CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING

[Tizer]

Whippy, I think your best solution is two things.
1. Do the best you can to insulate the external shell of your house. If heat leaks out of one bit of your internal structure into another it doesn't matter as long as you do your best to trap it within the whole house shell and stop it escaping to the outside.
2. Minimise your use of energy to heat the house, or the cost of energy to heat it, or both. There is obviously a limit to how much you can lower your energy needs, but you might be able to get a cheaper supply or a different type of fuel might suit your situation better. Sometimes a quick blast with an electric fan heater does the job more economically than relying on constant central heating. People have been frightened off electric heating in the past by experience with the old shilling meters and people saying that everything electric is sooo expensive. Yes, it's relatively very expensive compared to gas when we're talking about constant heating such as CH, but it doesn't cost much to top up now and then from an electric heater, especially in a small room (about 14p an hour at 1kW). Comparison of energy prices here: LINK

[Whyperion]

With the exception of windows , there is very little exposed walling to the main building , the downstairs ceilings are the highest of any building ( with one exception ) that I have ever inhabited, the only Radiators on normally are the Towel Rail in the Bathroom , the Downstairs hallway - which heats the upper rooms , and the Front Room - which seeing as we only use the back door should really be the Back Room. If kitchen gets too cold a quick use of the electric fan oven for 20mins warms the place up and normally cooks a quiche or two as well. The attic conversion is approached much the same as climbing a mountain with ropes , crampons and hardy gloves and wooly hat, as long as you keep moving its not too bad , but not good if sitting down at a computer much of the day , which is what work mostly entails these days.

[Stanley]

Tiz, that was my thinking when I took the handle off the hot tap in the kitchen. If you need a drop of hot water cheaper to use the electric kettle than heat the whole boiler up. You'd be amazed how that lowers the gas bill!

[Stanley]

The various stakeholders seem to be agreed. The drought in Eastern Counties of the UK is worse than 1976 and looks to be set to break records. They warn that this has implications for yields and hence UK price rises. Surely this can't be a result of changes in the climate?

[Tardis]

Currently, it has a lot to do with the displacement of those upper atmosphere winds.

A big block of atmosphere is diverting some of the normal weather.

All the rain is currently being dropped on the North West of the Country. Just ask Scotland, which is setting new records for rainfall.

[Stanley]

So the climate is changing?
Interesting point this morning about when water restrictions will be imposed. Common sense dictates that they should start now but what about the 10% spike in consumption expected when the Olympics get going? Any bets on whether London supply will be restricted?

[Julie in Norfolk]

No harm at all in planning ahead. It has been a dry winter, rain (when it happened) could only be called drizzle. The snow we had, whilst useful, only amounts to a tiny proportion of the good that several downpours will do. Of course in Norfolk, any rainfall that we do get will be absorbed into the chalk layers immediately, the dry sandy soil will not retain a drop. Best I dig the composted stuff into the raised bed this year, that will help to retain water.

[Tripps]

I'm a bit puzzled about this drought. I live on the edge of E. Anglia, and although the local stream is low, the pond of my water feature is full (just from rainwater) for the first time since I've been in this house, and that covers three winters now. Time will tell.

[Stanley]

David, perhaps a local micro-climate. (Or have you got a spring you didn't know about?)

[Tizer]

David, if you're like me you've probably been filling the pond from the tap and forgotten you've done it!

[Tripps]

Sorry - not guilty. The outside tap has been switched off and drained down since last November. The previous winter it froze, and split.

[Stanley]

Reports on Farming Today from affected farmers. They are very pessimistic about the situation because starting from a low base when they were already short of water they have had about half the rain they expected over the winter. Ground is sodden in Barlick and everyone complaining about the weather. Things could be much worse!

[Tardis]

This seems like something that Stanley has been talking about:

http://www.prospectsfoundation.org.uk/

although I'm not sure if it was this topic

[Whyperion]

Acting as a Dew Pond ?

[Stanley]

I've always been fascinated by dew ponds. Centuries ago when my beard was black and Her Maj was giving me survival training we were shown how to get water in the desert using a sheet of plastic and a few stones. We were exploiting the difference in heat between the sand and the cold air. It was surprisingly effective.

[Tripps]

"Acting as a Dew Pond ?"

Never thought of that - perhaps that's it. Thanks. On the other hand it hasn't happened before in two and a half years. The jury is still out.

[Stanley]

This might interest you...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_pond

[Tizer]

A worrying trend is showing up in the climate debate - death threats and hate mail against climate scientists and those who speak out in favour of action to slow climate change. The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, says he has received death threats in connection with his role as head of the Panel. Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been receiving what he calls a "frenzy of hate" after a video featuring an interview with him was published recently. He also received emails that contained "veiled threats against my wife," and other "tangible threats," Emanuel is a highly-regarded atmosphere scientist and director of MIT's Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate program. In 2011 a number of Australia's leading climate scientists had to be moved into safer accommodation after receiving death threats. They were threatened with assault if they were identified in the street. Among those targeted was Professor Will Steffen, climate institute director at the Australian National University. Climate scientists at the UK Climate Research Unit (University of East Anglia) have received numerous threatening and abusive emails. In the USA, Republican Senator James Inhofe is now using the resources of the Senate committee to find opportunities to criminalize the actions of 17 leading scientists who have been associated with the IPCC assessment reports.

[Stanley]

Ask yourself who are the largest corporate losers from legislation to slow climate change. Follow the money!

[Bruff]

Decent 'Horizon' programme last week on fusion research presented by the ubiquitous Prof Cox. As usual, a crystal clear explanation of the underlying theory from the Professor, and a romp around the various laboratories across the globe working on practical application, including our own facility at Culham, Oxfordshire. Annual global spend on this work is about £1B; our contribution wasn't mentioned save for the noting that we spend somewhat more each year on ringtones....

Professor Cox made a plea for a 'Manhattan Project' on fusion research and subsequent energy, something we have heard before from him. I have to say there is something seductive in the contention that throughout the history of human development, we have often stood on the cusp of epoch-changing advance. When we look back, it is these moments we remember. Whether there is the will to make this leap to essentially, limitless and clean energy is debateable given what this means for the way our economies are currently structured. But certainly, in a 1000 years, if we are still around, our descendents will look back and remember this sort of issue as the mark of our humanity (as opposed to the next leveraged buy-out).

As an aside, this has been a good Horizon series. The week before's on 'Black Holes' was excellent. Again, clear explanation of the theory, we even got to see the theoreticians at the blackboard doing the 'maths', and a good illustration of the realities using Niagara Falls. I liked the German astrophysicist, who demonstrated there was a black hole at the centre of every galaxy (and so there are billions of the things). He won the astronomy equivalent of a Nobel for this, which brought him a $1M. He smiled and said he gave some to his colleagues, keeping some for himself and having been nagged for years, bought a new car.....

Richard Broughton

[Tizer]

A Ford Galaxy?

[Whyperion]

Ford Prefect ?

[Stanley]

Richard, I agree. The BBC Horizon programmes are a national treasure and I believe their budget has been cut. Panorama is doing some good work as well.

[Stanley]

Saw some interesting info last night on the way catering for out of season food is increasing carbon footprint of common veg like tomatoes etc. Home produced more inefficient than flying supplies in.

[Tardis]

I am currently being bombarded with tweets about this week being "Climate Change Week"

So, what are you going to do?

I'm having the energy assessment done today, if you got the letter you could be one of the 300 too.