Some people made impressive journeys, Sandy even managed to beat the five bus journey he made last month by travelling back from Switzerland. Paul Early came along too (I’d very speculatively invited him as he is based in Brighton).

I had a good chat with John Hemming, who has offered to host a future green drinks event, though we would need to bring our own drinks!

I was concerned, as ever, that it would just be me. Was a little dischuffed about the whole situation with the courtyard being refurbished. Hope people didn’t show up then leave because they couldn’t find us. There were signs, but only discreet ones. And I had to pay for the soda water. The last time I was involved in setting up a business networking event was Women in Business, London Chapter. I’m sure when we asked hotels to host the events, they didn’t charge us for the soda water! It’s also very different because I was the only female at the meeting last night. Not at all a problem, just different.
So, I talked to Paul Early about a few things, including buying behaviour. He suggested that the cost saving approach may not be the best way to go with bog, as many consumers are very status orientated, and in fact, if we produce a luxury version of bog, this may sell better than the bog standard product – aimed at community groups & sme’s that need to keep costs to a minimum. So, this morning I was thinking… along side the accessible eco toilet system I could produce the big sister – a beautiful, movable spa facility. This could contain a mosaic jaccuzi and UV Sauna, alongside the shower & toilet. I wonder if there is some way of incorporating sand into the facility? transpa? I’ve been carrying round designs for luxury bathrooms in my head for a long time, it would be great to put it into practice. Also, I’m wondering if I should start this in the Czech Republic? Though I understand that the practicalities of running a business in a bureaucratic country in a different language are probably worth thinking quite hard about.
As with KEEP, it could be important to start with the high end, and eventually use this to support the development of bog standard.

So, tasks for today. I need to put some information about bog on bogblog. I’d also like to learn how to use blender, so that I can put together some good graphics for the brochure. It’s beginning to sink in now, but a little complicated. Right. Might as well start at the beginning. According to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro#Introduction I need to set some objectives. They are that I will be able to create a high quality 3d model & a short walk through film of this to go on the bog website.

Present: Nicola Robinsonova (500 year vision), Steve Dewar (SD Environmental), Mark Stefan (Groundwork), Jos Kennordrie (Birmingham Open Spaces Forum & Moseley Festival) John Hemming (Councillor & MP), Tony Rhymer (ADR), Sandy Williams (Biodiesel), Gareth Stanley (UK trade & investment) & Paul Early (the green roof consultancy – all the way from Brighton).

The group decided that the next event, on the 5th of September, should be at the Anchor, in Digbeth. Sandy will publicise the event when he attends a friends of the earth meeting next week. The production of a newsletter was suggested as a way of publicising green drinks.

So, I’m up with a cup of detox tea (like that’ll help!). The green drinks thing is later today. At least I know I’m going to be sober and well behaved for that. After a fantastic weekend with Beth, who is on very good form (highlights: finding a tree in the woods near her house with two swings, discovering the ladies swimming pond, being treated so nicely by the staff at Victoria Stakes, being shocked by “the beard” (if you want to pry any secrets from me, first you must find the real me, which one will you pursue?), how to loose friends and alienate people & bad karma(books! (the former bought, after the distressing experience of £25 in fines at Kings Heath library – lesson learnt))), I stopped off on the way home to have a coffee with Lisa. There was quite the crowd of freelancers in The Cross, and the barman was very persuasive, and I was very easily lead (two glasses of wine… I might as well buy the bottle as it’s hardly any more money), which lead to my kind and generous accomplices being forced to replace this when it ran out, which lead to a coffee in the afternoon becoming an all afternoon bonding session. So, I’ve not got round to (ACTION) phoning the guys from the architects shortlisted for the Birmingham Eastside Park project… yet. Hopefully the ones who have an office round the corner from Hotel du Vin will be able to make it.

Had a bizarre call from my dad. I thought he was phoning because something bad had happened. He said they were still here & could we go visit Helen this morning (the little one has injured her foot & been signed off work for a week). Made more sense when I saw the message left to say that he was going to france in the caravan & would be back in 3 weeks. So, lying awake thinking about bogs & emails & blogs is not a good use of my time. Might as well get up and check my emails. I have a sense of excitement/dread! I hope that I’ve been sent lots of positive stuff, the Blender guy has got back to me, Dens are okay & someone has emailed to say they will finance my business. Fingers crossed hey.

So, a few calls & emails about green drinks.  Contacted all the architects on the list for the Birmingham East Side development: alastair.leighton@gillespies.co.uk,  David Richard at Gross Max (sounded skeptical!) mail@grossmax.com. Neil Porter & Mark Gillingham – mgillingham@gustafson-porter.com, Steve Stock, Mark Stephan, pta@pateltaylor.co.uk, Huw Morgan & Robert Camlin @camlinlonsdale.com.

Now off to green drinks.

Also, the samples from Krysteline arrived this morning, along with the curious comment ‘as you can see from all of the samples, none of them is suitable for the purpose you intend putting it to and we urge you to bear this in mind’, and there was me thinking that it would be good in a sand pit! As I was explaining to the bloke from Interreg III yesterday, I’m really very used to people telling me things cannot be done. Most of the time there is only a small amount of truth in a ‘no’, and a bit of creative thinking seems to find solutions. People just seem to be hardwired into ‘no’. I guess it’s the easiest answer and means you don’t have to think about it any more.

Just spoke to Saeeda from Balsall Heath CATs (a voluntary group which sets up activities for children with specific needs). They use church halls and the like for their play sessions & playschemes, one of which has an accessible toilet which turned out not to be accessible to one wheelchair users who was running some training for the group. Anyway, Saeeda would like to put in a bid for a bog from the big lottery environment fund. And the deadline is … two days away! Just spoken to the renewable people at the big lottery fund office in London & Alex said that the grant is only for biomass generation, not wind or solar heating. Suggested I look at low carbon buildings instead.

Spoke to Catherine at Balsall Heath Church Centre & she will put a proposal for a bog unit for the church in front of the committee on the 5th September. I need to send this to her by the last weekend in august so that the committee can look at it before the meeting. They’ll need to know things like the area the unit will take & what ground preparations will be necessary.

Just looking at water use for bog, Paul from the UV filter people mentioned taps that mix air with water to cut down the amount of water used. They look really good http://www.alchallis.com/ I wonder how affordable they are? Affordable. the shower is £30 plus vat and the tap is £90 plus vat. ACTION – need to speak to Russel Challis on monday re bog system in it’s entirity. Phone no 0870 7657987.

The ceiling movement detector arrived yesterday.  This is so people can walk into bog & the light will go on automatically. Unfortunately the instructions are in german. Need to phone for english instructions. Hmm, they only have the instructions in German, French & Dutch.  They suggested I email with specific questions. customerservice@conrad-direct.co.uk. Not ideal.

Date: 1st August (1st Tuesday of the month) Arrive from 6pm for  6.30.

Location: Hotel du Vin, Church Street (nr Snow Hill Station), Birmingham, B3 2NR. Instructions on how to reach the hotel are available here.
As it’s the middle of summer we will be meeting in the outdoor courtyard of the hotel. Hotel du Vin will provide cold mineral water, and other drinks will be available to buy.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Keele Enviro Entrepreneurs

Today, need to publicise the green drinks event. It’s still not been added to green drinks international. Hotel du Vin have offered to host the event next tuesday, so I’m just spending the morning phoning contacts & e-mailing a general invitation. Also doing a contact sort and updating my email addresses. Necessary but dull!
Will get on with the costs analysis this afternoon.

To be honest, I’ve been dissapointed over the last couple of days with the low uptake of the KEE project & small no of registrations from KEE people on the blog. I guess it’s been the hottest summer since 76, so anyone in their right minds would be making the most of it rather than doing even more computery stuff online after normal work.

So, everyone has been emailed about green drinks next tuesday. I’ve also been going through the funding links from yesterday. So far – I need to investigate EEA financial mechanism – eeagrants.org .

LIFE+ will be relevant when it happens. Need to remember to go back & check it.

the Environment DG website

General environment funding

Environment in developing countries – Pilot projects in the field including those involving environmentally-sound technologies adapted to local constraints and needs; email: europaid-info@cec.eu.int.

European investment bank loan.

Argh – just found the eu environment funding directory 07 – 13. The one I spent this afternoon looking through was the old one. Hmm.

Now, am I more about reducing water consumption or reducing co2 emmissions?

For community groups:

• Awards for all

• Biffaaward small grant scheme Up to £5000 of £10,000 within 10 miles of a biffa operation. Funding available for disabled access to a community facility.
• Barclays Community Programme
• Big Green Insulation Scheme (would this cover insulation costs of a project?)
• Big Lottery Fund
• Boots Charitable Trust
• Community Action For Energy – support for members
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK
• Co-op community dividend – up to £5000
• Countryside Agency community renewables initiative Advice available
• English Partnerships supporting high quality sustainable growth.
• Esmee Fairbairn
• Renewable Energy big lottery fund – bids in by 31st july.
• Future builders
• Green Energy Fund – south of England up to £5000
• Handbook for Environmental project funding
• Hanson Environmental Fund – Projects must be located within 10 miles of registered landfill site in addition to a Hanson operation
• John Paul Getty Charitable Foundation
• Lloyds TSB foundation
• Low Carbon Buildings Programme
• Neighbourhood Renewal Fund community chest
• Pilkington Energy Efficiency Trust
• Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation
• Sustainable Development Fund – national parks
• The Allen Lane Foundation
• The Climate Challenge Fund
• The Henry Smith Charity
• The Tudor Trust

For business:

• Intelligent energy for Europe
• Interreg IIIB
• The Carbon Trust Energy Loans – Interest-free loans of between £5,000 and £100,000 for small and medium-sized enterprises for investment in energy-saving equipment. The Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme – A tax-break on investments in energy-saving technologies and products.
  Design Advice – Professional, independent and objective advice on energy efficient and environmentally sound building design.

Below is the list of tasks we agreed with Martin, who is assisting us with restoring the property:

Tasks:

1. Assisting us in learning the Czech language

2. Arranging/general assistance with the property – cutting the grass, gardening, general cleaning, arranging rubbish removal.
   Martin – when was the grass last cut?
   Martin – what is the address of the place we can take rubbish?, also, when is general rubbish collected from the property by the council? Do we need to put out a bin on a certain day?
   MARTIN: According to Mrs. Burianová, the rubbish isn’t collected in Nový Mlýn at all. For people who live in Vlčeves, excl. Nový Mlýn area, council tax is 200 CZK/year. But, as the property is owned by a company and you both don’t live there, you don’t have to pay it at the moment. List of places in South Bohemia where your can leave rubbish (free of charge or for reasonable fee) http://www.jihoceske-trideni.cz/jtc212kam.html. Maybe, the closest one is in Tábor, Rumpold s. r. o., Sídliště nad Lužnicí, Bukurešťská Street, in the building of former exchanger. Monday and Wednesday 15–18, SO 8–12.
   The grass will be hopefully cut before your arrival to Vlčeves in August. It’s not good to cut it when it’s sooo hot.

3. Arranging quotes for an outhouse to be rebuilt.
   MARTIN: There were few people to see the situation because of making quote for clearing the barns but no messages from nobody of them yet. Mr. Burian is willing to do the clearing but, at the moment, he is working on important project so I don’t know when is able to start.
   

4. Investigating suppliers of well digging & arranging running water at the property. We now have some quotes. Martin, please can you tell us exactly what is included in the quote you have, ie does it include bathrooms & kitchen plumbed in? Water – Martin, please can you contact the company we had the original survey done by if this is less expensive than the most recent quote we’ve had.
   MARTIN: I’ve contacted another 8 well-drilling/digging firms for quotes. Original quoattion didn’t include well digging but I’ll contact them, too.
   The quote I had includes 10 meters deep/1280 mm wide drilling, permission of research, geological supervision of drilling, hydrodynamical tests, 2 water tests (chemical and bacteriological), project documentation and hydogeological exploration, engieering (obtaining of zoning and planning decision, planning permission and permission of water consumption). Guarantee of 2 m3 of water per day. TOTAL: 93 775 CZK incl. VAT.
   In final, the price could be lower, e.g. if 7 or 8 meters would be deep enough (price of drilling is 5 700 CZK/meter, excl. VAT).
   According to Mr. Hadrava (+420 776 224 991, http://www.vrtstudny.cz/), the price above is correct.

5. Arranging the delivery of a composting toilet system – this is on hold until we have a budget for it.
   

6. Arranging installation of Internet access at the property. Martin, can we at least arrange for a phone line to be installed at the property?
   MARTIN: Reply on your request for new phone line from Český Telecom says that, at the moment, they’re unable to install a land line in your location. But I think that for calling it is better to use just mobile phones because costs of land line in Czech are really high.
   

7. DIY such as fitting window locks and fitting curtain rails using an electric drill – we will probably do this ourselves next time we go out there.
   

8. Assisting with the recycling of building materials – sorting bricks onto pallets & chopping wood for fires. Martin has arranged for someone to come and take away the wood from the fallen outhouse & barn, however we need to give permission as company directors for this. Martin, please can you find out where we can get hold of wooden pallets on which to stack the bricks – or ask the builder to do this for us, thanks.
   MARTIN: The clearing of the barns would be MUCH more expensive if you wanted to sort bricks. I don’t have a quote for the clearing yet. I asked them for a quote that includes bricks sorting, too.
   

9. Assisting with the installation of a reed bed filtration system

10. Fitting a security alarm – Martin, please could you arrange for some quotes for this?
    MARTIN: I have a rough quotation from Jablotron, czech security alarm manufacturer. Core components: outdoor siren 2773 CZK, switchboard 3900 CZK, keyboard – wired 1440 CZK – or – wireless 1987 CZK, movement sensors 1363 CZK/1 piece. Optional GSM communicator – basic 1488 CZK – or – advanced 7723 CZK.
    

11. Buying an old škoda car (orange) & taxing this. We later agreed that this is a longer term objective. Jana is looking into finding a garage space for a car – the orange Skoda.
    

12. Investigating suppliers of solar hot water equipment & arranging for quotes

13. Investigating suppliers of heat pumps & arranging for quotes

14. Arranging for quotes for general building work – electrics, plumbing & roofing

15. Translation of various documents from Czech to English & from English to Czech.

16. Keeping a record of all work on a detailed timesheet to be completed every day, along with photographs of any manual work (before & after) to be logged on a web site.

17. Maintaining good relationships with neighbours & acting as an ambassador on our behalf within the local community. Martin & Barbora helped us write a letter to our neighbours in Vlčeves, which should have arrived with them now.
    

18. Arranging for property boarders to be marked by an official from the Kadastra office.
    MARTIN: According to my father, this will cost about 20 000 CZK.

19. Investigating the possibility of creating a new water wheel for the generation of electricity at the property

20. Recording the history of the property and the local area and writing text for a web site. Martin – please can you upload here any history you have of the local area & the architect. Thanks
    MARTIN: Just short info from Mrs. Burianova about the house: It was built as a starch factory by an architect Doležel. He wanted to enlarge the house but felt into debts and then hung himself. I wasn’t able to find out more about the local area and the architect Doležel.
    

21. Other tasks as necessary

• Keys – Martin, please can we have a copy of the keys sent back here
  MARTIN: They are on the way to your mailbox
• Immediate expenses – Martin, what bills are now outstanding for the general maintenance work – such as repairing windows. I can arrange a payment to be made to a czech bank account if you email me account details.
  MARTIN: 75 GBP for travel expenses of my parents’ journey to Vlčeves, cutting grass and basic water exploration. It’s OK to pay me in cash. Mr. Burian is working on an important project in Tábor at the moment so he didn’t have time to repair the windows yet.
• MARTIN: Glass in windows should, hopefully, be replaced before you come to Vlčeves in August.
• MARTIN: Mr. Burian will make new metal plate side rails that are missing in the attic and is able to replace rafters (wooden roof frame).

Right, I’m going to make coffee, read through my notes and come up with a plan.

There’s an old bathroom sink outside a house on the other side of the street. I could well be distracted by rescuing that in a bit.

So – costs analysis. According to Severn Trent:

Non-household premises: 108.77p per cubic metre x the volume of water
assessed by the Company to be supplied to such premises. So, what would be the average annual water bill for, say, a pub?
Okay, so I’ve spent a good couple of hours looking for info on the average business water use for SMEs or average bill, no luck so far. Maybe Rob Mabbot from Severn Trent commercial services can help me – 722 4000. No joy yet.

Dick from ‘its not easy being green’ got back to me. Now have info on a machine that produces ’sharp free cullet’ from Krysteline. They are going to send me some samples for their 4089 machine. I wonder if Tony from ADR would be interested in one of these? At the moment you can have the sand product imported from Belfast, however this obviously has higher embedded energy costs. Wonder how the futurenergy turbine & the Krysteline glass imploder would work together?
Krysteline had a link on their site to WRAP – specifically about use of recycled glass in reed beds.

Hmm, wonder what Paul Senior from cleanstream thinks would be better, uv filtering water before or after storage for showers?

Wonder what Anne’s water bill is for the Jug of Ale? Apparently £6-700 per month. So about 6.4 cubic metres of water a month? They probably use all sorts of detergents though.

Now, average windspeeds. After yet again hours of fruitless searching on the interweb, the bloke who answered the phone at the bwea (british wind energy association) was able to direct me directly to wind speed data . So, wind speed average at 10 metres above ground level at the Jug of Ale is 5.3 m/s. If the futurenergy wind turbine will start at 2.5m/s, I wonder what the rated output will be at 5.3m/s. Probably best to ask them.  Peter seemed very busy last time I saw him, hopefully he’ll have time to answer this quick question!

1. send process diagram to TIC – DONE
2. update business plan
3. prepare costs analysis
4. look up premier hygienic – herefordshire

Hmm, need some business plan & cost analysis magic, in the same way as I needed process diagram magic.  The basics are there, but it needs more work.  Perhaps I could try to calculate cost savings for the end user.