Author Archives: Alison Kidd
Low carbon Santa travel
A fun ending to Year 1 of the Eco Travel Network project here in the Brecon Beacons – The Prospectory’s varied life of eco projects and field trials continues….
Twizonomics 1
A leaflet dropped through my door offering an all inclusive (VAT + installation) price of £3461 for 1.44kWp of solar PV. I already have a 3.98kWp PV, which generated about 3000kWh in the year up to June 2012, so a … Continue reading
Twizyology 3 – Indoor/Outdoor boundaries
Here is a curious psychological phenomenon. In our Eco Travel Network fleet of Renault Twizys, we have both the doorless and doored versions. Last week, we were alternating between driving one then the other in the pouring rain. The good … Continue reading
The inherent dodginess of attitudinal surveys
From time to time, The Prospectory has to design and conduct surveys as part of a research project. Surveys can be useful for collecting data on behaviour from a larger sample of people than is possible with free-form interviews or … Continue reading
Woolly Perspectives
My favourite role as a research psychologist is recording and analysing the language people use when they are discussing something which I’m studying. Our friend the artist, Pip Woolf is running a fascinating project attempting to mend a badly eroded … Continue reading
Twizyology 2 – when is a car not a car
As previously, noted, we think the Renault Twizy’s greatest strength is in the fact that it’s not a car – it offers something completely different and fun for travellers who just want to get short distances cheaply and using very … Continue reading
Solar miles
As you may have spotted, The Prospectory has a strong interest in the relationship between energy and travel – from both a technical and psychological perspective. We are interested in how we can all move around using a lot less … Continue reading
Twizics 3
Twizics 2 identified air resistance as a major energy drain at high speed, but changing speed also uses energy. If there were no air, drive train or tyre drag, we could maintain a constant speed with little or no energy … Continue reading
Twizics 2
Most Twizy drivers will struggle to achieve 125 [wall] Watt-hours per mile and a range of 50 miles in a hilly area like ours. There are two important numbers governing the range and speed of a Twizy – 30 and … Continue reading
Twizics 1 – the Physics of the Renault Twizy
The goal of the Eco Travel Network is to offer people in sparsely populated rural areas more sustainable personal transport. Country people can live as sustainably as city folk in most respects, but the low energy of city public transport … Continue reading
The Prospectory 