London Smokefree Zone?

[aread2]

The main problem with our way of life is that it's based on burning fossil fuels at 400 times the rate they were produced in the carboniferous era. This figure is based on 1997 consumption figures.

[JDR]

One of the (many) good things about living on a boat is that you have to develop an understanding of how much power you use on a day to day basis and the exact cost involved in generating it. Turning lights off becomes a habit very quickly, as does turning taps off as soon as possible. I'm not sure that a boat propelled by a diesel engine generating leccy using petrol or diesel could be justified as an enviromentally neutral lifestyle but I would say it is a lower impact way of living. I'm curious, if you have a house and a boat do you find you take boat habits home with you after spending time afloat?

[George94]

One of the (many) good things about living on a boat is that you have to develop an understanding of how much power you use on a day to day basis and the exact cost involved in generating it. Turning lights off becomes a habit very quickly, as does turning taps off as soon as possible. I'm not sure that a boat propelled by a diesel engine generating leccy using petrol or diesel could be justified as an enviromentally neutral lifestyle but I would say it is a lower impact way of living. I'm curious, if you have a house and a boat do you find you take boat habits home with you after spending time afloat?

 

 

You are absolutely right.

 

It's not a carbon-neutral lifestyle, but we certainly tend to use less energy, and create less waste, than land-dwellers (and people who roar around in over-powered plastic boats!).

 

Score one for the live-aboards, and especially the CCers who by necessity don't have mains power.

[Dave_P]

You are absolutely right.

 

It's not a carbon-neutral lifestyle, but we certainly tend to use less energy, and create less waste, than land-dwellers (and people who roar around in over-powered plastic boats!).

 

Score one for the live-aboards, and especially the CCers who by necessity don't have mains power.

 

Now if we could only persuade CART to increase recycling facilities on the canalside...

 

I offer my thanks to George94 and Dave_P for being the first posters on the topic of CO2 to (1) understand the issues (2) explain them in a way which makes logical sense and (3) refrain from making personal insults in their explanation; previous posters achieved only 1 or 2 out of these 3.

 

I think I'm gonna learn how to be more insulting! Will I be hounded off these forums if I don't?

[Proper Job]

 

 

Score one for the live-aboards, and especially the CCers who by necessity don't have mains power.

Some of us permanant moorer's don't have main power as well

 

I'm curious, if you have a house and a boat do you find you take boat habits home with you after spending time afloat?

Even when I'm in a house, I go around turning lights off in empty rooms. House dwellers often find this strange behaviour

 

I know someone who has just recently had shorepower put to his mooring. It doesn't take long to loose the energy saving habbit. Lights are now left on all over the boat and there is a constant supply of hot water (immersion on) where before he only heated water when needed.

[nigel carton]

Not 40, but enough!

 

What a great picture!

[Proper Job]

What a great picture!

Living the environmental dream

[dew]

Millions of years ago, the earth was covered in trees, and there was a heck of a lot of Co2. The earth was a pretty hot place to be.

 

The trees sucked tons of CO2 out the atmosphere, cooling it down to a level we live in today.

 

Not that long ago, we discovered coal, oil and petrol, which contain all the locked up CO2 from millions of years ago. We go burning it all, CO2 rises, the earth gets hotter, hence global warming.

 

By burning wood grown from trees only a few years old, we are only putting back CO2 that was taken from the air a couple of years ago, so arn't increasing it by enough to cause a problem. Bu putting all the CO2 back into the air from millions of years ago, plus that from a few years ago, means that we are putting out way more than we should be, and so the global temperatures will rise back to how it was millions of years ago.

 

Simplified all that slightly, but thats the idea.

 

 

Yes! I think I remember they guy covered in sweat millions of years ago sitting in his cave holding his thermometer and saying 'it's far too hot here, it must be because the co2 is so high.... ' then going out and picking fruit from a tree that was next to another tree in a group of trees that covered the whole of the planets surface.

[blackrose]

Ok thats great. We are CCing and was worried someone would come round and tell us we are doing something illegal!

 

To be honest though, I think the whole thing is nonsense. Its coal that produces the harmful gases. not wood. All burning wood does is put back exactly the same amount of Co2 that the tree took out the air in the first place. So really, if everyone was to be burning wood, we wouldn't have all the trouble we have with global warming as it is.

 

As has been said already, CO2 is not the only harmful product of combustion and others may be much more immediately and directly harmful than CO2.

 

Copied from Wikipedia:

 

Combustion by-products

As with any fire, burning wood fuel creates numerous by-products, some of which may be useful (heat and steam), and others that are undesirable, irritating or dangerous.

 

Smoke, containing water vapor, carbon dioxide and other chemicals and aerosol particulates, including caustic alkali fly ash, which can be an irritating (and potentially dangerous) by-product of partially burnt wood fuel. A major component of wood smoke is fine particles that may account for a large portion of particulate air pollution in some regions. Slow combustion stoves increase efficiency of wood heaters burning logs, but also increase particulate production.

 

Depending on population density, topography, climatic conditions and combustion equipment used, wood heating may substantially contribute to air pollution, particularly particulates. The conditions in which wood is burnt will greatly influence the content of the emission. Particulate air pollution can contribute to human health problems and increased hospital admissions for asthma & heart diseases.

 

Wood combustion products can include toxic and carcinogenic substances. Generally, the heartwood of a tree contains the highest amounts of toxic substances, but precautions should be taken if one is burning wood of an unknown nature, since some trees' woodsmoke can be highly toxic.

Personally I wouldn't burn house coal while moored in any residential area.

 

Personally I wouldn't burn house coal anywhere.

Edited November 29, 2013 by blackrose

[mark99]

Burn the trees then .......... or stop them dieing.

 

We need more tree hospitals

Tree's are not sterile - they produce baby trees. I keep pulling em up in our garden (dozens of unwanted ugly ones every year - typically ash or sycamore).

 

But plant nice handsome new ones - like False Acacia.

Edited November 29, 2013 by mark99

[Pykebird]

The celotex stuff is really good, but its not cheap. I paid 50 pounds for two sheets, 1200x2400mm. It would be double the price for 100mm. With that I did the floor and lower walls, but used fibreglass behind cupboards and the kitchen.

You can also get much cheaper kingspan/celotex. The stuff I have used for my boat, including the floor, was all second hand and although some of the corners were chipped, you need to cut it down any way. I got mine from a yard in roydon, but if you google I am sure there are more around.

If I remember correctly, I got enough 100mm to do the whole boat for £300.