Centre for Alternative Technology

A fascinating Day.
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) was establishedin 1976.
It occupies an extensive site on a forested hillside next to a long abandoned slate quarry.
Its oribinal purpose was to research and develop simple practical solutions to energy and water needs in developing countries. As the challenges of global warming have become apparent its work on wind, solar and water based energy has become ever more important. The Centre has many students doing post grad degrees on solving these problems.
We have been members of CAT for over 20 years but today was our first chance to visit its Headquarters.
My blip photo shows the first thing you see when you arrive. The railway takes you up to the main site. It is powered by water and gravity. Water from a dam fills a tank in the top car until it is just heavier than the lower car and its passengers. The brakes are released and gravity does the rest.
The extensive site has many displays about wind, solar and water energy. And there are displays about insulation and heat pumps. The latter were especially interesting to us as in two weeks we shall be replacing our old gas boiler with an Air Source Heat Pump.
These together with a Woodland Walk, lots of ecological horticulture areas and a veggie cafe, gave us a most interesting visit.
You can find out more about The Centre for Alternative Technology on Google or Wikipedia. And you might even be persuaded to join!


 After lunch we visited a nearby Osprey site and saw the female on her nest.