Waste not, want not

Why on earth, in Heaven’s name, do we waste so much energy and so much water? Answer – because it’s there and it’s cheap.

Of course, that’s no excuse – but we all do it. This is the time of year when we English should be thinking about draught excluders, loft insulation and double-glazing. We may have had an Indian summer in September – but we’ll be on the receiving end of arctic winds within weeks.

The fact is, English building regulations require some of the lowest home insulation standards in Europe. So we can freeze if we want to. Or just guzzle that cheap gas and electricity. In the heat of summer, the Prime Minister signed a deal with Russia to supply us with gas for twenty years. They will deliver – probably. And if they don’t, there’s lots of gas just the other side of Iraq and Iran…

Electricity is so (relatively) cheap now, that several of our biggest power stations are mothballed and energy companies are going bust – or being snapped up by foreign owners. When the winter comes, will we have what it takes to heat and light us? Or will the systems crash out, unable to cope, as they did in California a few years back?
We’ve had plenty of warnings. Yet we have more electrical gadgets in our homes than ever. Why not find your electricity bills for 1993 and look at the price and the quantity you used. You’ll get the picture.

Amazingly, to power all the TVs and computers left on stand-by in the UK, takes the output of two whole power stations. Do you boil a full kettle of water when you only need a cup? Do you leave lights switched on needlessly?

There is another way. If you can’t bear to use less energy, why not capture some of nature’s largesse for yourself?

This summer five friends in Salisbury set up the South Wiltshire Solar Club. How hot was the water coming out of your hosepipe in August, after being coiled in the sun all day? With just a bit more sophistication, you can make a DIY solar domestic water system for about £1500. When I launched the Club in the Guildhall Square recently, on display was a system made out of an old radiator, copper pipes and plastic tanks that cost its owner £146!

A DIY system can provide about 40% of your home hot water needs. The payback may be as little as 5 years. For those not into scrambling around on roofs, a professional installation will set you back upwards of £4000 with a longer payback. You can find out more on Club website at www.solarclub.info .

And then there’s water. Well, I’m serving on the Parliamentary Committee considering the Government’s Water Bill, as I predicted in August. There’s a tough new regime ahead – but we’re still slogging it out on some big issues. There are still no proposals to allow planning authorities to say ‘no’ to new developments if local water and sewerage utilities can’t cope. And there will still be too much secrecy in the industry. But I’m on the case!

Robert Key MP