Self-Generating

Over the weekend, Dragon was questioning why people talk about saving the planet and so on.

Personally, I don’t talk about “saving the planet”. However, I do believe in working to live ethically, and as greenly as possible. With the new place, we aim to get some solar panels and/or solar tubes for hot water, and (if possible) a wind turbine for some electricity generation as well. We (well, mainly Herself, but I’ll be involved along the way) will also aim to be growing a fair amount of our own vegetables again too, and even possibly some chickens too. Who knows?

But I’m not doing any of it to “save the planet”. I do believe in lowering my impact, and doing what I can. But there’s a variety of reasons, and “saving the planet” isn’t one of them.

I like the idea of being more self-sufficient. I like the idea of generating our own power, so that we’re less reliant on the National Grid, and also on getting power from non-renewable sources. In a selfish way, I don’t want to see us in the shit as and when the power-stations start to run out of fuel, and I believe in being an example. If we start up our own micro-generation stuff, and (if necessary) fight the battles with planning officers and the like, that’s fine – particularly if it makes life easier for other people who come along afterwards.

I also like the idea of getting paid for any spare electricity we happen to generate. We’ve already made some contacts with a local electrician who is cool with our plans, and has the knowledge for doing it all. That’s a promising start. And if we can get the solar panels and/or wind turbine connected in to the National Grid then they pay us for any power we put in to the system. Again, I reckon that’s worthwhile.

Saving the planet? Nope. Helping our own little world along with a minimum of hassle – well, probably with a lot of hassle along the way, but you know what I mean – and also live in a way that allows us to be at least fairly ethical about things, that’s good with me. Really it’s about trying to find a way to live in balance, and maybe finding ways to give things back as well as just taking.