It’s been hard to feel particularly positive about the state, and future, of the planet over the past few days. Record global CO2 emissions, after a fall during the recession. Germany easing back on nuclear power. Ongoing climate change denial among the crazy right in the US. And in the UK, a huge number of… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment
Buying electric cars for staff use, councils could slash costs
Could local councils persuade their staff to use electric cars in order to cut costs? Consultant Stephen Cirell floated the radical plan in MJ, the local authority magazine. This is his proposal. Currently the mileage rate many, and probably most, councils pay staff is well over the figure recommended by the Inland Revenue. But staff… Continue reading →
Don't be a NIMBY – own your own windfarm
It may seem blindingly obvious, but people are more likely to accept windfarms in their backyards when they actually own them. (See my blog on a community-owned wind farm at Watchfield in Oxfordshire – http://bit.ly/kB5qKo) A recent study in Germany showed that acceptance of wind power is very high, and even higher when local people… Continue reading →
Is this the car for whatever green mood you are in?
Volvo have come up with a car that could please three separate eco–concerned constituencies of drivers at once. On deep green Level I, the V60 Plug-in Hybrid (in showrooms in 2012) is a pure electric car. This week, working mainly from home, I could have plugged it into the mains and run it on electricity… Continue reading →
Strange companions catch change of wind
Edom Hills is a gale of a distance from Watchfield, but these two places are positive, and unlikely, case studies of how things might be in the wide open spaces of energy hungry nations. Edom sits at the head of the San Gorgonio Pass, close to Palm Springs in California. The blades of eight Clipper… Continue reading →
San Francisco to ban Yellow Pages and save $1 million
More news this week that the digital revolution is fundamentally changing the way we buy books, with Amazon reporting that sales of its e-books are now far outstripping those of hardbacks. So isn’t it inevitable that other ways of imparting words and information in paper form are going to decline too, and move to electronic… Continue reading →