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Thursday Nov 12, 2009

Moi: Insulation Guru Extraordinaire

If there’s one thing I don’t know much about, it’s house insulation. However, I am a big fan of herbal teas (check out the ‘Herbal Tea Raaaaaaaaawks!’ group on facebook if you don’t believe me!) So, in the spirit of learning how to insulate your home in an environmentally friendly manner, whilst simultaneously getting closer to the farm’s stash of herbal tea, I agreed to help run the South Yorkshire Energy Centre’s weekend workshop.

This included showing visitors around the centre, encouraging them to interact with the attractions and dolling out handy hints on everything from sheep’s wool insulation, to digital clocks that run on water. First things first though, I had to learn about these things myself.

Although I’d photocopied every leaflet I could get my grubby little paws on in the SYEC offices, I hadn’t ventured onto the main stage, and so had to be given the full guided tour before I could make myself useful. First up, was an instrument of torture that, in a previous incarnation, had been an exercise bike, but now went by the moniker of ‘The Human Power Station.’ Mounted on the front of the rather fearsome-looking bike were bulbs, a radio and a kettle, all driven by the power generated by the bike’s wheels.

After much puffing, panting and crunching of mint crumbles for energy, I realised that managing to get the bulbs flickering and the radio crackling, was nothing compared to the aches and pains of getting a kettle to boil a cup of water. My twelve-cups-a-day habit suddenly made me feel very guilty indeed. Later, when I was showing excited tykes and adults around The Human Power Station, I made sure to stress the importance of only boiling as much water as you need. We already know this, of course, but nothing makes you appreciate the difference between the energy needed to boil one cup of water, and the energy needed to boil two, more than having to hop on an exercise bike and get that water a-bubbling yourself. Ouch.

Thankfully, not all the attractions caused minor muscle spasms. There was also a fan - which caused no muscle spasms, minor or otherwise - with a drawing of a cutesy cartoon cloud puckering its cloud lips around the air-vent, and a miniature turbine mounted on a pole with a bulb attached to the end. Holding the turbine up to the fan made the light flicker, thus demonstrating how wind power can be transformed into electricity. It was a fun and simple way to demonstrate renewable energy sources to the kiddies, and by the end of the day I had one little boy enthusing that he was going to ask his dad if they could have a wind turbine in their back garden. A job well done, me thinks!

But, it wasn’t all fun, games, pretend wind turbines and herbal teas of every colour. I shadowed the regular volunteer, eavesdropping on her conversations with visitors and gradually getting more involved in playing Energy Centre hostess. I learnt that the Energy Centre was originally a crumpet factory (a fact which sent one grandfather and his grandson into rapture but then, who doesn’t love crumpets?) The property had then briefly served as a house, before Heeley farm acquired it. In an effort to demonstrate environmentally-friendly building practices, the property had been kitted out with all the latest insulation gadgetry and glass panels had been fitted onto the walls, allowing a rare glimpse of insulation in action. I was also shown samples of all the different insulations, ranging from sheep’s wool, to scrunched-up paper.

By the time the fourth person dropped in for advice on how to keep their home toasty, while causing minimal damage to all the nice trees and the ozone layer, I was able to take them to one side, show them the samples, point them in the direction of the glass panels and give them some useful contact details - if not like a regular pro, then at least like someone who had a vague idea of what they were talking about. And, in a double-whammy of jaw-dropping professionalism, I was even able to point out that the rather snazzy-looking kitchen at the back of the Energy Centre, was actually made entirely from reclaimed wood.

As the day grew dark - at 3:30 in the afternoon, God bless winter - and I sent the last visitor off with a newfound appreciation for insulation, all that was left to do was tidy up, water the plants, switch off the visitors’ attractions (leaving attractions that demonstrate energy-saving techniques, running overnight would be a rookie error) and re-fill the environmentally-friendly clocks with water. The last one fascinated me. Water-powered clocks made me think of cast-iron pipes, water wheels, pumps and GCSE History lessons on the Industrial Revolution, but I was amazed (and a little disappointed, I must confess) to discover that the water-powered clock looked like any other digital clock. In the back, was a pill-sized capsule that had to be filled with approximately three drops of water. Who needs batteries, when you can power a clock on the stray drops that dribble out of your tap? Genius.

I know what I shall be getting friends and family for Christmas this year.

Posted by Jessica ( 7:00 PM )
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