With the current global energy crisis, it’s little wonder research into alternative sources is being talked of with more urgency. Below is an example of a water powered car…Capable of running a car for one hour on 1 litre of H2o, for a distance of 80KM.

With oil prices hitting record highs, and showing no signs of weakening, global consumers are feeling the heat, not to say pain.

So what’s fueling (no pun intended) oil price rises, when analysts are already saying fundamentals do not justify current price levels?

It is thought to be fear of global shortage which is causing speculators to gamble on heavy investment. Political responses? United Kingdom; Wait and see in six months time whether to cancel proposed 2p per litre INCREASE in fuel tax! USA; President Bush is calling for offshore drilling restrictions to be lifted, calling them “outdated”. Which sounds sensible enough, until you factor in trying to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted.

So many things we pay for is determined by oil; Milk and all farm produce, because of wheat and grain, tractors use petrol. Many bathroom related purchases are related to oil, from shower gel to hair sprays. Also domestic energy is severely affected, with many of my clients now saying they cannot afford to heat water in the summer, because summer usage limitations has to effectively enable greater winter consumption. So, we are nations who can go to war in the middle east at the drop of a hat, yet we are prepared to allow people to do their washing up in tepid water…

I tend to think of the younger generation…. How much will today’s school children be expected to pay for petrol? £5 per litre? Ridiculous? Well, can someone explain to me why we will NOT get to that point please? Perhaps though, the young are the lucky ones, simply because they will never know any different, perhaps some will be too young to remember the ice glaciers before they melt away in the heat of consumer driven smog.

Clearly, with one nation presidents like Bush at the helm, with self interest being taken to the point of obsession, and weak minded puppets like Brown and Blair of UK, there appears little chance of quick recovery. Reasons for optimism? Well, Bush is outgoing, and someone might well think seriously about shooting Gordon Brown and his energy minister….With every boom there is also bust, just look at the housing market predictions…So there is another one on the horizon with oil. But exactly when is the key question, how much further will we have to go…

Tags: oil prices, enviromant, global inflation

The world is having to face up to a major crisis, as oil prices surge, inflation skyrockets, house prices plummet, and consumer credit squeezing. It may sound like a small crumb of comfort right now, but more and more is being invested in renewable energy sources.

Even so, United Kingdom is set to miss it’s target on clean technology investment. Here is the news source from The Guardian;

Britain could invest more than £100bn in renewable energy over the next decade and still fail to meet an EU target on clean technology, the government’s own renewables advisers have warned.

The Renewables Advisory Board (RAB), made up of senior figures from across the industry, says the best the UK could realistically hope for is to generate 14% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2020. The EU has set Britain a target of 15% renewable energy generation by then.

The government will next week publish a consultation on how it aims to meet the EU target - which is expected to outline measures to speed the installation of wind turbines and boost the take-up of domestic-scale renewable technologies such as solar panels.

But the industry analysis says even significant policy changes and massive new investment will not be enough. Government insiders admit they are unlikely to hit the 15% figure, and officials are already pushing for Britain to be allowed to offset some of the target by investing in clean energy schemes abroad.

In a report on the issue the RAB says 14% renewable energy could be achieved by 2020 through “significant but achievable policy changes”.

It says: “If the 15% target is to be approached we need to establish a different energy world with new policy, economic and social drivers. Many of these changes will need to be radical and will require, above all else, political leadership and a determination to succeed.”

Current policies will produce just 6% renewable energy by 2020, it says.

The bulk of the changes will fall upon the electricity industry. The EU target applies to all energy sources, but experts say there is little scope for rapid take-up of green technology in the transport and heat-generation sectors. That means up to 40% of Britain’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2020 - eight times the current level - to stand a chance of hitting the overall target.

Brian Mark, director of sustainability at Fulcrum Consulting, who sits on the advisory board, said: “The figures on electricity show the extent of the challenge. This [report] was a true attempt to give a figure which is achievable with further measures.”

To reach the 14% figure, the report assumes huge increases in the use of wind, biomass and energy from waste. The amount of electricity generated by onshore wind farms needs to jump from 1,850MW at the moment to 13,000MW by 2020. Offshore wind capacity needs to be 18,000MW by 2020, up from 394MW operational now.

On domestic renewables, the analysis says one home in every 20 would need to be fitted with solar panels to heat water, and one in 38 would need photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity by 2020. “The UK is starting from a very low base in this sector,” the report noted. Last year Germany installed 130,000 PV panels, while the UK fitted 270.

The final bill for Britain’s required renewables revolution, the report notes, would be “expected to exceed £100bn”. It is not clear how the money would be found, but a large proportion of the investment could be passed on to consumers as higher energy bills.

The RAB says there is now an “urgent” need for studies on how to extend and reinforce the National Grid to make it suitable for large-scale renewables generation. “Arguably, we are already too late [to do these],” it says. Industry experts say the UK will need 34,000MW of new transmission infrastructure to channel the power from new renewable projects. Completed wind farms in Scotland are already standing idle because they have not yet been connected.

The report also highlights the recent spate of objections to wind farms by the Ministry of Defence due to concerns over interference with radar systems as “precisely the form of policy instability which seriously undermines investor confidence”.

Britain could still conceivably reach the 15% target but only through options such as a contribution from a proposed new tidal barrage across the Severn estuary. Privately, some industry sources say the target is unrealistic, and that Britain could struggle to reach even 10% renewable energy by 2020.

Any weakening of Britain’s targets on transport biofuels in the face of concerns over sustainability would also make the target harder to reach.

Britain’s energy policy also comes under fire today from a parliamentary committee, which says a lack of urgency from government and the electricity industry threatens UK efforts to tackle climate change.

Phil Willis, chairman of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills select committee, which produced the report, said: “Unless the government starts to address some of these concerns then all these targets are pie in the sky.”

Robin Webster, of Friends of the Earth, said: “The government must deliver a strong green energy strategy instead of trying to wriggle out of EU renewable energy targets. Next week’s renewable energy consultation must set out a blueprint for a greener future.

“Britain’s abundant wind and wave power could create a new industry worth millions of pounds and thousands of jobs, cut carbon dioxide emissions and wean us off our increasingly expensive fossil fuel dependency.”

EU target for UK’s renewable energy - such as solar power for office buildings - above generation by 2020.

David Adam.

UK Chancellor  hardly has an appropriate name…Alistair Darling! His touted “green Budget” amounted to little other than delaying the “promised” 2p rise in fuel tax from April until October, giving motorists a scant stay of execution. John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said;

 “Suspending the promised increase in fuel duty has fatally undermined his boast that this is a green budget, and tinkering with tax on planes and cars isn’t going to reduce emissions when he’s also promising new runways and roads.”

Economists however, were equally unimpressed..Further reaction to the budget came from Lisa Macpherson, national director of tax at accountants PKF:

“Considering this was trailed as a green budget, the measures he spoke about were a massive anti-climax. The reality is that we’re falling further behind in the battle against climate change and the Chancellor fiddled while the environment overheated,”

Darling announced a new pollution-based road tax - Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) - which promised new penalties and rewards for the dirtiest and cleanest cars. From 2009/10 the highest polluters will pay an increased VED rate of £425, and from 2010/11, the most-polluting cars would pay a first-year VED rate of £950.

Further environment implications from the budget can be found here; Environment and UK Budget.

Sorry I’ve been a little lax with site updates recently. I note the games section of this site is receiving most attention, so I’m considering expanding that part, or even create a forum. Any thoughts on that issue, please let me know.

 In the Technology news recently, it looks News Corporation, owners of MySpace, might enter into the bidding war for Yahoo, to rival Microsofts earlier bid.

Other news, Richard Branson has called for an “envoromental war room” to combate climate change. Full story.

Finally, the official GTA4 website has opened. Soon a full preview will be coming this way…

In this era of global warming, with more and more people subject sinus, breathing problems, air purifiers have assumed greater significance. First on the review list is this AP-1720 - HEPA Air Purifier pictured right.

The machine has the benefits of Hepa Filtration, for removing smoke, dust, pollen and other airbourne allergens from the air, rated 99.97 efficient in this respect. There is also a pre filter, which is effective for removing dust, and so the theory being to increase the effectiveness of the secondary filter.

It has twin motors for “quieter” operation, though this has to be considered relatively speaking. Not everyone is capable of sleeping in the same room as a machine with a motor running!

Talking of noise, the second air machine I am looking at here is the Amcor air processor 2000. Amcor has years of experience of producing air quality products, and I’d like to say this experience has led to the company bringing better quality to the market, but sadly, this has not been my experience of their products. Being an Asthma suffer for years, as well as other allergies, I came to reply on my Amcor air purifier I bought about 12 years ago, with it’s aroma therapy disperser, twin motors, and like the above product, twin Filtration. However, this more modern machine proved a major disappointment to me, because of it’s high noise levels, which was quickly compounded by a rattling noise, making night use uncomfortable. Again, there is aroma therapy dispensary, but this time, not aroma beads, but a single unit, one fragrance only. This machine was far less durable, a lifespan short of effectiveness, and NOT recommended.

Finally, we come to the Happy Life Humidifier. Why call it “Happy life”?? Well, here I have to take sellers such as home shopping channel Ideal Vitality, where I saw it reviewed, and the manufacturers to task, because this is a seriously flawed marketing strategy. It was claimed people in the tropics are “happier” due to the tropical atmosphere, with high levels of humidity, and we in UK they claim, are seriously lacking in such humid climate.

What ludicrous marketing is that?? It may come as a suprise to Ideal Vitality but in UK we ARE a very humid country, witness the current flooding this winter. When we Brits go to Mediterranean countries often it is exclaimed the heat there does not oppress them like it does in UK during summer, even though it is much hotter. This, Ideal Vitality, is down to the LESS humidity over there! It’s the humid conditions which makes heat far more oppressive, not other way around.

So why then try to market a humidifier in UK, is there any need? The only real benefit is in winter when using central heating, which makes the air too dry. This can lead to unpleasant symptoms, and a machine such as this can counter by Humidifying with ultrasound technology and ioniser to help improve the air you breathe.

A balanced humidity helps breathing as the nasal passages and mucous membrane are less likely to dry out, particularly in centrally heated rooms.

Negative ions emitted by the unit helps to remove positively charged ions from the air making it less full of unwanted particles; this includes pollen, dust, smoke, bacteria, viruses and pollution.

The happy life humidifier can be used in 3 ways – the humidifier alone, the ioniser alone, or the humidifier and ioniser together.

So, if you live near a desert, something like this may well be of benefit. But here in UK, again NOT something I can recommend based on my own experiences. The bottom line is, if you suffer symptoms, don’t expect many machines to provide a total solution. Best to work with your health practitioner, if you can, take an allergy test, and visit Allergy UK for help and advice.

Tags: Air Purifiers, Amcor, Humidifiers, Allergens, Pollen, Air purifier reviews

I watched the One Show on BBC other night. It’s a magazine show, hosted by presenters Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley. This night the episode was particulary downbeat, even depressive, focusing on the January blues. They claimed January is the bleakest, most miserable month of the year, just before the increasing light becomes more noticable, and the anti climax after Christmas.

For those who suffer from Seasonaly Affected Disorder (SAD) perhaps one answer is Ultra Violet light bulbs (UV Bulbs) for in the home. It’s a fact that lack of natural sunlight can have a depressing effect on the brain, and it needs to be remembered SAD is not just a dislike of the dark evenings, or personal prefrences, but a a depression that comes from within the body, perhaps of genetic origin. The use of UV Bulbs can simulate natural light into the home, stimulating brain cells. They contain a low pressure mercury vapor. Striking an electric arc through the bulb produces light which is mostly shortwave ultraviolet, but includes some middlewave UV, longwave UV and visible light.

Buying options Worth a try, you think?

Tags: UV Lights, January Blues, S.A.D., Depression

I hope scenes such as this image of Antarctica by Gliderking of Flickr are not to eventually become extinct…

It’s reassuring to know that more is being done to raise awareness of carbon emissions, news source for this Enviroment Leader:

A number of companies are leaving themselves open to shareholder lawsuits, over their carbon emissions. Corporate Library, a corporate governance research group, took the top fifty emitters of CO2 and the top fifty companies that emit more CO2 than other industries in their sector, then ranked the companies using a number of criteria. Hasbro, Corning, and Burlington Northern were some of the companies that scored lower than most utilities and other large emitters of CO2 because their disclosure and reduction strategies were not detailed enough.

No such suits have been filed yet, but should a cap on CO2 emissions be passed, lawsuits would most likely come not from environmentalists, says Beth Young, author of the Corporate Library report, but from pension or hedge funds that take a loss or index funds that can’t dump the company’s stock.

Environmental lawyer Jeffrey Smith believes that winning a shareholder suit related to CO2 emissions would be very difficult. He also says that Corporate Library’s study, is “A good first step, but these issues are developing so rapidly, and the nuances of any individual company’s decisions about what and how to disclose this information make them largely incompatible with such a scoring device.”

I think to tackle any issue first the problem must be acknowledged before it can be dealt with. Clearly global warming is a serious issue, and again, what it will take is the popular will of the people to make enough difference to preserve the beauty of our planet for future generations.

This is a proposed energy saving alternative light bulb, aimed at helping the environment, by using less energy from the power stations thus reducing the the volume of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere - a key effect on climate change.

The advantages of energy saving light bulbs;

• Less energy
• Reduce energy costs
• Environment Friendly
• Savings up to around 80%

Disadvantage; Lower light level. Other words, gloomy!! Therefore, it’s far better to use these type of bulbs in areas where light is left on for extended periods, such as hallways, and stairways. It makes less sense to live in the dark, but used wisely one way of helping the environment, and make savings.

Tags: Environment, Climate Change, Energy Savings

According to a poll by Tiller Forty-nine percent of all American adults say they will make a green New Year’s resolution this year.

Given a list of environmental lifestyle changes, reducing household energy usage was cited as the most likely to be undertaken in 2008, cited by 75 percent of respondents. It was followed by recycling more (74 %) and reducing the use of harmful household chemicals (66%). Carrying fabric bags to the supermarket (42%) and reducing one’s “carbon footprint” (43%) were the least frequently cited.

The survey found that younger respondents were generally more focused on the environment than older Americans.

News source; Enviroment Leader.

Well, it seems the young are more concerned, generally, by global warming than the older people. As well they might, being as though their children might well grow up to a vastly different planet than the one we have been accustomed to. It’s good to see that, despite goverment lethargy, the will of the people might precipitate a change in attitude towards climate change.