The Effect on Climate of coal, diesel and wood burning

I have written a great deal about my views that particulates are a significant contribution to the changes that our climate are experiencing than we understand, and my instincts seem to be borne out by research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.  If the research has drawn the correct conclusions, then particulates from wood burning, diesel engines and coal burning (which create pure carbon in the form of soot) have twice more impact on our climate than previously estimated.

If there is global warming why are we experiencing colder winters? It is a question that is often asked as an argument to climate change proposers by those who think that climate change is not happening. I must choose my words more carefully – those who think that climate change is happening as slowly as it always has happened, would perhaps be more accurate.

A Warm January

Prediction the future is a pastime for people who think highly of themselves and who look foolish as their predictions prove wrong but I run those risks of being so thought; I venture to predict that this January may well turn out to be the warmest on record.

Happy Warmer New Year

The United Kingdom’s Met Office has found that 2011 was the second warmest year in Britain, taken as a whole, since comparative records were established in 1910. I therefore wish all my readers a very happy 2012, with the prospect that it will likely be warmer than average.

The Good Light

There is sometimes good light in London in December. I do not mean those mornings when the low sun shimes into your eyes so brightly that you cannot see, but the late morbings when the light is heavy and still and Christmas is in the weather close by.

Wind Turbines on Windy Days

When it comes to wind turbines, which rely on wind to generate electricity,you can have too much of a good thing.

In the past few days hurricanes have swept through Scotland causing much damage. There are many wind turbines in Scotland and wind turbines cannot operate in hurricanes, because the wind speeds are too high, so turbines have system of preventing the turbine blades operating when wind speeds exceed a certain level, which is much lower than hurricane level and lower than gale force wind levels.

Generally wind turbines do not produce electricity in winds above the range of 40mph and 80 mph, (depending on their design) and have a device, usually electrical brakes, to prevent the blades turning when the wind exceeds the limit for that particular turbine.

In the wind one turbine in the Adrossian wind farm which is 100 metres high caught fire when hurricanes struck it, the blades had been stopped by the brakes, but clearly the force of the wind was so high that friction on the brakes was too much to cope with and the turbine burst into flames.

You can see a picture of this at http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/news/national-news/122919-huge-wind-turbine-erupts-in-flames-as-165mph-winds-strike-scotland.html

I remember the 5th of November

Fifty years ago Guy Fawkes Night – on the fifth of November – was something we celebrated every year. In Poplar, opposite where I lived, was a bob site. It was a rectangle of land which some bomb had hit and left broken bricks and mortar, broken glass and debris. In summer the place was covered with Oxford Ragwort, which we called “wee a beds” because if you picked them you would wee the bed.

Flooding in Bangkok

Once again unprecedented flooding is affecting another part of the world. The Prime Minister of Thailand, Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, has warned that the capital city, Bangkok, could be soon covered with water one and a half deep. October is at the very end of the rainy season in Bangkok, which has a tropical wet and dry climate. The City is home to more than nine million people and while most of it is dry at present parts of the surrounding countryside have been under two or three metres of water for three months.

Starting Up your Condensing Boiler after the Summer

Modern boilers are very efficient but compared with old system boilers they are very complicated. People usually experience difficulty in starting them up after the summer. You switch the central heating on and nothing happens. What should you do? What follows is for knowledgeable people who are comfortable working with do it yourself projects. If you have any doubt whatsoever call a Gas Safe qualified plumber.

The first day of October

The first day of  October finds England and Wales bathed in the beautiful sunshine of its Indian summer. The trees and the hills are still green and the weather tries to make up for its lost British summer. In a few weeks the leaves will be gone but we can enjoy them for now.