Those readers who have been following my 360 degree feedback site in these postings may have noticed that it took a massive hit on the rankings this morning, down to page three or even page four on google.com. A bit of investigation shows that many of the blog entries are showing up in the search engines with unexpected URLs. So my hypothesis is that the homepages of the blogs are being crawled, but not the archives. Obviously after a while each blog posting ends up in an archive and is therefore less visible to the search engine spiders.
My answer to all this: I created a couple of pages PPP BTY which contain links to all the blog entries about my site - in the hope that they will soon be spidered, that the blog entries will be discovered and properly indexed together with the backlinks to my site.
Meanwhile - look at my position in the listings and pray....
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Search Lord in Cyberheaven
Lord Google, of all the cyber Gods;
Thou art the mightiest, of them all.
Hallowed by thy glorious name;
Ever shalt though reign.
Let not temptation fall upon me to spam you,
Lest my penalties be eternal SERP damnation.
Bless my 360 degree feedback site with a one thousand hits a day.
Thou art the mightiest, of them all.
Hallowed by thy glorious name;
Ever shalt though reign.
Let not temptation fall upon me to spam you,
Lest my penalties be eternal SERP damnation.
Bless my 360 degree feedback site with a one thousand hits a day.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Great Google Blogging Swindle...
Those of you who have been following the ongoing saga of the optimisation of my 360 degree feedback site - currently stuck at nbr 20 on google.com - may be interested to follow the results of my latest experiment. My observation was that a lot of the sponsored blog entries about the site seemed to have a short lived effect on my position in the listings.
My hypothesis is that when a blog entry is first posted it appears on the front page of the blog and is therefore easily spidered and indexed by google. However, at the end of every month the previous month's entries are archived and therefore become less accessible to the search engine spiders. The links therefore get lost from the index and my position suffers.
Now for the clever bit. Check out my homepage at richard.oppenheimer.org.uk and you will find that I have made a couple of static pages listing all the blog entries that refer to Appraisal360.co.uk. My hope is that google will soon spider these pages and be pointed to the relevant blog entries - which will then be indexed as linking back to my site. Hold your breath and watch this space.
My hypothesis is that when a blog entry is first posted it appears on the front page of the blog and is therefore easily spidered and indexed by google. However, at the end of every month the previous month's entries are archived and therefore become less accessible to the search engine spiders. The links therefore get lost from the index and my position suffers.
Now for the clever bit. Check out my homepage at richard.oppenheimer.org.uk and you will find that I have made a couple of static pages listing all the blog entries that refer to Appraisal360.co.uk. My hope is that google will soon spider these pages and be pointed to the relevant blog entries - which will then be indexed as linking back to my site. Hold your breath and watch this space.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
What now...?
Regular readers of this column will be all to familiar with the constant stream of gloom and doom about the future prospects for the planet - and the incompetence of the fuckwitts who run it.
This week, however, a new source of despair emerged from an unlikely source. New Scientist reported on how the planet's reserves of rare earths like iridium are becoming exhausted. Never heard of it? Well it is vital in minute quantities for the manufacture of computer chips and photovoltaic solar panels.
The prospect of losing our cheap supply of computer chips is more far reaching than most people realise. It will seriously hamper our ability to communicate and to process information. It is these very abilities which have enabled us to live on the planet in the numbers that we have. What's more nobody really knows how much of these precious minerals there are left - because up until now nobody has been counting.
Watch this space....
If you're wondering about my 360 degree feedback site - it's hanging on in there at number 20 on google.com.
This week, however, a new source of despair emerged from an unlikely source. New Scientist reported on how the planet's reserves of rare earths like iridium are becoming exhausted. Never heard of it? Well it is vital in minute quantities for the manufacture of computer chips and photovoltaic solar panels.
The prospect of losing our cheap supply of computer chips is more far reaching than most people realise. It will seriously hamper our ability to communicate and to process information. It is these very abilities which have enabled us to live on the planet in the numbers that we have. What's more nobody really knows how much of these precious minerals there are left - because up until now nobody has been counting.
Watch this space....
If you're wondering about my 360 degree feedback site - it's hanging on in there at number 20 on google.com.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Professional coasting
When my sister and I went round to see our friends at eco-energy it was nice to see that a coaster advertising my 360 degree feedback site was occupying pride of place on the manager's desk. Unlike the google.com listing which is still just hanging on to the second page of google.com at number 20.
I hope the same happens to the 500 coasters that will be given out at the Birmingham Young Porofessional of the Year event in Brum tomorrow. One way and another I'm too mean to pay the £94 a ticket that they wanted for the event - but getting my brand in front of 500 ambitious young professionals seemed like a good idea to me. 360 degree appraisal seems to be catching on in a big way - and a customer of mine told me that there had been a recent public sector edict that 360 degree appraisal was to be used for all senior public sector employees.
This is good news, as is also the interest I have been getting from a number of personal and lifestyle coaches who seem to think that a slimmed down version of the product might work well for confidence building exercises. Watch this space.
I hope the same happens to the 500 coasters that will be given out at the Birmingham Young Porofessional of the Year event in Brum tomorrow. One way and another I'm too mean to pay the £94 a ticket that they wanted for the event - but getting my brand in front of 500 ambitious young professionals seemed like a good idea to me. 360 degree appraisal seems to be catching on in a big way - and a customer of mine told me that there had been a recent public sector edict that 360 degree appraisal was to be used for all senior public sector employees.
This is good news, as is also the interest I have been getting from a number of personal and lifestyle coaches who seem to think that a slimmed down version of the product might work well for confidence building exercises. Watch this space.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Google and the Whitehouse Fuckwitt
My attempts to move my 360 degree feedback site seem to be in the doldrums. I'm starting to think that it may be because a .co.uk site will never do very well on google.com which is looking for american sites hosted on american servers.
It seems a bit unfair that people who voted for the Whitehouse Fuckwitt should get such a good deal - but there we have it.
Sitting at nbr 19 on google.com
It seems a bit unfair that people who voted for the Whitehouse Fuckwitt should get such a good deal - but there we have it.
Sitting at nbr 19 on google.com
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The SEO's Prayer....
Google.com who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy first page,
Thy PageRank cometh,
Thy algorithm be done,
In the Adwords as it is on Page One,
Give us this day,
Our targetted inbound traffic,
Forgive us our duplicate content,
As we pray for those who link to us,
Tempt us not to spam,
Deliver us from the Supplemental Index
The listings, the SERPS and the PageRank,
Are yours now and evermore.
Search Google.com - bless our 360 degree feedback website.
Hallowed be thy first page,
Thy PageRank cometh,
Thy algorithm be done,
In the Adwords as it is on Page One,
Give us this day,
Our targetted inbound traffic,
Forgive us our duplicate content,
As we pray for those who link to us,
Tempt us not to spam,
Deliver us from the Supplemental Index
The listings, the SERPS and the PageRank,
Are yours now and evermore.
Search Google.com - bless our 360 degree feedback website.
Friday, May 18, 2007
The search continues....
Next stage in the great Google experiment to see how blog entries affect the ranking of my 360 degree feedback site. Remember I am going to mention it in a post on here every day for the next three or four weeks to see how the ranking is affected.
At the time of writing google.com lists me at nbr 18 for "360 degree feedback" having gone up a notch from yesterday. The highest it has been is nbr 8 on google.com and it is consistently nbr 1 or nbr 2 on google.co.uk.
My hypothesis is that google are picking up on the RSS feed from Blogger and hence we are seeing a fairly immediate step up in the listings followed by a drift back down.
At the time of writing google.com lists me at nbr 18 for "360 degree feedback" having gone up a notch from yesterday. The highest it has been is nbr 8 on google.com and it is consistently nbr 1 or nbr 2 on google.co.uk.
My hypothesis is that google are picking up on the RSS feed from Blogger and hence we are seeing a fairly immediate step up in the listings followed by a drift back down.
More Googleperplexion
At the risk of boring you all I decided to try an experiment. One of my readers suggested that google might be looking for regular new inbound links rather than a flurry. So I thought I would try mentioning my 360 degree feedback site every day on here and see what happens.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Linked In
I've just been discovering LinkedIn which is a site where you can publish a professional profile.You can find my profile under Richard Oppenheimer Richard Oppenheimer. And you can find out about my current business interests. I will doubtless be adding a little more to it in due course.
Googleperplexed
Google continue to be a source of frustration. Although my 360 degree feedback site gets plenty of attention - for some reason its position in the listings continues to drift. Not that there is any shortage of inbound links - thanks to PayPerPost who have been regularly publishing my press releases and posting about the site.
You might wonder who I should be worried - as I already have a number one or number two posion on google.co.uk - but my listing on google.com continues to be a source of frustration having been as high as eight and down as far as 23. An appearance on page one does make a real difference with my search traffic increasing by about 50% when I was on the first page of google.com.
Sometimes I wonder if the inbound links age - or if Google start to disregard them after a period of time. Because whereas a new installment of links seems to give a jump of two, three or even four places in the listings, after about a week things settle back to their previous position.
Oh well, I suppose if you are as powerful as Google you can make your own rules - which is what htey seem to do.
You might wonder who I should be worried - as I already have a number one or number two posion on google.co.uk - but my listing on google.com continues to be a source of frustration having been as high as eight and down as far as 23. An appearance on page one does make a real difference with my search traffic increasing by about 50% when I was on the first page of google.com.
Sometimes I wonder if the inbound links age - or if Google start to disregard them after a period of time. Because whereas a new installment of links seems to give a jump of two, three or even four places in the listings, after about a week things settle back to their previous position.
Oh well, I suppose if you are as powerful as Google you can make your own rules - which is what htey seem to do.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
A vegamite sandwich short of a picnic
It's no laughing matter - but to be honest I do have some difficulty in finding a lot of sympathy for the Australians at the moment. Most of you will know that as I am writing this they are in the midst of just about the worst drought they have ever experienced. Of course - like all evtreme weather events - you can never say that it has been caused by climate change, but the odds are that it has.
Unfortunately the Australians do not have a good record in this department. Since the colonisation of the area around 90% of its natural rainforest has been destroyed. Much of the remaining natural rainforest in Tasmania is due to become a victim of the the chainsaws of Forestry Tasmania in the next few years.
Nearly all of the country's electricity is generated by coal fired power stations, and they remain one of only two developed nations to refuse to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. (The other being - wait for it - The Whitehouse Fuckwitt.) Their reaoning being that they do not want to harm their important coal mining industry - no matter if they make the planet uninhabintable in the process.
This is in spite of having more solar energy on tap than they could possibly know what to do with, more uninhabited deserts on which to build solar power stations than the eye can see, and an educated population who shoud be setting an example o the rest of the world.
This contrasts with the much maligned Chinese who have the world's biggest windfarm, and the prospect that every wind turbine and solar panel on hte planet will shortly have Made in China stamped on it.
On a brighter note - I see that the world's first commercial solar power station has now come into service in Saville in Spain at a cost of 36 million Euros. Which seems to me like a pretty good price for a power station.
Unfortunately the Australians do not have a good record in this department. Since the colonisation of the area around 90% of its natural rainforest has been destroyed. Much of the remaining natural rainforest in Tasmania is due to become a victim of the the chainsaws of Forestry Tasmania in the next few years.
Nearly all of the country's electricity is generated by coal fired power stations, and they remain one of only two developed nations to refuse to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. (The other being - wait for it - The Whitehouse Fuckwitt.) Their reaoning being that they do not want to harm their important coal mining industry - no matter if they make the planet uninhabintable in the process.
This is in spite of having more solar energy on tap than they could possibly know what to do with, more uninhabited deserts on which to build solar power stations than the eye can see, and an educated population who shoud be setting an example o the rest of the world.
This contrasts with the much maligned Chinese who have the world's biggest windfarm, and the prospect that every wind turbine and solar panel on hte planet will shortly have Made in China stamped on it.
On a brighter note - I see that the world's first commercial solar power station has now come into service in Saville in Spain at a cost of 36 million Euros. Which seems to me like a pretty good price for a power station.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Crossing the line....
I was almost as pleased to see my 360 degree feedback site finally reach the first page of google.com as I was when Patrick (my son) called me up to say he had achieved an A* in his maths GCSE. His achievement like mine had taken a lot of hard work over many months.
So now we can relax and watch Dr Who.
So now we can relax and watch Dr Who.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Purring Pussies
These days apparently even cats have holidays. If you're looking to get shot of your cat for a while and the neighbours won't feed it anymore because you've fallen out with them then check out Baird's Cosy Cats in Penrith. OK - I know, it's a long way to go if you're in Cornwall but if you're in Cumbria then it might be worth checking it out.
So what's in it for me? Nothing except that I put the website together and it would be nice if someone looked at it!
So what's in it for me? Nothing except that I put the website together and it would be nice if someone looked at it!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Greening the airways
Anyone who thinks that today's airliners are little more than carbon copies of the first airliners like the Comet and the Viscount to hit the skies in the 1950s would be exactly right. According to an article in New Scientist aerodynamics in civil aviation is pretty much a sunset activity. Current wisdom is that the current generation of turbo-fan engines is about as efficient as it's ever going to be.
New airframes would require radical research which is unlikely to be undertaken by the ultra conservative civil aviation industry and would only be undertaken in the interests of military aviation which clearly has other agendas than saving the planet.
Biofuels are unlikely to provide the answer either as like for like the volume of biofuel required to travel a given distance is much greater and the range of the aircraft would be much reduced.
Of course – there are innovative designs on the table – generally the work of dedicated amateurs without the resources to do anything about it. The aviation business is slowly waking up we are told, but don't hold your breath – it will probably be 30-40 years before we see anything really new.
In the meantime we're going to have to get used to flying a lot less.
Big Oil and the Electric Car
I always thought that electric cars were novelties with the sole use of avoiding Congestion Charges. Not so apparently if you are to believe the story of Chevron-Texaco and their electric car.
The biggest drawback to the electric car has been its limited range: one charge lasted around 60 miles, then the car stopped. So the distinguished engineer Stan Ovshinsky created a battery that could run up to 300 miles at 70mph on a single charge - enough to get from London to Scotland, and make the car extremely popular. The oil company Chevron-Texaco bought the technology. It has not been seen since.
Why? Why would a string of corporations turn down cash and scrap a potentially extremely profitable techology? Isn't that contrary to everything we are taught about how market economies work?
The oil companies had an obvious interest in stopping an alternative to fossil fuels. There is $100 trillion of oil left in the earth, and they plan to mine it - even if doing so will make the planet uninhabitable. Anything that could divert that cash away from them is a threat to be crushed.
We have never needed the electric car more than we do now. But for reasons that can only be explained by our crazy market economy it looks like being mothballed in the vaults of Chevron-Texaco for some time yet.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Some techie stuff....
http://adsenseforidiots.blogspot.com/2007/03/reviews-going-in-circles.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-appraisal-degree.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-appraisal-degree-feedback.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-degree-appraisal.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-degree-appraisal-feedback.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/of-360-degree-appraisal.html
http://carebearkids.blogspot.com/2007/03/appraisal.html
http://charissewrites.blogspot.com/2007/03/360-feedback-systems.html
http://directorio.pixelin.org/index.php?category=4&page=2
http://directorio.pixelin.org/search.php?what=appraisal360&search_top.x=42&search_top.y=10
http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/index-c-49-p-17.html
http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/index-c-49-p-24.html
http://directory-links.net/search.php?what=appraisal360&search_top.x=48&search_top.y=7
http://distributionbusinessarticles.blogspot.com/2007/03/web-based-360-degree-appraisal-system.html
http://dotukdirectory.co.uk/d694661.html
http://fightingfatigue.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/appraisal_360.html
http://freebieland.blogspot.com/2007/03/free-mini-appraisal360-report.html
http://gridlocknews.blogspot.com/2007/03/yearly-review-get-more-perspective.html
http://gridlock-on-rye.blogspot.com/2007/03/giving-politicians-360-degree-review.html
http://homewithcharisse.blogspot.com/2007/03/perspective-from-different-view.html
http://in-her-web.blog-city.com/sc_more_thumb_drive.htm
http://internetmarketingreview.org/blog2/2007/01/12/125/
http://internetmarketingreview.org/blog2/2007/01/12/125/
http://linkcentre.com/search/?flag=All&keyword=appraisal360
http://mavenmapper.blogspot.com/2007/03/web-based-360-degree-appraisal-tools.html
http://meanoldworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/do-360.html
http://occasionalist.blogspot.com/2007/01/360-reviews.html
http://oseas.blogspot.com/2007/01/appraisal-360.html
http://oseas.blogspot.com/2007/01/appraisal-360.html
http://poeticallychallenged.blog.com/1634082/
http://recommendedread.blogspot.com/2007/03/appraisal360.html
http://somethingaboutharry.blogspot.com/
http://somuch.com/listem.asp?TopicID=2&TopicName=Business&CategoryID=215&CategoryName=Services
http://staffordshire.great-british-pages.co.uk/cgi-bin/staffordshire/search.cgi?mh=5&bool=and&query=appraisal360&Search=Search
http://strawberriann.blogspot.com/2007/03/your-feedback.html
http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-3Cy1JGkic6d17vG7WHLG3UKSdsg-?cq=1
http://worklook.org/360-appraisal-degree-feedback
http://www.1stchoicesearch.com/detail/link-5481.html
http://www.360.pepae.info/360-degree-appraisal-feedback.htm
http://www.alldirectlinks.com/Business/Human_Resources/
http://www.birminghamforward.co.uk/members.cfm?sectorID=9&id=127
http://www.dotukdirectory.co.uk/Training/
http://www.e-sygoing.com/html/Business_,038_Economy/Business
http://www.gaiafuels.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.hr-guide.com/data/215.htm
http://www.improve-yourbusiness.com/
http://www.jobatnow.com/linkmachine/resources/resources_all_job_link_in_jobatnow.com.html
http://www.linkdirectory.com/Business/Human_Resources
http://www.linkdirectory.com/Business/Human_Resources/?s=H
http://www.linkmarket.com/link_directory/Business/Employment/?start=81
http://www.linkmarket.net/link_directory/Business/Employment/?start=81
http://www.linkmarket.net/link_directory/search.php?sterm=appraisal360
http://www.maerhillsactiongroup.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.neapolis.it/immagini_ricerca/maggio/click-of-a-button.htm
http://www.perfectsoftware.com/link_human_resources.asp
http://www.scoot.co.uk/Appraisal360_in_Newcastle
http://www.scoot.co.uk/Appraisal360_in_Newcastle
http://www.selfgrowth.com/test.html?clkd=iwm
http://www.somuch.com/listem.asp?TopicID=2&TopicName=MS+Developer&CategoryID=215&CategoryName=Services
http://www.spinn3.info/360-degree-appraisal.aspx
http://www.startups.co.uk/directories/directory.aspx?id=d7a41676
http://www.xeal.com/articles/Newcastle-Company-Offers-An-All.htm
http://www.xefocu.org/degree-feedback/
http://your-degree-site.co.uk/360degree/
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-appraisal-degree.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-appraisal-degree-feedback.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-degree-appraisal.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/360-degree-appraisal-feedback.html
http://appraisalssearch.info/of-360-degree-appraisal.html
http://carebearkids.blogspot.com/2007/03/appraisal.html
http://charissewrites.blogspot.com/2007/03/360-feedback-systems.html
http://directorio.pixelin.org/index.php?category=4&page=2
http://directorio.pixelin.org/search.php?what=appraisal360&search_top.x=42&search_top.y=10
http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/index-c-49-p-17.html
http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/index-c-49-p-24.html
http://directory-links.net/search.php?what=appraisal360&search_top.x=48&search_top.y=7
http://distributionbusinessarticles.blogspot.com/2007/03/web-based-360-degree-appraisal-system.html
http://dotukdirectory.co.uk/d694661.html
http://fightingfatigue.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/appraisal_360.html
http://freebieland.blogspot.com/2007/03/free-mini-appraisal360-report.html
http://gridlocknews.blogspot.com/2007/03/yearly-review-get-more-perspective.html
http://gridlock-on-rye.blogspot.com/2007/03/giving-politicians-360-degree-review.html
http://homewithcharisse.blogspot.com/2007/03/perspective-from-different-view.html
http://in-her-web.blog-city.com/sc_more_thumb_drive.htm
http://internetmarketingreview.org/blog2/2007/01/12/125/
http://internetmarketingreview.org/blog2/2007/01/12/125/
http://linkcentre.com/search/?flag=All&keyword=appraisal360
http://mavenmapper.blogspot.com/2007/03/web-based-360-degree-appraisal-tools.html
http://meanoldworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/do-360.html
http://occasionalist.blogspot.com/2007/01/360-reviews.html
http://oseas.blogspot.com/2007/01/appraisal-360.html
http://oseas.blogspot.com/2007/01/appraisal-360.html
http://poeticallychallenged.blog.com/1634082/
http://recommendedread.blogspot.com/2007/03/appraisal360.html
http://somethingaboutharry.blogspot.com/
http://somuch.com/listem.asp?TopicID=2&TopicName=Business&CategoryID=215&CategoryName=Services
http://staffordshire.great-british-pages.co.uk/cgi-bin/staffordshire/search.cgi?mh=5&bool=and&query=appraisal360&Search=Search
http://strawberriann.blogspot.com/2007/03/your-feedback.html
http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-3Cy1JGkic6d17vG7WHLG3UKSdsg-?cq=1
http://worklook.org/360-appraisal-degree-feedback
http://www.1stchoicesearch.com/detail/link-5481.html
http://www.360.pepae.info/360-degree-appraisal-feedback.htm
http://www.alldirectlinks.com/Business/Human_Resources/
http://www.birminghamforward.co.uk/members.cfm?sectorID=9&id=127
http://www.dotukdirectory.co.uk/Training/
http://www.e-sygoing.com/html/Business_,038_Economy/Business
http://www.gaiafuels.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.hr-guide.com/data/215.htm
http://www.improve-yourbusiness.com/
http://www.jobatnow.com/linkmachine/resources/resources_all_job_link_in_jobatnow.com.html
http://www.linkdirectory.com/Business/Human_Resources
http://www.linkdirectory.com/Business/Human_Resources/?s=H
http://www.linkmarket.com/link_directory/Business/Employment/?start=81
http://www.linkmarket.net/link_directory/Business/Employment/?start=81
http://www.linkmarket.net/link_directory/search.php?sterm=appraisal360
http://www.maerhillsactiongroup.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.neapolis.it/immagini_ricerca/maggio/click-of-a-button.htm
http://www.perfectsoftware.com/link_human_resources.asp
http://www.scoot.co.uk/Appraisal360_in_Newcastle
http://www.scoot.co.uk/Appraisal360_in_Newcastle
http://www.selfgrowth.com/test.html?clkd=iwm
http://www.somuch.com/listem.asp?TopicID=2&TopicName=MS+Developer&CategoryID=215&CategoryName=Services
http://www.spinn3.info/360-degree-appraisal.aspx
http://www.startups.co.uk/directories/directory.aspx?id=d7a41676
http://www.xeal.com/articles/Newcastle-Company-Offers-An-All.htm
http://www.xefocu.org/degree-feedback/
http://your-degree-site.co.uk/360degree/
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Filling the cavities
Carbon emissions from homes - well we swapped out all the lightbulbs, put in double glazing - but then cavity wall insulation? Sounded like it was expensive for not a lot of return.
Well, - not so. A bit of investigation on the internet showed prices of only a few hundred pounds. So we called someone up and the salesman came around with a tape measure and grant application forms. £495 in total - but there is a £250 grant for everyone and a 100% grant for anyone claiming any sort of state benefits. So it only cost £245.
The guys turned up with a drill and a compressor thingy on their van. A couple of hours work and they were finished. The cavity walls are pumped full of this fluffy stuff and the house feels warmer already.
Job done.
Well, - not so. A bit of investigation on the internet showed prices of only a few hundred pounds. So we called someone up and the salesman came around with a tape measure and grant application forms. £495 in total - but there is a £250 grant for everyone and a 100% grant for anyone claiming any sort of state benefits. So it only cost £245.
The guys turned up with a drill and a compressor thingy on their van. A couple of hours work and they were finished. The cavity walls are pumped full of this fluffy stuff and the house feels warmer already.
Job done.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Dead Biofuels
A recent press release from the Biofuels Corporation highlights the real difficulties that the biofuels sector is currently suffering. In the absence of assistance from the government the sector has been struggling in the face of low oil prices which has real implications when you consider the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation which obligates all EU member states to have a minimum proportion of biofuel as a total of road fuel.
The fact that nobody has been able to make any money at it does not bode well for the future, as the infrastructure investment - including the farming of fuel crops will not happen unless investors can see a real future.
Cutting carbon emissions is fine if all you want to do is make a lot of hot air - but to deliver results we need to see far stronger leadership from the government than we currently are.
The fact that nobody has been able to make any money at it does not bode well for the future, as the infrastructure investment - including the farming of fuel crops will not happen unless investors can see a real future.
Cutting carbon emissions is fine if all you want to do is make a lot of hot air - but to deliver results we need to see far stronger leadership from the government than we currently are.
Bio-Taxed
Gordon Brown's promise to increase still further the road tax on Chelsea Tractors is probably a good move - but it still misses the vital point. CO2 emissions are as a result of burning fossil fuel and surely the right thing to be doing is to encourage the use of biofuels.
At the moment a driver who uses biofuels currently pays the same road tax as does one who uses fossil fuels - and also has to contend with a punitive level of tax which generally makes biofuels more expensive than fossil fuels.
Cleaner vehicles attract lower levels of tax - which is fine, but we now have a situation where drivers producing CO2 using fossil fuels are paying less tax than ones who don't because they are using biofuels.
Where is the sense in that?
At the moment a driver who uses biofuels currently pays the same road tax as does one who uses fossil fuels - and also has to contend with a punitive level of tax which generally makes biofuels more expensive than fossil fuels.
Cleaner vehicles attract lower levels of tax - which is fine, but we now have a situation where drivers producing CO2 using fossil fuels are paying less tax than ones who don't because they are using biofuels.
Where is the sense in that?
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