I heard someone on the radio this morning sounding ominous notes about how Gordon Brown’s COP15 commitment to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions would cost the economy dear. And yesterday even Saint Polly of Toynbee threw in the towel. You know the argument – tackling climate change means we’ll all have to freeze in dingy hovels, wear hair shirts and go nowhere, except backwards. Well I disagree – I think moving to a low carbon economy can make us happy, boost the economy in the short term and make it supremely better in the long term. It just takes a shift in mindset.

Here’s an example.

Last year we purchased a luxury item costing about £3,000 from a local company. The item itself is made in the UK and the parent company’s head office is in Northern Ireland. The installation of this item required the services of three different local tradesmen. Thus our self-indulgent purchase boosted the local economy and contributed to the UK economy, which was nice.

The item in question gives me a great deal of pleasure – I think about it several times a day and look at it often. It’s beautifully crafted from black glass, copper and stainless steel, with no plastic in sight, and is clearly a fine piece of engineering. I find it attractive too; sleek, dark and elegant. I feel happier for owning it, I like the fact that it’s visible to other people and I love it when people notice it and ask about it.

It’s definitely a luxury – we didn’t ‘need’ it, but it does deliver some practical pleasures. Firstly, it magically fills our water tank with hot water every day in the summer, giving me a ‘free’ bath almost every night – a real personal luxury. And since we bought it, our fuel bill has dropped by at least £500 per year. Odd really, for a luxury to be so useful?

The item in question is of course a Thermomax solar water panel, which now adorns our cottage roof, not moving or making any sound, consuming nothing but sunlight and emitting nothing but lashings of hot water.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I feel that I’m helping the country economically and politically – reducing our dependency on the oil imports that we must otherwise have. And as it happens we’re reducing our carbon emissions too and thus helping to ‘save the planet’.

There, I’ve gone and spoilt it, haven’t I? My luxury item has been transformed from a shiny and elegant hot bath making machine into an irritatingly worthy piece of political polemic.

Look, I know that £3,000 is a lot of money. But many people spend that much on a holiday each year, or on ‘stuff’ for the house, or on upgrading the car. And for the truly well off it’s a drop in the ocean. Suppose it became a fashionable purchase among celebrities? Suppose Simon Cowell, or Jeremy Clarkson bought one? (OK, I know that’s pushing it – but does he really love paying his heating bill? Really?) Everyone would want one. Demand would soar, investment would flow in, prices would ultimately come down as mass production took off. Houses without a south facing roof would drop in value. Neighbours would enviously ask ‘how hot is yours?.

You see? It’s just a question of mindset. Go on, treat yourself to a real solar panel. Because you’re worth it.

December 19, 2009  
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