-
Green Energy : Stuck in the Sidings
Posted on March 5th, 2010 1 commentIf you can imagine the engine for new, renewable and sustainable Energy systems as a train which should by now be thundering down the tracks, get this : it left the depot only to get stuck in the sidings.
Enough of the locomotive metaphors, already. On to the analysis. Here’s an excerpt from Catherine Mitchell’s fine book “The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy” (2008, 2010) :-
Big Picture, British Sea Power, Carbon Capture, Climate Change, Cost Effective, Energy Revival, Nuclear Nuisance, Nuclear Shambles, Pet Peeves, Political Nightmare, Regulatory Ultimatum, Social Change, Technological Sideshow, Vote Loser, Wind of Fortune Atomic Energy, Atomic Power, Climate Change, Energy infrastructure, Energy Investment, Energy systems, Global Warming, New Nuclear, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy -
Fossil Fuels Ruel, OK ?
Posted on February 11th, 2010 2 commentshttp://www.polluterharmony.com/
It’s easy to stay on top of the heap – just throw rocks at everybody trying to climb The Hill.
Fossil Fuels are free when they come out of the ground, but exact a heavy price on the Environment – a cost that cannot be measured in Money – since wealth is made from Fossil Fuel Energy.
Unless we cut the thread – the causal relationship between Energy use and Carbon Dioxide emissions – then we will all lose wealth – from the destruction of the natural environment.
The only practical answer is to reduce the amount of Fossil Fuel that is burned. But that would impoverish us. So we need to have Zero Carbon Energy to replace Fossil Fuel Energy.
Renewable Energy is the only source of future wealth.
-
Do Hold Your Breath
Posted on January 27th, 2010 No comments
If I had a eurocent for every time a Climate Change denier-sceptic told me that if I really, truly believe that Carbon Dioxide causes Global Warming I should just stop breathing…well, I’d be rich enough now to afford to buy the whole of Belgium, or at least most of economically-depressed Wallonia. Mmm…Waffles.
But seriously, holding your breath in the form of Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is one of the big flashing signs for the future of ReSmoothing, smoothing Renewable Energy supply, that is.
Big Picture, Energy Revival, Peak Oil, Pet Peeves, Renewable Resource, Wind of Fortune CAES, Compressed Air Energy Storage, Energy, engineer, engineering, Flow Batteries, Flow Battery, Fuel Cell, Hydroelectricity, Hydropower, PHES, Pumped Hydro Energy Storage, Pumped Storage, Renewable, Renewable Energy, Storage, underground -
Anthony Giddens : Blaming Consumers
Posted on January 6th, 2010 No commentsAnthony Giddens, as a “key architect of New Labour”, disappointingly brings to the table a less than razor-sharp understanding of what is responsible for Global Warming Pollution.
He seems to be content to be cynical about the Consumers in the Free Market Economy, without questioning the role of the Producers of the Energy and goods consumed.
Bait & Switch, Behaviour Changeling, Big Picture, Climate Change, Pet Peeves, Social Change, Voluntary Behaviour Change advertising, Behaviour Change, Climate Change, coal, Consumer, Consumption, Energy, Free Market Economy, Gas, Lifestyle, Material Resources, Natural Gas, Oil, Petroleum, Renewable Energy, Stuff, Trade, Voluntary Behaviour Change -
British Sea Power Supergrid
Posted on January 3rd, 2010 No comments“Supergrid”. Sounds a bit 1986-ish, really. But it could save Europe from industrial collapse as Carbon restrictions start to bite.
“Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy ’supergrid’ : North Sea countries plan vast clean energy project : €30bn scheme could offer weather-proof supply : Alok Jha : guardian.co.uk : Sunday 3 January 2010″
-
Time to Care
Posted on December 26th, 2009 No commentsIt’s time that we all cared about what is happening to Life on Earth. Nobody in an alien spacecraft is going to come crashing through the clouds to save us with miraculous Energy technologies, or brand new Chemistry that beats the Laws of Physics to capture Carbon Dioxide right out of the air in the amounts we are emitting it.
-
Some People Never Change
Posted on November 19th, 2009 1 commentSo I’m talking to some people and someone says that people don’t care about the fact they’re wasting Energy, that people just don’t think.
Even though they know about Global Warming and the risks of dangerous Climate Change, and they know about the connection between burning Fossil Fuels and Global Warming, they just don’t care about how much Energy they’re using.
And I know this is heresy to say so, but I said that people shouldn’t have to think about Energy, that they shouldn’t be made to feel guilty about using Energy. I said that the Energy that is provided to them should be Carbon-free and responsibility-free. People shouldn’t be forced to act against their nature. Energy is effectively free at the moment. It’s way cheap, even cheaper than food for a lot of people. So people use it. People love using Energy.
-
Free Energy : The Nuclear Power Dead-End
Posted on November 12th, 2009 5 comments“Sustainable Development” is a phrase with two distinct meanings.
When people trained in Economics think about what “Sustainable Development” means, they normally assume that Nature’s continuing bounty will sustain our development path. That the pyramid of wealth, the wealth accrual machine and monetary incentives will bring more and more people and material resources into optimal production, and there will be no end to the development of the enrichment of all peoples and the quality of their habitat. Growth is good, for it brings prosperity to all, health, wealth, education, freedom from want and a top-notch built environment.
-
David Miliband : Expecting Someone Shorter
Posted on November 7th, 2009 No comments
To be honest, he was taller than I expected, and more Eastern in appeareance, a kind of lanky version of Mehmet behind the deli counter at my local Turkish International Food Emporium.
David Miliband was also considerably thinner than I would have liked, considering he might one day rule the New Labour Party, who might just rule my country again. We wouldn’t want him blown away by the slightest breeze, surely, would we ? He needs feeding in my opinion.
Bad Science, Bait & Switch, Behaviour Changeling, Big Picture, Climate Change, Energy Revival, Low Carbon Life, Media, Non-Science, Obamawatch, Peace not War, Pet Peeves, Political Nightmare, Protest & Survive, Public Relations, Renewable Resource, Social Change, Technological Sideshow, Unsolicited Advice & Guidance, Unutterably Useless, Utter Futility, Vote Loser campaigning, Climate Change, Energy, Global Warming, persuasion, politics, Renewable Energy, Science, soft power, Technology -
Claverton Energy Conference 8
Posted on October 5th, 2009 No commentsThe Claverton Energy Group will be holding its 8th Conference from 23rd to 25th October 2009 at the headquarters of Wessex Water, Claverton Down in Bath, England.
Advances in Energy technologies old and new will be presented amongst a wide-ranging and influential forum of engineers. The focus, as ever, will be the development of new infrastructure, within the context of the urgent need to de-Carbonise Energy supply.
-
Throwing Caution To The Wind
Posted on July 13th, 2009 No commentsThis is possibly going to be Renewable Energy’s biggest week ever in UK history.
And we’re going to need all the Wind Power we can get to meet Ed Miliband’s lofty ambition.
Read the rest of this entry » -
Carbon Rationing – A Chance Interview with Andrew Ross at the G20 Climate Camp
Posted on April 1st, 2009 1 commentDown at the G20 Climate Camp today, I had the opportunity to meet up with people I know from Climate Change work all over the UK and beyond.
Don’t be tempted to dismiss the Campers as sensationalism-seeking wildcats : we’re talking about a collection of some of the finest Science, Policy and Society minds there are, with a bit of the Press mixed in for good voyeuristic effect.
Copyright | Powered by WordPress