Centre for Alternative Technology

Had a realy good day. You can spend a long time there if you are actually interested in what they have on offer. I dont know why people are moaning about the prices of these small attractions in Wales, they are going to be slightly more expensive as they dont have enough business to lower the price.

Also being a charity, I dont mind paying 9 quid for a day out, same price as the cinema, but it lasts longer and is actually doing some good.

Centre for Alternative Technology - As somebody interested in alternative energy I was excited at the prospect of visiting a centre devoted entirely to the subject. On arrival, having driven for almost 3 hours i paid £8.40 x 2 for myself and my girlfriend = £16.80 total. First impressions were good as the woman in the visitors centre asked us if we were interested in anything particular on the map (other than the nearest toilet) and then directed us towards a ski lift powered up approximately 50ft by nothing but water and gravity. I was disappointed at the vague description of how the lift worked from the internal speaker system (where did the electricity to power the speakers come from? How was the pump that filled the tanks with water operated? And what were all those buttons on the old but very electrical looking dashboard at the top? etc) but having been suitably impressed by the steep distance travelled and encouraged by the happy faces of those coming down the other way i put it out of my mind. A quick look at the map and i was eager to get going, afterall it was mid afternoon and we didn't want to run out of time! The first attraction was a series of 'hands on' contraptions to demonstrate the possibility of clean energy: pedal power, a bicycle flywheel to turn, a long fish tank in which one could make waves to push a small turbine etc all mostly to power a small torch bulb. A good warm up i thought, now take me to the impressive stuff. As we walked past derelict wind turbine parts - huge rotar blades and the inners of turbines we made our way to a small village with apparently very little in terms of demonstrations but plenty of well known facts dotted about the place. A small, futuristic looking electric car took my interest for a moment but as both the doors and bonnet were locked i quickly lost interest - the cynic in me wondering if the electric motor was still even under the bonnet? We moved on from there and passed a BT phonebox with a solar panel and small wind turbine on the roof. Indeed it was working but the fact that it was not propped up in any way caused that same cynic in me to inspect the ground around the bottom of the booth. With no way of me ascertaining that there was no other power source i quickly moved on wondering how it was still powered on a cloudy, windless day like today.A 30 second walk later and we found ourselves back where we started. I looked at the nearest map, certain we had missed a path somewhere only to find that we had toured the whole site in under half an hour, most of which was taken up by spinning small handles to power torch bulbs.On the whole i was extremely disappointed with the facility and wouldn't recommended it at all. Perhaps if the entry admission had not been so steep i might recommend a visit if passing through but at that price i wouldn't. The organisation is a registered charity and uses the money gained to seek out and improve on natural energy sources. However, i did not see anything new or innovative to me at the centre. It also boasts 'practical everyday solutions for everyone' but the only thing i saw on this topic were a few signs promoting the benefits of cycling and taking the train. I am still intrigued as to why we were asked if there was anything in particular we were interested in as there did not seem anything of particular interest to me there. Information also seemed very basic in my opinion - about the same if not less than the various science museums i have visited for free and lacking the specific examples used by the latter. For example, the bicycle flywheel demonstration description pointed towards it's use in some German public transport. I found this somewhat lacking in detail and did my own investigating at home on the internet only to find the following, much more interesting and detailed description on the first website found by a search engine:A newly developed flywheel energy storage system was installed in Zwickau in 2006. The system is able to absorb the braking power of the trams and to store it as long as another tram needs this power for its acceleration. In best cases such a flywheel storage enables energy savings of 350,000 kWh a year.The same can be said for anything more complex than actually generating the electricity with no apparent details on storage of the energy for later use. Looking to the future through the eyes of the Centre for Alternative Technology i imagined a husband pedalling a bicycle television dynamo, panting and sweating, the television flickering and his wife shouting words of encouragement as the soap opera she watches nears the final, cliff hanging scene. Hardly a 'practical everyday solution'.In conclusion I found this a very disappointing, small, basic and expensive attraction i would not recommend visiting. If the Centre of Alternative Technology is an organisation looking toward the future, I feel it should start by getting back to basics and improving it's site to resemble something that inspires and motivates people to take positive steps towards reducing their carbon footprint. It should also motivate people to consider voting for an alternative government with clean, renewable energy at the heart of it's manifesto. I think the world needs huge, life changing decisions to be made soon and i had hoped this centre would be a place that could stimulate people to make these changes. By the end i was unfortunately left feeling very disappointed with a long, carbon emitting drive ahead of me.