The Renewable Energy session was hosted at Nick's house. Nick lives in Lockeridge, one of the many villages in the Marlborough area which is not linked to the gas grid.

We began by discussing ways in which the UK can meet its carbon reduction targets by exploiting the power obtained from solar, wind, tide and biomass incineration. Since renewables can only ever contribute about 15% to our current energy needs, it is clear that we need to cut our energy consumption massively in order to survive in a world without fossil fuels, such as oil and gas.

Nick showed us how he has insulated his house in order to cut heat loss from the roof, walls and windows by an amazing 50%. He introduced us to the 'U value', which is a measurement of the rate of heat flow through solid mass, such as windows, walls, floors and roofs. U values are expressed in watts per square metre per degree centigrade (w/m²/^oC), for example:

• an unfilled breeze block cavity wall has a U value of 1.6 w/m²/^oC  
• so a 10 sq m wall where the temperature inside is at 21^oC and the temperature outside is at 1^oC will lose heat at the rate of: 10 X (21 -1) X 1.6 X 24hrs = 7,680 watts or 7.68 kWh per day
• if the house has outside walls measuring 156 sq m, then the loss will be 119.8 kWh per day
• heating oil produces 10kWh per litre and costs about 65p per litre

See: Confusedaboutenergy

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Nick explained that he decided to invest in a wood pellet boiler because it uses a cheaper, more sustainable fuel source and also attracts the 'Renewable Heat Incentive' payment from the government.!

Find out more about the full installation of this wood chip boiler, here...

You can also view Nick's Solar PV system, here...

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Nick demonstrating the working of his new wood chip boiler to participants

Chickens are an essential permaculture element because they provide us with so many resources and enable us to create a 'closed system': food scraps, weeds and garden pests are consumed by the chickens and in return we get manure, eggs, feathers and meat.

This week we visited Ruth and Keith's impressive garden in West Overton. We spent time critiquing the many permaculture elements that were present in the garden before meeting their friendly, Rhode Island Red chickens.

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We were then introduced to Sue Richards who raises rare breeds and seemed to know everything there is to know about keeping chickens - from the best coops, most appropriate breeds, how to deal with pest problems and even how to dispatch, gut and pluck the birds when the time comes...

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Sue pointing out rare breeds to course participants..... 

    ...and their nutritious, muliticoloured free-range eggs

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Although this delightful encounter convinced us that back garden chickens are integral to improving self-reliance, there was concern about the level of responsibility required - so we discussed the idea of setting up a chicken sharing scheme in Marlborough. We would love to hear from anyone else who would like to join in...

This session was held at Sam's house where we considered essential nutrients that are needed by plants and how we can source them naturally.  We also looked at what goes on inside a compost pile and observed some of the micro-organisms that are responsible for breaking down organic matter into those vital plant nutrients during the different composting phases:

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Participants were able to test the pH and measure the amount of organic matter in soil from their gardens to determine which nutrients may be limiting. They also made kitchen wormeries capable of converting food waste and cardboard into highly nutrious compost. 

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Compost nematodes seen through a microscope

This course began at Rachel and Barney's house on Saturday 21st April. Participants held a lively discussion on the principles, ethics and philosophy of permaculture and how they relate to our local situation. We also watched this moving video by Bill Mollison about urban gardening around the world, in cities as diverse as Harare, Zimbabwe and Davis, California.

Participants also heard about the importance of 'Zoning': Permaculture uses the idea of zones to separate different areas of your land by how you interact with them. Zone 0 is your house. Zone 1 is directly adjacent to your house, something you walk by every day and see. Your kitchen herbs and plants that need constant attention go here. As you travel out in zones, you have less and less direct interaction with each zone, until you get to zone 5, where your only interaction is observation.

Zones can also be defined according to our use of fossil fuels...