Going Green |
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Living in an environmentally-responsible way isn’t something that can be laid down by order, it’s a discipline – practical, domestic, day in, day out. All the more so as the three consuls belong to a generation which has lived through a period of carefree excess, in a consumer-society where waste is commonplace. Over time, faced with images and scientific declarations, with the evidence of the damage our planet is suffering, they realised the urgency of the environmental situation. But the leap from wanting to protect the planet to changing your daily habits to take realistic, environmentally-friendly decisions to help the environment is sometimes littered with difficult trade-offs, essential compromises. The Consulate would have been only too happy to have signed the Copenhagen protocol, if only somebody had had the bright idea of asking for the signatures of the consuls de la Boirie. When it came to the tricky question of ecology, the consuls had the particularly difficult task of dealing with the hysterical reaction of the shaken Mademoiselle Zizi de la Foutaise, who thought that she would have to start wearing green canvas dresses and start eating organic, unpasteurised yak butter for the rest of her life… The Consulate does all it can to manage the property in a way that respects the environment. That doesn’t mean that we are taking an ideological holier-than-thou stance, but it is important for the consuls to explain to their guests what they are trying to do, in their way, to protect the environment. The renovation work to the buildings has been completed:
Leaks are hunted down like Madonna by the paparazzi! A dripping tap represents an average of 120 litres of wasted water every day… Food is prepared using natural gas, which is very economical, and we never forget to put the lids on pans. When darkness falls, Yvette (the maid) checks and switches off all electrical appliances which are still on (televisions, computers etc.). Leaving them on stand-by uses 10% more electricity. The palace walls, which are up to 1.50m thick, breathe without any humidity to combat, so they keep in the warmth in winter and the cool air in summer. No need for air-conditioning! Interior curtains and blinds help to reduce energy loss through the windows at the same time as respecting the palace’s architecture. The energy is “clean”: the heating is kept at a low temperature, and is underfloor, produced by a combined system of air/water heat pumps and a hydraulic ram. The garden and vegetable plot are watered using rainwater collected from the huge roofs. The surrounding woodland is maintained to provide the wood for the palace’s fires. Waste is systematically sorted for recycling or compost, with special separate bins. The consuls are a little bit obsessed when it comes to separating your waste. The kitchen garden and orchard provide seasonal fruit and vegetables. The organic compost is kindly provided by the consular stables (Eskisse de Kergane and Rougemont de la Boirie). The other products (food, supplies etc.) or services are mainly environmentally-friendly approved and produced locally to reduce their carbon footprint. The garden and woodland areas have been redesigned to promote regional species which are best adapted to the climate and the local fauna. Vincent, the head gardener, makes the most of the cool nights to water his plants, flower beds and kitchen garden. So evaporation is reduced and plants need less water. Vincent favours soil surface drip irrigation systems. When summers are particularly dry and hot, the Consulate refuses to waste precious water just to compete with the green lawns of Wimbledon. A bit of temporarily yellow grass on the southern terraces seems less dramatic to us than the extravagant irresponsibility of automatic watering. Plus, the sudden sweet return to green when the first rain falls is even more spectacular, more sensual, more fundamentally organic. |