Good decisions and bad decisions

In life we all make some good decisions and some bad decisions. Decisions that are right are good; decisions that are wrong are bad. In business I make lots of bad decisions but I hope to make more good decisions than bad decisions.
 
In the strange world of government, we find that governments do not admit [...]

Hopes,aspirations, signals, endless reviews and consultations- the 2008 Budget

Mr Darling’s Budget has been much as I feared; it shows a Government that is good at commissioning reviews and studies but lacking the political courage to make genuinely hard decisions.  
The Budget documents states: “Tackling climate change is the most serious and pressing global environmental challenge the world faces.” True. Unfortunately the policies announced under [...]

What green taxes should do and how the oil price is rising

I am writing this before Mr Darling announces his budget, which according to the papers will be a “Green Budget” with “green” taxes. I have always been in favour of the polluter paying for his hers or its pollution. This is one of the four energy principles that I have written about in the Energy [...]

Green Taxes, reports gathering dust, and polluters that should pay

I decided in October last year to “blog” about the environment and have posted articles almost every day since then. I called this “Ideas for the Environment” because ideas about improving life sometimes turn into real improvements and without the ideas there will be no improvements. 

Carlisle loses the plot with green homes advice

I have previously written about the excellent work that Suzanne Burgess’s team of energy advisors do at Carlisle’s Energy Efficiency Advice Centre. Their efforts, expertise and commitment over the years have saved tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. They were one of the first energy efficiency teams to support solar thermal and provide an economic high [...]

Northern Rock and Iraq - using the same argument to deflect examination

Alistair Darling has got us in a big mess. Somehow, we all have invested over £2,000 each in the Northern Rock Bank, without knowing it. Mr Darling together with Gordon Brown decided to bail out the failed bank with a defective business plan. It was such a shame that the government appointed regulators operating under [...]

Zero carbon homes - what a gas!

Natural gas is used to heat around 80% of the United Kingdom’s homes. Most of the homes that are use gas to provide heat also use it to provide hot water, although I would guess (I have not be able to find any statistics) that a small proportion of gas users switch off their boilers [...]

The Energy Review

In May last year Alistair Darling, then Secretary of State for Trade put his name to a document published by his Department which comprised three hundred and forty three pages; it was the Energy White Paper. 
You will find that “solar” within the context of a heat creating technology occurs only two times, and once of [...]

Microgeneration and Northern Rock? Darling, it’s between a northern rock and a hard place

Gordon Brown has finally admitted it. He has not ruled out nationalising the Northern Rock. When you walk down a path putting one foot in front of another you should know where the path leads. When he and his chum Alistair Darling decided to rescue the bank, rather than the money of depositors of the [...]

Energy Savings Trust - Trusting to save energy with a green barometer

The Energy Savings Trust is the United Kingdom’s agency for helping individuals (as opposed to businesses) to save energy. It does focus on energy savings, as its title suggests) but has some expertise in renewables. There is no specific government agency that promotes the use of micro generated renewable energy, but you would expect that [...]