The 10:10 Climate Change Pledge. Will you be signing up?

thescouselander

tomhill wrote: »

There are plenty of resources available for the genuine 'sceptic' (indeed, I'd hope that all scientists are sceptics since scepticism is a critical part of scientific enquiry) such as the UNEP at http://www.unep.org/climatechange/ , the Royal Institute of Science https://www.rigb.org , or Real Climate at https://www.realclimate.org/ .

I'm not sure those websites are the best places to look. After all, the founders of Real Climate are the very ones who were implicated in the climate-gate emails and appeared to have sabotaged the peer review process to prevent scientific papers contrary to their view being published - no bias there then.

Also we all know where the UN stands on this issue - I don't think we'll be seeing any discussion on anything contrary to the AGW theory the

To see both sides of the debate may I suggest going here:

http://rankexploits.com/musings/

or here:

http://climatedebatedaily.com/

tomhill wrote: »

Most of the others might better be described as being denialists rather than sceptics; their response is more often motivated by a political/emotional response and a fear of the impact of change. This means that the position not subject to reason (which, in turn, makes it a bit like debating scientology or any other anti-scientific ideology).

This attitude is exactly why the global warming movement will fail. In my opinion AGW proponents misunderstand why people are sceptical - they get frustrated at this and have to resort to name calling and blaming their reaction on fear or irrationality.

For some people global warming principals happen to co-incide with their other views so it suits them to go along with it. People with other views will be more resistant and will require convincing. The problem is there is no convincing evidence to spur people into action. All that exists is a theory and a few dodgy climate models that appear to be inaccurate.

AGW arguments seem to be contrary to what people are observing. For example global temperatures have stayed fairly flat over the past 10 years yet we are continually told things are "worse than we thought". Some scientists claim we may see cooling over the next 20 years. Since the models predicted uninterrupted warming I would have thought things are actually not as bad as we thought yet the environmentalists continue to foam at the mouth claiming the end is nigh.

In another area the met office predicted a mild winter for the UK based on the same models as are used to study global warming. I think its pretty obvious to most this years winter is not mild.

If what AGW scientists are saying does not match the reality which people actually experience they will never believe them. Add to that the mistrust people have in politicians who are pushing the issue and you have a serious problem in convincing the public. No amount of name calling will change that. The whole global warming issue has been a PR disaster.

Cardew

tomhill wrote: »

I work as a Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon/Ecological Footprinting consultant in south London.

That sounds like ARUP terminology!!!

For what they're worth my thoughts on the above are as follows.

1) A well installed solar thermal panels will typically provide around 50% of a dwellings hot water supply (based upon say about 3 people sharing). In a single person house this may rise to about 70%. Its hard for them to go much higher than this because we basically don't have enough sunlight in the winter.

You surely are not endorsing solar thermal panels?

What output do you envisage from such systems?

The UK govenment commissioned a trial of 8 systems(in London) and got an average annual output equivalent to 1,000kWh. In winter the output is next to nothing - a few kWh.

So someone with gas CH will save say £30/£40 a year for the expenditure of £thousands.

How does that score in a life cycle assessment?

tomhill

Cardew,

No, I wasn't particularly trying to endorse solar thermal panels. A post above claimed that they could provide 80% of a dwellings hot water supply and I was disputing that.

I agree with the figures you've quoted too. Its worth noting that, for most houses, hot water consumption represents a relatively small part of a dwellings energy consumption. This means that they can have (very long, if at all) payback periods. Whether or not you get them though depends upon you motivation, are you interested in reducing CO2 emissions or saving money.

Insulation, draught proofing and energy effiicient appliances are probably the best way to go if carbon and cost are your goal.

tomhill

By the way, a solar thermal panel comes out quite well in a LCA actually. It usually pays back the energy required to make it in circa 5 years. However, this just means that its relatively green, not that its cost effective!

anon_ymous

Lets just say, I personally have monitored consumption of my PC, and apart form the telly(which I rarely use-except maybe to watch Southpark at night lol) thats about the only thing I can do to use less energy. My room is normally quite cool, until the summer comes and the sun shines through, but other times the heater is needed as the central is also rubbish here


I am now getting a netbook(releasing tomorrow) It has a manufacturers claim of a 10-12 hour battery life(real battery life more like 8-10 hours, but still good value for the money)

From doing some calculations, Ive worked out it uses 12W of power, compared to the 90W of my Desktop PC and monitor(both 40Wish each) -saying this my processor is quite an efficient one-uses 45W compared to other's out there whilst also a dual core
The printer is always going to be on as its wireless, but an energy efficient one(an Epson SX600FW) and Ill need it for printing off receipts, so it'll stay in standby mode. I know not the best, but its a whole lot less than switching the PC on.

I could use my netbook downstairs in the living room, whilst the PC is in my room upstairs in the attic(BTW, its been done over, Im not a hobo lol) so its fairly cold without a heater, meaning by using my netbook downstairs Ive automatically saved energy by not using the heater, and turning my radiator off, saving even more energy

Ive agreed with my parents(yes Im a student(not mature), but I do sell computers etc on eBay..) that I will bring my 19" LCD TV downstairs that uses 75W compared to the 250W 40" telly downstairs-though why my parents bought it, I always questioned them and never got a straight reply

Im also interested in building a server, but Ill be using Intel Atom CPU's as they use little power, using a laptop hard drive inside it etc... using more efficient power supplies, so I wont be using too much

All in all, what I can do, when I buy my netbook Ive done what I can(unless of course I need the PC for stuff like photoshop or more CPU intensive tasks)

Im a bit miffed off(though a bit less now) that we have two fridges constantly switched on with only one really in use. The older fridge has now been replaced with an energy efficient one(after months, I drummed it into my parents heads to get efficient products-this was a lot easier when they saw the bills lol)

The new fridge freezer is still hardly ever in use and its big enough to fit everything from the other fridge freezer in and reducing a massive amount of power.

I suppose my next step will be to get a colour laser printer once the quality of colour on a laser printer is a little better and cheaper to run

I am however the one that is given money to buy bulbs so I buy those efficient ones from poundland, which despite what people say are actually very good and last a good amount of time. Ive installed them everywhere, apart from the living room as apparently the shape of the lightbulb holder means any non candle bulbs look tacky, according to my parents

I also suppose, Ill very rarely use a car(well maybe to the gym in winter) as I am a commuter. The train is quicker to reach Leeds than a car and is cheaper and its more environmentally friendly, so its a no brainer. Whilst I wouldnt mind travelling by bus to cut costs, it takes too long-and I dont want to use it at 7am in the morning. No thank you

yakky58

What will signing up to this petition actually achieve? Whilst we may feel good about ourselves and I do I have solar PV panels so I can claim I am doing my bit. How would we measure the effect of say 10% of the UK population saving 10%? yes we can all feel good and smug buts what is the overall purpose other than a great sense of self esteem.

Now if HM Govt signed up and said we are going to save 10% and encouraged industry to do that same via a properly planned program I can see the value. But just how many of us will sign up and then after 2 months lapse back? Is this another failed New Years resolution?

JennyR68

I've just checked my CO2 emmisions from electricity on imeasure and worked out that changing my heating system recently from electric storage to thermostatic electric radiators resulted in an overnight 18% reduction in my familys CO2 output each week.