Blackdown Hills Transition ~ The Transition Network supports community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap resources, building local resilience.
We of course already have many community led responses that help to build local resilience, communitty shops and pubs for example. There are some, however, that aren't going to help prevent climate change.....all the same I think they are worth talking about as if we want our communities to be resillient, to survive then we have to first offer support for where they are now, today. The simple fact is that many of us in rural areas are using oil or electricity as our primary source of heating. With oil prices rising by 70% in the last few months and electricity projected to rise in cost by 18% it doesn't take long with a calculator to work out the dent in your earnings. What worries me most with this is that the cost of living will drive all but the most affluent [lovely as they are too] out of our villages. We could see our friends and neighbours seep away. Forming buying groups for oil can save you 4-6 pence per litre. Many of you may well already have one up and running, but www.somersetrcc.org.uk/oil can help you if you are still buying solo. I can't find any similar groups for buying elecricity but there's no good reason not to start one. Or ask your the electricity company for a free monitor that shows you how much electricity is being used at any one time in your home, and think about whether going onto an economy 7 meter would work for you.
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjOf course it is crucial that alongside these savings we do what we can to reduce our use. Every time we leave a light on in a room we're not using or a gadget on standby we might as well burn our wages. The same goes for insulating our homes as well as possible. Power is no longer cheap enough to take for granted. I'm off to see a friend about the LED lighting he has put in throughout his home as one LED bulb will last as long as 25 Halogen bulbs and save about 200 quid in energy savings over it's lifetime.
