CAR-LESS DAYS - TE ROTO FLEET - by Denis

Reduction in Green House Gas Emissions from the Te Roto Road Vehicle Fleet.
The fuel used in New Zealand's vehicle fleet accounts for over half of the total energy used in NZ annually.
This ratio probably applies to most New Zealand homes. If they are spending two to three hundred dollars a month on their power bill you can bet they are spending a similar amount to run their cars, if not more with the recent price increases!
We had taken various steps to reduce energy used in our homes, (see previous blogs), however in an effort to reduce the fuel used by the vehicles owned by residents of Te Roto Road during the Greenest Street Competition, it was decided to introduce an old method tried in the 1970's - Carless Days!!
Unlike the draconian scheme from the '70's, this one would be entirely voluntary. Each household would be asked to have at least one day a week when they didn't use their vehicles. Obviously depending on circumstances this would prove to be easier for some families than others.
RESULTS:
Column 1 Household
Column 2 Vehicle
Column 3 Reduction/Increase km use for year
Column 4 CO2 output grams/km travelled
Column 5 Reduction/Increase CO2 output for year.
A : 1 : 2500 km : 218 g/km : 545 kg
A : 2 : No change
B : 1 : 9000 km : 162 g/km : 1458 kg
B : 2 : 5500 km : 341 g/km : 1875 kg
C : 1 : 2430 km : 177 g/km : 430 kg
D : 1 : 12764 km : 141 g/km : 1800 kg
D : 2 : 456 km : 152 g/km : 70 kg
E : 1 : 2769 km : 171 g/km : 474 kg
F : 1 : 272 km : 216 g/km : 60 kg
G : 1 : 2929 km : 224 g/km : 654 kg
G : 2 : 2640 km : 206 g/km : 544 kg
G : 3 : +1000 km : 227 g/km : 227 kg
H : 1 : 3444 km : 186 g/km : 640 kg
I : 1 : 800 km : 190 g/km : 152 kg
J : 1 : 7580 km : 276 g/km : 2092 kg
J : 2 : 9300 km : 264 g/km : 2455 kg
Total Reduction km use per year = 61375 km
Total Reduction CO2 output for year = 13022 kg
CONCLUSION:

By the use of a very simple method involving a bit of forward planning to organise their vehicle use, the residents of the street have avoided making unnecessary trips and reduced their total of:-

#1 Distance travelled by 61,375 km
#2 The total CO2 produced from their vehicles by 13022 kg
#3 Fuel Saved : Since individual vehicle consumption figures were not recorded, an approximate group average figure will be calculated.
From the Govt Wright Car website.
To calculate CO2 emissions from fuel consumption figures litres per 100 km. (L/100km)
CO2 g/km Average Conversion factor for petrol is (L/100 km x 22.961 = CO2 g/km
From this we obtain (L/100km = CO2g/km / 22.961)
Total CO2 saved = 13,022,000 grams
total km saved = 61,375 km
The group average CO2 emissions = 13,022,000 / 61,375 = 212 g/km
The group average fuel consumption L/100km = 212 / 22.961 = 9.233 L/100km
Total fuel saved = Avg 1/100km x Distance Saved / 100
= 9.233 x 61,375 / 100
= 5,666 litres
# 4 Dollars Saved:

Fuel prices increased rapidly during the six month period of the project, so an exact figure would be impossible to calculate.
However if we assume a conservative average cost of $2.00 per litre, this gives pretty impressive value = 5,666 x 2.0
= $11,333 over 1 year !!
Over all a very worthwhile project !!

Potential Cost Savings Realised by Changing Your Power Provider

It seems timely to report on the results of our streets efforts, in view of the recent blitz of adds on T.V. and Radio encouraging people to save money by changing their Power Provider. www.whatsmynumber.org.nz sponsored by the " Electricity Authority "

Case Study 2:-

In February a number of residents in Te Roto Rd were contacted by a representative of Powershop, a relatively new player of the country's numerous Power Providers.

They were conducting a customer recruitment drive in the region, and were offering some attractive enticements to switch.

Powershop were offering a guaranteed minimum 10% saving, plus an added 12 Days free power at 22 Units per day ( kW/Hr ) over a 60 day trail period.

Powershop has a relatively innovative way of operating compared to other suppliers. Check out the details on www.powershop.co.nz.

Consumer magazine has conducted a number of surveys on electricity prices and power providers over the last few years, Powershop seems to have come out at or near the top in all of them. www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch.

The following results are from one household in the street that decided to switch from their existing provider Contact Energy to Powershop.

Comparing unit prices cents per kWh. Comparing apples with apples!

Powershop unit prices are a total price, It includes GST. Powershop does not charge line or meter charges. If you don't use any power over a given time period there is no charge.

This unit price can vary according to a number of factors like the time of year and your consumption rate. You can also pre bulk buy units at a discounted special price for use at a later date.

Contact Energy's unit price does not include GST, line or meter charges. You have to add these charges to your total accumulated unit charge and divide by the number of units used over a given time period to obtain the real price per unit !

If you don't use any power over a given time period you still end up paying for the line, meter and GST charges !! The less power you use over a given time period the higher the equivalent unit charge !!

Actual Bill : Powershop : April/May

33 days 682 kWh @ 22.18 cents per kWh = $158.07

Less 4 days free power 4 x 22 kWh x 23.18 cents per kWh = $20.39

Actual Cost = $158.07 - $20.39

Total = $137.68

Sample Bill : Contact Energy

33 days 260 kWh @ 27.187 cents per kWh = $70.68 Any Time Unit Rate = 23.641cents per kWh + GST @ 15% = 27.187

33 days 422 kWh @ 18.38 cents per kWh = $74.18 Economy Unit Rate = 15.92 cents per kWh + GST @15% = 18.38

33 days Two meter charge @ $1.33 per day = $43.89

33 days Easy Reader @ $0.15 per day = $4.95

Electricity Commission Levy

@ $0.215 per kWh x 682 kWh = $1.45

Grand Total including GST = $195.15

Cost Saving without Powershops free days power introductory offer.

Contacts Price = $195.15

Powershops Price = $158.07

Saving = $37.08

This is equal to a 19% saving !

Cost Saving with Powershops free days power introductory offer included.

Contacts Price = $195.15

Powershops Discount price = $137.68

Saving = $ 57.47

This is equal to a 29.45% saving !

Conclusion.

A 19% saving is a good result, if your power bill is $2000 over one year ( $166 average per month ) this equates to saving of $380 over one year !

By signing up for Powershop's 12 days free power sign up trial, you get 12 days Free power !

You get 22 Units per day, the unit rate may vary depending on the date. However if we assume our example rate of 22.18 cents per unit.

This means a further one off saving of 22 x 12 x $0.2218 = $58.55

Well worth a try ?

By Denis

Containing the Dog - By Monica

¾ of our property had been fenced prior to the purchase of our wee puppy, (who is not so wee any more). Our mission was to fence the rest of our property so that we could keep her in and other dogs out! The price we were quoted was $2,000 for swimming pool fencing and labour. We almost accepted this quote until Andy and Paul David were having a chit chat over the fence. Paul gave us a rather cunning and incredibly cost effective way to fence the last side of our property. He suggested mounting galvanized gates to tanalised posts. The gates would sit on tanalised timber. The cost, $600 for the gates and timber and $350 for the labour.

The result, a fence that contains the dog, looks good for half the cost of swimming pool fencing. Thought we would share this idea!

Productive Wet Weekends - Crabapples and Feijoas



Baset of crabapples and granny smiths



The crabapple season nearly got away from me this year - what with all the wet weather and Easter being later than usual - well that's my excuse anyway!

A reprieve from the rain meant I was able to harvest some very ripe crabapples and a few of the Granny Smith apples which grow on a very old tree in my orchard.  I was a bit unsure of how successful the crabapple jelly would be as the fruit was over ripe but I happened to speak to Raewyn at the Estuary opening the previous day and she told me to add a couple of lemons to the pan during the first stage and to add lots of citrus peel when making the jelly.  A deviation to my recipe but worth a punt given last year's brew just wouldn't set!

Draining the pulp

It was an amazing success and I found that the jelly reached setting point way quicker than ever before - what a time saver!

Then it was onto the feijoas.  I only have a few bushes which I planted a couple of years ago - but they are proliferic producers and some feijoas were the size of oranges!  It was a race between me and the pukekos to harvest the fruit and I think we both got a lion's share.  The last batch was earmarked for Feijoa Chutney - a first for me.  Anna, my mother in law, gave me her favourite recipe - and the preserving pan was back in action.  

Finished produce!

This was another satisfying success and I now have a stack of goodies in my pantry for the family, friends and neighbours.

P.S.  I was out visiting in the weekend and found a crop of feijoas rotting on the ground!  The residents - city dwellers like I used to be - just hadn't had time to do anything with them.  I empathised of course but rescued the fruit and promised to give them some of the chutney when it's done.  And now I get to try another recipe too - so all is good!

Friends of the Otaki River - Estuary Viewing Platform

Inclement weather didn't deter Friends of the Otaki River (including Te Roto residents) from attending the official opening of the Otaki River estuary veiwing platform. 

The viewing platform, accessed from Kapiti Lane, offers visitors views over the estuary and out to Kapiti Island.

It is the latest achievement for the local community group - (FOTOR) - and over 400 native plants were planted around the platform on the day.  The plants were grown in FOTOR's own nursery and this is where we donated most of the native seedlings from our Greenest Street Seedling Project.

It is thoroughly satisfying to contribute to a community initiative such as this and it was interesting to talk to a lot of people about the Greenest Street initiative, including Raewyn who gave me some expert advice on how to save my over ripe crabapple crop - more on that in my next blog!

Recycling of the Cans Project

For some time now we have been collecting up all our metal and aluminium cans as part of our street recycling of glass & metal, and today saw the end of this project for the time being.

Pat, Peter & Denis, got stuck in and sorted out the huge woolsack into metal and aluminium, loaded all into the trailer and deposited with Nationwide Scrap Metal Recyclers in Levin.

The result was 35 kgs of tin cans, and 27 kgs of aluminium cans, a grand total of 62 kgs. We were paid $71.70 in all, which will go into our “street kitty” to help defray costs of the projects the street has been involved with.

The result of our recycling of glass and metal has meant that these items have not been collected by the KCDC, we have disposed of them ourselves.

Making Kawakawa Ointment

I have finally made some kawakawa ointment. With an enormous amount of kawakawa plants growing on our property, and knowing of the healing properties in the leaves, I decided to google the web for a suitable recipe for making an ointment. This is what I found:-

Kawakawa Ointment

A large hand full of kawakawa leaves, as many as can be crushed into the palm of hand. These should be the leaves with the holes in them, as the bugs know which ones have the goodies in them.

250 mls of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

250 grams of Beeswax (approx)

Soak the leaves in the oil for 24 hours, then heat the oil to a very low temperature, (just warm), then stir and crush the leaves, do this for about 20 minutes.

Then remove the leaves, and raise the temperature slightly, but not bubbly, and add the beeswax in small amounts, stirring, until desired consistency. I would suggest testing a small amount like one would do with jam until you are satisfied you have the right consistency.

Take off heat then put into small jars to set.

Mine turned out a bit firm as I had put a bit too much beeswax in. Oh well the next batch should be spot on. Hence I call it Kawakawa Salve.

I have asked my daughter to try this on my granddaughter's eczema as it is supposed to be very good for healing eczema, especially children. I have been using it on my dry lips, and it certainly is great for that, as at this time of year I find my lips get very dry and crack. It should be great for any dry skin areas.