February 26, 2011
A big waste of money
From the London Daily Mail:Foiled by the winter: The �25,000 eco-classroom that can't be used because solar panels don't provide enough heatDidn't they have an engineer look at the plans before committing to so much money? The home page for the Muswell school is here, the Living Ark has it's own page here (with nary a hint of its temperature 'issues') and another post on the epic pile of FAIL is at Questions and Observations:
Eco-campaigners who built a classroom powered by the sun believed they were paving the way for the future.
Instead they have been taught a valuable lesson - there is not enough sun in North London to sufficiently heat their building.
The much feted zero-carbon Living Ark classroom was opened three months ago to great fanfare.
It boasts laudable green credentials and is made from sustainable wood, sheep�s wool and soil.
The roof is made of mud and grass and it has its own �rain pod� and solar panels.
But there is snag - its solar panels only provide enough energy to power a few lightbulbs.
As a result the classroom is bitterly cold and uninhabitable for lessons.
Parents have branded it �useless�, an �expensive piece of wood� and a �great idea for the Caribbean�.
The Living Ark was built at Muswell Hill Primary School, North London, at the cost of �25,000.
Local councillors, at Labour run Haringey council, who were behind the initiative, opened it with great fanfare in December as a beacon of their climate change policy.
But today a local parent at the 419-pupil school said teachers weren't allowing pupils into the classroom because it was too cold.
�What is the point of a classroom that can�t be used when it�s a bit cold outside? My kids have been told it�s too cold for them to use as nobody can figure out how to heat it,� said the parent, who did not want to be named.
�This is just an expensive piece of hollowed out wood and no use to anyone. We are living in Britain, not the Caribbean.�
The �waste� of money comes as councils across the country are facing a severe shortage of school places.
By 2018 they will need to find an additional 500,000 primary places due to a population surge.
Eco-FailHeh... Posted by DaveH at February 26, 2011 3:17 PM
The mantra amongst the warmist community is that if we don�t curb our carbon emissions drastically, the planet will warm severely and wreak all sorts of havoc. While the actual science doesn�t support that notion, the levers of power around the world are encouraged to heed the warmists� warnings by curbing freedom and subsidizing things like the �green economy.� The London suburb community known as Muswell Hill took some initiative in that regard and built The Living Ark.
Comments
Post a comment