Cycling shorts, suitable attire for a trip to a shopping centre? And a well-known one at that.
In fact, Lycra and fingerless mitts were just the outfit, though you could also have made a case for wearing flippers, a mask and a snorkel.
It's Global Climate Week and between Saturday 19 and Saturday 26 September 2009 each of the 5 floors of Hamburg's Europa Passage has a climate-related theme.
There's the future level, the research level, the information level and the technology level, each with exhibitions and hands on (or, in one case, feet on) activities aimed at alerting visitors to their impact on the environment. There was everything from fabulous photos and the results of research on a reef in Belize to suggestions for homeowners on how they could save money.
I was headed for the fourth floor - the campaigns level - and the stand of the Hamburg Verbraucherzentrale (Consumers' Centre). As a cycle campaigner (a member of the London Cycling Campaign almost continuously since 1984 and a very active member of its voluntary offshoots Lambeth Cyclists and Southwark Cyclists) the mention of cycling in the overview of the week's events had caught my eye...
Energy bike
Your chance to participate: How hard do you need to pedal to make a cup of water hot enough to brew coffee? A climate and energy consultant advises.
("Energie Fahrrad
Mitmachaktion: Wie stark muss man für eine heisse Tasse Kaffee in die Pedale Treten - Klima und Energieberater informieren")
This experience taught me (the hard way!) what Jens Schwarz, co-ordinator of RCE Hamburg und Region, has been saying since I started this work experience placement - that lessons that teach people to adapt their behavour to be more sustainable need not take place in the classroom.
I consider my carbon footprint to be very small but I don't merit a halo made out of wood from a sustainable forest, or didn't, because I had a very bad habit.
Despite the pleas and finger-pointing, in the face of reminders and ridicule, I always filled the kettle even when I was only making a cup of tea for myself. Until 1pm on Tuesday 22 September 2009, that was.
On that day I got onto a stationary bike and in full view of visitors coming up or going down the escalator in the upmarket shopping centre, pedalled for 32 minutes.
This was the time it took me to raise the temperature of one mug of water in a kettle from the 21 degrees it was when I started to the 70 degrees Ms Andrea Grimm from the Consumers' Centre said would make a decent cup of instant coffee.
When I got off the wretched machine, though, coffee was the last thing I wanted. I had my eye on the ice cream of the man sitting watching my efforts.
So, Dave, you can now trust me to use your kettle. Though, if you don't mind I'll plug it into the mains rather than use your exercise bike to heat the water.
Showing posts with label Europa Passage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europa Passage. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
A fairytale ending or the end of a fairytale?
Visitors to an exhibition in Hamburg's Europa Passage will be able to live warmly, and therefore presumably, happily ever after. However, if the Passivhausstandard is adopted in Britain, it may cause problems for an annual but popular visitor - Father Christmas.
Not only will children not be able to 'post' their wishlists to Santa by sending them up the chimney, but the rotund bloke with the generous amounts of white facial hair won't be able to get in to deliver them either... Passive houses don't need chimneys.
However, as Christmas traditions in Germany are different, the people who spend time looking at the display 'Our house saves energy - here's how' ('Unser Haus Spart Energie - Gewusst wie') on the top floor of the shopping centre can concentrate on the message therein: regardless of what sort of house you live in, or when it was built, there are things you can do that will reduce your heating bills.
Hamburg's fabulous open air pools closed at the end of last month, children are back at school and it's dark at 7.30pm. Winter is on its way so this exhibition is timely. It's also excellent and sets a standard other organisations would do well to emulate.
From a distance you can see red 'roofs' of six 'house-lets'. Houseowners are intrigued and attracted. Closeup they are not disappointed. The displays are attractive, engaging and accessible.
The designers haven't forgotten that the visitor is unlikely to be alone. There are hands-on elements for all ages, such as a cube you turn each visible side of which simply has one large image and the minimum number of words required to explain what sort of energy is produced by the subject of the picture. Even the youngest members of any party are catered for. There is a box of wooden toys to entertain them in situ and a wildlife colouring book and two storybooks, the latter with a sustainable theme, to keep them occupied while mum or dad is absorbed in the exhibition, but which they can take away with them.
Each house is dedicated to a different topic around the environment. However each is made relevant to the viewer because the underlying message is how you can improve the condition of your home and reduce its energy use and therefore your outgoings. In fact, each display is a sort of FAQ - from What are renewable sources of energy? to What is the difference between a heat pump and geothermal energy? Where appropriate, reference is made to the technology is available for homes, how it works, the situation for which it is suitable and, crucially, how much it costs and what the financial benefits to the home owner are.
Not only will children not be able to 'post' their wishlists to Santa by sending them up the chimney, but the rotund bloke with the generous amounts of white facial hair won't be able to get in to deliver them either... Passive houses don't need chimneys.
However, as Christmas traditions in Germany are different, the people who spend time looking at the display 'Our house saves energy - here's how' ('Unser Haus Spart Energie - Gewusst wie') on the top floor of the shopping centre can concentrate on the message therein: regardless of what sort of house you live in, or when it was built, there are things you can do that will reduce your heating bills.
Hamburg's fabulous open air pools closed at the end of last month, children are back at school and it's dark at 7.30pm. Winter is on its way so this exhibition is timely. It's also excellent and sets a standard other organisations would do well to emulate.
From a distance you can see red 'roofs' of six 'house-lets'. Houseowners are intrigued and attracted. Closeup they are not disappointed. The displays are attractive, engaging and accessible.
The designers haven't forgotten that the visitor is unlikely to be alone. There are hands-on elements for all ages, such as a cube you turn each visible side of which simply has one large image and the minimum number of words required to explain what sort of energy is produced by the subject of the picture. Even the youngest members of any party are catered for. There is a box of wooden toys to entertain them in situ and a wildlife colouring book and two storybooks, the latter with a sustainable theme, to keep them occupied while mum or dad is absorbed in the exhibition, but which they can take away with them.
Each house is dedicated to a different topic around the environment. However each is made relevant to the viewer because the underlying message is how you can improve the condition of your home and reduce its energy use and therefore your outgoings. In fact, each display is a sort of FAQ - from What are renewable sources of energy? to What is the difference between a heat pump and geothermal energy? Where appropriate, reference is made to the technology is available for homes, how it works, the situation for which it is suitable and, crucially, how much it costs and what the financial benefits to the home owner are.
There is a vast amount of information presented on the 'walls' of the cottages but in such a way and using so many devices - colour, images, 'real-life' stories, podcasts (an iPod is available in situ in exchange for ID or a deposit, or visit http://www.regionalbewegung.de/102/ ), a whiteboard with pen and calculator provided, a DVD ("Abenteuer Energiesparen" ["Energy Adventure"] which you can order by email from ausstellung@gusb.de for 15 € excl postage) - that the visitor will stick with it to the end.
On the final 'wall' are shelves of examples of magazines aimed at home owners and available through newsagents; books through bookshops or online; and brochures to take away or order from the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz and Reaktorsicherheit for whom the exhibition was produced.
The exhibition is part of the the first Hamburg Climate Week which runs until Sunday 26 September. However, it will then go 'on tour' and its next stop is 10-11 October in the Schaufenster Fischereihafen, Bremerhaven.
Recommended!
(Images courtesy of Gesellschaft für Umwelt- und Sozialbildung mbH.)
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