13
votes
Accepted
Is it better to put something potentially unrecyclable in the recycling bin or to put something recyclable in the waste bin?
It may depend on your local rules, but here it's certainly better to put a recyclable thing in the bin than a non-recyclable thing in the recycling. That is, if your council doesn't have any sorting ...
- 763
9
votes
Accepted
How effective are rotary composters
The advantage of a rotary mixer is the ease of keeping the compost moving. A static pile that is never moved takes around a year, and the top 6" doesn't decompose well. Turn the pile a few times, ...
- 7,009
7
votes
Accepted
Investing in Solar Panels in the UK
The Energy Saving Trust (EST) is an organisation that has no vested interest in selling you things (although their mission is certainly to encourage takeup of renewables). They have a lot of good ...
- 3,621
7
votes
Investing in Solar Panels in the UK
I was quite surprised by the number of upvotes the question got, and as I've now gone ahead and had the panels installed, I'll add a few more details of what I did, in case it is of use to anyone ...
- 363
6
votes
Accepted
Solar PV panels - Worth the cost of more efficient panels?
Rooftops are pretty much the only place where efficiency matters for PV panels, because surface area is typically a constraint there, but almost nowhere else. And the structure of UK feed-in tariffs ...
- 14.6k
6
votes
Can The UK Be Powered Practically By 100% Renewables?
Summary: yes, the UK can be powered practically by 100% renewables
Technically it's fairly straightforward. Subject to some fairly reasonable assumptions, and the commercialisation of technology that'...
- 14.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Who can you bank with for environmental sustainability?
There are many answers to this question, and this is the best resource I know of for providing a simple answer that is specific to where you live.
https://bank.green
This provides evaluations of many ...
Nic♦
- 2,749
4
votes
Investing in Solar Panels in the UK
In Britain, the important bit is to make sure that your installer is MCS registered, and that the equipment they supply will be MCS registered.
This will ensure that you are eligible for the Feed-in ...
- 14.6k
3
votes
Accepted
Recycling video (VCR) tapes in the UK
I found this webpage of a company in Bristol called "Environmental Media Solutions" where they say
Environmental Media Solutions are able to recycle 78% of tapes, 100% of CD’s and DVD’s and their ...
- 14.1k
3
votes
Investing in Solar Panels in the UK
I realise this thread is a little old, but for the benefit of current and future readers, I would like to share some valuable insight and a detailed infographic of UK solar PV payback period and ...
- 31
2
votes
Electric cars and grid power capacity
National Grid supplies the energy for the UK, and also manages the high voltage power transmission system. Each year, they prepare a Future Energy Scenarios report looking at energy needs across the ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
Solar PV panels - Worth the cost of more efficient panels?
The maximum rated power is not the only thing to consider.
You should also look at how your panels are going to perform in low light conditions.
Cloudy days, early mornings and late afternoons etc. ...
- 321
2
votes
Solar PV panels - Worth the cost of more efficient panels?
Expand the effective roof area.
A: Extend the slope of the south facing roof with beams that are flat to the south roof but overhang the slope of the north roof. You should be able to do one more ...
- 7,009
2
votes
Alternatives to bottled water in the UK
There are jugs with filters. This happens to be a Brita.
- 383
2
votes
Alternatives to bottled water in the UK
I was looking at the website of South West Water, the company that supplies tap water for Devon, and they have a page on Tastes and smells where they say that
...often unusual tastes or odours ...
- 14.1k
2
votes
Alternatives to bottled water in the UK
From a BBC article on 2018-01-25:
Plastic bottles: Free water refill points rolled out to cut waste
Shops, cafes and businesses will offer free water refill points in every major city and town in ...
- 2,744
2
votes
Can The UK Be Powered Practically By 100% Renewables?
Energynumbers gives an excellent summary of the purely technical aspects. While I might quibble with a few specifics, I'll accept that - subject to developments of storage technologies and some ...
- 3,621
2
votes
Accepted
Sustainability of wood pellet sources for biomass boiler
I guess the sustainability depends strongly on how the pellets are produced. Often pellets are made from by-product from other forest industry which makes it trickier to calculate emission and carbon ...
2
votes
Recycling video (VCR) tapes in the UK
My former local council (Leicestershire) used to take these by the skip loads at the tips. [Reference]
If your home council doesn't, perhaps it might be worth looking into neighbouring councils?
- 430
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible