Methane and Worrying about the Future

Worrying about what might happen is a fairly useless pastime unless you have the means of preventing what might happen. If you worry about a massive asteroid suddenly breaking away from its orbit and colliding with earth you are indulging yourself.  If it happens we cannot prevent it. However there are some things about which you can worry because your concern may lead to solutions, for example, the amount of methane trapped under the ice in the Arctic and the northern tundra and taiga.

The Future of Nuclear Power

The United Kingdom gets about a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power; until the Fukushima incident, Japan got about a third of its electricity from nuclear power. Today, since Fukushima, Japan has no nuclear power plant in operation.

Emissions from Scotland

Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland seeks to cut emissions faster deeper and more thoroughly. It aims to reduce (from 1990 levels) emissions by 42% by 2020, which is in less than eight short years’ time, and by a massive 80% by 2050. If it can achieve this it will have led the rest of Europe in emission reduction.

Doing Something about Climate Change

There is as much politics among academic scientists as there is in any elected chamber of government. Unfortunately climate change has become a subject for political chicanery, rather in the same way that economics and social policy have become sunk in the mire of politicking.

The Aviation Stand-off

China has announced that its airlines will not be allowed to pay the EU tax on airline carbon emissions that applies to aircraft flying to or from the European Union without the specific approval of relevant government departments. The airlines of China will not be allowed to participate in the Emissions Savings Scheme without similar clearance.

Achieving Zero

Brenda Boardman is at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. I have always found that she has interesting things to say about climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in buildings. She has now written a report “Achieving Zero” which you can read in full at http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/achievingzero/achieving-zero-text.pdf or in summary at http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/achievingzero/achievingzero-execsum.pdf which sets out some findings and ideas about reducing greenhouse egas emissions from buildings. This is a difficult problem in the United Kingdom where there are more than 26 million buildings the vast majority of which were built to designs and specifications when green house gas emissions and fuel costs were not a concern.

Tree Hugging

Timber is big business. In all places in the world where trees grow humanity has cropped the trees for fuel, for shelter for furniture and for the luxuries of life. When humanity was species that was few in number tree cutting had little effect, although some think that many of the great deserts of the world have been created or expanded by whole tree cutting. In my lifetime the extent of trees has shrunk on the map of the world, particularly in the Amazon basin and in equatorial Africa.

The Dirty Olympics

The London Olympics claims to be a “sustainable” event, in the environmental sense, rather in the business sense of the word. It will not have a wind turbine (not that would have made much difference) and the Olympic Delivery Authority claims that it is finding other ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the Games.

“We are creating venues, facilities and infrastructure for the London 2012 Games that leave a lasting social, economic and environmental legacy for London and the UK, while minimising any other adverse impacts during the design and construction of the Olympic Park, venues, infrastructure and housing” boasts the ODA. It also points out that it has become the “first Games Organising Committee to be certified to the British Standard 8901: Specification for a Sustainability Management Systems for Events”

I wonder if they have taken into account the carbon footprints of the opening and closing ceremonies. The opening ceremony has a budget of £80 million and spending a good part of it on fireworks would not be a sustainable achievement or a low emission activity.

 

Time to Put on your Thinking Cap, Mr Barker

Greg Barker, the United Kingdom’s Minister for Energy has been vigorously defending his government’s decision to cut the subsidy on photovoltaic solar panels which produce electricity. He point out that indexed linked at 43p per kWh for twenty five years the feed in tariff was too good to be true, although actually it was true and it is about time that the government curtailed the excesses of the electricity feed in tariff for an energy source which cannot be stored and which is produced when we do not need electricity, in daylight hours.

From London to Manchester by way of New York

When you flick through a flight magazine from any airline after you have squashed yourself into a seat you will see that airlines, almost with exception, represent themselves as great environmentalists. They are acutely aware of that the high level emissions they create are very damaging to the environment and want to improve their image and provide their passengers (who are the real culprits in the creation of airline emissions) with some comfort that they might be creating less environmental damage than is claimed.