Happy new year

New Year’s Eve is great don’t you think? The past is the past and how good is the next year gonna be? So much better, right? Part of all the optimism many of us feel on 31 December is due to planning to make some changes and setting some goals. I rarely make New Year’s resolutions but last New Year’s Eve I did for the first time in ages. My resolution revolved around what I could do towards the cause of combating climate change. How did I do? Read on.

Climate change affects us all and as sheddies are very competent at solving issues and sorting problems, we often run articles in the magazine giving some insight into how we can look after ourselves better. This edition of The Shed has three articles on alternative energy, as it is something that is on our minds a lot here. There seems to be (and there will be even more in the future) a lot more power cuts than there used to be.

More frequent storms and stronger winds bring down trees and power lines, and losing power more often is something that we will need to get used to. If you live rurally this could mean you are without power for longer, as more repairs may be required for your district over a large area. Who wants to be without power for long stretches at a time?

So first up we have some good advice for those who don’t currently have a generator and maybe should. We discuss what you’ll need for different amounts of power usage and give some basic tips.

Another aspect of climate change is the need to use less of our precious oil for several reasons and to drive more electric cars. This increase in electric vehicles (EVs) means an increased drain on our electricity supplies, so really we should be decreasing what we draw down from the national grid, where we can.

Murray Grimwood has written two articles on this objective for this issue, one about harnessing your own electricity, and another about being clever with innovative design to heat your own home and, consequently, draw less electricity from the national grid.

Much of what is written about here will require an authorized technician to install but there are not many of us who wouldn’t want to get stuck in and lend a hand where we can. We have a lot of the required skills and it’ll also save money.

Back to my New Year’s resolution. How have I done so far? Terribly. I have done nothing to help the cause. I’m not driving less, using less electricity, or consuming less. Fail. And I reckon that is probably the case for just about all of us. What are you doing to help?

I kept thinking that it was the job of a government to put laws and good practice in place but that’s not all of it. Governments hate doing anything that makes them unpopular and as a result possibly lose elections. They are slow and often avoidant. It’s down to us as individuals to do something and we need to start doing it quickly. When I was growing up a popular question was, “What did you do in the war, Grandad?” For our grandchildren it will be, “What did you do about climate change, Grandad?”

I hope I have an answer for them.