Plugging the leaks of carbon dioxide

It can be hard to think about climate change measures in terms that help you understand the complexity and difficulty of the problems that we face. Without such an understanding we will never come up with viable and rational solutions to the problems. I have struggled to find a suitable image or metaphor for years [...]

The Arctic is warming up

Scientists from the University of Arizona studying Arctic temperatures have concluded that energy from the sun is no longer the most important single factor in Arctic temperatures; it seems that greenhouse gas emissions that lock heat into the earth are playing a more important role in Arctic temperatures than direct solar radiation.

Which nation leads on climate change?

There are plenty of heads of Government boasting about their renewable low carbon energy policies.  Mr Obama has built a career on being (amongst other things) a committed environmentalist.  Gordon Brown is claiming to be the first Government that has made it illegal not to comply with very ambitious climate change carbon reduction targets. Other [...]

Do wind farms spoil the countryside?

Change can be difficult to accept or it becomes a destination for its own sake. We like to see our surroundings as they always were, or we like to change them into something new and exciting. For most people the countryside is something that we like to remain constant and unchanged, unspoilt. When proposals are [...]

How not to install a solar system

It may sound obvious but sometimes obvious things are ignored. In the case of solar systems it is important that the system is professionally and properly installed.  Systems should be installed by people who are competent in the installation. After installation they should look like part of the infrastructure of the building town which they [...]

Nations co-operating to fight climate change

In the Slovak town of Ziar nad Hronon, where they make what I think are the finest solar thermal panels in the world, the Thermo-Solar Plant which makes solar panels for Genersys was inspected by Kemco, the South Korean certification and inspection agency, as a preliminary step in obtaining certification for Genersys solar panels in [...]

Geo engineering the planet

I had thought of calling this post “boys with toys” but that might be treated by some as contemptuously sexist, so I resisted the temptation until I came to write the first paragraph.

What happens when they turn off the gas?

Will Eastern Europe have another cold winter? I have just been visiting Slovakia. It was a very hot sunny day with temperatures around 29 Celsius (83 Fahrenheit) and we sat outside in shirt sleeves enjoying the early September sun. In a few months time our view would be covered in snow and the weather would be [...]

The herd mentality of markets

It seems that things are not as bad as we thought. For over a year now the press and television journalists have been telling us how dire things are. People tend to believe the media, which sometimes tries to report events objectively but is always driven by the need to sell papers or advertising or [...]

Goodbye incandescent hello low energy lighting

Goodbye traditional tungsten based incandescent lighting. The United Kingdom is almost free of these products in shops and within a few years they will simply be a part of history, like valve radios and double de-clutching. Eventually low energy lighting will save greenhouse gas emissions but may cause other problems with health and to the [...]