Posted on May 8, 2008 by robertkyriakides
In all the uncertainties about climate change one thing is very clear. In the United Kingdom we are experiencing more extreme weather and we are feeling the effects of extreme weather more extremely than ever. I think that what is happening is that climate change is having an effect on our environment in ways that [...]
Filed under: Flooding, PV, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, global warming, heat, microgeneration, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels, weather, wind turbines | Tagged: capital cost, decentralised energy, energy self sufficiency, Mythe, Walham | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 6, 2008 by robertkyriakides
Regular readers of these writing will recall that I have been critical of Business Secretary John Hutton’s call for a nuclear energy renaissance; I am sure that the nuclear industry cannot guarantee safe disposal of waste and I have also been sure that the carbon emission costs of nuclear are nowhere near as low as [...]
Filed under: John Hutton, carbon emissions, climate change, energy, gas, global warming, nuclear, nuclear energy, oil | Tagged: Australia, Gavin Mudd, kazakhstan, Monash, peak uranium | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 27, 2008 by robertkyriakides
Why should anyone buy a solar system?
For most people this is the critical question that the solar thermal industry needs to answer. We have the product, we have the technology, but why should anyone part with their hard earned cash – for a solar heating or a solar water heating system?A good solar system costs [...]
Filed under: carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, energy statistics, gas, genersys, global warming, heat, microgeneration, natural gas, oil, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels | Tagged: add value to your home, energy costs, energy security, hot water expenditure, payback, soalr savings, value proposition for a solar system | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 24, 2008 by robertkyriakides
The price of oil still rising but the economy of the world is slowing down. This at first sight seems like a paradox. If the world’s economy slows down you would expect less energy to be used and therefore the price of oil should fall. Today oil stands at around $120 a barrel – it [...]
Filed under: Coal, John Hutton, PV, biofuels, biomass, carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, global warming, heat, malcolm wicks, microgeneration, natural gas, oil, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels, tax, transport, wind turbines | Tagged: bank liquidity, Bank of England, David Strahan, Defra, energy ministers, LIBOR, oil consumption, oil price cycle, oil prices, rights issue, Royal Bank of Scotland, sub prime, the last oil shock, the Treasury | 12 Comments »
Posted on April 22, 2008 by robertkyriakides
The Scottish Parliament has always been a supporter of renewable energy; its record is exemplary – far better than Westminster’s on renewable energy, so when it announces a decision to reject an application to build 181 wind turbines to generate electricity on the Isle of Lewis some eyebrows were raised.
I am sure that the application [...]
Filed under: Coal, carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, global warming, natural gas, parliament, wind turbines | Tagged: carbon content of peat, carbon sink of peat, peat, scottish parliament | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 18, 2008 by robertkyriakides
There are some positively misleading reports about what solar water heating does and what it saves. In the Telegraph on Saturday one “expert” who turns out to be a builder claiming to “give it to you straight, Jeff Howell, claims that the annual savings are less than £70 per year and that at this time [...]
Filed under: carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, energy statistics, gas, heat, microgeneration, oil, solar, solar energy, solar panels | Tagged: calculation of solar savings, Jeff Howell, NaREC, proportion of household energy on water heating, savings when solar displaces oil, solar system payback, the daily telegraph | 18 Comments »
Posted on April 7, 2008 by robertkyriakides
The concept of “peak oil” is well known; there is a stage when we have less oil in our world’s reserves than we have used. It does not take much imagination to understand that this is not good. M King Hubbert was a geologist working for Shell in the 1950s.
He proposed that the rate [...]
Filed under: Coal, caol, carbon emissions, carbon trading, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, global warming, microgeneration, natural gas, nuclear energy, oil, power, renewables | Tagged: china coal, coal reserves, Energy Watch group, hubbert curve, M King Hubbert, oil reserves, peak coal, peak gas, peak oil, peak uranium, the Energy Age, types of coal, US coal | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 4, 2008 by robertkyriakides
Heat pumps are a terribly important technology, but we run the risk of being indiscriminate in their use. Not every heat application is environmentally suitable to operate with a heat pump. We have to choose the best horse for each course when it comes to microgeneration and renewable energy.
A heat pump works by exploiting ground [...]
Filed under: carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, heat, microgeneration, natural gas, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels | Tagged: eco towns, efficiency, gas network, heat pumps, heat pumps carbon footprint, regenerating subsoil, swimming pools and heat pumps, underfloor heating, USA | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 3, 2008 by robertkyriakides
The National House-Building Council Foundation, which is an independent research institution, connected to the NHBC, but operating separately and works closely with the Building Research Establishment, to look at the Government’s target of all new homes being “zero carbon” by 2016.
The definition of a Zero Carbon Home is a bit of a Humpty Dumpty definition. [...]
Filed under: PV, carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, gas, global warming, heat, microgeneration, natural gas, power, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels, wind turbines | Tagged: cost of renewables in new homes, house builders, humpty dumpty, lifestyle choices in new homes, low carbon homes, maintenance of renewables in new homes, new homes, nhbc, nhbc foundation, zero carbon homes | 6 Comments »
Posted on March 22, 2008 by robertkyriakides
The last of the big six energy suppliers, Scottish & Southern Energy, announced a price rise a couple of days ago which will take effect from 1st April 2008. They blame wholesale price increases and they are right to do this. They also point out that transmission costs are also going up as are “environmental costs”.
Like all [...]
Filed under: climate change, electricity, energy, gas, microgeneration, natural gas, oil, power | Tagged: direction of energy prices, energy and economic downturn, energy policy, Gazprom, liberalisation of energy markets, reciprocity of energy investment | No Comments »