We spend a huge amount of our income on energy – that’s what comes of living in an ancient cold house on the top of a moor. In recent times we’ve been investigating ways in which we can do more for less. We’ve insulated the loft up to the eyeballs, had new roofs on our front and back lobbies which are insulated and now draft free, we’ve changed most of our light bulbs to LEDs etc etc.

While at friends for the evening we saw something new – eco logs. They are made from waste sawdust, which is pressed, under pressure, into things shaped like huge long polos. Apparently the lignin in the wood liquefies under pressure and sticks the whole lot together. They’re dense, heavy and burn really hot.

So we investigated them further and have decided to give them a try. They’re expensive. We’ve spent four times what we’d spend on a single load of logs from a sawmill and to look at them you’d say that was a bad deal. BUT if they last us until the end of April then we will be in credit financially and certainly our experience so far is that we use a very small amount compared to the number of logs we’d use in an evening.

Other benefits are that they are so small that the whole load of 500 has fitted into our front lobby without impeding access to the house so that they are dry and we don’t have to go outside in the wet to get them, which is a definite bonus when we get home in the dark and have to light the fire. They’re also much cleaner than logs to handle and come in handy shrink-wrapped bags.

The downside is that they must be kept dry otherwise they become useless and we’ve also had to shell out a big sum of money up front and it’s not economical to buy them in smaller quantities because of delivery costs etc.

The jury is out. We’ll see how we go when we get some properly cold weather because although it’s been bleak, it’s been raining, dreary and muddy rather than cold.

DM was chuckling away on the sofa last night and said “do you think I should post a message on facebook saying I’ve just had 500 hotties (brand name) arrive on the doorstep”? So, now, when I chuck a hottie on the fire, I think “whoops, there goes Piers Brosnan”, then” oh dear, that’s Sean Bean up in smoke”. Can you tell what I’ve been watching? Yep – Bond – Goldeneye!