Patrick Roberts

Patrick Roberts

Patrick, 25, is a father of two from Anglesey. He works as an Administrative and Donor Care Assistant with the Betsi Fund based at Ysbety Gwynedd in Bangor. He’s keen to take part in Way To Go not only for himself but also to teach his children about climate change. He’s a Welsh speaker and is a trained journalist so he’s looking forward to blogging and getting involved with the media.

“I feel that we all have a responsibility to be more aware of our individual actions and the impact that they can have on climate change. I’m also interested to see how much money we can save as a family by making these changes.”

Home Insulation and Saving Water

Over the past few weeks my family has been adopting small changes in order to save energy around the home.

It seems more and more people are now seeking simple energy saving solutions around the home following the announcement of significant price increases by the ‘big six’ energy companies. Such solutions are easy to implement and are set to save our family money year on year.

As up to 25% of an uninsulated home’s heat is lost through the loft/roof space, this seemed a sensible place for us to start.  With figures showing that 10.5 inches of loft insulation can save up to 15% of a home’s heating costs – meeting the small cost of topping up our loft insulation was a no brainer.

Further simple and inexpensive changes have followed, with draft excluders and energy saving light bulbs purchased.

Part of our efforts to become a more climate savvy family has involved changing old habits. This has meant switching off lights in rooms that aren’t being used, ensuring devices aren’t left in standby mode, and crucially, reaching for an extra layer of clothing before turning the thermostat up.

With the help of the Way To Go Wales campaign and Dŵr Cymru we’ve also been able to adopt a number of climate savvy water saving measures. These include using a water hippo in our toilet cistern, which is helping us save up to 3 litres every time we flush.  A water efficient shower head from Dŵr Cymru is also being put to good use which could save us up to £75 a year. While a Water Butt and rain saving kit provided courtesy of the Way To Go Wales Campaign will enable us to use the copious amount of rain that will fall over Ynys Môn this winter on our garden in the summer months.

Becoming more climate savvy requires ‘buy in’ from the whole family, so the enthusiasm that our daughters, aged 5 and 3 have shown in adopting small changes at home in order to save energy will ensure that we continue to seek ways to become more climate savvy for years to come.

#BikeIt


Over the past few weeks I’ve been ditching the car in favour of walking and cycling to and from work, as I work towards becoming more climate savvy in my everyday actions along with other Way To Go Wales team members.

Living just four miles from my place of work means that I’ve been able to get to work in just over 50 minutes on foot or in 25 minutes when cycling. Having the opportunity to take in the stunning views from the Menai Suspension Bridge of the Menai Straits and Snowdonia mountain ranges has made this a change that I’ve been happy to embrace.

As hundreds of healthcare staff queue in their cars to leave the hospital that I work at in rush hour traffic at five o clock each day, I’ve taken great pleasure in whizzing past them on my bike, safe in the knowledge that I’m reducing the burden on the environment, my bank balance and my waistline. I’ve often reached home before a colleague who lives down the road, despite him taking the journey by car!

There are some startling statistics surrounding the health benefits associated with cycling or walking to work that, combined with the financial & environmental benefits, should make more people seriously consider adopting it as an alternative to taking the car to work. For example, a 20 minute bike ride to work uses the same amount of calories as you’d find in a glass of wine or bar of chocolate and burning 500-1000 calories per week (or walking to and from work 1 day per week in my case) can reduce the risk of premature death by 20-30%.

The benefits of adopting small lifestyle changes, such as washing clothes at 30ºc, not overfilling the kettle, and walking or cycling to work, are not just confined to the reduction in your carbon footprint. People needn’t feel particularly strongly about climate change to want to adopt these small changes – they should just think about what they could do with the money they would save.

Washing at 30º

This month I’ve been washing clothes at 30ºC and using the tumble dryer sparingly in an effort to become more climate savvy as part of the Way to Go Campaign.

Taking on some of these challenges as a Way To Go team member has really brought home just how easy it can be to help tackle climate change. What’s more, as washing at 30º uses around a third less electricity than washing at higher temperatures, there are significant financial savings to be made from adopting this small change to our laundry habits. Since around 70% of the energy used by a washing machine is to heat the water, it’s no surprise that it makes good financial sense to do the laundry at 30º. I’ll also be seeing my bills tumble, and not my dryer, by hanging clothes on the line – a change that has been easy to adopt given the Mediterranean weather that Ynys Môn has been basking in for the past few weeks!

I’ve also taken the #turnto30 message to Anglesey Aluminium Cricket Club who have been washing their cricket whites at 30º in an effort to reduce the energy they use. Their members recognised that individually, we can make small changes, but collectively; these ensure that we  go a long way towards reducing the effects of climate change. In fact in Europe alone, if everyone turned their washing temperature down to 30º it would save 12 million tonnes of CO2 a year.

From being part of the Way To Go team I’ve learnt that people don’t need to make huge alterations to their lifestyle in order to become more climate savvy. By adopting small changes like not over-filling the kettle, doing the laundry at 30º and putting on a jumper instead of turning the central heating on – together, and over time - we can make a real difference in the fight against climate change, and see our energy bills tumble in the process.

Car Sharing

This month as part of the Way To Go Challenge I’ve been car sharing to work. Before becoming a Way To Go team member I’d dismissed car sharing as an option to travel to work. After all, setting up a car sharing arrangement would be too much hassle, wouldn’t it? Well, I was wrong, and having been nudged by the Way To Go team I made a list of everybody I knew that also worked in my local hospital and lived nearby.

It didn’t take much persuasion to get them to agree to car share for the month. After all, the prospect of more car parking space in work and being able to share the cost of fuel is appealing. When you factor in the impact on the environment, it is difficult to argue against the concept of car sharing.

Like all of the best ideas for becoming more environmentally friendly, car sharing is incredibly simple: why have several people who live in close proximity to each other driving to and from the same location, but in separate vehicles, at least 5 times per week?

Having car shared for the past month I’ve realised how easy and practical it is, and it all helps to reduce our carbon footprint. It’s certainly a climate savvy way of getting to and from work that I will be continuing with.

#TicketToRide

For the past month as part of the  ‘Way to go Wales’ climate change challenge I’ve been swapping car journeys for bus journeys.  Having decided as a family that a second car was an unaffordable luxury earlier this year, I have actually been a fully-fledged bus user for a few months now. Living under 5 miles from my place of work and right outside a bus stop it hasn’t been a difficult change to adopt, and has bought a number of benefits.

For a start, there’s no more worrying about how to meet the ever increasing cost of maintaining a car. When you take the cost of insurance, tax, maintenance and fuel of a car into account, it’s difficult to argue against the value for money that bus travel provides.

Free Tickets!

Of equal importance is the benefit to the environment. The 20 odd people that catch the bus to work with me every morning would otherwise be in cars, increasing pollution and congestion. Whilst it may not be the main reason people choose to use public transport, their low carbon choice of travel is playing a key role in reducing Wales’s Carbon footprint.

Thanks to the generosity of Arriva Buses Cymru I was able to thank such bus travellers on behalf of the Welsh Government by handing out 50 free bus tickets at Bangor bus station. Aside from being the most popular man in Bangor for a little over half an hour it was great to be able to thank local bus goers for their contribution to tackling climate change'

Just Enough

This month as part of the Way to go Wales Climate Change Campaign I’ve pledged to not overfill my kettle and use just enough water for a perfect panad!

Before taking up this challenge I must to confess to being among the 67% of people in the UK who admit to boiling more water than they need to. But overfilling the kettle is a costly and wasteful habit. If people across Britain pledged to not overfill their kettles they would collectively save around 100 million pounds. But it’s not just the finances that add up; if everybody in the UK pledged to put just enough water in their kettle it would have the same impact on the environment as taking 149,000 cars off our roads. Such statistics demonstrate how adopting small changes can result in impressive reductions in energy consumption and on our carbon footprint.

Having been suitably alarmed by the unnecessary impact my tea drinking was having on the environment, my bank balance and my energy provider’s share price, I set out trying to encourage others to join me in not overfilling their kettles. With builders known for their love of tea, my ‘Just Enough’ message was well received by the staff at C.L Jones in Llangefni, where I delivered some Way To Go Wales mugs.

Having endured the coldest March in 50 years my kettle has understandably seen more use than it normally would at this time of year. But it was warming to know that using just enough water for each panad was saving me time, and reducing my carbon footprint and electricity bill. I will certainly be only using ‘just enough’ water in my kettle from now on.”

Get It On!

During 2013 I will be taking on challenges in order to become more climate savvy as part of the Way To Go Wales’s Climate Change Challenge. I undertook the first challenge during February when I conserved energy by putting an extra layer on and turning my thermostat down, or not putting the central heating on at all.

Now, putting on an extra layer in order to avoid turning the heating up is hardly a revolutionary idea,  but with energy bills more than doubling since 2004,and heightened public awareness of the destructive effects of climate change, adopting this small change will save you money and won’t cost the earth.

Despite these obvious benefits, I have often plumped straight for the central heating dial during the cold winter months, when putting on an extra layer would have been a more sensible and sustainable option. The problem it seems is changing your mind set so that you think about how small everyday actions can help to reduce your carbon footprint.

Getting my two children to buy into this particular challenge hasn’t proven too difficult. Whilst the financial benefits resulting from reduced energy consumption didn’t resonate with them, the climate change challenge gave me the opportunity to educate my four year old on how as a family we can take simple steps reduce the impact our actions have on the environment. 

After a month of adopting this small change, the whole family are now in the habit of wearing an extra layer when the temperature drops in the evening, and we have identified more other areas in which we save energy and become more climate savvy.

Meanwhile I will now look forward to my next gas meter reading and subsequent bill coming through.