Virescent

"Power Glass" music for the environment

2009-01-31T16:37:00.000Z

Do you love music, light, water and dolphins? Well if you do the designers of this environmentally friendly fountain must have had you in mind when they put it together. This music fountain "power glass" was displayed at Seoul Design Olympiad 2008.

The light dances around the sculpture in time with the music, I believe there were plans to make the dolphins join in with the dancing but the designers decided that would be too tacky so just stuck plastic ones around the place... much less tacky.

[Source:Aving]

HDTV Is Destroying The Environment Faster Than Any Car Can

2009-01-26T16:42:00.000Z

Over dramatic? Well maybe but it turns out that flat-panel TVs, not just HDTVs, are more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. To be more precise Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3), the gas inside flat-panel screens is 17,000 times worse than carbon dioxide. If that is not enough it is also harmful to your health, read on to find out more.

When inhaled NF3 is extremely harmful to your kidneys and liver. All in all NF3 is not a friendly gas which is not good news when you consider almost half of the televisions sold this year have been plasma or LCD TVs. Things are so bad that England and Australia came close to banning LCD and plasma TVs altogether last year.

The manufacturers of flat-panel TVs have been talking up how environmentally friendly they are, so how did this harmful gas get pass the radar? When the Kyoto protocol (which should prevent things like this happening) was signed in 1997, NF3 was only being produced in tiny amounts, so they figured it was not important enough to monitor; egg on their faces.

As the gas is not being monitored, the situation is further compounded, because we don't know the exact amounts present in the atmosphere but it is estimated 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced this year which, wait while I get my calculator out, is equivalent to 68 million tons of CO2! Not good whatever way you look at it and this number is set to double next year.

[Source: CrunchGear, ABC News]

100% Carbon Free Electricity

2009-01-15T20:44:00.003Z

Can we really achieve 100% carbon free electricity by 2018? See what Al Gore thinks:

Mmm interesting... here is one way to achieve 100% carbon free electricity

Smart Fridges

2009-01-15T20:43:00.001Z

Energy company NPower recently announced that they will be distributing 'Smart Fridges' to 300 homes in Britain as part of a trial.

A Smart Fridge is just like a normal fridge - except that it self regulates its operation depending on how the national grid is operating, enabling the grid to be regulated at peak demand times.

Currently, energy companies and the National Grid regulate the electricity in the grid using supply side management techniques - that is, they forecast the expected energy demand across the whole of the UK and then ensure that power stations will be producing enough energy to meet this demand. The alternative - demand side management - is a method that is currently only used in emergencies for large industrial consumers. For example, at a time of a sudden demand peak when there is not enough power being produced by power stations, certain companies will get a call telling them to switch off their energy-intensive processes, thereby dropping demand below supply and allowing the grid to remain balanced at 50Hz.

NPower's Smart Fridges would move this demand side management process into the domestic arena. The fridges are equipped with what NPower are calling 'Dynamic Demand' technology, allowing them to regulate their operation based on the frequency of the electricity currently in the grid.
In order to ensure a trouble-free electricity supply, the clever bods at the National Grid must constantly monitor and regulate supply to the grid, keeping the frequency at 50Hz. The idea of a Smart Fridge is that it will decide whether or not to draw any power based on this frequency. Fridges don't actually run constantly: they have a regular cycle of cooling periods followed by inactivity.

More information below the cut.

NPower are quick to ensure consumers that this smart process will not cause any food to go off - modern fridges are highly insulated, and able to maintain a low internal temperature for a long time before warming up.

A report from the Department of Energy and Climate Change on domestic demand side management technology says that its widespread use in Britain could save about 2m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and a further £222m in energy savings. But I am not sure what this estimate is based upon (what number of fridges/ other smart appliances?)
If the trial is successful, it could pave the way for many more dynamic demand devices to become widespread in the home - for example in use in immersion heaters and air conditioners.
There is also a possible saving passed down to consumers: the cost of balancing the grid runs at around £600 million a year. By using dynamic demand technology, this could reduce the pressures of balancing the grid and reduce this cost - a cost which is passed on to consumers in their bills.

More information from articles here:
NPower media centre

Article on the Guardian

Article on The Register

Save Money With Chocolate

2009-01-14T18:44:00.009Z

,

Being green and saving money don't mean you have to stop treating yourself. Chocolate is one of life’s guilty pleasures that we should all partake in every now and then. There was a time when chocolate was an artisanal product created by small European chocolate makers, and then chocolate production went main stream and started being churned by large industries. Quality chocolates come with so much packaging and often cost a fortune, so how about making some Chocolate Truffles worthy of Thorntons? Read on for more.

Before having a go myself I thought it would be hard, but it turned out to unbelievable easy, and the results are delicious. My family having been begging me for the recipe, so here it is. This recipe will create between 20-30 rich chocolate truffles.

Ingredients (makes 20-30)
175ml/ 6fl oz - double cream
275g/ 10oz - plain chocolate (chopped)
25g / 1oz - unsalted butter (cut into pieces)
30-45ml - brandy (optional)
For the coating
cocoa powder or finely chopped nuts or plain, milk or white chocolate, or whatever you fancy

Steps
1. Bring the cream to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, then stir till melted. Stir in the butter and the brandy (if using), then strain into a bowl. Cover and chill overnight.

2. Line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Using two teaspoons, or ice cream scoop, or hands, form into 20-30 balls and place on the paper. Chill if mixture becomes soft.

That’s it, just two steps. Nice and simple, just how I like it. Now you could just eat them like that, but I recommend coating them in something. You can cover them in anything you like but here are some suggestions.

Dry Coating

To coat the truffles with cocoa, soft the cocoa into a bowl, drop in the truffles, one at a time, and roll to coat well, keeping the round shape. I put the cocoa powder in a cup then to coat a truffle I simply put it in the cup and swilled it around till it was coated.
To coat with nuts, roll truffles in finely chopped nuts. Store chilled and wrapped.

Chocolate Coating

1. To coat the truffles with chocolate. Freeze the truffles for at least 1 hour. In a small bowl melt the plain, milk or white chocolate over a saucepan of barely simmering water (can melt in microwave as well, just keep an eye on it as the chocolate can get very hot), stirring until the chocolate has melted and is smooth, then allow to cool slightly.

2. Using a fork, dip the frozen truffles into the cooled chocolate, tapping the fork on the edge of the bowl to shake off the excess. Place on a baking sheet lined with non-stick backing paper and chill at once. If the melted chocolate thickens, reheat until smooth. Wrap in clear film and store in a cool place.

Variations

Here are some ideas for you to try:

ORANGE TRUFFLES:
Use orange liqueur instead of brandy and add grated zest of 1 orange.

COFFEE OR ESPRESSO TRUFFLES:
Use Kahlua or other coffee-flavoured liqueur (or syrup).

RASPBERRY ALMOND TRUFFLES:
Use raspberry-flavoured liqueur (or syrup).

I’m sure you get the idea, try experimenting and let me know what your favourite flavour is. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Create Your Own Massage Oils

2009-01-14T12:23:00.002Z

Massages are a great way to unwind and is a green way to spice up your sex life but the official massage oils can be quite expensive, so why not create your own? Its cheap, easy and the home made oils are just as good as the high quality oils you can get from places like NaturallyThinking.

General Principle

There are two things which make good massage oil: carrier oil and essential/fragrance oil. In fact you could just have the carrier oil if you wanted unfraganced.

Carrier Oils
These are used to dilute the concentrated essential oils and slow down the evaporation and aid absorption of the essential oils. Carrier oils are suitable for vegetarians as they are vegetable based. You may be surprised to hear that you probably have some carrier oil already in your kitchen, some good carrier oils include: sunflower, olive, sesame, sweet almond, grapeseed, canola, safflower, wheat germ and peanut oil.

Fragrance Oils
Are exactly what you would think: smelly oils. These can be found all over the place and you can get vertically any smell you can think of especially if you talk with a company like Fragrance Oils who will be able to cook up a custom smell just for you. For the more everyday fragrance a good site to start is The Body Shop.

Essential Oils
In the words of Wikipedia “An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.”
Essential oils are used in aromatherapy for their claimed healing effect and many common essential oils have medicinal properties that have been applied in folk medicine since ancient times. Every oil has a different use, it is quite interesting and when making your own massage oil you can mix different combinations of essential oils to help out with different ailments. A World Of Aromatherapy is a really good site which lists several of the oils and their properties, well worth a look when you are coming up with your own massage oil recipes. Quick safety note: essential oils come in concentrated form so should never be applied directly to skin without mixing with carrier oil. Some essential oils are toxic in large doses.

Basic Message Oil Recipe
This recipe gives you the proportions you want to use, after that you can let your creative juices flow.
Ingredients

6 teaspoons carrier oil of your choice
8 drops of essential/fragrance oil of your choice

Method
The method is simple, just blend the ingredients well.

Just two words of warning:

If you use Ginger, lemon, orange and Bergamot in your recipe do not go out in the sun for at least 6 hours after using as they can cause skin irritations if exposed to sun.
Do not use on pregnant women or children under the age of two.

Video Guide
Here is a little video that gives a nice overview:

That should be enough to get you started, we will be posting some oil recipes we like but if you have any favourites just leave us a comment.

CES 2009: Enviromentally Unfriendly Renewable Energy Science Kits

2009-01-13T17:44:00.003Z

I was one of those children that loved to make things and better still destroy things, so the new science kit Horizon showed off at CES 2009 is a dream come true.
The full sized version with all the bits is a little pricey at $199 but sounds immense fun: "With this kit, an entire miniature renewable energy system can be constructed on a lab-scale." - With this I would feel like a mad scientist; the power of nature at my fingertips. But you don’t have to go all out and buy everything; there are a variety of smaller kits which enable your kids (or you) to explorer the world of green energy.

Horizon says the Renewable Energy Science Kits helps you “visualize the workings of clean energy principles from start to finish”, but strangely enough like most kits of this kind it is not actually made from any eco-friendly materials. In fact there is very little to show that Horizon has anything other than money in mind when they created these science kits.
Although the kits are not eco-friendly the principle is good, they promote the ideas in a fun and visual way so it’s a thumbs up for Horizon’s Renewable Energy Science Kits.

Top Tips For Greener Sex

2009-01-12T20:07:00.007Z

Want to be greener and do your bit for our planet? There are lots of things we can all do to help out, but I for one had not really thought about green sex, and that's strange because I am a bloke and sex is one of the things we think of most.

In the name of science and the interest of saving the planet I started experimenting... ok it wasn't all selfless. I was compiling a nice article on all the things I found when I discovered this entry from planet green, they have covered it all from showering together (personal favourite) to where to get green sex toys. The article even goes into a little detail on staying healthy, planet green have really out done themselves on this one. So instead of a lengthy article here are the top tips, that way you can spend less time reading and more time with your partner, if you have a little more time check out the article at planet green which goes into more detail.

1. Shower together- saves water and warms things up nicely. Also useful for getting partner to wash those hard to reach areas.
2. Throw out the silk and replace with bamboo – sounds strange but bamboo sheets are silky without being too slippery.
3. Give the juice a little more sweetness – There are many rumours about and this may or may not be true but vegetarians have the best tasting love juices so give the veggie diet a go. If nothing else you will be helping out the planet as we discussed in “save the world, become vegetarian?”
4. Sexy Massage – What can be greener than a massage that doesn't use any resources other than your hands, its cheap especially if you make your own oils and a great way to wind down before getting it up. Here is link to a video to help you start (no its not that kind of video!). And another.
5. Use green sex toys – this is last because it is the obvious one. The things to avoid are chemicals called phthalates, a substance used to soften hard plastics like PVC to provide that jelly feeling. Go with glass, metal, silicone, hard plastics, or elastomers instead.

CES 2009: World's first carbon neutral mobile phone

2009-01-12T14:44:00.005Z

Lots of exciting eco-gadgets have come out of this year’s CES and Motorola’s new carbon neutral phone the MOTO™ W233 Renew is no exception. This environmentally responsible designed phone or as I like to call it: green beauty, is the world’s first mobile phone created from recycled water bottle plastics and when the phone has reached the end of its life it is 100% recyclable, win win. Read on for more information.

The big claim of Motorola’s Renew is that it is “carbon neutral” which I am afraid can be taken only with a pinch of salt because there are a whole lot of caveats that change the accuracy of that statement. Having said that, through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola have off-set the emissions used to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. This is further than many companies are willing to go so thumbs up to Motorola.
One of my pet hates it all the packaging which comes with virtually anything you buy, so I was pleased to see that Motorola have reduced the packaging they have used by 22% and the packaging which is left is made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
Motorola has gone in a completely different direction with the Renew and the mobile’s green features along with simple and ergonomic looks make it an affordable delight. But it is no high end phone so specs-wise there is not much to distinguish this phone from any others on the market, it boasts nine hours of talk time, CrystalTalk technology and messaging capabilities and that’s about it.
Although there is nothing outstandingly green about the Renew it has several points in its favour, here is hoping this sets the trend and other companies take it even further.

Videos on the Web

Nice review from CNet:

The video below is a strange one, the voice over is electronic. It sounds like it is a computer just reading a blog article but the content is interesting as brings up the question: is the Motorola Renew just "greenwash":

[Source: Press Release]

CES 2009: Solar and Wind Hybrid Charger

2009-01-11T17:51:00.005Z

At this year’s CES in Las Vegas, Kinesis unveiled a 2-in-1 handheld recharger aimed at charging your USB devices such as cell phones and mp3 players. K2 utilises both solar power and wind energy to charge its internal battery. This battery is large enough, when full, to charge a cell phone 5 times over, ensuring you never have to see that ‘battery low’ sign again.

On the face of it the K2 is a device to be reckoned with but to me it looks a little on the flimsy side. I know it is meant to be handheld but surely to harness wind power it should be able to stand up to a light breeze without the need for the user to stand out in the wind too? We will see how the K2 measures up when it comes out later in the year.

You can find a little more info is available at the Kinesis' website.

For a quick sneak peak check out the video below:

[Source: TreeHugger]

How to Make Chilli Jelly

2009-01-11T14:03:00.007Z

We have been absent for awhile but we are back with renewed vigour. It has been a little cold recently so to start things off here is a little quick and easy recipe to warm you through (well your mouth anyway). I love spicy food and I love jelly so when I found Chelly I was over the moon but I like to make things myself, it is fun and saves money so I found this recipe and had a go. Chilli Jelly can be used in several ways but I quite like it with cheese on toast, or as a dip for homemade vegetable crisps.

Chilli Jelly (Makes roughly 7 x 8oz jars)
If you want it to look pretty use different coloured chillies and peppers.
4oz chilli peppers – as hot or as mild as you wish.
6oz sweet peppers – or if you want it REALLY hot use more chillies.
2 ½ lb jam sugar (sugar with added Pectin)
24 fl oz of cider vinegar

1. De-seed chillies (use gloves my fingers burned for three days) and peppers then chop as finely as possible. The finer the better as they will be suspended in the jelly. Lay on kitchen roll to soak up any juice.

2. Dissolve the sugar in the cider vinegar and add the chillies and peppers. Bring to a rolling boil.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

4. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until chillies and peppers are suspended in jelly. This will be at least 30 minutes, maybe more.

5. Finally ladle into sterilised jars and enjoy.

Top 10 Energy Saving Tips

2009-01-10T15:02:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the start of
Energy Saving Week!

The Energy Saving Trust has a list of things you can do to reduce your energy usage, and I have compiled a top ten list of my own tips below.

The reasons for trying to reduce your energy usage are many-fold. Firstly, by reducing energy usage, you reduce the amount of fossil fuels that need to be burnt to produce electricity. Fossil fuels, when burnt, produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which have the effect of heating the world’s atmosphere.

Of course the effect that one household can achieve by reducing their energy usage is tiny; but the cumulative effect of millions of people changing their habits can prevent millions of tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere each year.

The second reason is economics: saving energy also saves you money!

There are also a multitude of knock-on effects: fossil fuel burning also releases gases such as sulphur dioxide which cause acid rain; and acid rain damages buildings, kills trees, and raises the acidity of rivers and lakes (which affects the plant and animal life within). For more information, see Wikipedia.

I’m splitting this top ten into two top fives; one list of things that you can do immediately and without an initial outlay of money. The other five are things that you can do which require some purchase, but which will save money and energy after ‘earning back’ the initial investment. Click below to see the top 10.

‘Free’ energy saving:

1. Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms. Light bulbs are of low to average power consumption (for example, 60 Watts), but are used for long periods of time. Reduce the time your lights are left on and you reduce the energy you use. Simple.

Let’s look at this in terms of money:

Electricity bills are calculated in ‘units’; each unit is, in scientific terms, one kilowatt hour. My electricity costs 9.02pence per unit.

Taking one 100Watt light bulb, I would have to leave it on for ten hours to use one unit of electricity.

Now think of how many lights there are in your house, and collectively, how many hours of usage they get each day. Multiply that by the number of days in a year, and you start to see how much the humble light bulb can add to your energy bills.

Here’s an example using my one 100Watt bulb: say I use it for 5 hours each evening (I’m out during the day). That makes half a unit of electricity per day. Times 365 days = 182.5 units. At 9.02p per unit = £16.46 a year. For one lightbulb!!

Take a look at this site for a more graphic explanation.

2. Don’t overfill your kettle. Kettles are high power devices; meaning they use a lot of energy in a short amount of time. For example, I just checked my kettle: it uses 1850 Watts. Compare that to the 100Watt light bulb – even though kettles are not used for as long a period of time, they expend energy much faster. To use one unit of electricity, I would have to boil my kettle for 54 minutes. Unlikely, but us Brits are a tea-loving race. 5 cups a day at 5 minutes boiling time would bring you up to the half a unit per day that you get from your 100Watt bulb being on for 5 hours.
By reducing the amount of water you boil unnecessarily, you reduce the length of time needed to bring the kettle to the boil, and hence reduce drastically the energy expenditure.

3. Not in the home, but a lifestyle change nonetheless: change your driving habits! Simply by accelerating and decelerating at a slower rate (braking earlier) you can use up to 35% less fuel! Other tips can be found here , showing that you don’t need to buy a hybrid to do your bit.

4. Turn your thermostat down; put on a jumper instead! Research has shown that you can reduce your heating bills by 10% with just a one degree decrease in temperature.

5. Turn electrical equipment off at the socket… standby is bad, mm-kay?
The tiny amount of power that devices use on standby will soon add up; especially considering the number of hours involved, and the increasing number of electrical gadgets we all own.

Spend to Save tips

1. Insulation – cavity wall, solid wall, floor and loft; all stop heat loss to the outside world and can save varying amounts of money.For example, cavity wall insulation would cost you somewhere between a few hundred pounds up to a thousand, depending on the size of your house. It would save you up to £160 a year, meaning that your investment is returned in only a few years.More good news; there are some grants and offers available to help fund the cost of home insulation (among other things.) Look here to find out if you are entitled to any grants or offers.

2. Double Glazing. If you haven’t already given in to those persistent cold callers, now is the time to do it. Double glazing cuts heat loss through windows by up to 50%. As well as saving energy, double glazing can improve the security of your house. The cost is highly variable, depending on number of windows, type of windows, etc., but you can expect to pay a sum in the thousands. With energy savings of maybe up to £100 a year, this means it will be a long time before your investment is returned, but you would expect the lifetime of your windows to be several decades.

3. Energy efficient light bulbs – it’s those light bulbs again.
At a cost of only a few pounds per bulb, they will save you far more money over their lifetime than you would initially save by buying your average bulb (at a cost of, say, 50p). A 100Watt normal bulb can be replaced by an equivalent bulb of only 25Watts. Looking back at my previous example, this efficient bulb would only cost you a quarter of what the normal one would: £4.12 per year. You’ve already saved the cost of the new bulb several times over!
Additionally, energy saving bulbs tend to have a much longer lifetime than ordinary ones… the savings just keep on growing.

4. Buy energy efficient products: look out for the efficiency ratings that all domestic products in the EU must display (they’re lovely and colour coded). See this pdf for more details.
The more efficient you buy, the more energy and money you save. Though remember, it is better still to reduce your usage of electrical devices in the first place!

5. Generate your own electricity renewably – install solar heating, or a wind turbine!
Actually, microscale production of energy is still not a particularly viable method. The costs of installation and maintenance, combined with the small amounts of power actually produced, mean that you would be generating electricity at a cost to you of about 15p per unit. This is not competitive with the large electricity companies; and red tape is also a deterrent and part of the reason why uptake of these technologies has not been great.
However, the costs are coming down each year as the technology develops, and some well designed buildings can become entirely energy self-sufficient – even selling excess energy back to the grid! I think that in the future, micro-generation at the domestic level will become an essential part of our energy economy. If you want to be part of the forefront of the green wave, some grant money is available to help you: see here and here for more information.

To Infinity and Beyond...?

2007-11-06T12:00:00.001Z

There is an interesting article in Cosmos magazine about the speculated 'state' of our civilisation. While not directly connected to renewable energy or environmental concerns, I find it interesting as it seems to indicate that, at out current rate of technological development, it is possible that we will develop fast enough to be able to surmount our self-inflicted environmental problems.
The article discusses Nicolai Kardashev's theory and grouping of advanced civilisations: types I, II, and III. It may interest you to know that in fact we are still type 0, though rapidly approaching type I, at which point we would be sufficiently advanced to be able to manipulate our planetary environment.

This is a 'promethean' view: the idea that we will be able to find scientific solutions to any problems that will arise. This idea, of course, hinges on the belief that our ingenuity and innovation will be able to outpace the problems that arise (natural or anthropogenic)! Currently we are, as a civilisation in general, following this route: for example, carbon capture and storage as a solution to climate change, and solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, etc as solutions to finding a clean and renewable energy source.

A little more discussion after the cut.

Views as to how we should (or will) continue as a civilisation in the future other than prometheanism include:

Survivalism: which sees an unavoidable coming apocalypse; natural disaster or simply exhaustion of resources.

'problem solving': that the problems we face are small enough to be dealt with either by experts, the general population, or by market forces (the economy). I would argue that this latter view is currently being relied upon to some extent - the effects of this can be seen in the current trend for companies to loudly proclaim their green credentials: if you're seen to be a pollution, oil-guzzling conglomerate, you may be losing business...

sustainable development: should be a familiar concept, but... is it possible to continue to develop and for this growth to be sustainable? 'Sustainable development' has become a bit of a political buzzword, and should be treated with caution...

Green romanticism: the view that we should all become much more eco-aware. At the risk of generalising, think of the people who move to the country and try to become entirely self-sufficient in terms of all resources. Admirable, but 6 billion people cannot possibly live like this.

There are many, many different viewpoints other than the few I have outlined here. For a start, what about a Great Green Revolution? People could rise up and replace the current economically focussed regime and replace it with one that puts the environment first...

Be Pink to be Green

2007-08-10T12:03:00.001Z

A recent development in solar photovoltaic (PV) cells means that we could soon be seeing the cost of solar panels dropping considerably; making renewable electricity more affordable.

Currently, solar cells are among the most expensive renewable electricity generating technologies, but researchers at Ohio State University have developed a pink solar cell, which, while only half as efficient as standard cells, can be made at a quarter of the cost.

These new cells are known as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and it is the red dye ruthenium which gives them their pink colour.
The research is now focussed on trying out different chemical compounds in order to increase the cells efficiency.

For more information, see:
This FirstScience article

and for a more in depth view of the
science behind the cells.

A greener web is a darker one

2007-04-20T11:41:00.001Z

(Image pinched from http://de.inmagine.com/global-communications-bilder-photos/photodisc-pdv064)

There are a couple of interesting posts over at EcoIron, detailing the energy saving potential of simply changing webpage colour palettes!
CRT monitors use a combination of three shades to produce a range of colours: all three shades need to be glowing brightly to produce white. The idea is that energy and money would be saved by darkening webpages.
The first post uses a few simple calculations to show that if Google changed its palette to white text on black, instead of black on white, a staggering estimated $75,000 per year could be saved globally.

The second post shows an energy saving colour palette that can be applied to any webpage, while remaining readable.

This Energy Star page lists the power rating of different colours, and has other computer-monitor related energy saving tips.

Over at Saving Energy, there is another good in-depth analysis of monitor energy savings, including a comparison between CRT and LCD monitors.

I should probably go and change my monitor and blog settings right now!

'The great global warming swindle' - an analysis

2007-03-09T17:33:00.001Z

Did anyone watch 'The great global warming swindle' last night on channel 4?
I did, and I have to say I found a lot of what was put forward was bad science, or at least bad reporting.
For those who didn't see the programme, it focused on debunking climate change, with testimonials from several talking heads from various companies, universities, and other institutions.
I scribbled down several points where I felt that their arguments were misleading, or did not fully explain the issue, or were economical with the truth, and I'll go through a few here, after the cut. I would like to point out that it is a good thing that climate change is being questioned: good scientific method calls for debate and investigation, however I felt that there were several points made in the programme that do not bear up after a little thought.

Paraphrasing one of the first points made in the programme:

'Carbon dioxide does not explain all of the observed global temperature changes, therefore it is not the cause of climate change'.
As I say, this is paraphrasing somewhat, but I feel that this was the view that came across.
For a start, this is just bad science: if a factor cannot explain all of the observed behavior, it does not mean that therefore this factor has no effect. It is well understood that there are a multitude of complex interactions in the earth atmosphere system; the carbon cycle itself is extremely complex! Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is just one thing which has a bearing on our climate - we need to understand all the factors in order to predict what will happen to our climate in the future.

'ice cores show that carbon dioxide levels are controlled by temperature, not the other way around'

Firstly, the time error on ice core data is on the order of thousands of years! When analysing any data, the amount of uncertainty must be considered, but the programme made no mention of the potential error in this data.
Secondly, ice core data, obviously, gives us climate data pre-industrial revolution. It is a record of the natural cycles in the earth-atmosphere system. As stated before, the carbon cycle is very complex, with multiple feedbacks; atmospheric chemistry and temperature are inter-related and influence each other. The point that I felt was missed is that we are considering post-industrial revolution carbon dioxide levels; i.e. an unnatural release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The natural cycles are being disrupted by our influence.
The natural carbon cycle can adapt to a certain extent to changes, but the point is that we don't really know what the long term effects are going to be! As best as we can tell, it's going to get hotter...

'all the climate change protesters are anti-capitalists/anti-globalisation/anti-economic growth, just jumping on the bandwagon'

It's probably true that a lot of protesters are also anti-capitalists. My issue with the above statement is the inherent implication that anti-capitalists are crazy. There is a great deal of weight behind the argument that our consumerist, capitalist way of life is not the best thing for us! On a global level, western capitalism is responsible for creating a very small number of very rich people, while leaving the rest of the world in poverty, dealing with the pollution and waste created by the few rich. Is consumerism such a good thing that it must be protected?

'carbon dioxide is an industrial gas; if it is banned, we will cease economic growth'

As before, is economic growth really that important, considering the affect it has on our environment and society?
My real issue with this statement is that it implies that without carbon dioxide emitting processes, we will no longer be able to grow/develop.
One of that major issues that needs to be addressed is the decoupling of carbon dioxide to economic growth. It is perfectly viable for us to develop and grow through using clean technologies; indeed, the pressure to develop in this direction could be a major inspiration to innovation!
Secondly, the programme also implied that if carbon dioxide is not causing climate change, then we would have no reason to clean up our act. I would argue that it would still be in our interests to do so, even if climate doom were not on the horizon! Fossil fuels remain incontrovertibly non-renewable: we're going to run out sometime, better to start doing something about it sooner. Not to mention reducing energy use, reducing pollution, creating benefits all across society.
I am not an economist, but I would like to understand the concept of economic growth more fully. Is there a point at which the economy can no longer grow?

'the developing world is coming under pressure not to develop. We can't deny them development'

Ooo, this is a sticky issue. We in the developed world have benefited from speedy fossil-fueled development. Can we now force developing countries to make do with less powerful renewable energy technologies? I'm not prepared to go fully into the complex ethics, but I will say that developing countries have a fantastic opportunity to avoid making the same mistakes as we have. As I said earlier, fossil-fuels will run out: developing countries can avoid creating a dependency on these fuels, and a useless infrastructure after they do run out. Developing countries have the chance to develop sustainably - they could easily find themselves ahead of the fossil-fuel dinosaurs...

I haven't gone on as much as I could have done, but I feel this post is already long enough!
The whole programme wasn't bad; there were some well raised issues: the damaging media hysteria and problems with bad reporting, for instance; however I feel that evidence on several issues was biased and mis-represented. I hope this post has identified and clarified some of these issues.

"glam, spend and consume our way into planetary survival"

2007-03-05T18:35:00.000Z

An interesting article by Bruce Sterling about the role of the internet in creating a sustainable way of life.

Sustainability and Systems Theory

2007-02-06T17:03:00.000Z

After a long hiatus (real life gets in the way sometimes...) I'm back.
Recently, I've been studying the flows of energy within human systems (for example, cities), and the consideration of these energy flows often comes back to the concept of entropy and sustainability. A lot of this relates to systems theory, which is complex and I am by no means an expert, but this blog intends to act only as an indroduction to some of the issues and concepts surrounding renewable energy and sustainability.

Entropy is a difficult concept to grasp. An overview can be found here. One way to view it is the overall disorder or 'useless energy' within a system. An increase in entropy means an increase in disorder, and more energy is lost into forms where it is no longer useful - for example, low grade heat or sound. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed - only transformed into other forms. An increase in entropy can therefore be seen as the transformation of useful energy into useless energy - forms in which it can no longer be transformed back into useful energy.

Life causes a local reversal of entropy: an organism is a highly organised system, in which entropy is decreased (useful energy is collected). Similarly, human civilisation can be viewed as a biological/ecological system - cities cause a local decrease in entropy as energy flows into the city in the form of, for example, fuel.

However, this local decrease in entropy occurs at the expense of the surrounding environment: entropy increases in the surroundings as energy is collected from the environment and concentrated in the system. As energy is used in the system, it is eventually transformed into 'useless energy' - usually waste heat.

As our civilisation has developed technologically and economically, we have been maximising our energy throughputs, and so speeding up the transformation of energy into 'useless' forms. In other words, we have caused the acceleration of entropy within the earth atmosphere system - this indicates an "unpromising resolution for the future of life on earth". [1]
This would seem to indicate that it is not possible for any system to be truly sustainable.
The definition of sustainability is that a system operates in a way in which its functions are not limited, while not hindering the future operation of the system. If, in any system, there is always a loss of energy to useless forms (an increase of entropy), it would seem that eventually there will come a point where all energy is in a useless form. This is indeed the case.
To us, on earth, our 'closed' system of the earth-atmosphere is contstantly being 'topped up' with fresh energy from the sun. But the sun itself is subject to entropy, and so eventually it too will die.
There is a theory as to the final end of the universe based on this idea: the heat death of the universe. This is about as depressing as it sounds - eventually the universe will run down, as all of its energy is converted over time into heat. The heat will dissipate, equalising across the whole universe. At this point, there is no more 'useful' energy left.

The good news is that on our sort of timescale, the sun will continue to provide useful energy. However, it is still likely that we could exploit all the energy within the earth-atmosphere system; the point at which all natural resources have been used up, and we are relying entirely on the sun.

Systems theory identifies a successful system as one which has maximised its energy efficiency. A biological example of this can be seen by looking at the oldest animals on earth: reptiles. They have low metabolisms, high efficiencies in their use of energy. In contrast, the 'younger' mammals have higher metabolisms and lower efficiencies. The feedback process of evolution has allowed the reptiles to maximise their efficiency - a process which is still occuring in mammals.
Comparing the human civilisation system to these biological ones, it is clear that we have a very high metabolism: in the stage in which we are at, we have maximised our energy throughputs, without improving our energy efficiency. We are, then, at a turning point of sorts. We must now act to maximise our energy efficiencies to slow the increase of entropy in the earth-atmosphere system - otherwise we will be hastening the point at which entropy within our environment is too high for our civilisation to continue.

[1] Theory of urban energetics and mechanisms of urban development - Huang, S., Chen, C.

Is it already too late?

2006-11-27T19:04:00.000Z

Climate change is now being recognised as the major issue it is. Governments are scrambling
to put schemes and policies into affect - but there is a question that is looming large in
the minds of some scientists, most notably James Lovelock (creator of the Gaia hypothesis):
Is it already too late to do anything about climate change?

This can either be interpreted as 'it is already too late to prevent climate change of some
magnitude; all we can do now is reduce the amount of change' or 'it is too late to prevent
catastrophic change'. The former is widely assumed to be an accurate statement. The earth-
atmosphere system has a built in time lag, whereby it takes some length of time for the
effect of any changes to be felt and responded to. The time lag of the atmosphere is of the
order of about a day to up to several years, depending on the processes involved. The ocean,
a major factor in the earth system, has a much longer timescale, and this is why we would
still not feel the full impact of climate change (even if all greenhouse gas emissions were
stopped instantaneously) until decades into the future. Considering the sudden huge increase
of greenhouse gases in the last 100 years or so, our climate will most definitely be altered
in some way in the coming years.

And so it is the latter form of the 'is it too late' question which becomes important. At
what point does climate change become 'catastrophic', and at what point do we pass the point
of no return, where nothing we can do can stop a climate catastrophe from occuring?

It may be that an increase of only a couple of degrees is enough to cause catastrophic
effects: an alteration in atmospheric systems could mean drought in some places, floods and
violent storms in others. At what point, at what amount of loss of life would climate change
be seen to be disatrous?
Alternatively, we could see few effects until temperatures rise greatly, causing such
alterations in climate across the world that entire habitats and ecosystems die out.

James Lovelock, in his book 'Revenge of Gaia', revelas his fears that we are already doomed,
and advises that we should stash survival manuals in the arctic where the few human
survivors of the upcoming climate disaster can find them.
However he admits that his gloomy prediction is based on nothing more than a gut feeling:
most climate models do not reveal a doomsday result. However the world is an extremely
complex system, which computer models can only approximate - the world may have some
previously undiscovered interaction which could change everything.

A example of a relatively unknown but potentially catastrophic climate feedback is that from
methane clathrates.
Methane clathrates occur when water ice forms under certain conditions, with a crystal
structure that can readily absorb and contain gases. It is known that there may be
potentially vast deposits of methane clathrates at the bottom of the oceans. Clathrates are
not very stable, and can hold less methane at higher temperatures. It is not hard to see how
warming climates could cause the release of methane from the ocean floor. Methane is a very
strong greenhouse gas (stronger than carbon dioxide, but less abundant), and so the feedback
effect of increased warming means more methane release from the clathrates.
Is is unknown how fast this will occur, but it is hypothesised that a sudden release of
methane into the atmosphere could have huge, potentially catastrophic effects.

A lot of research is now based on finding the hypothetical tipping point; the point of no
return for our climate, where no changes in emissions can alter our climate destiny.
I wonder if this will be seen as discovering just how far we can push it?

Vampire Power

2006-11-19T13:13:00.000Z

A little late for Halloween...(Mind the Seams!)

The tiny, pernicious, little flow of current that is drawn by low power appliances on standby - dubbed Vampire Power by the folks at Tree Hugger - is a growing concern in terms of energy usage. With the number of small electrical appliances owned by households constantly increasing (remember the days before mobile phones+ chargers, i-pods, and every other device that comes with a built in LCD clock display...?), steps are being taken by the UK government to reduce energy usage from things left on standby.
Of course, it could be a while before the effects of this government propsal trickle down into homes and offices across the country, so why not get a step ahead?

At the most basic level - switch off more devices at the plug socket!
Of course, some of us are a bit too forgetful to get into this habit, so there are devices out there that will remember to turn your equipment off for you.
This Mini Power Minder will turn off all your computer peripherals (printer, speakers, monitor etc) when you turn off your PC. I can't remember the number of times I've walked past my parents computer, and had to stop to turn off their monitor for them!

A Smart Strip Power Strip will sense the difference between the current being drawn by the device when it is in use or in standby, and will cut power to the device accordingly. Unfortunately, these products only seems to be available for American plugs and sockets - but never fear, there are alternatives for the UK market:

Intelliplug and the Intelligent Mains Panel are the UK equivalents of the Mini Power Minder and the Smart Power Strip respectively.

I know what I'll be getting my parents this year for Christmas...!

There also exist other products that will reduce the energy use of high-demand devices, such as refridgerators. The Sava-plug acts as an intermediary between the socket and the fridge, controlling the electricty flow to supply only what is needed.

Save the world, become a vegetarian?

2006-11-06T17:25:00.000Z

All living organisms get their energy from the sun. Plants do this directly, but herbivores eat plants; gaining the sun's energy in chemical form. Carnivores eat other animals, getting chemical energy this way, but essentially all the energy in the food chain starts with the sun.
The problem with this chain is that each step is inefficient. The averge efficiency of energy transfer through food is about 10%.
From the food chain diagram it is easy to see that the higher up the food chain an animal is, the more energy is expended in keeping it alive, in terms of other animals required to support it.

The food pyramid - each block represents the number of organisms at each (trophic) level.

From this, it is no big leap of logic to see that by reducing the number of levels in the ecological pyramid between us (essentially carnivores) and the primary producers (plants), the more efficient we will be at feeding ourselves by becoming primary consumers.
So this is where the vegetarian argument comes in - if we place ourselves on the primary consumer level, instead of secondary or tertiary, we will be able to feed far more of us than before on the same amount of plant matter that was required to feed animals which we then ate. Essentially, cut out the meat part of our diet, and we will be able to feed more people on current agricultural produce.
The meat industry itself is a harmful one in many other ways. This article details the many ways in which farming animals is bad for the environment, from methane release to deforestation.

More information on food chains.

Keep warm this winter the green way...

2006-11-02T19:25:00.000Z

...and invest in a wood burning stove.

It might seem like a technological step backwards, but today's wood burning stoves are mean, green heating machines. With the carbon neutrality of wood as a fuel, a clean, efficient stove can make expensive heating bills a thing of the past.

Wood is a renewable fuel: more can easily be grown. And while burning wood releases carbon into the atmosphere - just like fossil fuels - that carbon is taken back out again when new plant growth occurs. This means that wood is a carbon-neutral fuel (provided, of course, that the amount of wood burnt is equalled by new wood growth). With increasing gas and electricity prices, this makes wood an increasingly attractive way to provide heating and hot water at a domestic level.

There are two main types of wood burning stove: the conventional 'old fashioned' type in which you burn wood or wood chips, and the more high-tech wood pellet burning stoves.
Wood pellets are made from waste material such as sawdust and grain husks, which is
compressed into small pellets. Most pellet stoves involve some sort of computer control, which dtermines the flow of fuel into the burner; ensuring maximum efficiency. This higher complexity means that pellet stoves tend to be more expensive than wood chip stoves - a few thousand pounds compared to a few hundred. However, pellet stoves have many more advantages.
The stoves are more efficient, release far less pollution (such as toxic carbon monoxide and large particulate matter), and leave far less waste residue after burning. The residue from both wood chip and pellet stoves can be used as fertilizer in the garden.
The advantage of wood chip stoves is that the fuel is more readily available. Waste wood is plentiful, available from tree management in parks and as waste from industrial processes. Quite often it is free for the taking! Pellets, on the other hand, must be bought specially and quite often supply can be a problem. Pellet stoves also require a supply of electricity to run the pellet feed mechanism.
Both types of stove can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used to provide heat directly, or as a fuel for boilers for central heating, or as a combination of the two - the stove would be connected to a back-boiler which would provide hot water.
You could even go further and get an integrated range cooker stove. Very traditional!
Stove design has also come a long way - many modern designs are available as well as traditional ones; some would not look out of place in a minimalist's apartment.

Images from Stoves Online

Last, but not least, there are grants available for the purchasing and installation of both wood chip and pellet burners on both the domestic and community scales.
On the domestic scale, funding is available as follows:
Automated wood chip or pellet stoves (single room heaters) £75/kW up to a maximum of £600 per installation
Automated wood chip or pellet boilers (ie whole house wet central heating systems) £85 per kW up to a maximum grant of £1100 per system.

This site has a good explanation of wood as a fuel, and contains some energy values and efficiencies for the more technical minded.

As a brief aside: avoid electrical fan heaters! These operate at very high wattages, and can rack up your electricity bills something terrible...

More informtation here and here about wood as a fuel and the relative costs.

A Green Day Out

2006-10-31T19:05:00.000Z

If the Stern Report has got you thinking, perhaps you might be interested in joining the UK part of the Global Climate Campaign march that is taking place this Saturday in London. The march is also taking place in many countries across the world: see the website for more details.

In other news, a report from the Friars Court green farm open day that I mentioned a few days ago.

Friars Court House (plus tractor)

The event brought many visitors, who were given a tour of the farm's energy technologies, including a solar PV (photovoltaic) array, and wood coppicing scheme.

Friars Court Solar PV array

The event also saw talks on energy saving methods by representatives from Thames Valley Energy, and stalls demonstrating solar heating technologies.
The highlight of the day was, of course, the 'build a wind turbine challenge'. Three teams competed; two both using a similar design - horizontal axis turbines. The third team, of which I was part, decided to demonstrate the problems associated with vertical axis turbines (in other words, we lost quite spectacularly). However, we feel that our design was the more attractive of the three...

Technorati Profile

Renewable Energy Outings

2006-10-28T10:30:00.000Z

Several farms in the south east have been selected to hold renewable energy demonstration events between October 2006 and March 2007.
One of these events is being held at Friars Court farm tomorrow, near Oxford. Click here for a flyer.
The event consists of talks on renewable energy technologies, a trade fair, farmers market, and children's events such as tractor rides and a treasure hunt.
There is also a 'build a wind turbine' event which I am taking part in with other members from my MSc group, who were getting very involved with design ideas yesterday... but I am not sure how technical you can get when the building materials used include plastic cups and lollipop sticks!

How to Talk to a Climate Change Skeptic

2006-10-27T16:03:00.000Z

An invaluable resource for environmentalists everywhere,
these articles by Coby Beck detail how to counter those old arguments about global warming.

Peak Oil - An Introduction

2006-10-27T12:39:00.000Z

It seems as if every year or so there will be a scaremongering article or news report, telling us that our days are numbered, as the fuel that is that basis of our capitalist world’s infrastructure is about to run out. Oil is used to power almost all of our conventional means of transport – cars, trucks, ships, aeroplanes. It is risky to be so dependant on one substance, and it is easy to conceive how a lack of supply could bring about economic collapse – the petrol shortages in the UK revealed how even a small restriction to supply could have large effects. In fact, the economic recession in 1973 was caused by a restriction of oil supply by OPEC (organisation of the petroleum exporting countries). Simply put, oil is big business.

So, it is clear that maintaining oil supply is a problem that weighs heavy on many minds – the Bush administration has been accused of taking an interest in Iraq for the very reason of oil supply security fears. When you look at the statistics, it is clear to see why:
The USA produces only 8% of the world’s oil, but consumes 25% of it – while only having 5% of the world’s population.
And there are the ever increasing fears that the oil will run out…

…well, oil will run out. It is an undeniable fact – oil is a non-renewable source; no new oil is being created (at least not on anything other than a geological timescale), so there will come a point where there is no more oil that can be extracted. Note the ‘extracted’: we cannot extract 100% of the oil within a reservoir with current levels of technology. At the moment, only 40% of the oil can be extracted, on average. Depending on the specifics of the site, this percentage can vary from as bad as 5% to as good as 80%.
But even considering this, most experts estimate that we have only extracted half to one third the oil we possibly can.

Nothing to panic about.

Right?

Well, the bad news is that world oil consumption is increasing each year. Also, the amount of new oil discoveries has been declining since the mid 60’s. Combine this with declining output from old oil fields, and the decreasing size of new found ones, and we come to the problem known as peak oil.
The concept is not difficult – oil production will, at some point, reach a peak, and then start to decline. The problem is when this will occur, and how it will affect the world’s economy.
The idea that oil production would peak was first made by M. King Hubbert in 1949, and at the time his prediction seemed quite unbelieveable, however as time has gone on, world oil production is increasingly following Hubbert’s curve. Not everyone believes that this crisis point will occur, notably economist Peter Odell (Link to Guardian article) , who received a 2006 OPEC award earlier this year…

There are arguments that our oil supply will be supplemented by oil from ‘unconventional’ sources – for example; oil extracted from oil shales and tar sands (at higher cost, however).
Our technological prowess at extracting oil may increase, allowing far higher percentages of oil to be extracted, further pushing away the day when oil will run out.
Some experts feel that global oil reserves are much higher than expected, due to underestimation of reserves in Russia, Iraq and Iran. But one thing is clear – there will be a peak at some point. Oil demand is increasing, and the amount of oil in the world is finite. The only question is; when will this occur? Well, some people think that it is just about to happen. Many oil producing countries are already past peak production – the USA passed this point in the 1970s.
The International Energy Agency has current oil market reports.

With the decreasing rate of new oil field discoveries, and the decreasing size of these discoveries, it looks as if we are on the point of reaching the peak. Others argue that the peak is not due until 2025. However, any predictions are based upon estimates of the amounts of oil reserves (that is oil left to be extracted), and these estimates can vary wildly. The truth is, no one can really know the true capacity of any oil field – they can only make an educated guess. It is worth noting that the reserve oil amounts of certain countries should be viewed with suspicion – experts think that some governments may overestimate reserves, and some countries’ oil reserve estimates have not changed over several years, despite the fact that oil production would be draining these reserves…

What will be the effects?
Demand will begin to outstrip supply. This will lead to sky-rocketing oil prices, and fuel poverty will be a major issue. Prices of pretty much everything else will rise accordingly – shipping costs will be higher, so food prices will rise. Fewer people will be able to afford transportation. Knowing the significance of the military in most government’s eyes, it is likely that military fuel supplies will be of high priority.
Hoarding of fuel will exacerbate the problem. In the worst possible case, the world’s economy would tip into recession, or even suffer a major collapse.
For more details on the effects of passing the oil peak, see Life After the Oil Crash.

All this can be avoided!
The peak oil situation will only be a problem if there is not an alternative fuel to take its place. The main problem is that oil is a transportation fuel, and the alternatives (batteries, fuel cells) do not have oil’s advantages – high energy density, an existing distribution infrastructure. Other alternatives are biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, with the advantage that existing infrastructure could be easily adapted to these fuels. Most biofuels require little or no modification to existing internal combustion engines – though biofuels come with their own problems.

Alternatives to oil are therefore of vital importance for two reasons – avoiding a peak oil crisis, and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. We need to start taking steps to phase out our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels – any finite resource will have a peak in production. The Swedish government is already taking steps.

There is a wealth of information about this issue out there – simply type ‘peak oil’ into google or wikipedia. More links:
The Oil Drum
Peak Oil in the News
Peakoil.com

The problem with going green…

2006-10-19T18:54:00.001Z

… is people.

In fact, if you go to the root of the whole issue, we would not even be having to consider a complete overhaul of our lifestyles, if it were not for people.

A brief introduction

Because people want an easy life – they want material goods at the cheapest price, they want to use energy hungry gadgets, and they don’t want to have to deal with long term consequences. All this adds up to a very unsustainable way of life.

‘Sustainable’ is a bit of a buzzword, but a sustainable way of life can be easily summarised as one in which our current needs can be met without compromising meeting the needs of those in the future. Click here for a more detailed explanation

Our current way of life (in the western world) involves a huge expenditure of energy in order to meet our wants – and to meet this energy demand we use fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are very good at what they do – they contain high amounts of stored energy in quite a compact form. But unfortunately in burning them, we release chemicals into the atmosphere which have built up to such high concentrations that they are starting to have a measurable effect on our climate.

Clearly something has to be done (if you are not convinced about the existence of global warming due to mankind, or the need to do anything about it, I will be writing about these issues later), and increasing amounts of time and money are going towards finding solutions. We need to both find ‘greener’ energy sources, and reduce the amounts of energy we use.

However the problem is not that there are no other energy sources, or that we cannot tap into them. The sources and the technology are already there. I will also write about these another time.

The issue I am writing about today is the problems associated with reducing our energy consumption, and how it is our society itself that is the main problem.

There are easy ways to reduce your energy consumption. Turn off lights in empty rooms. Use energy efficient lightbulbs (Saving ₤9 per year per bulb). But how many people actually follow this advice?

There are more things that can be done – insulate your attic, invest in a more efficient boiler. These things require some outlay of money, but energy saved is money gained. Again, few people will do this.

But there is one case where an energy saving technology has been taken up and spread throughout our society with great success…

Double glazing.

Analysis shows that more money can be saved through attic insulation than through double glazing your house (up to ₤220 in a year for the attic, compared to ₤100 in a year for the glazing), so why is it that one technology has been so successful while the other has not? Economics is clearly not the driving force.

The fact is, people on the whole rarely act ‘rationally’ – that is, according to a logical progression of thought. We are more likely to be swayed by emotion: think of how the advertising industry works. Perhaps double glazing had the better advertising campaign?

Leading by example also does not seem to work. There have been many sustainable housing developments, admired and award winning; the BedZed development, for example. Admired, but not emulated.

Our society is slow to uptake some new technologies and ideas, and fast for others. Mobile phones and computers are good examples of how fast dissemination can be. So what we need to do is to get greener technologies to spread in this sort of way. The focus now should be to study the sociological and economic factors that cause people to behave in the way that they do.

References: The Energy Savings Trust