environmental – Richard's blog

Fourty Five Days with the Cloudneo

Byrichard 3 December 20233 December 2023

Intro

On Cloudneo are shoes that you rent, rather than own. They are designed for running but you can also use them for walking. They are designed for dry, warm weather, rather than wet. They are designed to last from three months to six months depending on how quickly you wear them out. They are brilliantly white when new, but within two or three runs they lose their luminescence.

Circular – Use – Reuse

These shoes are designed to reduce the carbon footprint of the shoes we wear. They are made from beans, rather than petroleum based products. Once you’re done with a pair you send it back to the manufacturer, so that they are grounded back down and turned into a new pair of shoes. In theory you never own them. In practice they are just extremely easy to recycle.

Comfort When Running

I have run with them in heavy rain, sunny weather, through grass, mud and a river that was running down a road. I was so used to the trail glove 7 that I had to get used to normal shoes, and the difference in the feel and centre of gravity. I found that with these shoes my ankles rolled on uneven terrain. I attribute this to being used to barefoot shoes, rather than a design flaw.

With some running shoes I notice that I feel knee strain if I run too hard, or after a certain distance. I find that with these shoes my knees feel okay. I have run five or more kilometres several times.

Slippery when Wet

The shoes are designed for warm, dry weather so when you’re running in Switzerland, over slippery surfaces you will slip and show that you were a snowboarder or skier multiple times. They’re sub-optimal for rainy and muddy conditions. When it’s raining water will make its way through to your socks within seconds or minutes. The one advantage with these shoes is that they’re made from such minimal material that if they get wet they dry by themselves overnight, ready for the next day. Shoes that dry quickly don’t need to be waterproof because they dry fast.

Walking Comfort

Although they are not marketed or purposed as walking shoes I have used them on a variety of walks. They felt good until I tightened the laces. I could feel a pressure point where I had accidentally flipped the lace around. When I identified that this was the problem they were more comfortable to wear, once again. When I run up and down the stairs in this building they’re quieter than other shoes.

Mud Removal

Although the shoes are mediocre to bad in mud they are very easy to brush clean once you get home after a run or walk. This is important to me. In Autumn, Winter and Spring shoes can get very muddy. The lack of tread that makes them bad in the wet makes them great for cleaning. A few brush strokes and they’re clean, ready for walking indoors.

Cost

These shoes are designed to last for about 600 kilometres, as are most shoes, so if you run or walk a lot you will replace them sooner than every six months. After 45 days of use, but without a clear idea of distance, although at least 75 kilometres the only signs of wear are a slight loss of tread on the front of the shoe, and a discoloration on the rest of the shoe. Running in muddy and flooded conditions has that effect on shoes. If you walk and run 240 kilometres per month you will replace them within three months.

If you replace your shoes after three months they have cost you 105 CHF. If you replace them after six months they have cost 210 CHF. The more you walk and run in them, the sooner they need to be replaced, and the more rational they are to own.

Limitations

At the moment Cloudneo shoes are designed for running on asphalt, rather than mud or gravel. They’re good on dry surfaces but tend to slip on painted road surfaces and slick mud. If it’s raining your feet will get wet although despite running in 6°c temperatures my feet did not get cold.

Niche Use

I walk eight kilometres per day. This comes to 720 kilometres every three months. If I replace my shoes every three months then I go through four pairs of shoes per year. By using the Neocloud shoes for walking and running the shoes that I used for three months are recycled and reused for the same purpose.

And Finally

You have a month to see that the shoes fit. They prefer for you to test them for fit indoors, so that the shoes do not get dirty as this would result in them being recycled too early, rather than reused by someone without recycling. The minimum contract duration after the one month trial is six months which comes to 210 francs. If you use one pair per six months they cost that to own. If you replace them after three months this falls to 105 Francs.

It doesn’t bother me that shoes are not weatherproof but it does bother me that the sole doesn’t have grip on wet and muddy surfaces. Yesterday I slid several times walking out of the village. With other shoes I wouldn’t. They need to provide shoes that are good in wet and muddy conditions so that this becomes a year round solution, rather than in good road conditions.

These shoes are not worth 210 CHF, and at 105 CHF they’re still expensive compared to other options. I feel that this is a six month experiment, to experience high end running shoes but that when I can I will end the contract.

environmentalism | social conscience

Rural Solar Panels

Byrichard 8 October 2023

Sunak and Solar

Detached from reality’: anger as Rishi Sunak plans to restrict solar panels.

Rishi Sunak plans to restrict the installation of solar panels on swathes of English farmland, which climate campaigners say will raise bills and put the UK’s energy security at risk.

Solar Powered Shade

Solar panels, if placed high enough can generate energy whilst at the same time providing shade for grazing sheep and cows beneath them. If you look at the surface of barns and other farm buildings it makes sense to replace the old roof, especially if it’s not beautiful patterned tiles, with solar panels. There is a barn near Ikea, in Aubonne that is covered entirely in solar panels. This is probably generating quite a bit of power for the local village.

Solar Panels as Walls

At the airport in Geneva at least one building is covered entirely in solar panels. At the time I was in that building the panels were not connected. The point is that there was potential to generate power for the entire length of daylight hours.

Solar Panels on Village Roofs

When you walk or drive around you sometimes see roofs that are entirely covered in solar panels, and others where the bare legal requirement are placed. Solar panels should be maximised on non historical roofs, because they generate enough power for cookers, dish washers, laptops and more, without going to the grid for energy.

Sheep and Solar Grazing

In the article How Sheep Keep Solar Farms Out of the Shade we see an illustration of how fields that are used by sheep can be used to generate solar power and this has twin benefits. The first one is that, year round, farmers can generate solar power and feed it to the grid. This means that the fields have an income year round. Sheep sometimes cost more to keep, than they sell for. By combining sheep with solar power generation you’re subsidising the sheep, with clean energy.

Instead of subsidising farmers for nothing, you can help them, by buying the energy they produce.

Biofuels and Solar

There was talk about planting crops that could then be turned into biofuel. Thanks to solar panels that are placed high enough, off the ground, to provide shade, you can cut out the middle person, and get energy straight from the producer, i.e. the sun.

If you don’t need to plant fields of biofuel plants, fertilise them, and harvest them then you’re saving on various forms of pollution, helping to protect the environment.

Even BP are promoting solar sheep farming.

And Finally

Sunak is from another age. He is from an age where fossil fuels were seen as a source of profit. He is a fossil. He is failing to look at the big picture. By generating green energy we reduce global warming, and by reducing global warming we reduce weather weirding, and by reducing weather weirding we reduce the cost, for insurance companies, when natural disasters cause billions of pounds in damage each year. I don’t think in GBP but as I’m writing about English policy it makes sense to think in these terms.

Millions of people, in England, are heading into poverty because of how expensive fossil fuels are, in England. In such circumstances it makes sense to promote green energies.

cycling

The Extended Bike Ride

Byrichard 17 April 202317 April 2023

My usual loop is around 30 kilometres but for the last two bike rides I have extended them, to reach 50-60 kilometres respectively. I cover this distance in about two, to two and a half, hours. Cycling is good at the moment because plenty of people are on holidays so the roads feel safer as there are fewer commuters on the roads.

On both of these trips I ended up in Geneva. The first time I came from the lake side and cycled upwards by the UN buildings. on Via Appia etc before heading back towards Vaud. The second time I did the opposite. I cycled via the top, but through agricultural roads to avoid being exposed to cars, although I was exposed to dogs and walkers. Luckily I could take alternate routes to avoid dogs and walkers.

On the topic of walkers, why is it that when I walk alone I am at the side of the road taking 50cm of space and yet couples take the entire width of the road? At one point I went through the mud and grass to avoid having to wait for people to clear the road. Specifically, why, if people are walking across the entire width of a secondary road, aren’t they constantly looking back to see if bikes or cars are coming?

View of the Alps and Colza in Vaud, Switzerland

Cycling by the airport is now a mess. Before when you cycled by the airport you could go by the runway for a bit, before cycling by Arena etc, before continuing on. Now they have removed that cycle path, or at least downgraded it, encouraging people to cycle along narrow pedestrian bridges, with little to no indication of which route to take. It’s paradoxical that as you hit Geneva, you lose track of where to cycle.

In one case I continued going straight and ended up with a staircase in front of me. If I was on another bike I might have descended it but not on a road bike. I turned around and had to go back up.

There is one part where you are on a narrow high pavement. It’s impossible to avoid another bike safely. They spend millions on re-routing roads, without thinking about providing proper cycling routes. It felt safer before than it does at the moment.

I cycled down by the Intercontinental, Place Des Nations, then right at UNHCR before going through the tunnel towards the Palais Wilson, before crossing the road and heading back towards Nyon.

Perle du Lac is another mess, for cyclists, because cycling routes are not clearly marked so you don’t know if you’re on a pedestrian only path, or combined. They say “cyclists, slow down”. I would prefer a clear route being indicated for cyclists to take to get from around the Palais Wilson to the World Trade Organisation, before heading along the lake. Here too, you find chaos as you get to Bellevue. In Versoix cyclists and pedestrians share the same pavement, but even on a quiet day pedestrians take up the entire pavement so you’re forced to cycle on the road.

The road is limited to 30km/h and I cycle at that speed so theoretically I’m fine, but cars still overtake. I eventually went on the cycle path.

Cycling is a pleasure, when we don’t feel that our lives are in danger. The last two rides have been good because the roads have been quieter from cars, than usual. The result is a more pleasant cycling experience. People make a fuss about more trains, buses, and so on but the solution is simpler. Make every village and town pedestrian friendly. Make it safe to walk between villages, without having to walk on the road.

I use the car for recycling, and shopping, and little else. We don’t need need to use cars daily, especially if we make it safe for pedestrians and cyclists to walk around without the big cage around them. The “big cage” is, of course, a car.

Sports | summer holidays | Swiss walks

Half a Million Steps in July

Byrichard 1 September 20191 September 2019

In July this year I took half a million steps as I was banned from driving. I’m using that phrase for comedic effect. As I had one arm in a sling driving was out of the question for a few weeks and then it was out of the question because my tendons and muscles were in need of physio therapy.

Carbon Footprint

By not using the car for around one and a half months alone I avoided using at least one tank of diesel for every month of injury and one scooter tank of petrol per week of petrol.

By not using buses I saved on my carbon footprint too. Buses are large and heavy and they are not always full. This means that walking is still more environmentally friendly.

In a normal month I walk from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand steps. The application estimates that I walked 47 hours. That’s almost a weekend of walking. This excludes all the time spent walking when cooking or doing other tasks.

Waking everywhere is time consuming. Instead of taking half an hour to do a task you have to count at least an hour for the closest shop and an hour and a half to two hours for another shop I like to use.

Walking everywhere requires you to think of time differently. Simple tasks become events and the world shrinks. For over a month my world was anything within two or three hours walking distance.

Optimised for vehicles

We often hear about how towns are not optimised for walking but neither is the countryside. If you walk along secondary roads you have to deal with tractors, pesticides, combine harvesters and other machines. On some rural paths you have to deal with dogs that are not kept on a leash and when you’re afraid of dogs this can be anxiety inducing.

Too many roads connecting villages to shopping centres and too many roads connecting villages have no provision for walkers. This summer I had to choose between walking through thick grass and plants to stay on the side of the road or walk on the road with drivers not moderating their speed. This is paradoxical as, when you’re driving you always get stuck 20km/hr below the speed limit. When you’re walking, just as when you’re cycling, people feel the need to make the gap between oncoming traffic rather than slow down and wait a few seconds.

I came to the conclusion that they should put bike lane markings on every single road if they are unwilling to prepare and maintain walking paths by the side of the road. As a pedestrian I used bike lanes as if they were pavements mainly because of bushes and long vegetation. I believe that as a general rule cars should only be allowed to drive into a cycle lane when overtaking is not possible otherwise. People need to be trained to see bike lanes like bus lanes and avoid them unless there is no alternative.

The Wearing Down of Shoes

One of the things I love to do is look at the soles of my shoes and see how much wear they have as well as whether it’s symmetrical. This time around the wear on my shoes was symmetrical. There is a downside to this wear. Those bits of shoe are left on the roads and in the grass waiting to be washed into the rivers and rivers before making their way to the lakes and seas.

Final Thoughts

Taking half a million footsteps in a month was a pleasant and enjoyable experience. It allowed me to slow down in a way that I have done before. It allowed me to explore even more than I did last year. It got me used to walking to some locations rather than take the car. I walk to physio therapy, to the shop nearby and to the swimming pool. It means that I am not subjected to modern traffic and that for some tasks at least, my carbon footprint is reduced. For the price of a single tank of fuel you can buy two pairs of shoes that will last half a million steps apiece.