Navigation
News
Charlbury's waste collections will be changing this autumn and new containers for food waste and green waste will be provided by WODC.
Location of new local centre not yet confirmed, but possibly Enstone. Read fuller report in Oxford Times.
Everyone's booking their summer break this month. Avoid airport misery with a climate-friendly getaway. Plan your overground trip with Loco2. Win a 10:10 holiday.
The 10:10 Campaign say Spring has sprung, and it's the perfect time to get outside and try growing your own fruit and veg
The new film Dirty Oil is being shown at the Phoenix, Oxford on this single occasion. Tickets are booked FREE if you are a Co-op member.
The 10:10 Campaign brings you an excellent guide to help you through the range of options for insulating your home to reduce your energy consumption.
Food Inc is a new film about the food industry is being launched in February 2010 and there is a single showing at the Vue cinema in Oxford at 6.30pm on Monday 15 February
Greenpeace UK are calling for ingenious ideas about what to do with the Airplot site at Heathrow
The 10:10 Campaign brings you an excellent interactive guide to help you decide which light bulbs to buy to reduce your energy consumption.
Apple, Sony Ericsson and Nokia do well in Greenpeace's updated Guide to Greener Electronics, while Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and LGE disappoint.
Catch up with Franny Armstrong (Director of Age of Stupid) and Mark Lynas (author of Six Degrees) who are hosting The Stupid Show at 7pm each day from Friday 11th to Saturday 19th December - if you miss it live you can watch it again until the next edition.
This morning 56 newspapers in 45 countries took the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. They decided to do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.
BBC Click programme reporting on the new generation of portable solar chargers that will be suitable for laptops and other gadgets.
Recycling and kitchen waste weekly. Garden waste fortnightly. Residual waste fortnightly.
Watch this film on the Channel 4 website about the devastating event of overfishing.
Decision hailed by groups who staged Climate Camp protest. Lower electricity demands due to recession cited as reason.
Composting is not just for gardeners - it helps the environment too
Home compost bins now available from £18.50
Now from 2009 onwards, you can put your old Yellow Pages into the black box for recycling - previously these had to be collected separately in a special skip at the Spendlove.
The chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has said that the aviation industry is not "off the hook" when it comes to reducing CO2 levels.
10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.
CAWAG has signed up as
The Bell Hotel has been awarded a bronze award from the Green Business Tourism Scheme for its green tourism policy.
Kimberly-Clark has, as a result of public pressure, released a new environmental fibre policy that governs how it will help conserve forests and support sustainable forestry and use more recycled fibre. . . . . .
Charlbury's Bring & Share Picnic was part of the nationwide Big Lunch idea from the Eden Project.
Listen to Richard Curtis interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme recommending Obama should watch The Age of Stupid while he is over here.
The Good Food Shop in Charlbury now takes Brita water filters for recycling. Previously the nearest place for recycling water filters was Cargo at Witney.
Video clip of Prince Charles. "If we can redouble our efforts to unite the world in meeting pehaps its greatest and most crucial challenge, then we may yet be able to prevail and thereby be able to avoid bequeathing a poisoned chalice to our children and grandchildren, but we only have 100 months to act".
The scheme costs £51 per bin for 17 months. This fee includes one wheeled bin and collections from outside your home every two weeks, making it easier and less time-consuming for you to dispose of your garden waste in an environmentally-friendly manner. Collections will take place from 11 May 2009 until 24 September 2010. All garden waste is taken to a local commercial composting facility.
Short of New Year Resolutions? Here are over a 100 ideas to reduce your carbon footprint.
Watch the Friends of the Earth video. Be irritated by Matt on Grist TV's short film. Comment on the 350 wordless animation. With your help, we'll make YouTube all about climate change, even if just for one day. Please watch, comment, and pass them on.
If you live in Milton-u-W, Shipton-u-W, or Ascot-u-W, then look at www.swych.org.uk to find out all the events planned.
In June 2008, CAWAG launched Charlbury Sharecroppers to help put people in touch with each other so that locally grown food does not go to waste and so that as many local people as possible can be involved with growing, picking and eating fresh, healthy food.
Think twice before using plastic bags for shopping - use a jute shopping bag showing the faces of 60 Charlbury children.
The first Saturday morning of each month, CAWAG have a collection bag for Tetra Paks alongside the recycling bins at the same time as the green waste collection at the Spendlove car park from 10am-12 noon.
Take your household batteries (including dead rechargeable batteries) to any of the special battery collection boxes now available at the Post Office, the Corner House, and the Primary School.
Have you ever considered having a wormery to rapidly compost your kitchen waste instead of sending it to landfill?
Please phone Louise Spicer on 01608-810745 to arrange to borrow the low-energy lightbulb library for a couple of nights or arrange a home visit - Louise can help you go through the bulbs to find the best choices.
Print this pageFrequently Asked Questions
Last updated 14 March 2009
Q. Why use them?
A. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use 80% less electricity, save you about £3 a year each, and last up to 12 times longer than old fashioned tungsten bulbs.
Q. What are they?
A. Think of them as compact versions of the striplights in work places since the 1950s.
Q. Have they improved? A. Use the service your municipal tip provides for the safe disposal of fluorescent tubes. Q. What should I do if I smash one? Q. Where can I find out more?
A. You can now get all shapes and sizes, fittings and levels of brightness, including 150W equivalent and dimmable options. A recent blind test of 761 shoppers, found that 64% preferred the light from them.
Q. Is it better to leave them running?
A. No, switching them on uses the equivalent electricity as leaving them on for a few minutes. Most now light instantaneously.
Q. How should I dispose of them?
Q. Is mercury an issue?
A. Ironically, installing CFLs ought to help reduce the need for coal-fired electricity production - a major cause of global mercury emissions. CFLs contain mercury - about 5mg. Locked into its tube, this is harmless.
A. Ventilate the room for 15 minutes. Put on your rubber gloves, brush the bits into a bag, seal it and drop it at the tip next time you go.
Q. Are tungsten bulbs banned?
A. No. Manufacturers have agreed to withdraw them for sale, starting with 100W in 2009, 60W in 2010 and 40W in 2011.
A. Contact the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512012.
Q. I've heard that low-energy fluorescent bulbs shouldn't be switched on and off frequently because they use a lot of energy when they are first switched on?
A. In the past, fluorescent tubes used capacitors and inductors to create a high voltage when starting up. Modern fluorescent lightbulbs use an electronic ballast which does not have the inrush of current so there is no problem in switching them on and off. For energy saving, it is certainly better to turn off a light when leaving a room for more than 10-15 minutes.
Q. Doesn't it take ages for low-energy bulbs to reach their maximum brightness?
A. Modern low-energy bulbs are much quicker in reaching their maximum brightness than the early type of bulb, it now only takes a very short while.
Q. Aren't low-energy bulbs much less bright than normal bulbs?
A. Modern low-energy bulbs are much brighter than they were a few years ago. There are daylight blubs available which are excellent for desk lights and for close work.
Q. Aren't low-energy bulbs very expensive?
A. Low-energy bulbs are much cheaper than they used to be - they also last much, much longer than conventional bulbs. Big stores like Tesco, Lidl and Ikea are seeling bulbs for as little as 99p. The initial cost of even a £5 low-energy bulb is offset after 900 hours of use. The bulb will typically last about 8,000 hours so the savings over its lifetime could reach £35.
Q. Aren't low-energy bulbs are much too big for lights such as table lamps and wall fittings?
A. There is now a huge range of low-energy bulbs in bayonet, small bayonet, screw, small screw fittings. There are small golfballs, bulbs that look just like traditional bulbs, GU10 spotlights, candles, look at the list available in the low-energy lightbulb library.
Q. Can low-energy bulbs be used with dimmer switches?
A. Not generally, but there is a dimmable lightbulb available (bulb 117/117a) which can be dimmed in 3 stages to 3 different light levels so might suit some situations.
Q. Can low-energy bulbs be used in sensor lights?
A. Yes, there is a sensor lightbulb (bulb 224).
Q. Where can I recycle lightbulbs?
A. You can take them direct to Dean Tip Recycling Centre or to Bannor Electricial, Chipping Norton. You can also bring them along to a Charlbury Bring & Take event (March and October) and put them in the box provided.
Q. Are lightbulbs cheaper on the internet?
A. Bulbs 100-118 are available on the internet from Efficient Lighting . The Phillips Softone (bulbs 28-33) can be puchased on a Government website (http://www.lamps2udirect.com).
Q. Each lightshade has a limit on the maximum wattage of bulb to be used in it, can I use a low-energy lightbulb with a higher wattage equivalent?
A. Yes, you can use a higher equivalent wattage because not as much heat is generated (i.e. wasted) by the bulb.
Q. Can I attach a spring clip lampshade to a low-energy lightbulb?
A. Yes, you can on bulbs that have a rounded profile such as the Philips Softone (bulbs 28-33).
Previous page: Low-Energy Lightbulb Library
Next page: Christmas