New York, New York. Guess where we are going for Easter? That's right, New York. We are going for 6 nights, and it should be lots of fun. We're even staying at the Waldorf Astoria, as it was not much more expensive than some hotels that looked really tiny on the inside. Plus how often does one get to stay at a nice hotel that is a piece of history? Nothing like favorable exchange rates as well. I would hate to be an American wanting to travel abroad right now, but travelling to America has its benefits.
It seems like it might well be another year of trips. Dublin in a few weeks, USA for Keith's wedding, and New York for Easter. We'll go somewhere for the summer too, though this will probably be somewhere in Europe as it is not so far to go. At least we don't have a car and generally do all the other good stuff for the environment, but flying so much is not so great for the environment. In the UK they have green taxes on flights, which are in theory supposed to be used to help offset carbon in the UK, though I reckon it just goes in a big government pot somewhere. It's too bad because if the UK took all the money from fuel duty (<50% of the gas price) and flight taxes and put it to work in making renewable energy sources, I think they would be able to phase out all the coal power plants, or upgrade the trains to be more efficient.
As it is, they won't even waive VAT (value-added tax, essentially a sales tax) on the sale of energy efficient lightbulbs to encourage people to buy them. As a note, if you don't have them already, get some. They are great, in that you get about 100 watts of light for about 8 watts of power. Costs more in the store, but also lasts longer and saves electricity.
I still keep wondering when Sheffield will start having recycling at your door besides paper. I have to cart the glass, metal, and plastic to the supermarket every Sunday, as they are the only place with bins for it. We had door-to-door pick-up in London but not here in Sheffield.
1 comment:
Not to be excessively pedantic, but they don't, in fact generate 100 watts of light using 8 watts of electricity. If they did that, then we could shine them at a solar panel and come out ahead. What they actually do is produce about the same amount of perceived visible light (measured in lumens) as a 100 watt incandescent bulb using only about 20 watts of power. They do this by generating a lot less waste heat and less light which falls outside the spectrum of human vision.
They're still pretty awesome, though. The average 100W incandescent bulb cost like 50p and is expected to last around 1000 hours of use. During that time, it uses 100kWh of electricity. At 10p per kWh, that comes to 10 pounds during its whole life. A compact fluorescent which produces as much light as a 100W incandescent costs around 10 pounds (in the US, they're only like 1 pound, so I'm not sure why they cost so much in Britain). It lasts for 6000 hours of use. It only uses 20W of electricity. So, it uses 120kWh of electricity, which totals to about 12 pounds.
To compare them equivalently, you need to compare one compact fluorescent bulb to six incandescent bulbs in order to get the same total lifetime. So total costs for incandescent bulbs = 3 pounds for purchase, 60 pounds for use for a total of 63 pounds. Total costs for compact fuorescent = 10 pounds for purchase, 12 pounds for use for a total of 22 pounds. That's a savings of 41 pounds per light bulb even with the bulb prices being so high.
And that's assuming a rate of 10p per kWh. If you pay more than that, then the savings are even bigger. My sources indicate that most residential electric rates in the UK are in the 10p-16p per kWh range. If you do the same math for 16p, you get a savings of 69.80.
Keith
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