In the last six years our hidden array of photovoltaic panels has produced more than 90,000* KwH, (kilowatt hours) of electricity from the sun and saved the emission of 63 tonnes of carbon dioxide from conventional power stations.  (*Enough to run 60,000  average electric kettles for one hour or one electric kettle for 60,000 hours (almost a year), if you so desire!)

It may not be much in the grand scheme of things (Italy alone uses more than 300 terawatt hours a year (1 TwH = 1,000. 000,000 KwH) but, as they say, every little helps, and it means our guests are Cool and Green when they stay with us.A ‘snapshot’ of our photovoltaic electricity production on 20 December. Inside the circles are total electricity produced and carbon reduced.

But should we bother about being Green at all? While there is still plenty of dispute about the figures, there’s a growing perception that the effects of climate change  have been exaggerated and that they’ll be moderate, with temperatures and sea levels rising slowly. Human ingenuity (and co-operation) should be able to come up with sustainable solutions to mitigate the effects. That means not bankrupting our economies in a mad rush to net zero carbon emissions, when our rivals (notably China) are continuing to belt out CO2, generating electricity from their coal-fired power stations.