The Eco Centre: South West

Anyone know of plans for EV buses in the South West?

Oxford becomes UK’s electric bus capital as 159 vehicles join fleet Private operators are guaranteed faster journey times by the council in return for investment

‘Greener, cheaper, much warmer’ – heat pump owners laud their new system Report finds users even in Victorian properties and older rural homes are noticing cheaper bills and warmer homes

Getting into the Christmassy spirit by putting up the decorations. An eclectic mix of homemade decorations, each lovingly handcrafted and filled with memories.

Here are some ideas for decorations you can make at home;
- pompoms made from left over wool
- hand-painted baubles - the base is a cardboard decoupage ball
- crystals from an old chandelier hung with a ribbon
- wooden discs decorated using pyrography

Treasuring and reusing decorations each year reduces the need to import more and reduces waste to landfill.
Please share your homemade decorations.

Did you know that 30% more waste is produced at Christmas? From wrapping paper, crackers and unwanted gifts to food waste and packaging a large amount of this ends up in landfill.

This year could you reduce the impact of your Christmas celebrations?
Maybe you could reuse last years Christmas jumper, buy pre-loved gifts or local produce. Maybe you could save energy by sharing your Christmas celebrations with another family or go veggie for a week!

Make a Christmas pledge and we will enter you into our Green Christmas competition! Complete this form to enter https://forms.office.com/e/6JYgfT5hTd

December is here! Christmas is on its way! We would like to share some ideas about how you can make your Christmas more eco-friendly, save money, and have some fun. We will be sharing ideas about presents, food, trees, and everything else that makes Christmas special. Watch this space.

Come and join us for a Christmas Craft workshop at Victoria Park Community Centre
We will be making Christmas cards and decorations from recycled materials.
Bridgwater Town Council

We had a wonderful morning making Christmas crafts at Westfield Church in Bridgwater. The children made some super Christmas cards and beautiful beeswax candles as Christmas gifts.

Everyone shared ideas of how we can try to have a 'greener' Christmas. The children made some excellent pledges including reducing the wrapping paper they use, recycling more and one person even promised to eat less chocolate!!

Thank you to Westfield URC for a great venue. If you want to join in look out for our upcoming workshops in Taunton Priorswood Community Centre and Victoria Park Community Centre in Bridgwater

Free Christmas Craft workshop coming up next week. Drop in to make Christmas cards and gifts and think about what we can do to make Christmas greener.

Priorswood Community Centre Taunton Town Council

This weekend come and join us and get in the festive spirit! Crafting beautiful, handmade cards and gifts and thinking about how we can reduce the environmental impact of our Christmas celebrations. Westfield Church Bridgwater

Over the next few weeks we are running a series of free workshops to try and help you reduce the environmental impact of your Christmas celebrations. We will be making plastic free cards and gifts from natural and recycled materials.
We hope to see you there!

These workshops have kindly been supported by Bridgwater Town Council, Taunton Town Council and the National Lottery.

Where there's muck there's well a potentially useful heat source.
A good news story about sewage for once!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/how-the-dutch-went-down-the-toilet-looking-for-heat-sewage

‘A treasure beneath our feet’: How the Dutch went down the toilet looking for heat Sewage waste is now being seen as a reliable heat source for millions of homes in the Netherlands

We had a busy morning at Taunton Repair cafe meeting lots of lovely people and keeping the children busy making some amazing Christmas cards. Thanks to Taunton Transition Town for organising.

Come along to see us at Taunton Repair cafe this Saturday. Join in making some Christmas crafts to start getting ready for a green Christmas. Everyone welcome.

Low-cost tips to maximise your radiators ✋

🔧 Bleed your radiators: This simple task can make a BIG difference. Over time, air can get trapped in your radiator making it less effective. Bleeding releases this air, allowing your radiator to heat up properly.
🧹 Clean your radiators: Dust and debris can build up and hinder your radiator's performance. A quick vacuuming with a brush attachment can do wonders for efficiency.
🔥 Use reflective panels: Ever considered these nifty panels? Placing them behind your radiators helps bounce heat back into the room, instead of it being absorbed by the wall. A small tweak for a big impact!
🌡️ Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs): If your radiators don't have them already consider installing TRVs. They let you control the temperature of individual radiators, helping to balance the heat distribution in your home.

Share any other tips and ideas you have below in the comments 👇

Top five most energy hungry appliances in your home http://www.groundwork.org.uk/Pages/Category/green-doctorGroundwork's energy efficiency expert counts down the top five worst offenders for energy use in your...

🧀 Is your cheese squidged too close you your cauliflower in your fridge? While it might make for a delicious flavour combo, overpacking your fridge can lead to some not-so-tasty consequences when it comes to energy use!

Here's why a well-spaced fridge is a happy fridge:

🌡️ Energy efficiency: An overcrowded fridge has to work overtime to maintain the right temperature, which means higher energy consumption.
🥵 Condenser coil care: too much stuff can block the condenser coils, making it harder for the fridge to release heat efficiently, resulting in extra energy usage.
❄️ Even cooling: without enough space, some areas might not get as cool as they should, which can lead to uneven cooling and potential food spoilage.
☀️ Quick access: A well-organised fridge makes it easier to find what you need. This reduces the time the door is open and minimises the amount of warm air getting in.

We suggest giving your ingredients some space until it is the right time to put them together on the plate!

Wondering if it is cheaper to leave the heating on low all day or only turn it on when you need it?
Or, whether you should you run appliances at night? 🤔

👉 Take a look at this guide: Energy saving myths (and how we've debunked 'em), from The Money Saving Expert.
It aims to crack the less-obvious energy saving conundrums.

Energy mythbusting Top energy-saving tips and energy myth-busting from Money Saving Expert. Find out how you can save on your gas and electricity bills using simple tricks.

Take a peek inside some of the most sustainable homes in Totnes and Dartington at the Open Eco Homes weekend from October 14th to 15th.

Robin de Carteret, the event coordinator, said: “In previous years my wife and I visited a number of local eco-homes and were so inspired that we spent the last 4 years building our own Passivhaus Plus home, which needs barely any heating and generates more solar energy over the year than it uses. We found the nitty-gritty ideas and tips that people who actually live in eco-homes could tell you was invaluable in planning our own home - which we are now opening up to the public to pass on the favour! “

Find out more on the website where you can download the full programme and see a map featuring all the participating properties: https://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/blog-article/open-eco-homes-weekend

You can also pick up a printed copy of the programme from Totnes Climate Hub and The Mansion Totnes 2021 onwards

👩‍🍳 Energy Savings Tips: Cooking
🍳 Tip 2: Making the most of your hob

If you're using the hob to cook your dinner tonight, here are a few ways you can make it more energy efficient.

🔥 Use a pan that matches your meal size: if you're frying a 7cm egg in 26cm pan, there's a lot of energy not being used heating the whole pan.
🔥 Turn off the heat a little earlier: a few minutes before your veg, pasta or rice is completely cooked turn the hob off. The residual heat will finish the job.
🔥 Are you cooking something that could be cooked in the microwave? You'd might be surprised at what you can! As well as saving on time, microwaves provide are energy efficient cooking method.

💡 Here's a few recipes all made in the microwave for a little inspiration https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-cook-without-cooker

Making small changes in your kitchen habits can add up to significant energy savings over time! 🌿💡

👉 Any other ideas? Share your hints and tips in the comments below!

When heading off to university, my grandmother imparted a valuable piece of advice: whenever I fired up the oven to cook anything, make sure I make the most of it by putting something in to cook 🧑‍🍳

🌟 It's a classic but a goodie when it comes to energy saving advice:
🔥 If you've got your oven on, maximise it!

Perhaps slide in a batch of cookies for a delightful treat 🍪 , roast some veggies for convenient midweek salads 🥕, or perhaps simmer a hearty stew to stock your freezer for those days when cooking feels like a chore 🥘

We're curious, what's your favourite way to make the most of your oven? Share in the comments 👇

👍 Energy Savings Tips: Cooking 🧑‍🍳

🌟 Tip 1. Help your kitchen appliances work better and last longer by showing them some extra care and attention.

Pop in your diary a time to by give your appliances some attention. Just like us, they also need some TLC to help them be more efficient and last longer.

Here's some to start:
🫖 Has your tea got a funny, metallic taste? It might be a sign to descale your kettle. It will improve your brew but can also help your kettle to boil water more efficiently.
🥶 If its looking like the north pole in your freezer, its perhaps time to defrost. You may not only find that missing bag of peas, but you'll save some energy. The frost build-up is making your freezer motor work extra hard to keep something frozen that we don’t need.
🔥 This might be many people's least favourite job, but is it time to give the oven a clean? A clean oven is not only good for fire safety, better tasting food, but it also means that it gets to temperature much more quickly and distribute heat more efficiently.

🤔 Do you any tips or tricks in your kitchen that have enhanced the performance of your appliances?

Autumn in a stunning time of year. With its beautiful colours, crisp air and that cosy feeling we get as we retreat indoors. We might cook warmer meals, turn on more lights or stay in the shower that little bit longer...

Along with the practical changes we make (e.g. drying clothes indoors), these changes in our seasonal routines has sparked conversations about our home energy use.

Here's a snapshot of the things I use (in a typical day) that need an energy supply:

⏰ Alarm clock
💦 Boiler
💡 Bedroom lights
💡 Kitchen lights
☕️ Kettle
📻 Radio
🚿 Shower
🥛 Fridge
🍳 Hob
🍞 Toaster
☕️ Kettle
💻 Laptop
📱 Phone

This only takes me up until 9am! And every one of these energy sources has a financial cost and a carbon cost.

Throughout October we'll be sharing facts on home energy use, plus some ideas and inspiration on simple, cost effective energy saving that you can do to help reduce bills and the impact on the environment. Small changes can have a big impact!

🌟 Share your ideas and tips! 🌟
We're all ears for brilliant advice and suggestions. Share your wisdom in the comments below! 👇
Thank you! 💚

'There's no such thing as throwing something away' Andrew Dent

When we throw anything away it must go somewhere, and each act of disposal has an impact on our planet.

To rethink how we think about waste, let's rediscover thrift.

👉 Take a look at this TED Talk by Andrew Dent to find out more.

Things are improving but there are always new things we can learn - at home and in business.

https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_dent_to_eliminate_waste_we_need_to_rediscover_thrift?referrer=playlist-thrifty_ted_talks&autoplay=true

To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift There's no such thing as throwing something away, says Andrew Dent -- when you toss a used food container, broken toy or old pair of socks into the trash, those things inevitably end up in ever-growing landfills. But we can get smarter about the way we make, and remake, our products. Dent shares exc...

Are you looking to give pre-loved items a new home?

Here's a list of websites and apps to peruse ♻️🌟

👉 eBay - your one-stop-shop for everything under the sun!
🏘️ Gumtree - your local classifieds! You'll find all sorts right in your neighbourhood.
👗 Depop - to discover unique, fashion pieces and accessories.
🛋️ Preloved - if your looking for pre-owned furniture, décor, and more, preloved is a budget-friendly and eco-conscious option!
🚲 Shpock - is a "boot sale" app that brings buyers and sellers together.
🧥 Vinted - buy, sell and swap fashion items.
📚 Oxfam Online Shop - support a good cause while shopping for second-hand books, clothes and more.
♻️ Freecycle - a community of eco-conscious individuals giving away unwanted items for free.

Let us know if you have any sites or apps where you've found wonderful second had treasures in the comments below 👇🌟

Why buy second-hand instead of new?

👉 Here are three fantastic reasons:

🌍 Reduce Your Environmental Impact
Choosing second-hand means reducing the demand for new production. This helps conserve resources, lowers greenhouse gas emissions, plus many other benefits for the environment.

🔄 Extend Product Lifecycles
Every time we buy second-hand, we're giving an item a new lease on life. Whether your reusing or repurposing something, it means fewer items end up in landfills, reducing waste and minimising the environmental burden of disposal. And you never know what hidden gems you might uncover.

👛 Good for Your Wallet
Second-hand items often come at a fraction of the cost of new ones, allowing you to pocket those extra pennies!

It's a small change with a big impact!

Ooh, we love this from Hubbub 🌍💚

Before you hit the shops to find a new outfit, why not consider first taking a detour via your own wardrobe… 🧥👠👖

📣NEW LAUNCH📣(from your wardrobe)

Did you know ¼ of the clothes in our wardrobes haven’t been worn in the past year? Let’s get those forgotten things . 👕✨

The Off The Hanger count is an online activity to explore your clothes, help you remember, restyle and rewear more of your stuff, and you’ll get a personalised wardrobe reading at the end!🔮👀

Ready to shop your own wardrobe? Try the count here: https://hubbub.outgrow.us/OffTheHanger

We're starting with our Library of Things directory.

There's now well over 50 Libraries of Things across Britain who are lending items like power tools, crafting equipment and gardening tools. Rather than buying something you may only use once a year, why not use and share?

Find out if there's a local Library of Things near you, and if you know of one not in our directory, get in touch. 👉 https://bit.ly/LoTdirectory

🏡 🌟 Holidays Close to Home

Who says you need to jet off to distant lands to experience wonder?

Why take a holiday closer to home and spend sometime exploring your local area. Even a small adventure can feel a world away, but there are also many other benefits of taking a holiday closer to home.

🌟 By exploring your local area, you may discover something new: a scenic trails, a new outdoor pursuit, or a cultural gem you never knew existed.

🚗 Minimise Travel Stress
No long flights, no jet lag and far fewer carbon emissions. Choose a nearby destination and cut down on travel time, allowing you to fully unwind and make the most of your break.

🍴 Local Flavours
Spend some time discovering new restaurants, farm-to-table dining, street food markets, and local delicacies that highlight the food from the area.

🤝 Supporting Local
Exploring your local area allows you to connect with your community, support local businesses, and learn about the local history and traditions.

🌿 Sustainability in Action
Choosing to explore nearby destinations contributes to sustainable travel practices. You'll reduce your carbon footprint, support local economies, and promote responsible tourism, all while enjoying a fulfilling and enriching holiday