Why sanctions against Russia just won’t work

The European Union are thinking of imposing sanctions on the Russian Federation as a response to Russia’s activities in Georgia. It is a curious idea, because it seems to me that the EU has more to lose if there were economic sanctions than does Russia.
There are always two sides to every story, and the Russian [...]

Solar panel statistics energy gained and carbon avoided by solar panels

Solar thermal panel statistics are quite hard to find and when you find them you have to treat them even more carefully than you treat other statistics. The International Energy Agency commissioned the Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Austria to provide the figures for solar thermal installations and output in the world.
What is the big [...]

Arctic ice cover is reducing, how this will affect the climate and hope for the future

There is depressing news that the Arctic sea ice has now fallen to its second lowest level since satellites records began in 1978. The lowest level was recorded in September 2007 and it is now possible that 2008 will see that dismal record broken. Even if the sea ice cover falls below last years level [...]

Energy companies, banks and windfall taxes

Should energy companies have to pay a windfall tax? There are many people, including a significant number of Members of Parliament feel that the energy companies should pay a windfall tax. The argument goes that the energy companies have to pay 30% more for their wholesale costs and they are imposing a 30% price increase [...]

When is the most cost effective time to install solar panels?

Many people do want to have a thermal solar system installed. They give you some energy independence and they reduce your household carbon emissions effectively. They offer you a payback, for a front end investment, unlike oil, gas or electricity, but there is the front end investment that you have to find. Is there a [...]

Biofuels and solar energy decisions that are hard to understand

Politicians are always talking about “hard decisions”. Mr Blair and Mr Brown criticised their political opponents for what they claimed was an inability to take “hard” decisions. By “hard” decisions they usually meant “unpopular” decisions, sometimes those where innocent people in the world outside the United Kingdom would lose their lives.
 

lobbying for biomass

If I want to meet a Government Minister to explain a proposal or to influence some item of policy, I write a letter. I rely on the Minister’s civil servants to read the letter, assess its importance compared with the Minister’s overall tasks and job requirements and then to compose a reply which in accordance [...]

Has global warming stopped?

Is global warming being reversed? The United Kingdom’s Metrological Office has said that 2008 will be the coldest year, calculated on an average basis, since 1999 by 0 .01 Celsius. Should we all celebrate and forget about green house gas emissions? Have we licked global warming?

Payback of solar panels – a case study

Two years ago one of Genersys’s customers, R M Solar, put out a leaflet about solar water heating which roused the ire of an individual because the individual thought it was misleading. The objection was a passage which stated that you must take account of the length of guarantee that you were being offered because [...]

Carbon dixode in the atmosphere and its effects

Carbon dioxide has the greatest effect of all the greenhouse gases on climate change, simply because it is the most prevalent. Methane has a greater effect per volume, but there is simply so much carbon dioxide around that its effects overweighs all the other greenhouse gases combined.  That is why measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide [...]