Big house, stone barn conversion and who did the heat calcs? Sounds like they have big rads but and its a hell of a but, due to gas subsides gas is around 4x lower cost than electricity so you need a COP of 4 just to break even.
In the UK in 2028 the gas subsides end so gas will be around 4x more expensive and alledgedly electricity will get the subsidy and become cheaper (yeh right).
If the calculations are done right and tje insulation up to par to prevent losses then they can work as lower flow temperatures means a higher COP nearer 6 in the right conditions.
Each building needs a competent designer and not a big fossil burning high temperature gas boiler to make even a crap system work.
Great to see gold medal-winning canoeist Etienne Stott, olympic sailor Laura Baldwin, and other sports stars involved in the Extinction Rebellion protests in London.
Stott said: “I am acting to try to disrupt the toxic fossil fuel industry that is destroying everything we hold dear. I am hoping we can slow it down long enough to create a moment where everyone can stop and think where we are going and change course. I am aware that my actions will cause anger to many people and I am prepared to be held accountable. But our government should also be held to account for its decisions which are destroying our planet’s ability to support human civilisation.”
All a load of bollox really, if they really want to make a difference then they should go after the world’s biggest polluters - Russia, China and India.
I see you’re not a believer in the traditional wisdom of ‘putting your own house in order’ first Tim!
(Not to mention not being very good at interpreting statistics!)
They are changing at quite a rate, whilst they still use coal they are changing, they are vast, UK is tiny and as they make most things for the west so we have to share some of the responsibilty
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Absolutely Corona - comparing countries except on a per capita basis is meaningless - and not taking into account the UK’s export of its own emissions through outsourcing is another of the UK government’s dirty tricks!
But another important point is that it’s the cumulative totals that really do the damage - and the UK has been polluting for far longer.
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I liken this to the clamour for Johnson to go, sounds good but doesn’t solve the real problem - the Tory government will still be in power.
Perhaps this is a good time to revisit a reply I made to Tim about 6 months ago in this thread…
Here’s the way progress is made:
Scientists or others that realise what is really happening make a rational, evidenced case for change, right-thinking people accept it, and they campaign on that basis. Those invested in the status quo, and their blind followers resist the change… The campaigners struggle to make the case, have many setbacks, and even reversals at times in some places - of course! they are fighting powerful vested interests - but generally, in the long term, they succeed. This is why left ideas that seemed outrageously radical in the past are now accepted as common sense common humanity (monarchs are not divinely ordained, slavery is wrong, women should have votes, we should have a minimum wage, basic education and healthcare should be free, gay people should be able to marry, etc, etc).
This is the way all progress has always been made, isn’t it?The only difference with climate/ecological breakdown is scale. Millions died during the struggle to abolish racial slavery in the Americas and European colonies; unless the environmentalists succeed rather more quickly, billions could die.
Another ‘left is best’ reminder from our resident lecturer, I can only repeat what I’ve said many times - you don’t have to be of certain political persuasion to care about the climate etc.
Despite the UK having a right leaning government they are one of just six countries in the world to have put into law their carbon neutral targets and they rank 4th in the world for combating climate change based on the Climate Change Performance Index.
Actually I think the UK has now fallen to 7th or 8th in the CCPI - which is an index that covers less than a third of the world’s countries, can’t really be used to judge current policies (because it is heavily weighted to results of recent rather than current activity) and is generally criticised precisely because it fails to take into account the issues around ‘climate justice’ such as historical pollution and imported consumption / outsourced production.
But really comparisons of this kind are a bit silly - none of the countries in the CCPI are doing enough (as the Index researchers themselves emphasise) - so protesters like Extinction Rebellion are justified in the UK, and almost everywhere else!
To argue Londoners shouldn’t be concerned just because Canberra or Washington or Timbuktu are worse is myopic in the extreme. (Timbuktu isn’t worse, by the way!)
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The index rankings 1-3 are blank so the UK effectively ranks 4th.
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Just like with slavery you can’t change history only the future so historical pollution shouldn’t count against countries doing what ever they can.
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The CCPI includes all of the world’s major polluters - China, Russia, USA and India so is a good barometer of the effectiveness of their current policies.
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I agree that none of the countries are doing enough but the UK is doing more than most ‘to put their own house in order’ so it would therefore be more productive for ER to protest in countries that appear at the bottom of the rankings, Australia and Canada would be easy targets for example.
…but my vehicles are charging for free from solar (as long as I set the timing correctly) &, separately from the PV, my water is being heated for free as well.
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There are now 325 retailers and firms… that have signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment, the international initiative to phase out the use of fast-growing breeds, which campaigners call “Frankenchickens”. The commitment requires companies to adopt slower-growing breeds… with higher welfare outcomes and reduced stocking density.
All the major food supermarkets in France have signed up to the commitment… However, most of the major supermarkets in the UK, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, are yet to sign up to the pledge.
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Precisely! To even be considered in the index you have to be pretty bad!
But as I said, this ‘my country is better than yours - nar-nar-na-nar-nar’ chauvinism is silly - Extinction Rebellion are, thankfully, everywhere - actually they recently painted every bridge over the closest dual carriageway to us with the 48,000 annual deaths from air pollution figures - an absolutely massive logistical exercise over a huge area. You have to admit they are impressive.
Thread drift to chickens!
I am sure you will be quick to confirm the link.
This is old news, very old.
As a 14 year old (more than 50 years ago) i had a Saturday job on a chicken farm. My first job was to enter 3 massive chicken sheds that were dark and very warm and pick up any chickens that had expired. The chickens were called 8 week broilers. I was paid £1 per day which was the going rate for Saturday jobs and the farmers wife would give me a chicken too. It was then that i learned how to pluck and dress them. The chickens were delicious and fed the nation back then as now.
Very old news but I am sure the Guardian thinks it is what its dedicated followers want to read.
No doubt Brest chickens are reared organically and treated with great respect during their short lives.
For those who can afford or choose to eat the more expensive meats all is well but it is chicken and pork that feeds the world unless you are a veggie.
Graffiti artists are scum, their work is a major blot on the landscape. Impressive , really??
Edit
To address @kirsteastevenson reply perhaps i should qualify my comment as indeed i dont know the individuals who choose to deface property as they do but while they are actually carrying out this act I stick with my assessment that they are scum.
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All the more reason to treat chickens and pigs decently. We don’t need to eat as much meat as we do and what meat we do eat will be bad for us unless it is raised in a way which respects the animal’s natural requirements.
(And this is quite apart from all the ethical arguments which will no doubt be dismissed as sentimental anthropomorphism).
I don’t personally see that eating meat or eggs which have been produced in misery inducing conditions is worth it.
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“You have to admit they are impressive.”
As I’ve read @John_Scully might say, “At it again Geoff”…
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Talking in terms of per capita can be a bit duplicitous when talking about countries and climate change.
If we use China as an example in the case of the expression “that person’s one in a million”, then in China there’d be another one thousand three hundred other people just like them.
When talking in terms of per capita and climate change, when someone says “but China ‘per capita’ produces the same as the USA” what they are actually saying is China produces 4.35 times more damage to the planet than the USA. Based upon the population of China being 4.35 times larger than the USA.
Reference: China and the United States together account for about 22.7% of the total world population. China population is 4.35 times the US population , with China home to about 1.44 billion people and the United States to 331 million in 2020. Statistics Times 10 Jan 2021 - https://statisticstimes.com
Climate change is real. But let’s be real about the discussions about why.
I used to know the figures about China, it’s use of coal for power stations and it’s funding of new coal power stations in China and abroad, I will dig out the details and post them here. If I remember them correctly they were mind blowing.
Really! I do try not to get personal but this is the equivalent of me saying you are scum without knowing the slightest thing about you other than the things you put on here, which frankly at times do make you seem like scum. But as a grown, reasonable adult I know that’s a ridiculous conclusion to come to because it’s such a sweeping generalisation based on next to no evidence that does nothing other than entirely embarrassing me as the person saying it as it would clearly make me a small minded fool talking out of my rectum. A more reasoned, specific detailed assessment I’d have agreed with you on entirely, but hyperbole like this is just embarrassing, no different to saying dresssmakers are scum, motor mechanics are scum, policemen are scum. Some will be, yes, but no one aside from an absolute simpleton would ever label all the same. There do seem to be many simpletons in the world sadly though…
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