Green Links

Energy

Energy Management
Good Energy 
Energy Saving Trust
The Green Deal Guide
National Energy Foundation

Renewable Energy Production
Green Energy Team

Food

Grow your own
Landshare 
Online matching service that allows you to find or offer land to growers. If you have a big garden you can offer it on this website for instance.
Grow Your Own (Magazine)
Colchester Allotment Association

Community Projects
Big Garden Project
Colchester Carrot

Local Produce
GFB

Vegetarian
Vegetarian Society
Vegan Society

Wholesale Foods
Suma Foods

New Economics

New Economics Foundation

Sharing Skills
Exchanging skills with other members of your community has taken many forms over the years, from LETS schemes and Timebanks to web based services. In Colchester we have both a timebank and, internationally the web based service Just For The Love of It. Like all community sharing services however, they rely on having lots of members and the members using them both to offer their skills and to request skills. The Colchester LETS scheme folded in 2002. Details of schemes are given below:

Just for the Love of It
This is a web based Community service that lets you share skills, tools, land and buildings.
LETS UK
Time Bank Colchester
Timebanking UK

Finance
Colchester Credit Union
ZOPA UK
KIVA Loans

Sustainability

en-form – The Colchester Environment Centre
Essex University Green Task Force
Transition Town Colchester
Transition Town Wivenhoe

Transport

Colchester Travel Plan

Climate Care
Off-set your emissions by planting trees

Car
The Environmental Transport Association
UK's only breakdown organisation that campaigns for a greener transport policy
Vehicle Certification Agency
Vehicle fuel consumption guide and database
Wombat Car Club
The Colchester based Car club
Essex Liftshare
Free local online car share matching service

 

Cycling
CTC
UK cyclist's membership organisation, including cycling insurance
Colchester Cycle Champions
Cycle Colchester
Colchester Cycling Campaign
Sustrans
Information on the National Cycle Network

Public Transport
Colchester Bus Users Support Group
Transport 2000
Campaigns for Sustainable transport in the UK

Walking
Walk Colchester

Waste – Reduce, Reuse and Recycling

Reduce
Love Food Hate Waste
Stop unwanted Junk Mail

Reuse
Ebay
The famous online auction site that lets you sell everything legal.
Freegle
Freecycle
Give or Take Essex
Like ebay but free. Lets you post unwanted items you want to give away or request items you want.
ReUse Essex
Online directory with search facility listing organisations throughout Essex that collect and redistribute unwanted items, primarily by Charity and Community Groups but also includes some commercial organisations.
Bookcrossing

Recycle
A-Z Guide to Dispose of Waste 
Directory of how to reduce, reuse or recycle specific items in Essex.
Recycle More (VALPAK)
Recycle Now (WRAP)
Information on what can be recycled together with a postcode search of what you can recycle in your area through kerbside collection and recycling bank facilities.
Colchester Borough Council
Details of the recycling facilities available in Colchester.
Use It Again
Waste Busters (Essex County Council)

Water

Water Companies
Anglian Water
Essex and Suffolk Water
Affinity Water (formerly Veolia Water East)

Water Use
Blueprint for Water
7 groups who have set out a blueprint for the UK's Water Supply
Centre for Alternative Technology
has an extensive guide to water harvesting
Environment Agency
Water efficiency advice and to report cases of pollution
Rainwater Harvesting Association
Links to member companies
Waterwise
Campaigns for sustainable water use. Has a useful list of water saving devices

Make the Most of Your Car

 

Get better mileage (& reduce pollution) by following these simple rules:

• make sure your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure (this is up to 10% more fuel efficient) & check them once a fortnight & before long journeys. For safety ensure your tyres are in good condition, not worn or damaged, that the treads & tyre walls have no flaws or sharp

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  objects in them.

• drive smoothly anticipating road conditions and avoiding fast acceleration and sharp braking.

• make your car as light as possible by emptying your boot of unnecessary items (every 45kg / 100lbs of unnecessary weight reduces fuel efficiency by 1%).

• drive at 55 mph (88 kmph) when it is safe to do so (this is the most fuel efficient speed to drive at and up to 25% more fuel efficient than at 70 mph).

• get your car tuned each year (this gives up to a 5% fuel advantage).

• use radial tyres (they are up to 4% more fuel efficient than cross-ply).

• use quality oil & change it as often as the manufacturer recommends. (The better the quality the more fuel efficient your car will be as engine friction is reduced).

Sharing your car – Car Share Registers

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One of the major environmental problems affecting Colchester and the world at large is the gridlock of our transport systems. The major problem is caused by the number of cars on the road. Many of them with only one occupant. It would be very beneficial to the environment if we could reduce the number of car journey's we make.

Car sharing would have a big impact and can be achieved with a bit of thought and here are some ideas for car sharing to get you started:

• Travel to work with your colleagues. Travelling to work is responsible for the rush hour gridlock.
• Pick up your children's friends when you drop them off at school or clubs. The school run is a major cause of congestion throughout the country. Have you noticed how quiet the roads are in the school holidays.
• Take your family friends or neighbours with you when you visit the superstore.

And if you wish to share a journey but cannot share it with your existing acquaintances why not register your needs with one of the car sharing services below. However, make sure you make suitable enquiries and satisfy yourself that you will be safe if you intend to share your journey with a stranger.

You shouldn't charge for sharing your car journey's but it is reasonable to share costs.

National Car Share Tel: 01344 861600

Liftshare Tel: 0870 0780225

My Street Car

Car Pool World

www.carclubs.org.uk
This is the website for the Community Car Share Network. it has details of its RideSmart scheme, which will allow its member organisations to use internet technology to handle bookings for their cars.

City Car Club

Shareacar

Freewheelers

Alternative Fuelled Vehicles

ELECTRIC/HYBRID

• It costs as little as 1p per mile to run a car on electricity
• Electric cars are extremely quiet with zero tailpipe emissions
• Life-cycle emissions (including power generation and transmission) also show net environmental benefits for electric vehicles, but a key advantage is that health-damaging pollution is removed from urban centres
• Electricity has been favoured for city-based cars and small passenger vehicles with set journey patterns requiring limited range (around 50 miles), though it has also been trialled in some urban buses
• Electric vehicles can be fully recharged from any 13-amp socket in around seven hours. Vehicles can be effectively part-charged when they are stopped for shorter breaks, which can significantly increase range
• New generation electric/petrol or diesel hybrid vehicles offer significant emissions benefits without the range disadvantage traditionally associated with electric vehicles

LIQUIFIED PETROLEUM GAS
(LPG)

• LPG is very cheap due to the significantly lower fuel duty imposed by the government.
• A litre of LPG currently costs less than half the price of petrol or diesel on the forecourts (excluding battery lease costs).
• A litre of LPG allows a vehicle to travel approximately 75% of the distance it could travel on a litre of petrol
• LPG vehicles can significantly reduce the output of key target pollutants - nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulates - as well as contributing to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions which lead to global warming
• LPG refuelling points are being introduced all over the country. There were approximately 600 in the UK at the beginning of the year 2001 - and the number is expected to double within two or three years
• Most types of vehicle can be built, or converted, to run on LPG. It is easier and cheaper to convert a vehicle with a petrol engine than one running on diesel
• The typical cost of converting a passenger car or light vehicle to run on LPG is around £1,500 (this cost may be reduced by a Power Shift grant). More and more vehicles with a LPG option are now available direct from the manufacturers
• LPG has proved particularly popular as a fuel for cars and vans, most of which are bi-fuel; they carry both petrol and LPG and can change from one to the other at the flick of a switch

NATURAL GAS (LNG)

• Natural gas is available as compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• It has proved particularly popular for trucks, buses and larger vehicles. The extra weight and cost of on-board fuel tanks makes conversion to natural gas normally more expensive than LPG for smaller vehicles
• Natural gas vehicles can significantly reduce output of key target pollutants - nitrogen oxide (Nox) and particulates - as well as contributing to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions which lead to global warming
• There are a limited number of public refuelling points for natural gas. Many fleets have chosen to install depot-based refuelling facilities
• Refuelling options for natural gas range from cheap, slow-fill compressors which can refuel a vehicle overnight, to high-tech stations which can refuel a vehicle in a similar time to petrol. Installing a larger refuelling station can be expensive which means the economics work best when 15 or more larger vehicles are involved to spread the cost
• Natural gas is currently the cheapest of all the fossil-based fuels (including LPG) when fuel costs alone are considered. It costs under 6p per mile to run a smaller vehicle (compared with 10p or more on petrol)
• Natural gas engines are far quieter than diesel engines making these vehicles suitable for overnight deliveries and noise-sensitive locations