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Thursday 14 October 2010
Transition Bourenmouth Meeting
Just been to a Transition Bournemouth meeting at the Town Hall.Getting ready for the big green week next year.
Saturday 12 June 2010
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
The oil spill in the GOM has brought to the world's attention to what extremes oil companies are now having to go in order to find oil.
All the big oil fields have been found and the extraction rate is beginning to fall.Faced with this oil companies are having to go deep to find oil.
The Deep Horizon well is really deep.First it is 5000 feet to the bottom on the ocean then a further 18000 feet to the oil bed.That is why this leak cannot be plugged quickly.No diver can go to that depth,it all has to be done with robots.
The long term solution of a relief well will not be in place until August 2010 because it will take that long to drill through all that rock.
Disasters like this will continue if oil companies are drilling in extreme locations.They will only stop if demand falls and demand will only fall if we come off our dependency on oil.
So look around you at how you use fossil fuels oil gas and coal and come off it.Use public transport,install a woodburner in your home, generate your own electricity with solar panels.
If we all do a little then we can make a big difference.
Best
wishes
Andrew Collinson
All the big oil fields have been found and the extraction rate is beginning to fall.Faced with this oil companies are having to go deep to find oil.
The Deep Horizon well is really deep.First it is 5000 feet to the bottom on the ocean then a further 18000 feet to the oil bed.That is why this leak cannot be plugged quickly.No diver can go to that depth,it all has to be done with robots.
The long term solution of a relief well will not be in place until August 2010 because it will take that long to drill through all that rock.
Disasters like this will continue if oil companies are drilling in extreme locations.They will only stop if demand falls and demand will only fall if we come off our dependency on oil.
So look around you at how you use fossil fuels oil gas and coal and come off it.Use public transport,install a woodburner in your home, generate your own electricity with solar panels.
If we all do a little then we can make a big difference.
Best
wishes
Andrew Collinson
Thursday 29 April 2010
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Grants for energy saving heaters and generator
If you live in the UK the Department of Energy and Climate change has alot of information about the different ways you can cut you fossil fuel consumption, save money, and reduced your CO2 emissions.You can install PV panels which generate electricity,and solar panels for hot water.
Whilst grants for PV panels have now ended,you can sell any excess electricity back to the grid at a rate fixed by the Government.£400 is available for solar thermal hot water systems.
To get the grant the product you have installed must be approved as well as the installer.Again go to the Low Carbon Buildings website for more information.
In the future I expect power companies will offer to install energy saving devices and you pay it back over time.
Right now installation costs are high particularly for PV panels which will put off most people,but as the cost of fossil fuels rises,the take up will increase.
Whilst grants for PV panels have now ended,you can sell any excess electricity back to the grid at a rate fixed by the Government.£400 is available for solar thermal hot water systems.
To get the grant the product you have installed must be approved as well as the installer.Again go to the Low Carbon Buildings website for more information.
In the future I expect power companies will offer to install energy saving devices and you pay it back over time.
Right now installation costs are high particularly for PV panels which will put off most people,but as the cost of fossil fuels rises,the take up will increase.
Thursday 15 April 2010
The history of money an article by Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute
Richard Heinberg traces economic history and how trading went from bartering to gold to fiat currency.The problem with debt all started when we came off the gold standard which came about because of the need to pay for wars. The message is don't fight each other,it doesn't pay!
AddThis :: Add-ons for Firefox
AddThis :: Add-ons for Firefox
Tuesday 13 April 2010
The Crash Course — Exponential Growth Meets Reality
An interview with Chris Martenson which I found on the Post Carbon website.Watch it now!
The Crash Course — Exponential Growth Meets Reality
The Crash Course — Exponential Growth Meets Reality
Monday 29 March 2010
The Party's Over
I've just finished reading another Richard Heinberg book The Party's Over first published in 2003 and updated in 2005.
In this book Richard looks in detail at how fossil fuels were created millions of years ago and how man first discovered their uses as a source of energy.There is a whole chapter devoted to exactly how much oil is left in the ground.There are conflicting opinions but what we do know is that we have passed the half way mark and what is left will be harder to extract.The extra cost will be passed onto the end user ie us.
The book paints a gloomy picture of the future but the change that is to come will be made that much easier if we start now the process of moving to a post carbon lifestyle.
At the end of his book he has a very useful section on how we can start making changes on a personal level such as reducing our energy needs,switching to alternative energy sources like solar panels and wind power.
Start to grow your own food no matter how small your garden might be,and use the car less and public transport more.
On a brighter note I think that the change to a post carbon world will bring communities together,for a solution to this problem will only come from the bottom up as we help each other to provide the resources we need.
The impersonal modern world where often we don't even know our neighbour is coming to an end.
A great read and you can get the book here:
In this book Richard looks in detail at how fossil fuels were created millions of years ago and how man first discovered their uses as a source of energy.There is a whole chapter devoted to exactly how much oil is left in the ground.There are conflicting opinions but what we do know is that we have passed the half way mark and what is left will be harder to extract.The extra cost will be passed onto the end user ie us.
The book paints a gloomy picture of the future but the change that is to come will be made that much easier if we start now the process of moving to a post carbon lifestyle.
At the end of his book he has a very useful section on how we can start making changes on a personal level such as reducing our energy needs,switching to alternative energy sources like solar panels and wind power.
Start to grow your own food no matter how small your garden might be,and use the car less and public transport more.
On a brighter note I think that the change to a post carbon world will bring communities together,for a solution to this problem will only come from the bottom up as we help each other to provide the resources we need.
The impersonal modern world where often we don't even know our neighbour is coming to an end.
A great read and you can get the book here:
Monday 22 March 2010
Monitor your energy consumption
imeasure.org.uk is the creation of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University allowing people to monitor their energy consumption and see how they compare with other users.
You upload your weekly gas and electricity readings and will get a readout of your carbon omissions for that week.
It's a great incentive to start to make savings and it's free to use.
So get going with it now!
You upload your weekly gas and electricity readings and will get a readout of your carbon omissions for that week.
It's a great incentive to start to make savings and it's free to use.
So get going with it now!
Friday 5 March 2010
Peak Everything
I have just finished reading another of Richard Heinberg's books Peak Everything.
In it he talks about how we might manage the transition through the age of oil depletion,not least in the area of food production.Think about the food you buy in a supermarket.Then think of the all the fossil fuel burning that has gone on to get it there.First seed has to be sown with tractors,then harvested and taken to silos.
Then it has to be processed in someway to create the final product.All this needs oil.
Then it is taken to a central distribution centre before being finally sent out to your supermarket.
Don't forget you probably drove you car to the supermarket and will drive back to get the food home.Finally you stick this food in the oven,yes more fossil fuel.
Heinburg talks about going back to locally produced food.We will re-ruralise the landscape.Hey turn your back lawn over to growing vegetables.
Perhaps the most moving chapter is the one written by someone living a hundred years from how and writing back to us.He tells how the world has changed to a world of chaos caused by the end of oil.Let us hope it doesn't turn out like that.But we need to act now.You can get the book here
In it he talks about how we might manage the transition through the age of oil depletion,not least in the area of food production.Think about the food you buy in a supermarket.Then think of the all the fossil fuel burning that has gone on to get it there.First seed has to be sown with tractors,then harvested and taken to silos.
Then it has to be processed in someway to create the final product.All this needs oil.
Then it is taken to a central distribution centre before being finally sent out to your supermarket.
Don't forget you probably drove you car to the supermarket and will drive back to get the food home.Finally you stick this food in the oven,yes more fossil fuel.
Heinburg talks about going back to locally produced food.We will re-ruralise the landscape.Hey turn your back lawn over to growing vegetables.
Perhaps the most moving chapter is the one written by someone living a hundred years from how and writing back to us.He tells how the world has changed to a world of chaos caused by the end of oil.Let us hope it doesn't turn out like that.But we need to act now.You can get the book here
Saturday 27 February 2010
Easy Eco Auditing by Donnachadh McCarthy
Reading this great book on how to audit your habits both at work and home and how they impact on the environments.Do you have a compost,a water butt?
Do you buy heavily packaged TV dinners or do you buy organic food from your local farmer's market?All these help in a big way if we all do it together.
In the bathroom take a shower rather than a bath it saves so much water.What about getting a worm farm? They can munch through so much waste.
You can get the book here
Do you buy heavily packaged TV dinners or do you buy organic food from your local farmer's market?All these help in a big way if we all do it together.
In the bathroom take a shower rather than a bath it saves so much water.What about getting a worm farm? They can munch through so much waste.
You can get the book here
Tuesday 23 February 2010
The Story of Stuff
A good introduction to how creating more stuff which is supposed to make us happy is actually ruining the planet.
Your Thoughts.?
Sunday 14 February 2010
Power Down By Richard Heinberg
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World
A book I have just finished and looks at ways of navigating the coming peak oil crisis.
The solutions is in building local communities again and turning local land over to food production.
So much fuel is used to grow crops and then move it to the supermarkets that there will be real food shortages unless food is grown and sold locally.
You need to read this book.
A book I have just finished and looks at ways of navigating the coming peak oil crisis.
The solutions is in building local communities again and turning local land over to food production.
So much fuel is used to grow crops and then move it to the supermarkets that there will be real food shortages unless food is grown and sold locally.
You need to read this book.
How Cuba dealt with the end of oil.
Cuba derived nearly all it's oil from the Soviet Union,so when that country collapsed it had to find a way of maintaining it's economy and food supply without oil.
Power of Community
click on the link to see how Cuba found solutions to this problem by having more people work on the land, and come off a meat based diet, leading to weight loss and better health.
This is a model of how we in the west must change if we are to manage the coming criis well.
Lasts about 54 mins and is well worth watching.
Power of Community
click on the link to see how Cuba found solutions to this problem by having more people work on the land, and come off a meat based diet, leading to weight loss and better health.
This is a model of how we in the west must change if we are to manage the coming criis well.
Lasts about 54 mins and is well worth watching.
Monday 25 January 2010
Peak Oil
Watch this interview with Richard Heinberg author of Power Down a book I am currently reading about how the world is going to have to adjust to a post carbon world,or otherwise face extinction as people fight for what few resources are left.
You can get his book from Amazon here:
The book makes for somber reading as the search for alternatives to oil and gas continues to yield up nothing that would equate to the energy that these two give us.
The alternative is a slow down in economic and population growth both unpopular to many.This problem will not go away and the more we are in denial about it the worse the problem will become.
Monday 11 January 2010
Where is the power to come from?
We have seen the wild fluctuation in the price of oil over the past two years from a high of $150 per barrel to a low of $40.Now it is on the way back up again around $80 as I write this.
This has translated into a an average increase in domestic heating and lighting of 30% to £1300pa.With the decommissioning of nuclear power stations by 2025 clearly new sources of power must be found.
Not only that but domestic heating emissions account for 40% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.
So more energy efficient homes and new sources of power are needed if a reduction in greenhouse gases is to be achieved.
This is easy to achieve in new construction as new homes must be properly insulated according to building regulations but only some 4% of the UK housing stock is replaced each year,so most efficiency must be found in the existing stock.
This will come in the form over cavity and roof insulation.Grants are now available for this in households where benefits are received and where one of the occupiers is over 70 years of age.
Go to the Government Grants website here to see if you are entitled to a grant for cavity and loft insulation.
This has translated into a an average increase in domestic heating and lighting of 30% to £1300pa.With the decommissioning of nuclear power stations by 2025 clearly new sources of power must be found.
Not only that but domestic heating emissions account for 40% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.
So more energy efficient homes and new sources of power are needed if a reduction in greenhouse gases is to be achieved.
This is easy to achieve in new construction as new homes must be properly insulated according to building regulations but only some 4% of the UK housing stock is replaced each year,so most efficiency must be found in the existing stock.
This will come in the form over cavity and roof insulation.Grants are now available for this in households where benefits are received and where one of the occupiers is over 70 years of age.
Go to the Government Grants website here to see if you are entitled to a grant for cavity and loft insulation.
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