The heat is on for those blasted heaters (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

The heat is on for those blasted heaters

2:20pm Monday 2nd April 2007

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Green or Obscene? What is my eco-friendly score for this week:

Miles driven: -15 (that's much better)
Miles being driven: -0 (even better)
Miles on train: +90
Miles by bike: +0 (still not warm enough!)
Miles walked: +34
Total: +109 (running total +141)

Cars with a faulty headlight: too many (aren't they going for MoTs)
Cars parked on double yellow lines: too many (where are the traffic wardens?)
Cars parked on the pavement: too many (pavements are for pedestrians!)

Spring is here and it is getting warmer but does that mean the shops and offices have stopped pumping all that hot air from heaters over their entrances into the fresh air? You bet they haven't.

It's always seemed even more perverse to me that these air heaters are positioned above doors that are hardly ever closed. I used to be admonished when young with the rebuke 'Do you live in a barn?' when I left a door open. Now, no-one seems to bat a eyelid.

And they're not very efficient either, producing all that heat at a horrendous cost. I can picture the wheels on the electricity meter whirring round at speed.

The smokers around town just love to stand in the draught staying warm but with climate change knocking on the door, it's an extravagance we can ill afford. Why even the Central Library, with all its boasts about the solar panels installed on the roof, wastes a huge amount of energy by placing these contraptions directly above sliding doors that must open at least once a minute.

Visitors can feel the effect from at least four feet away as the hot air literally flies out the doors. The idlers love it, standing in the door opening beam so they can get the full effect.

When will we all wake up and realise that a fraction of a second's hot blast to warm the cockles of customers' hearts is an absurd use of energy.