This will hopefully give you some inspiration or ideas that you could try to help yourself and/or the environment.

These include making a 'new' necklace and bracelet from a broken wood bead necklace, breadmaking using a breadmaking machine (keeping it simple see!), to restoring an old footstall.

Fuel Cell Technology

Fuel cell technology has been with us a long time - invented by a welshman named William Grove in 1839. Despite the technology being around for the last 150 years, it's true potential and actual use has been limited, in fact, practically none existent.
NASA employed the use of fuel cell technology as early as the Apollo missions, some submarines have used them since the 1980's, and most car manufacturers have produced a prototype car to utilise this power source.

Unfortunately, readily available commercial products have been a long time coming, primarily due to the expence of production. This is soon to change with a number of manufacturers developing fuel cell technology for use in mobile phones, laptops and other portable devices.

Personally, I have a particular interest in hydrogen fuel cells in conjunction with photovoltaic cells as a potential power source for our homes. These type of system uses the photovoltaic cells to produce electricity, and any unused, excess power is then used to generate hydrogen which is stored for use in the fuel cell to provide electricity when the solar source isn't readily available (at night for example). This system is very much like the experimental house built by the University of Kebangsaan in Malaysia. Other examples being developed for home use are Panasonic's Household Fuel Cell Cogeneration System, a unit that runs on natural gas, and Honda's Home Energy Station III, also running on natural gas and which provides the energy required for the Fuel Cell Car aswell as the home.

There is still a while before a fully self-sufficient system is developed and available for household installation, but I believe it is more a case of when as opposed to if such a fuel cell will become available.

I am very much open to comments and suggestions regarding the idea of household fuel cells, so any comments, links or additional information will be greatfully recieved!

Reducing Water Consumption

Freerain is a UK based company that specialises in what is called Rainwater Harvesting.

This is quite simply collecting the rainwater that falls onto your roof in a suitable tank for later use. The water passes through a primary filter before entering the tank, and is then pumped back out of the tank by a submergable pump when required.

Along with the environmental benefits and the cost of water steadily increasing in the UK, this is something that should not be overlooked. Freerain have completed many installations including contracts for the MoD. They have also recieved a water efficiency award from the Environment Agency in 2003, so are in a perfect position to advise or help you plan a suitable rainwater harvesting system for your chosen project.

Several different installations are available, depending on whether it is commercial or domestic property, the roof size, anual rainfall in the area, and for what purpose the water is needed. Water can even recieve additional filtering and UV sterilisation to provide drinking water in areas that may be remote enough to warrent such a set up.

Some of the benefits to yourself and the environment include not having to rely entirely upon the mains supply, and therefore cheaper water bills. The incidents of flooding can be reduced with more installations, as storm water does not all go back into circulation therefore swelling rivers to flood point. Drought conditions or water shortages (global warming?) also become less of a problem, and the reduced amounts of water to be 'processed' means less strain and demand on treatment plants.

Properties with such a system installed not only become more self-sufficient, but more economical to run, they also gain eco-homes rating points, which in turn can increase the value of the property.

If you are about to build a property or this interests you for an existing building then please visit the Freerain website and find out more. If you are, then this is certainly something worth considering right from the planning stage.