The announcement by the EU summit that incandescent bulbs will be phased out by 2009 is an interesting development. Just a few weeks ago David Milliband was asked if he would be banning the sale of incandescent bulbs. "Impractical" he replied - only to be upstaged within days by the Australian government who announced that the sale of incandescent bulbs will be banned by 2010.
Now more humiliation for Mr Milliband as the EU leaders under the presidency of the Germans announced that they would be pushing through proposals to phase out incandescent bulbs for domestic use by 2009 and new regulations for office and street lighting by 2008.
Poor Mr Milliband it seems had been left in the dark.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
Swindled Again....
It was profoundly depressing to read some of the commentary about last night's Channel4 programme The Great Global Warming Swindle. Most people - it seems - are happy to accept anything they are told without question. Until you read Reasic's excellent blog where he not only points out that most of the evidence presented in the programme was faulty, but that the programme maker - Martin Durkin - himself has a bad history of misrepresenting evidence and inventing conspiracies:-
"Mr Durkin has often been accused of taking liberties with the facts. In 1997 he made a series for Channel 4 called “Against Nature”, which compared environmentalists with Nazis, conspiring against the world’s poor. No one would suggest that green claims should not be subjected to critical examination, but the people he interviewed were lied to about the contents of the programmes and given no chance to respond to the accusations the series made.
"The Independent Television Commission handed down one of the most damning verdicts it has ever reached: the programme makers “distorted by selective editing” the views of the interviewees and “misled” them about the “content and purpose of the programmes when they agreed to take part.” Channel 4 was forced to make a humiliating prime time apology. After the series was broadcast, I discovered that the assistant producer and several of its interviewees worked for the right-wing libertarian magazine masquerading as “Living Marxism”, which has just been successfully sued by ITN. All the arguments Against Nature made had been rehearsed in LM."
So there you have it - the great swindle was the programme itself .
"Mr Durkin has often been accused of taking liberties with the facts. In 1997 he made a series for Channel 4 called “Against Nature”, which compared environmentalists with Nazis, conspiring against the world’s poor. No one would suggest that green claims should not be subjected to critical examination, but the people he interviewed were lied to about the contents of the programmes and given no chance to respond to the accusations the series made.
"The Independent Television Commission handed down one of the most damning verdicts it has ever reached: the programme makers “distorted by selective editing” the views of the interviewees and “misled” them about the “content and purpose of the programmes when they agreed to take part.” Channel 4 was forced to make a humiliating prime time apology. After the series was broadcast, I discovered that the assistant producer and several of its interviewees worked for the right-wing libertarian magazine masquerading as “Living Marxism”, which has just been successfully sued by ITN. All the arguments Against Nature made had been rehearsed in LM."
So there you have it - the great swindle was the programme itself .
Frequently Googled
Can you imagine writing a document called 360 degree feedback Frequently Asked Questions? Well I can because I've just spent the last two days doing it - and now my brain hurts. Now I've just got to wait for the Googlebot to come round and spider it - the suspense is killing me...
The Great Channel 4 Swindle
Channel 4's so called documentary last night "The Great Global Warming Swindle" will hopefully come to be seen as another big mistake by the broadcaster. The programme was big on vox-pops from people with no credibility, short on evidence and big on conspiracy theories.
One of their keystone arguements was to point to the fact that the different levels of the atmosphere are not warming evenly - as the climate models suggest that they should - as an indicator that the current global warming is not due to greenhouse effects.
But spend a few minutes searching on the web and the original scientific data is readily available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The real difficulty apparently was a discrepancy between data gathered by satelites and that gathered by weather balloons. The discrepancy has now been resolved and the layers of the atmosphere have been shown to be warming evenly and consistent with the climate models. This report was published in April 2006 - so exactly how the programme makers missed it when I found it within a few minutes is beyond belief.
Similarly they argued that changes in cloud formation were as a result of changes in cosmic radiation as the cloud droplets in the upper atmosphere are precipitated by cosmic rays. Problem: the cosmic radiation data is also readily available on the internet and it shows no increase during the period in question.
The assertion that Al Gore's data in "An Inconvenient Truth" showing the correlation between CO2 and global temperature was flawed because CO2 levels lag global temperature was also incorrect. This time lag is well known as the Milankovitch cycle and is indicative of a positive feedback effect whereby as the oceans warm they release CO2 thereby accelerating the warming. The reverse also happens as the climate cools.
The most objectionable assertion in the programme was that measures intended to reduce carbon emissions will have a deleterious effect on the world's poor by forcing them to rely on 'flakey' sources of electricity such as solar. Far from it - anybody interested in plans to build massive solar infrastructure in Northern Africa should check out www.trec-uk.org.uk/index.htm. There is every reason to hope that the tropical deserts of North Africa will become one of the world's powerhouses - with the capacity to supply the world with electricity many times over.
Of course - most people won't bother checking the scientific data - or even know where to look. Channel 4 certainly didn't.
I'm not against people having different views and having intelligent debate. But there are are a dangerous number of people out there happy to sieze on programmes like the Channel 4 offering as an excuse for inaction and ammunition for creating doubt. What I am against is people blatently lying and producing false evidence - and a broadcaster who gives air time to such rubbish in the pursuit of ratings and dramatic programme billing.
One of their keystone arguements was to point to the fact that the different levels of the atmosphere are not warming evenly - as the climate models suggest that they should - as an indicator that the current global warming is not due to greenhouse effects.
But spend a few minutes searching on the web and the original scientific data is readily available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The real difficulty apparently was a discrepancy between data gathered by satelites and that gathered by weather balloons. The discrepancy has now been resolved and the layers of the atmosphere have been shown to be warming evenly and consistent with the climate models. This report was published in April 2006 - so exactly how the programme makers missed it when I found it within a few minutes is beyond belief.
Similarly they argued that changes in cloud formation were as a result of changes in cosmic radiation as the cloud droplets in the upper atmosphere are precipitated by cosmic rays. Problem: the cosmic radiation data is also readily available on the internet and it shows no increase during the period in question.
The assertion that Al Gore's data in "An Inconvenient Truth" showing the correlation between CO2 and global temperature was flawed because CO2 levels lag global temperature was also incorrect. This time lag is well known as the Milankovitch cycle and is indicative of a positive feedback effect whereby as the oceans warm they release CO2 thereby accelerating the warming. The reverse also happens as the climate cools.
The most objectionable assertion in the programme was that measures intended to reduce carbon emissions will have a deleterious effect on the world's poor by forcing them to rely on 'flakey' sources of electricity such as solar. Far from it - anybody interested in plans to build massive solar infrastructure in Northern Africa should check out www.trec-uk.org.uk/index.htm. There is every reason to hope that the tropical deserts of North Africa will become one of the world's powerhouses - with the capacity to supply the world with electricity many times over.
Of course - most people won't bother checking the scientific data - or even know where to look. Channel 4 certainly didn't.
I'm not against people having different views and having intelligent debate. But there are are a dangerous number of people out there happy to sieze on programmes like the Channel 4 offering as an excuse for inaction and ammunition for creating doubt. What I am against is people blatently lying and producing false evidence - and a broadcaster who gives air time to such rubbish in the pursuit of ratings and dramatic programme billing.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Random thoughts
I woke up in some distress this morning: feelings of despair, heart beating, slight body quivering. I knew what it was of course - I tested my blood sugar and it was 2.3 mmol/l. Far too low. I'd been exhausted when I went to bed last night - totally wasted in fact and I can hardly remember crawling into bed.
I had been writing an FAQ for my 360 Degree Feedback site - partly because it seemed like a useful thing to do and partly because I'm still trying to improve my ranking on the Google search listings. I've been doing OK on google.co.uk but on google.com I'm struggling to get onto the first page. So I had a word with a friend of mine - Matt Paines of XSEO who is a high flying Search Engine Optimiser. He reckoned he could get me a few more links in that might do the trick and consolidate my position on the first page. I do hope so because most of my business comes in through Google and it could make a real difference to the number of hits I get.
I did wonder if it was worth trying to get a link from my Insulin Pumpers biography page - but in my distressed state all I could think of was the reasons why not. I'm feeling a bit better now and I think I'll drop an email to John - the webmaster and see if he'll put me a link in.
Random thoughts this morning I know - but doesn't it just get you that way sometimes?
R.x
I had been writing an FAQ for my 360 Degree Feedback site - partly because it seemed like a useful thing to do and partly because I'm still trying to improve my ranking on the Google search listings. I've been doing OK on google.co.uk but on google.com I'm struggling to get onto the first page. So I had a word with a friend of mine - Matt Paines of XSEO who is a high flying Search Engine Optimiser. He reckoned he could get me a few more links in that might do the trick and consolidate my position on the first page. I do hope so because most of my business comes in through Google and it could make a real difference to the number of hits I get.
I did wonder if it was worth trying to get a link from my Insulin Pumpers biography page - but in my distressed state all I could think of was the reasons why not. I'm feeling a bit better now and I think I'll drop an email to John - the webmaster and see if he'll put me a link in.
Random thoughts this morning I know - but doesn't it just get you that way sometimes?
R.x
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Wikipedia struggles too
Wikipedia defines 360 degree feedback as follows:-
In human resources, 360-degree feedback is employee development feedback that comes from all around the employee. The feedback would come from subordinates, peers and managers in the organizational hierarchy, as well as a self-assessment, and in some cases external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders. ("360" refers to the 360 degrees in a circle.)
Also known as multi-rater feedback', 'multisource feedback', 'multisource assessment'.
Compare to upward feedback where managers are given feedback by their direct reports, or a traditional performance appraisal where the employees are most often reviewed only by their manager.
The truth is that it's a difficult concept to explain in a few short sentences and it's something that I struggle with when trying to explain my 360 degree feedback site to people I've just met.
It then goes on to say:-
The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. The results are also used by some organizations for making promotional or pay decisions, which is sometimes called 360-degree review.
Hmmm..... their reasons for doing it seem about right. But I'm still trying to find ways of getting more people to understand - and more importantly - buy it off my site. Some people seem to understand it without further explanation, others don't seem to get it no matter how hard you try.
Any ideas anyone?
In human resources, 360-degree feedback is employee development feedback that comes from all around the employee. The feedback would come from subordinates, peers and managers in the organizational hierarchy, as well as a self-assessment, and in some cases external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders. ("360" refers to the 360 degrees in a circle.)
Also known as multi-rater feedback', 'multisource feedback', 'multisource assessment'.
Compare to upward feedback where managers are given feedback by their direct reports, or a traditional performance appraisal where the employees are most often reviewed only by their manager.
The truth is that it's a difficult concept to explain in a few short sentences and it's something that I struggle with when trying to explain my 360 degree feedback site to people I've just met.
It then goes on to say:-
The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. The results are also used by some organizations for making promotional or pay decisions, which is sometimes called 360-degree review.
Hmmm..... their reasons for doing it seem about right. But I'm still trying to find ways of getting more people to understand - and more importantly - buy it off my site. Some people seem to understand it without further explanation, others don't seem to get it no matter how hard you try.
Any ideas anyone?
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Chasing the moon
There's something magical about an eclipse. It kind of makes the world stop while you watch disc of the sun or the moon hanging in the sky.
Our first attempts at eclipse chasing were a bit of a disaster. In 1999 we trekked over to France to see the solar eclipse only to spend the morning in a field full of noisy frenchmen and an overcast sky. As if to add insult to injury it cleared up shortly afterwards to a perfect sunny afternoon.
Then there was a lunar eclipse at about 2:30am. Patrick and I piled into the car with some duvets, hot drinks and sandwiches and went out of town to find some clear skies. But could we find a break in the clouds? We raced down the M42 towards Oxford looking for a break and eventually pulled into a country lane and wrapped up in our duvets waiting to see what happened. Nothing! So at about 5am we gave it up as a bad job and came home.
So determined not to be beaten we piled off to Zimbabwe in 2001 to chase the solar eclipse. The sky was perfect, the location was incredible, the people were fantastic. And the sight of the black circle of the eclipsed sun hanging in the twilight sky was one of those images that stay with you forever.
The next lunar eclipse made up for it all. The skies were clear, we drove out of town to find a dark place and sat in the car watching the moon like a brown plastic ball hanging in the sky.
Last night was much the same - I got cold standing outside in my dressing gown so I found a place I could watch it out the window. Captain Cook was once saved by an eclipse:- he told some natives who were giving him a hard time that the gods were going to come and eat up the moon that night to show that they had to be nice to him. It worked!
He had to work it out for himself - if you want to know when the next eclipse is going to be then check out the Goddard Space Flight Centre website.
Our first attempts at eclipse chasing were a bit of a disaster. In 1999 we trekked over to France to see the solar eclipse only to spend the morning in a field full of noisy frenchmen and an overcast sky. As if to add insult to injury it cleared up shortly afterwards to a perfect sunny afternoon.
Then there was a lunar eclipse at about 2:30am. Patrick and I piled into the car with some duvets, hot drinks and sandwiches and went out of town to find some clear skies. But could we find a break in the clouds? We raced down the M42 towards Oxford looking for a break and eventually pulled into a country lane and wrapped up in our duvets waiting to see what happened. Nothing! So at about 5am we gave it up as a bad job and came home.
So determined not to be beaten we piled off to Zimbabwe in 2001 to chase the solar eclipse. The sky was perfect, the location was incredible, the people were fantastic. And the sight of the black circle of the eclipsed sun hanging in the twilight sky was one of those images that stay with you forever.
The next lunar eclipse made up for it all. The skies were clear, we drove out of town to find a dark place and sat in the car watching the moon like a brown plastic ball hanging in the sky.
Last night was much the same - I got cold standing outside in my dressing gown so I found a place I could watch it out the window. Captain Cook was once saved by an eclipse:- he told some natives who were giving him a hard time that the gods were going to come and eat up the moon that night to show that they had to be nice to him. It worked!
He had to work it out for himself - if you want to know when the next eclipse is going to be then check out the Goddard Space Flight Centre website.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Glacial Outburst
Browsing around the web this morning I was thinking about a comment in Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" about the number of people dependent for fresh water on meltwater from the Himalayas. I came across this report into the Himalaya Glaciers which suggested that around a half of humanity is dependent on freshwater which comes from mountains. I'm still looking for some better figures, but at the moment I'm under the impression that about 25% of humanity depends on meltwater from the Himalayan icefields which are expected to disappear by 2100.
But there's another problem: ever heard of a GLOF? Glacial Lake Outburst Flood. Apparently as the glaciers melt they form lakes of fresh water which are held back by dams of ice. Eventually the ice melts and the lake bursts out with the inevitable consequences for anybody or anything in its path. Apparently in 2005 26 glacial lakes were identified as being in a dangerous state in the Himalayan region out of 226 known glacial lakes.
Anybody who thinks that a bit of freshwater isn't a problem - think again. Around 70% of the world's freshwater is currently locked up as ice somewhere or other. If it melts then it end up in the sea and reduces its density. That affects the ocean currents and hence the way heat is distributed around the globe. The last ice age in Europe occured when the meltwater in Hudson Bay was released into the North Atlantic stopping the Gulf Stream.
We are looking, as Al Gore puts it, at a canary in a coalmine....
But there's another problem: ever heard of a GLOF? Glacial Lake Outburst Flood. Apparently as the glaciers melt they form lakes of fresh water which are held back by dams of ice. Eventually the ice melts and the lake bursts out with the inevitable consequences for anybody or anything in its path. Apparently in 2005 26 glacial lakes were identified as being in a dangerous state in the Himalayan region out of 226 known glacial lakes.
Anybody who thinks that a bit of freshwater isn't a problem - think again. Around 70% of the world's freshwater is currently locked up as ice somewhere or other. If it melts then it end up in the sea and reduces its density. That affects the ocean currents and hence the way heat is distributed around the globe. The last ice age in Europe occured when the meltwater in Hudson Bay was released into the North Atlantic stopping the Gulf Stream.
We are looking, as Al Gore puts it, at a canary in a coalmine....
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Time to grow up
I was reading an article today which discussed whether people using 360 degree feedback should be given their report alone or they needed to have someone to hold their hand when given the results of their survey.
Most readers will know that 360 degree feedback - sometimes called multi-rater feedback is a technique whereby a person's work performance is assessed by a group of people who knw that person and something of their work. It tends to be very effective because can you imagine ignoring what people say about you if everybody is saying the same thing? Yeah - OK, well there's the Whitehouse Muppet of course but we know about him.
I was once at an HR trade show where I got talking to a lady who said that most people who work in small companies aren't grown up enough to handle feedback. I always thought that adults were big enough to handle what people think of them. Maybe I was wrong...
Most readers will know that 360 degree feedback - sometimes called multi-rater feedback is a technique whereby a person's work performance is assessed by a group of people who knw that person and something of their work. It tends to be very effective because can you imagine ignoring what people say about you if everybody is saying the same thing? Yeah - OK, well there's the Whitehouse Muppet of course but we know about him.
I was once at an HR trade show where I got talking to a lady who said that most people who work in small companies aren't grown up enough to handle feedback. I always thought that adults were big enough to handle what people think of them. Maybe I was wrong...
Green with rage!
Yesterday's events where motorists complained that their cars had malfunctioned when they had filled up with petrol at Tesco or Morrisons is unfortunate for a number of reasons.
Greenergy who supplied their fuel is one of a new breed of biofuel manufacturers. Morrisons and Tesco have been blending bioethanol with their petrol for some time now as part of their commitment to greener fuels and carbon reductions. Indeed - the blending of biofuels into the mix is an EC commitment set to increase over the next few years.
It is highly unlikely that these fuels would cause engine damage, but it seems that the vehicles affected are ones fitted with Lambda sensors which measure the oxygen content of the exhaust. Ethanol molecules do contain a certain amount of oxygen and so the fuel/air ratio when using ethanol from any source will be slightly different.
What is more likely in my view is that the ethanol in the fuel has dissolved some pre-existing contamination from the fuel system which the petrol on its own would not remove. For example gum deposits which can build up over a period of time - they won't dissolve in petrol, but are loosened by the ethanol and then cause a blockage somewhere else in the fuel system.
The worrying aspect of all this is the number of motorists who take their vehicles to independent garages who will see the opportunity to make a quick buck by changing a perfectly good Lambda sensor and then encourag the hapless motorist to make a claim. Their claims are unlikely to be successful and the risk is that the episode will get biofuels a bad name that they do not deserve.
Greenergy who supplied their fuel is one of a new breed of biofuel manufacturers. Morrisons and Tesco have been blending bioethanol with their petrol for some time now as part of their commitment to greener fuels and carbon reductions. Indeed - the blending of biofuels into the mix is an EC commitment set to increase over the next few years.
It is highly unlikely that these fuels would cause engine damage, but it seems that the vehicles affected are ones fitted with Lambda sensors which measure the oxygen content of the exhaust. Ethanol molecules do contain a certain amount of oxygen and so the fuel/air ratio when using ethanol from any source will be slightly different.
What is more likely in my view is that the ethanol in the fuel has dissolved some pre-existing contamination from the fuel system which the petrol on its own would not remove. For example gum deposits which can build up over a period of time - they won't dissolve in petrol, but are loosened by the ethanol and then cause a blockage somewhere else in the fuel system.
The worrying aspect of all this is the number of motorists who take their vehicles to independent garages who will see the opportunity to make a quick buck by changing a perfectly good Lambda sensor and then encourag the hapless motorist to make a claim. Their claims are unlikely to be successful and the risk is that the episode will get biofuels a bad name that they do not deserve.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Emotional Turmoil
One of the products that I offer on my 360 degree feedback site is for assessing Emotional Intelligence at Work. Anyone who has read Daniel Goleman's book will know that the main behavioural competencies involved in Emotional Intelligence are Self Awareness, Managing Emotions, Self Motivation, Managing Relationships and Emotion Coaching.
I often get queries about profiling Emotinal Intelligence - but the most important aspect seems to be lost on most people. you cannot assess Emotional Intelligence in isolation. It is largely to do with the way that people interract with each other and so to make any meaningful assessment you have to include the observations of other people.
That's where 360 appraisal, also known as multi-rater feedback comes in. The subject of the assessment fills in their own profile and then the same set of questions is given to a number of observers who know the subject well. Then you compare the subject's self assessment with what the observers had to say.
That really is the only way...
I often get queries about profiling Emotinal Intelligence - but the most important aspect seems to be lost on most people. you cannot assess Emotional Intelligence in isolation. It is largely to do with the way that people interract with each other and so to make any meaningful assessment you have to include the observations of other people.
That's where 360 appraisal, also known as multi-rater feedback comes in. The subject of the assessment fills in their own profile and then the same set of questions is given to a number of observers who know the subject well. Then you compare the subject's self assessment with what the observers had to say.
That really is the only way...
Monday, February 26, 2007
Using 360 degree feedback to help appraisal and professional development
If you are looking for a tool to help your professional development and appraisal process you could do worse than look at my Appraisal360 system at www.appraisal360.co.uk. 360 degree feedback is a system that works well for encouraging teamwork, helping people to take ownership of their own development. It is also known as multi rater feedback and can be used to help assess emotional intelligence because it is based on observations of people's real life behaviour.
Here's a copy of the sitemap.
Home: 360 degree feedback as part of the appraisal process (1)
How the Appraisal360 system works (24)
Appraisal360 feedback products (27)
Tell a friend about Appraisal360 (28)
Appraisal360 packages and pricing (36)
The 360 appraisal process (37)
Contact Appraisal360 (42)
Management competency frameworks for 360 appraisal (47)
360 feedback as an equality and diversity tool (49)
Emotional Intelligence (50)
360 degree appraisal partner solutions (52)
Appraisal360 download area (53)
Register as an Appraisal360 affiliate (59)
Emotional Intelligence Homepage (66)
360 feedback enterprise solutions (67)
360 degree appraisal systems for employers and managers (68)
360 degree feedback system for individuals (70)
Gail Machin: 360 feedback case study (71)
Running a 360 appraisal project (72)
Links: directories (79)
Diversity Homepage (80)
Appraisal360 QuickStart guide (81)
Win a free prize with your 360 degree appraisal (83)
www2.appraisal360.co.uk
Here's a copy of the sitemap.
Home: 360 degree feedback as part of the appraisal process (1)
How the Appraisal360 system works (24)
Appraisal360 feedback products (27)
Tell a friend about Appraisal360 (28)
Appraisal360 packages and pricing (36)
The 360 appraisal process (37)
Contact Appraisal360 (42)
Management competency frameworks for 360 appraisal (47)
360 feedback as an equality and diversity tool (49)
Emotional Intelligence (50)
360 degree appraisal partner solutions (52)
Appraisal360 download area (53)
Register as an Appraisal360 affiliate (59)
Emotional Intelligence Homepage (66)
360 feedback enterprise solutions (67)
360 degree appraisal systems for employers and managers (68)
360 degree feedback system for individuals (70)
Gail Machin: 360 feedback case study (71)
Running a 360 appraisal project (72)
Links: directories (79)
Diversity Homepage (80)
Appraisal360 QuickStart guide (81)
Win a free prize with your 360 degree appraisal (83)
www2.appraisal360.co.uk
Nuclear standoff
When Patrick and I decided to measure the power that household appliances drew on standby, an hour's investigation turned out to be very instructive .
The standby power of the TV was a staggering 74 watts - enough to light the whole house using energy saving bulbs. And the common myth that leaving flourescent lights on rather than turning them off and on saves electricity proved to be a complete fallacy. The startup surge of a flourescent lamp amounts to only a few seconds worth of run-time consumption.
Anyone who thinks that building a new generation of nuclear power plants to supply a nation of incandescent bulbs and equipment left on standby has clearly lost the plot.
The standby power of the TV was a staggering 74 watts - enough to light the whole house using energy saving bulbs. And the common myth that leaving flourescent lights on rather than turning them off and on saves electricity proved to be a complete fallacy. The startup surge of a flourescent lamp amounts to only a few seconds worth of run-time consumption.
Anyone who thinks that building a new generation of nuclear power plants to supply a nation of incandescent bulbs and equipment left on standby has clearly lost the plot.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Dr Strangelove rides his nuke
The news that Tony Blair has been in secret talks with Bush about siting nukes on British soil again rather reminds me of the closing scene in Dr Strangelove where a crazed Dr Strangelove wearing a cowboy hat, having evaded all attempts to rein him in, is seen riding his nuke out of the bomb bay towards a waiting Russian capital wired for automatic retaliation.
The chilling prospect of Bush starting a new Cold War indicates stupidity evolving into insanity. The fact that our political system does not immediately annilate such an extreme fuckwit shows the mindnumbing extent of CBA (Can't Be Arsed) amongst the populus and the deeply flawed nature of the democratic system - which assumes that the population actually take an interest in what is going on.
So: what's the difference between a Labour MP and a supermarket trolley? Answer: The supermarket trolley has a mind of its own. I'm not suggesting that other MPs are any different of course, but the way that they still support Blair after the events of the last few years - even before Iraq and the dodgy dossier - obliterates the boundary between loyalty and stupidity beyond intelligent comment.
The prospect of having billions of my tax payers money spent on hi-tech toys of mass destruction at the whim of unarguably the most stupid man ever to occupy the Whitehouse makes my blood boil. Save the money. Build a European Supergrid instead so we can start to use all the sunshine that falls free of charge on the deserts of North Africa.
Ever heard of a zero cost solution? Ban the sale of incandescent bulbs and scrap the next generation of nuclear powerstations: because you won't need them any more.
Of course - invest in nukes and there's a small chance that we might wipe out life on earth. Do nothing and there's a virtual certainty that life on Earth won't survive the next century.
My Blair can safely be ignored - he's on the way out. Great British Public - take your pick.
The chilling prospect of Bush starting a new Cold War indicates stupidity evolving into insanity. The fact that our political system does not immediately annilate such an extreme fuckwit shows the mindnumbing extent of CBA (Can't Be Arsed) amongst the populus and the deeply flawed nature of the democratic system - which assumes that the population actually take an interest in what is going on.
So: what's the difference between a Labour MP and a supermarket trolley? Answer: The supermarket trolley has a mind of its own. I'm not suggesting that other MPs are any different of course, but the way that they still support Blair after the events of the last few years - even before Iraq and the dodgy dossier - obliterates the boundary between loyalty and stupidity beyond intelligent comment.
The prospect of having billions of my tax payers money spent on hi-tech toys of mass destruction at the whim of unarguably the most stupid man ever to occupy the Whitehouse makes my blood boil. Save the money. Build a European Supergrid instead so we can start to use all the sunshine that falls free of charge on the deserts of North Africa.
Ever heard of a zero cost solution? Ban the sale of incandescent bulbs and scrap the next generation of nuclear powerstations: because you won't need them any more.
Of course - invest in nukes and there's a small chance that we might wipe out life on earth. Do nothing and there's a virtual certainty that life on Earth won't survive the next century.
My Blair can safely be ignored - he's on the way out. Great British Public - take your pick.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Carbon is the new Gold
Some of you may be old enough to remember the Gold Standard. I'm not, but yesterday a comment from a reader got me thinking.
It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that future energy policy - and indeed the total solution to regulating carbon emissions - will require a global emissions trading scheme.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have noticed that trading carbon emissions is much like trading any other commodity. You need a market, a mechanism for establishing futures, a means of setting interests rates and prices. Carbon savings now are worth more than carbon savings in the future - and so on. Hmmmm... now where have we seen all that before?
But two things make carbon emissions different: they are a truly global commodity and the total emissions worldwide have to be tightly regulated - in fact, much like the way a Central Bank regulates a currency. Carbon emissions will have a monetary value - the same the world over, so how long before the value of our currencies is defined against the Carbon Standard?
If there are any money men reading this, give me a call....
It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that future energy policy - and indeed the total solution to regulating carbon emissions - will require a global emissions trading scheme.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have noticed that trading carbon emissions is much like trading any other commodity. You need a market, a mechanism for establishing futures, a means of setting interests rates and prices. Carbon savings now are worth more than carbon savings in the future - and so on. Hmmmm... now where have we seen all that before?
But two things make carbon emissions different: they are a truly global commodity and the total emissions worldwide have to be tightly regulated - in fact, much like the way a Central Bank regulates a currency. Carbon emissions will have a monetary value - the same the world over, so how long before the value of our currencies is defined against the Carbon Standard?
If there are any money men reading this, give me a call....
Google - are you listening
There are a lot of people out there who want to know all about my 360 degree feedback service at appraisal360.co.uk. But your spider is taking rather a long time to look at the sitemap which can be found at www.appraisal360.co.uk/-54 so can you send your robot round please?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Strewth!!!
This morning's announcement by the Australian government that they will be banning the sale of incandescent lightbulbs by 2010 is an interesting development.
Commentators have been suggesting for a while now that the incandescent bulb will be extinct within ten years. And regular readers will recall that when I changed every lightbulb in the house to a low enegy type the household electricity consumption dropped by a staggering 30% and an article in today's Independent suggests that this is typical.
But the Australian conversion is interesting because Australia is on of the few developed countries other than the United States to have refused to sign up to Kyoto on the grounds that it would damage their coal based electricity industry too much. Strange that, when you consider that Australia is one of the sunniest countries in the world and that the scope for solar power generation using CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) technology must be huge.
So is it too much to hope that the recently awakened Australian government will follow their lead in becoming the first major economy to outlaw incandescent bulbs by phasing out their coal fired power stations in favour of cheap, clean, plentiful, everlasting power from the sun?
Now the light is really starting to go on.... Strewth Bruce!!
Commentators have been suggesting for a while now that the incandescent bulb will be extinct within ten years. And regular readers will recall that when I changed every lightbulb in the house to a low enegy type the household electricity consumption dropped by a staggering 30% and an article in today's Independent suggests that this is typical.
But the Australian conversion is interesting because Australia is on of the few developed countries other than the United States to have refused to sign up to Kyoto on the grounds that it would damage their coal based electricity industry too much. Strange that, when you consider that Australia is one of the sunniest countries in the world and that the scope for solar power generation using CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) technology must be huge.
So is it too much to hope that the recently awakened Australian government will follow their lead in becoming the first major economy to outlaw incandescent bulbs by phasing out their coal fired power stations in favour of cheap, clean, plentiful, everlasting power from the sun?
Now the light is really starting to go on.... Strewth Bruce!!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Nukes again
I felt somewhat reassured when Greenpeace managed to force a rethink of the government's decision to push ahead with a new nuclear power programme. The reality is that there is enough renewable energy around to power the world many times over and at a fraction of the price of a nuclear programme that will only ever supply a fraction of the electricity that the world needs.
But to my surprise - this Sunday's Grauniad carried an article by James Lovelock (creator of the Gaia theory) in favour of nuclear power. His premise is that nuclear is the only way of generating sufficient power quickly enough to avert a total disaster. He may have a point - but strange because nuclear is in itself not a renewable energy source, and ramping up the nuclear programme will take some considerable time. Not least because the number of trained and experienced nuclear engineeers has been run down considerably in recent years.
Renewable energy protagonists take the view that a nuclear programme will reduce the resources put into the real long term solution.
However, here Lovelock and the renewable energy guys see eye to eye. Long term nuclear is not the answer - renewables are the only way, and for that we should be optimistic. Clean renewable energy to power the world hundreds of times over. Why didn't we think of it before?
But to my surprise - this Sunday's Grauniad carried an article by James Lovelock (creator of the Gaia theory) in favour of nuclear power. His premise is that nuclear is the only way of generating sufficient power quickly enough to avert a total disaster. He may have a point - but strange because nuclear is in itself not a renewable energy source, and ramping up the nuclear programme will take some considerable time. Not least because the number of trained and experienced nuclear engineeers has been run down considerably in recent years.
Renewable energy protagonists take the view that a nuclear programme will reduce the resources put into the real long term solution.
However, here Lovelock and the renewable energy guys see eye to eye. Long term nuclear is not the answer - renewables are the only way, and for that we should be optimistic. Clean renewable energy to power the world hundreds of times over. Why didn't we think of it before?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Chavs in suits
This morning I was at another dreary business breakfast. Full of grey men in grey suits - supposedly the good and the great of Stoke on Trent. God help us.
It wasn't long before the sprinkling of snow that had brought the nation to a halt turned the conversation to global warming. "They won't do anything about it ho-ho-ho" went the grey coffin dodger on the other side of the table. Resisting the templation to lunge across the table and grab him warmly by the throat I pointed out that we were now committed to a level of climate change that would wipe out around a third of the world's population within about a hundred years. "But we don't know if it's caused by human activity." I thought that there was only one idiot left on the face of the planet who still believed that rubbish. And he's imprisoned in the Whitehouse. "Oh, but we've still got to have growth."
Presumably the enlightened long term outlook of this particular grey gentleman says something about the current predicament of Stoke on Trent. Perhaps he doesn't have any children or grandchildren - either that or he's too dense to see that the things we are talking about are impending during their lifetime. That he is condemning them to live in a world torn by conflict and strife - or that they will pay many times over every time he turns the key in his Jag or whatever it is.
To be blunt I struggle to tell the difference between people who carry on like this in the full knowledge of the impact of their actions and those who open the taps on the gas chamber. The result is the same, just maybe it's a bit easier to pretend that the link doesn't exist.
It would be nice to think that those fortunate enough to live in parts of the world that are likely to get through this are those wise and forward looking. That those destined to have their lands turn into deserts or floods will be the ones we can do without. Maybe we should have passports issued on merit - but somehow I don't think it's going to happen that way.
Many of our biodiesel customers are simple folk. Taxi drivers, van drivers, but concerned enough to see that they can play their part. They recognise that they owe it to their children and they deserve their place in the future of the planet. But many of the great and the good of Stoke on Trent, it seems, are just chavs in suits.
It wasn't long before the sprinkling of snow that had brought the nation to a halt turned the conversation to global warming. "They won't do anything about it ho-ho-ho" went the grey coffin dodger on the other side of the table. Resisting the templation to lunge across the table and grab him warmly by the throat I pointed out that we were now committed to a level of climate change that would wipe out around a third of the world's population within about a hundred years. "But we don't know if it's caused by human activity." I thought that there was only one idiot left on the face of the planet who still believed that rubbish. And he's imprisoned in the Whitehouse. "Oh, but we've still got to have growth."
Presumably the enlightened long term outlook of this particular grey gentleman says something about the current predicament of Stoke on Trent. Perhaps he doesn't have any children or grandchildren - either that or he's too dense to see that the things we are talking about are impending during their lifetime. That he is condemning them to live in a world torn by conflict and strife - or that they will pay many times over every time he turns the key in his Jag or whatever it is.
To be blunt I struggle to tell the difference between people who carry on like this in the full knowledge of the impact of their actions and those who open the taps on the gas chamber. The result is the same, just maybe it's a bit easier to pretend that the link doesn't exist.
It would be nice to think that those fortunate enough to live in parts of the world that are likely to get through this are those wise and forward looking. That those destined to have their lands turn into deserts or floods will be the ones we can do without. Maybe we should have passports issued on merit - but somehow I don't think it's going to happen that way.
Many of our biodiesel customers are simple folk. Taxi drivers, van drivers, but concerned enough to see that they can play their part. They recognise that they owe it to their children and they deserve their place in the future of the planet. But many of the great and the good of Stoke on Trent, it seems, are just chavs in suits.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
As reliable as a VolksWagen
Some of you may remember a particular VW advert on the telly. A young woman comes out of her mews townhouse in an obvious fit of high maintenance stroppery. She takes off her engagement ring and throws it down the gutter. Ditto with the house keys. Then comes the car keys. She stops and looks at them. She smiles and gets into her conveniently parked VW Golf. "If only everything was as reliable as a Volkswagen" cries the ad smuggly.
Indeed - if only everything was as reliable as a Volkswagen. It was a bad omen from the start when I bought my Golf 2.0 TDI. Even before I hit the road I emailed the salesman with some information he needed. When I heard nothing I rang him up: "Our email isn't working." He seemed a bit shocked when I asked him if his cars were any better - but thus history has proven.
I've lost count of thie number of times the car has had to spend a day off the road to be fixed under warranty. The most expensive was to replace the turbo which died on the M6Toll. Rear wash/wipe, the throttle position sensor, the fuel pump (which died on the way into town leaving me stranded at the side of the road), the turbo seals (apparently they were leaking oil) and today the foglight switch gave up the ghost. It's got to the stage that every time the car seems to falter or sound a little different I'm worried that it's going to die yet again. When the AA man towed me in I said to him "The most unreliable car I've ever, ever had - does that sound right?" He nodded. But then maybe "Worst cars on the road" was his sympathetic response to every driver he rescued from the roadside.
That said it's still a lovely car, just unreliable - maybe it's a woman!
Indeed - if only everything was as reliable as a Volkswagen. It was a bad omen from the start when I bought my Golf 2.0 TDI. Even before I hit the road I emailed the salesman with some information he needed. When I heard nothing I rang him up: "Our email isn't working." He seemed a bit shocked when I asked him if his cars were any better - but thus history has proven.
I've lost count of thie number of times the car has had to spend a day off the road to be fixed under warranty. The most expensive was to replace the turbo which died on the M6Toll. Rear wash/wipe, the throttle position sensor, the fuel pump (which died on the way into town leaving me stranded at the side of the road), the turbo seals (apparently they were leaking oil) and today the foglight switch gave up the ghost. It's got to the stage that every time the car seems to falter or sound a little different I'm worried that it's going to die yet again. When the AA man towed me in I said to him "The most unreliable car I've ever, ever had - does that sound right?" He nodded. But then maybe "Worst cars on the road" was his sympathetic response to every driver he rescued from the roadside.
That said it's still a lovely car, just unreliable - maybe it's a woman!
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