Comments for Robert Kyriakides's Weblog

Comment on Plankton are prospering – how this affects climate change by phlogiston

phlogiston — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:48:53 +0000

More jellyfish is a result of overfishing of teleost fish. They compete for plankton. Not necessarily temperature change.

Comment on Renewable energy: a prize for the Minister who actually answers questions by Damon Hart-Davis

Damon Hart-Davis — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:31:17 +0000

The comparison against the Beeb is interesting, thank you! Though I do regard TV as a continuing potential threat to my mental health… B^>

I do think however that insulation can and should count in this case as it delivers many times (3x–10x maybe depending on the specifics) the energy and emissions savings per £ spent. For my house conservation vs solar PV microgeneration has been about 1:10 in cost per kgCO2 avoided very roughly for example.

Rgds

Damon

Comment on Uses for the autumn leaves by Micah

Micah — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:44:52 +0000

This is a great post.. Very informative... I can see that you put a lot of hard work on your every post that's why I think I'd come here more often. Keep it up! By the way, you can also drop by my blogs. They're about Vegetable Gardening and Composting. I'm sure you'd find my blogs helpful too.

Comment on Can you be dismissed for believing in Climate Change? by chrisd49

chrisd49 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:56:01 +0000

I don’t see how this ruling can be interpreted as “elevat[ing] climate change into a religion”. It says that such a deeply-held belief has the same legal status AS a religion. Don’t you think this is quite different from saying that it IS a religion?

I also think it’s interesting that, while the judge mentioned both religion and philosophy, nobody writing about this decision ever says, “This judge ruled that climate change is a philosophy.” It’s always “This judge ruled that climate change is a religion.”

Comment on Why wood burning is not carbon neutral by Mike

Mike — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:26:54 +0000

Using wood for fuel has many other elements to it that are often unaccounted for. Wood from the forest is more than 50% moisture. The machinery required to harvest, transport, and process the wood uses massive amounts of fosil fuels. When wood is used in a steam boiler to generate electricity, the overal efficiency is very poor due to the moisture content and the overall difficulty of burning the wood in a boiler. The energy density of wood, BTU/ton is far lower than other fuel sources, by a factor of 5 to 7. So you need massive quantities of it. When you include all the carbon factors including harvesting equipment, transportation, wood preparation, poor combustion effiicency, reforestation rates, etc. the net result is that it is most probably a net co2 producer. Picking up scrap wood from the forest floor for you home heating may be fine, but commerical wood process for energy in a grand scale is NOT going to reduce greenhouse gases. The most effective solution is what I call non-carbon energy, which includes nuclear, solar and wind. Of these nuclear is the clear winner for most areas due to limited applicability.

Comment on Energy and Emissions Policy of the Conservative Party – the missing bits by Gary

Gary — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:01:31 +0000

Approaching the environment is partly about energy policy, actually I am in favour of Labour’s work here. But it is also about managing rural affairs; farming techniques, rural communities and the role of our countryside, forests and national parks.

Here Labour have virtually neglected the environment and I hope the Conservatives are better placed to deliver.

Comment on Can you be dismissed for believing in Climate Change? by Peter Marc Burke

Peter Marc Burke — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:00:25 +0000

Climate change is not a religion, love of our planet is love, and the science telling us that our planet is in danger will lead some people to speak out and act. So I think that Mr Nicholson was unfairly dismissed by Grainger plc, and probably the tribunal will open up the case and the true reasons for Mr Nicholson’s dismissal will be revealed.

Comment on Which is better – solar flat panels or evacuated tubes? by Brian

Brian — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:04:26 +0000

Robert,
You mention that tubes have excellent industrial uses. Can you elaborate a bit. I am in a live/work place that i would consider light industrial.
Thanks,
Brian

Comment on Marks & Spencer’s green profit centre by Peter Marc Burke

Peter Marc Burke — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:18:05 +0000

IKEA`sell there own reusable bags at 20p small `and 30p for very large bags. These bags can be seen being used for many different uses and are very strong. I am sure that IKEA has contributed greatly to bag reduction globally. I would think that it is easy to be cynycal of companies selling more environmentally friendly products and critisise them for making a profit, but it is much easier for companies to sell green ideas internally if they make a profit rather than a loss. Marks and Spencer that you highlight here in 2008 looked more like a plastic bag tax !

Comment on Summer lingers longer – evidence of a changing climate by Davy Stephenson

Davy Stephenson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:38:25 +0000

There are two sides to every story, please have a listen to this guy before we make any firm decissions.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6493532241415881012#

Also google Iron mountain story for another view on a similar plain, lots of hints and tips.