Open Shed

In June 2011 I headed along to the Nokia launch of In Hindsight, an online book featuring the stories of 7 Australian entrepreneurs. The evening was part networking, part panel discussion with 5 of the featured entrepreneurs. Each shared a little of their stories, took some questions and certainly were candid about how they got to where they are today. All 5 entrepreneurs were also there throughout the networking part of the evening, but I couldn’t quite muster up the courage to go and chat to any of them!

At the end of the panel discussion the Nokia In Hindsight Mentoring competition was announced. My ears pricked up - $10,000, a Nokia handset and mentoring with Jamie Fuller, CEO of SKINS - Open Shed could certainly make use of all that!

And the rest of course is history, Open Shed did of course win the competition and that fabulous prize. Being a self-funded start up the $10,000 has been immensely helpful and in fact Nokia gave us two Nokia handsets, one for each of us co founders! But the mentoring with Jamie Fuller is an invaluable part of the prize.

In my previous life as an ‘employee’ I was always someone who sought out mentors, so I already have first hand experience of how beneficial it can be to sit down with someone who has “already done it” and have a candid discussion about your career!

And so it happened that earlier this year Duncan and I found ourselves sitting down to spend four whole hours with Jamie. We knew Jamie had a reputation of “telling it as it is”, which we knew would be of real benefit to us, but it also made us a little nervous.

Having a four hour chunk of time with Jamie was awesome, albeit a little surreal for us at the start! It allowed the three of us to really get to know each other and feel comfortable. Which is of course what you want when you are all sharing the nitty gritty of your businesses. Jamie shared in more detail what he was doing before SKINS and how he came to be involved in it, just as we shared what we were doing pre-Open Shed.

Once we delved into an Open Shed focused discussion Jamie certainly lived up to his “tell it as it is” reputation and he pushed us on issues that we knew we had been avoiding, which was really useful! We had actually been wasting a lot of time and energy avoiding these issues, rather than having a frank discussion about them. Jamie certainly didn’t give us the “answers” (which I don’t think is the role of the mentor) to these issues, but rather he pushed us to acknowledge and discuss them and made a few suggestions about a way forward.

We will be meeting with Jamie a couple of times throughout the year and he is also happy to be on the end of Skype or email at anytime. Already a quick email to him to ask whether he knew someone within a particular industry has borne amazing fruit, thus cementing my thinking that while Nokia has given us an amazing opportunity it is up to us to make the most of it. I will keep you posted throughout the year as we do this!

*Image reproduced from In Hindsight by Nokia

We’re adding something to the Open Shed marketing mix - a brand spanking new tagline. In the afterglow of hearing just how much sharing, community and environmental concern counts to you, we think our current tagline of “Rent it, Use it, Return it” doesn’t quite cut it.

But we want to know what you think?

Can we do better?

Are you the one with the watertight quip that could sum up everything Open Shed means?

We’re going to be running polls on our Facebook profile where you can vote for our current shortlist - or even add your own if you think you’ve struck tagline gold.

Check out our poll here - or share your thoughts on the shortlist via this blog.

Come on fans and air-conditioners - tell us what you want to see as the new Open Shed tagline!

The shortlist

1. Open the door on sharing today!
2. Experience the delight of (owning) shared things
3. Share, connect and grow with Open Shed
4. Why buy when you can share?
5. Share and share alike with Open Shed
6. A new home for your idle things!

This year 1 Million Women want to assist you to SAVE $1000 or more through cutting pollution, reducing waste and saving energy. Each month focuses on a different lifestyle area – FOOD, DRIVE, POWER, WEAR, SHOP & INVEST. We think its an awesome practical campaign and we want to help too! So we have asked some of our friends to also give their tips each month. This month’s focus is POWER and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce you to Earthwise Harmony.

We run a very real risk of experiencing unreliable, intermittent power supplies in the foreseeable future, unless we ALL start taking responsibility for creating new supplies and lessening our demand.

So, what are some of the things that YOU personally can do towards ensuring your access to electricity remains as stable as possible?

CREATING POWER

One of the ways you can safeguard your electricity supply is by installing solar and/or wind power generation to your home. Although expensive initially, there are currently large government rebates available for solar, as well as selling your excess power back to the grid. The system can pay for itself in a few years, and then you basically have free electricity!

For those more adventurous, there are other ways to generate power, such as pedal power; using the methane generated by human/animal waste to power generators; and using waste vegetable oil to power Lister diesel engines which then generate electricity, and provide waste heat to heat the home, to name a few.

Have a look at these archived issues of Energy Self Sufficiency Newsletter, an older, but still very interesting online magazine, which covers all kinds of aspects of taking responsibility for your own power. A Yahoo group for people interested in discussing alternative power can be found here. Another great site with lots of renewable energy projects is Do It Yourself Solar: The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers and it’s not just about solar!

If you can’t manage, at this stage, to implement any of the above methods, at least choose a ‘green’ provider or ‘green’ option from your provider, to help offset what you use.

LESSENING DEMAND

There are many things you can do to lessen how much power you use. A big part of it is having a conscious awareness all the time of how your habits are impacting use. You can make a lot of little changes, that don’t really have a big impact on your comfort level or lifestyle, but when added together can save quite a bit of power… which is both good for the environment and for your power bill!

Here’s some power saving tips to get you started:

• Equipment, such as computers, TV’s, DVD players should be turned fully off, not left on standby. Standby power use adds up throughout your home, over time.

• If you’re not using something, turn it off! That includes lights.

• Share watching one TV, rather than all watching in different rooms.

• Replace incandescent lighting with energy efficient alternatives such as fluorescent and LED.

• Use natural light by reading or working near a window, or installing skylights.

• Use motion sensor lighting, solar lights and timers, so that you don’t accidentally leave an outdoor light running for hours.

• Use people powered tools rather than electric ones, where practical. Remember, your ancestors got by without them!

• Set thermostats a little higher in summer and lower in winter… every degree adds a lot to your running costs!

• Instead of turning on the heating, rug up in warm clothes instead, or snuggle up in a blanket.

• Use fans rather than air con units, if it’s not really very hot. A damp face washer or mist spray bottle will help cool you even more, once the air blows across damp skin.

• Make your home draught-proof. Revive the old ‘door snake’ like grandma used to use.

• Don’t waste energy heating empty rooms. Heat or cool only the areas you are actually using.
  Let cool breezes in during the cool of the evening.

• Use plants to help shade windows and walls. Deciduous trees are especially useful, as they will protect your home in summer, but allow the sun to warm your home in winter, once their leaves have fallen.

• Use the power of the sun to heat your water with a solar water heater.

• Set your water heater thermostat lower, especially in summer.

• Don’t waste heated water by just running the tap- put the plug in!

• Insulate your hot water pipes to lessen heat loss. Every bit of heat you lose means more energy to heat it to the required temperature.

• Locate hot water service close to the areas where hot water will be used most, to lessen the distance the water has to travel, and therefore how much heat is lost.

• Showering with a partner will save how much water you have to heat.

• Wash clothes in cold water, unless hot is really needed.

• Use that magical free clothes dryer- the sun! Clothes dryers use a lot of power, and really aren’t necessary at most times of the year, especially here in Australia.

• Preferably operate washing machines and dishwashers when full.

• Don’t use your oven on very hot days, if you can avoid it, to stop from adding to the heat in your home… but do consider using it on cold days to help warm your home. Ovens are energy hungry however, so using other cooking methods will save energy.

• Use steamer saucepans or make one pot meals, to limit the number of saucepans you are heating. Don’t forget to keep lids on, to lessen heat loss.

• Have the right size fridge/freezer for your circumstances, keep it in good condition, and make sure the thermostat is set to the right temperature.

The Australian Government site Energy Rating gives appliance comparisons for energy use, so that you can find the most energy efficient one for your purposes. Here’s an article with even more ideas about saving electricity. 70 Tips For Saving Energy in Your Home. It goes through several specific aspects, such as Entertainment, Lighting, Heating & Cooling and Food Storage & Preparation, with ideas for cutting back power use in each. There are lots of other environmental articles on our site, covering all aspects of living in an environmentally friendly way, so feel free to drop in and have a browse.

I hope this has given you some ideas you can put into practise immediately…. and others that you can work into a longer term plan. Pass them on to your friends and family, because the more people we can get making these changes in their lives, the better off our communities and our environment will be.

I wish you well on your exciting journey into a sustainable and resilient future!

About the author: Anthea Hudson is the co founder of Earthwise Harmony, your ‘go to’ place for information, discussions, interviews and practical tips on matters relating to the environment, sustainability, self sufficiency, climate change, peak oil and other relevant topics. A place where you can share your challenges and triumphs and hear about what others are doing. Connect with Earthwise Harmony on Facebook and Twitter.