Energy saving nonsense
Keith Parkins | 07.08.2009 15:10 | Climate Chaos
Large numbers saving insignificant amounts of energy is tilting at windmills. If we are serious about climate change we have to achieve BIG energy savings, move to renewables.
More energy saving nonsense: Rushmoor Arena July 2009 p6.
http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/media/adobepdf/4/e/Arena_67_July_09_Complete.pdf
Turning the heating down by 1 degree leads to significant energy savings, turning off devices on standby does not.
Assume mobile phone charger uses 1 watt (in reality much less). 1 watt for 1,000 hours is 1 KWh, ie one unit of electricity, ie a one bar electric fire on for one hour or an electric kettle on for twenty minutes.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/charger/
At Guildford farmers market, the same energy saving nonsense, turn off your devices on standby. On the same stall, a leaflet on ground source energy pumps that was plain wrong. Talking to the woman manning the stall it became increasingly obvious that she did not have a clue what she was talking about.
http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/gu-ford.htm
Last month at the Alton Food Festival, Greening Alton were spouting the same nonsense, turn off your mobile phone chargers on standby to save the planet. To be fair to Greening Alton, they were also making some sensible suggestions, like insulate your house.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434336.html
It is deeply disturbing when those promoting energy saving are unable to differentiate between those savings that make a difference and those that do not. Turning off mobile phone chargers on standby is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a tea strainer.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/charger/
If we are serious about climate change we have to achieve BIG energy savings, move to renewables. Anything less is pissing in the wind.
We also have to reduce our consumption of consumer junk which passes through our hands on a one-way trip to the rubbish dump.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-3058533428492266222
Meanwhile in the real world ...
Farnborough Airport is pushing for a doubling of flights
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434470.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435417.html?c=on
Using new figures to show the effect of plane emissions, aviation now accounts for 4.9% of climate change worldwide http://bit.ly/oxCkY
Recent study shows emissions from planes, at altitude, have 3 times the effect on climate as those emitted on the ground http://bit.ly/oxCkY
Farnborough airport - private and business jets – has an average occupancy per plane of 2.5 passengers!
On the Isle of Wight the UK's only wind turbine factory has closed down and today those mounting a sit-in are facing eviction by the bailiffs.
http://savevestas.wordpress.com/
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news6853.php
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435189.html
http://tinyurl.com/nkhq96
http://tinyurl.com/nfd8gq
http://ventnorblog.com/
http://bit.ly/ytVpw
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/vestas_petition_20414.html
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveVestas/
The over-60s free bus pass scheme may be scrapped. Too many over-60s are leaving their cars at home and using the bus! http://bit.ly/PHlc8
Carbon trading and carbon offsetting is a con. A market for City Speculators, nothing else.
http://www.carbontradewatch.org/
Plant a tree to offset a short haul flight. Err, no. Greenhouse gas emissions in the upper atmosphere (where they do the most harm) are emitted during a 4-hour flight. The tree takes 60 years or more to absorb the carbon, then releases it back into the atmosphere when the tree dies.
Another con is Green Electricity Tariffs. Consumers are already paying a premium for energy companies to meet their renewable obligation. To pay a green tariff is to pay for the same thing twice over. Green tariffs are merely a spread sheet accounting exercise. Buy from an energy company that only sources from renewables. Better still, generate your own, contribute to and support community renewable projects.
Where is the UK commitment to the Climate Change Act, which makes mandatory 80% cut in greenhouse omissions by 2050? Where is the commitment to the recent G8 agreement to hold global temperature rises to within 2 degrees?
It is business as usual with a handful of at best well-meaning fools tilting at windmills.
An absolute must read:
Sustainable Energy by David MacKay (published by UIT Cambridge, 2009)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415544.html?c=on
Also read:
Soft Energy Paths by Keith Parkins (May 2001)
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/energy.htm
Funny Weather by Kate Evans (Myriad Editions, 2006)
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/funny-weather.htm
Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDounough (Vintage, 2009)
Plan B 2.0 by Lester R Brown
The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho (HarperCollins, 2009)
web
http://withouthotair.blogspot.com/
http://www.carbontradewatch.org/
http://www.onehundredmonths.org/
http://climatecamp.org.uk/
http://www.campaigncc.org/
http://risingtide.org.uk/
http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/
http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/media/adobepdf/4/e/Arena_67_July_09_Complete.pdf Turning the heating down by 1 degree leads to significant energy savings, turning off devices on standby does not.
Assume mobile phone charger uses 1 watt (in reality much less). 1 watt for 1,000 hours is 1 KWh, ie one unit of electricity, ie a one bar electric fire on for one hour or an electric kettle on for twenty minutes.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/charger/ At Guildford farmers market, the same energy saving nonsense, turn off your devices on standby. On the same stall, a leaflet on ground source energy pumps that was plain wrong. Talking to the woman manning the stall it became increasingly obvious that she did not have a clue what she was talking about.
http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/gu-ford.htm Last month at the Alton Food Festival, Greening Alton were spouting the same nonsense, turn off your mobile phone chargers on standby to save the planet. To be fair to Greening Alton, they were also making some sensible suggestions, like insulate your house.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434336.html It is deeply disturbing when those promoting energy saving are unable to differentiate between those savings that make a difference and those that do not. Turning off mobile phone chargers on standby is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a tea strainer.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/charger/ If we are serious about climate change we have to achieve BIG energy savings, move to renewables. Anything less is pissing in the wind.
We also have to reduce our consumption of consumer junk which passes through our hands on a one-way trip to the rubbish dump.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/ http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-3058533428492266222 Meanwhile in the real world ...
Farnborough Airport is pushing for a doubling of flights
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434470.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435417.html?c=on Using new figures to show the effect of plane emissions, aviation now accounts for 4.9% of climate change worldwide
http://bit.ly/oxCkY Recent study shows emissions from planes, at altitude, have 3 times the effect on climate as those emitted on the ground
http://bit.ly/oxCkY Farnborough airport - private and business jets – has an average occupancy per plane of 2.5 passengers!
On the Isle of Wight the UK's only wind turbine factory has closed down and today those mounting a sit-in are facing eviction by the bailiffs.
http://savevestas.wordpress.com/ http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news6853.php http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435189.html http://tinyurl.com/nkhq96 http://tinyurl.com/nfd8gq http://ventnorblog.com/ http://bit.ly/ytVpw http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/vestas_petition_20414.html http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveVestas/ The over-60s free bus pass scheme may be scrapped. Too many over-60s are leaving their cars at home and using the bus!
http://bit.ly/PHlc8 Carbon trading and carbon offsetting is a con. A market for City Speculators, nothing else.
http://www.carbontradewatch.org/ Plant a tree to offset a short haul flight. Err, no. Greenhouse gas emissions in the upper atmosphere (where they do the most harm) are emitted during a 4-hour flight. The tree takes 60 years or more to absorb the carbon, then releases it back into the atmosphere when the tree dies.
Another con is Green Electricity Tariffs. Consumers are already paying a premium for energy companies to meet their renewable obligation. To pay a green tariff is to pay for the same thing twice over. Green tariffs are merely a spread sheet accounting exercise. Buy from an energy company that only sources from renewables. Better still, generate your own, contribute to and support community renewable projects.
Where is the UK commitment to the Climate Change Act, which makes mandatory 80% cut in greenhouse omissions by 2050? Where is the commitment to the recent G8 agreement to hold global temperature rises to within 2 degrees?
It is business as usual with a handful of at best well-meaning fools tilting at windmills.
An absolute must read:
Sustainable Energy by David MacKay (published by UIT Cambridge, 2009)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415544.html?c=on Also read:
Soft Energy Paths by Keith Parkins (May 2001)
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/energy.htm Funny Weather by Kate Evans (Myriad Editions, 2006)
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/funny-weather.htm Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDounough (Vintage, 2009)
Plan B 2.0 by Lester R Brown
The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho (HarperCollins, 2009)
web
http://withouthotair.blogspot.com/ http://www.carbontradewatch.org/ http://www.onehundredmonths.org/ http://climatecamp.org.uk/ http://www.campaigncc.org/ http://risingtide.org.uk/ http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/
Keith Parkins
Homepage:
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/
Comments
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07.08.2009 18:33
Green and Black
Hamster powered phone charger
07.08.2009 20:05
tex
But
10.08.2009 12:46
On a personal level a lot of things don't make a difference, but if every person in the country used 1W of power less per hour, that's millions of KWHs in total.
Sometimes people need to be slowly introduced to concepts and folk shouting "You're not doing enough" isn't likely to help.
1 person saving a small amount isn't much. 1000 people saving a small amount helps a lot more. Everything counts in my book, from the big things all through to the little things.
CW
Energy myths
11.08.2009 14:54
If we are serious about climate change, we have to think big and act BIG, otherwise we are pissing in the wind and deluding ourselves. Anything less is bailing out the Titanic with a tea strainer.
I gave as an example a phone charger off-charge as consuming 1 watt to keep the maths simple. It actually consumes far less.
It is neither here nor there if we leave our phone chargers on or off. It makes no sodding difference!
Insulating our homes makes a difference, as does changing our modes of transport.
Farnborough could insulate all its homes. It would make a significant difference. That difference would be wiped out if Farnborough Airport is granted planning consent to double the number of flights. Farnborough Airport is an exclusive business airport. Average occupancy per flight of 2.5 passengers!
The current airport tax is a tax on travellers. The tax should be on airlines per flight.
A large part of our energy consumption is in the consumer crap that makes a one way trip to the refuse dump via our homes. Industry and commerce waste a huge amount of energy.
Yes, we need lifestyle changes. There is no correlation between the amount of energy we consume or the GNP per capita and our personal wellbeing. An incoming flight crashing on Farnborough would do wonders for GNP, but is there an increase in personal wellbeing? Did you really need that can of coke, sweetened fizzy water with a whole load of issues of human rights and environmental abuses behind that can? That one can wastes hundreds of litres of water. There is more value in the can than the contents. The can has an embedded energy of 0.7 kWh, ie equivalent to leaving the phone charger on standby for 700 hours!
Job Centres are bullying the unemployed to travel one and a half hours to work with the threat of loss of benefits if they refuse. It used to be a limit of one hour. We should be travelling less to work not further.
Next time you sign on, ask how they are meeting their commitments under the Climate Change Act to achieve 80% greenhouse emission savings by 2050. While you are at it, ask them about compliance with the Human Rights Act. Degrading treatment is an abuse of your human rights.
The dangers of people doing something insignificant that makes no sodding difference, is that the smug bastards then go round thinking they have done their bit to save the planet and do nothing more.
The good folk of Farnborough would do more to save the planet if they got off their arses and shut down the airport, than if they all turned off every device they had on standby. One is to do something useful, the other is to fiddle while the planet burns.
Ignorance is bliss!
Keith