Green value ... ?

 A couple of things happened over the Easter break that made me reflect on energy efficiency and costs.

After the floor insulation had been laid we took the offcuts and remnants down to the déchetterie (recycling centre) - two cubic metres of polyurethane foam, produced from a fossil fuel, non recyclable and hence another 2 cubic metres went into landfill. I'm a bit ambiguous (and frankly confused) about the green credentials of some of the techniques and materials we are using - we've put 80mm of foam insulation into the floor (more than the recommended 60mm which should reduce our energy consumption - good) but it's made from oil based products - not so good. And we're using electric underfloor heating which is significantly cheaper than oil, gas or heat pump technology, has fewer CO2 emissions than oil or gas (as most of the electricity in France is generated by nuclear and renewable power - but is that good or not?). Air source heat pump technology is the favourite technology for heating in our region, it consumes about 30% of the power required for our underfloor heating but it would take over 11 years to recover the initial cost. So is that good or bad ...... I'm confused.

And after my previous blog on European Integration / Car Servicing Costs http://labassecourfrance.blogspot.fr/2012/03/european-integration.html the CR-V was serviced by Hendy Honda (bear with me - there is a link). You'll remember that the car service at a Honda dealer was over €150 cheaper in Southampton than in Vannes. I was given a courtesy car but instead of the usual slightly tired and used courtesy car I got a brand new Insight IMA Hybrid with 118 miles on the clock http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/insight/. This car is powered by a petrol engine/ battery system and is one of the green technologies held out as the future for vehicles. I managed to get 69 miles per gallon out of it driving on the motorway at 60 miles per hour - that's pretty good but here's what confuses me. Even our big old 4x4 CR-V will do 49 mpg on the same route so the Insight is 28% more fuel efficient - which is good - but the Nickel Metal Hydride batteries require large quantities of nickel and other heavy metals and the chemicals used are both corrosive and carcinogenic - not so good.

So are hybrid technologies the way ahead or is my diesel less damaging in the long run? Are heatpump technologies worth the huge extra cost? Is it more environmentally sensitive to insulate our floor with foam made from oil and dump the remnants into landfill or should we not insulate and spend more energy made from nuclear technology in the future heating the barn?

It's not obvious to me .... but the CR-V was beautifully washed, waxed and cleaned at no extra cost so the only clear conclusion in this story is where the car maintenance will be done in the future.