Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

Feel free to hijack - I welcome the debate.

I think there are a few things that could change within domestic planning laws that would make a considerable difference to our energy.

• Oblige all developers to incorporate energy saving techniques into all new-build property, so that energy usage is minimised
• Every new build warehouse and industrial building should be obliged to have a mono-tilt roof oriented towards the best light generation, covered in PV
• Sloping railway embankments, and motorway and major trunk roads cut into a gully should have PV cells on these, protected by proper barriers and non-reflective surfaces. Some waterways could be similarly used
• all new-build homes should have energy collection surfaces
• We should stop using prime arable land for PV fields
• Stop using pylons to transport electricity and use underwater (first choice) or underground options instead. 
• Take the total cost of ownership into account when approving electricity choices (ie cost of decommissioning and decontamination of nuclear energy plants)

Some of my thoughts...

Karmacat

Loving that, Suffolk Lass.

trix-a-belle

Can I throw in as a bit of an alongside that browfield sites should always be utilised first for housing needs (be it ex office block or previous industrial site) there really is very little argument not too apart from them not wanting to pay to clear it, these sites surely already have the connections required into electric/drainage etc & would have suitable roofing structure/space for the above (& not develop near water courses)

We have yet another large insurance firm moving out of the city centre leaving a large multistory building and huge amount of car parking but i'm pretty sure we don't have enough students to fill it after all the other offices that have already been converted to student housing if they go that direction, & i'm amazed the landlords of the previous student-land area of the city aren't up in arms from whats been done already

edinburgher

I like all of your ideas @Suffolk_lass, although I think we need to go further, those radical Democrats in the US have hit the nail on the head with their proposed "green new deal" as far as I'm concerned. Start treating climate change like a new world war where there's actually a potential winner! 👍

Karmacat

edinburgher said:

I like all of your ideas @Suffolk_lass, although I think we need to go further, those radical Democrats in the US have hit the nail on the head with their proposed "green new deal" as far as I'm concerned. Start treating climate change like a new world war where there's actually a potential winner! 👍

Loving that too, that's how important it is.

Suffolk_lass

I'm consciously posting less frequently on here as I'm aware this diary sits in with the debt-free wannabees diaries and is no longer about our debts and must come across as incredibly smug to others who are really struggling. I could start another but we don't have a mortgage any more, I don't find the savings threads very friendly and we are not exactly old-style, although apparently growing fruit and veg and how I use it is now (it's what I have always done because each time a seed I have planted, germinates, it lifts my spirits).

So just to say we are at one SM shop plus a top up for apples and lemons; the latter because I will be making elderflower cordial once some more honey has been extracted and there is room in the kitchen for some different kit. Living on what we have in. 

Bees are incredibly busy and active and time consuming this month. Four swarms attended in the last week and a half (two left before I arrived, one we caught, one was too high, fifty foot up a tree!).

Son's finances have taken an upturn and he has almost £1k he did not know he had in his bank account! I know this because last week he came over and we logged into his account together (he had lost his credentials and I still had them from when I managed his money, not that long ago) - he has paid me for his VED and set up a three payment SO to reimburse me for his motor insurance. I still pay for his mobile phone (!) but it was his birthday present and I may do the same this year. All very positive and living like a pauper but with a few social things is keeping him right for the timebeing.

Our savings are reducing with the stock market but it's a case of hanging in there, though I keep thinking about selling some and reducing the wide number of high risk equities we seem to have, in favour of modest growth funds. Then I do nothing.

Apart from the veg beds the garden is woeful and I need to work out a way to get on top of it. Pup is getting better at doing his thing and snuffling around for a while, while I potter and pot-on things. I need to check whether droppings from rabbits with Myxomatosis can be harmful to pup because he thinks they are part of nature's buffet (yuk!) and the local wild rabbit population is infected.

trix-a-belle

I have thought of you often recently as we had 2 swarms in 4 days outside my house. 1 settled up a neighbours tree, got taken away in a skep but weren't hived until the following morning which was too late, the other in the bottom of a beech hedge who were successfully rehoused. We've now got at least half a dozen different numbers to call on if (lets bee honest, when) it happens again. One local beekeeper had 2 swarms turn up in his driveway in 2 days!

I wouldn't be concerned about this being a 'debt free' area, I think a lot of people are past that point now but still maintain diaries or have pivoted to target multiple things. The journey, what you can target before/during/after & just generally support from others on anything is more what its all about I feel. The MFiT thread was always in the mortgage area but was more and more about people saving either for a deposit, FIRE or just generally, yet when I tried to make people aware in the savings area to see if there were any more interested in joining they binned the post, so yeah not exactly friendly in there.

QueenJess

Suffolk_lass said:

I'm consciously posting less frequently on here as I'm aware this diary sits in with the debt-free wannabees diaries and is no longer about our debts and must come across as incredibly smug to others who are really struggling. 

I wouldn’t worry. There are others in the same situation both on this board and the mortgage free wannabe one. I don’t think you sound smug at all and I think it’s nice to see people at different stages of the journey and to get an insight on how managing money changes. Plus it’s always nice to know there is an end to debt one day!

CRANKY40

I would say that your diary fits the "How to stay debt free once you get there" remit and as such is a valuable resource to this board. 

Humdinger1

@Suffolk_lass you are never smug! More an illustration of what life can be once out of debt.  That's important to keep in mind as you make the journey,  because people can end up feeling lost once they reach the 'promised land' and wonder what's next.  Existential angst seems relatively common at that point so do please keep going; you can't post too often for your posse of admirers.  Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx