... here's an interesting item from today's science and technology section in the Guardian. As you'll see, it's about heat pumps: an idea that I haven't heard much about recently but always sounded interesting. One couple quoted in the article claim that their recent installation will pay for itself within seven years (compared with their oil fired system) and the technology is very simple.
Perhaps all new homes in Thatcham should feature a heat pump? The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are on the case. According to the article they are 'reviewing options'. Meanwhile things are a little further forward in Sweden where 97% of new homes have heat pumps.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
As an alternative to wind turbines...
...(see below) you could consider making your own electricity. There's an article on the subject in this week's New Scientist. It's available from the magazine's website but you'll need to pay to read it in full.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Keeping track of the blog (and lots of other things)
If you're interested in keeping track of changes to this blog and you don't know about web feeds take a look at this explanation of the idea at the always excellent BBC News website.
The BBC article explains what 'news readers' are - I'd recommend Bloglines which is based on a website. Once you've set up an account you can keep track of changes to websites which feature a feed, including this one and our Wiki. You'll find the link for the feed for this blog in the links section on the right hand side of this page.
To keep track of changes to the wiki, copy the address which appears in your browser's address bar when you click here into your newsreader.
Confused? Well, this will take a little concentration but after you've read the BBC article all should become clear.
The BBC article explains what 'news readers' are - I'd recommend Bloglines which is based on a website. Once you've set up an account you can keep track of changes to websites which feature a feed, including this one and our Wiki. You'll find the link for the feed for this blog in the links section on the right hand side of this page.
To keep track of changes to the wiki, copy the address which appears in your browser's address bar when you click here into your newsreader.
Confused? Well, this will take a little concentration but after you've read the BBC article all should become clear.
Wind turbines
The company that runs the new wind turbine which is just visible from the M4 as you drive past Reading has also supplied two for the town of Swaffham in Norfolk. As you'll see from their website, a consultation with local residents identified that a large percentage of those who responded were in favour of installation of the second machine.
Would Thatcham residents be similarly enthusiastic? There's just one catch: one member of our team of volunteers has pointed out that the turbine in Reading meets the needs of 1200 homes. We'd need about eight Reading-sized ones just to meet domestic demand.
Would Thatcham residents be similarly enthusiastic? There's just one catch: one member of our team of volunteers has pointed out that the turbine in Reading meets the needs of 1200 homes. We'd need about eight Reading-sized ones just to meet domestic demand.
Wired Thatcham
One of the topics we're currently investigating as part of the Vision is the idea of the 'wired community'.
I've just stumbled across this excellent collection of links on the subject.
Websites and other internet applications have enormous potential for linking people together and getting them involved in different aspects of their community, but we obviously need to take account of the fact that web access is by no means universal. Do you have any ideas about how we could bridge the 'digital divide' in Thatcham, assuming that this would be a good thing? If so, we'd be very interested to hear from you.
I've just stumbled across this excellent collection of links on the subject.
Websites and other internet applications have enormous potential for linking people together and getting them involved in different aspects of their community, but we obviously need to take account of the fact that web access is by no means universal. Do you have any ideas about how we could bridge the 'digital divide' in Thatcham, assuming that this would be a good thing? If so, we'd be very interested to hear from you.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
What do 8-12 Year Olds Think of Thatcham?
You can find out by visiting our Wiki and downloading a summary of views expressed by children at Parsons Down School. Lots of interesting views and ideas were expressed. For example, problems crossing the road and the general issue of road safety featured much more prominently than in responses from adults.
The general issue of youth provision is being worked on by one of our Hot Topic teams. We have set-up a number of these teams, all involving Thatcham residents, to look at a range of topics which also include the town centre, transport and access, the environment, social and community, senior citizen provision amongst them. If you're interested in making a difference to Thatcham in any of these areas and would like to get involved please email us by clicking here.
The general issue of youth provision is being worked on by one of our Hot Topic teams. We have set-up a number of these teams, all involving Thatcham residents, to look at a range of topics which also include the town centre, transport and access, the environment, social and community, senior citizen provision amongst them. If you're interested in making a difference to Thatcham in any of these areas and would like to get involved please email us by clicking here.
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