Monthly Archives: May 2015

One thing we have learnt this week -Indian Energy

There was a very interesting article in the Guardian this week looking at Indian energy.  More particularly the Indian governments attitude to coal power and solar energy.  The whole article shows the tension between good intentions and development in the … Continue reading

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James Watt’s Steam engine

Its approximately 250 years (last week) since James Watt’s Steam engine was invented and with it the industrial revolution.  James Watt’s Steam engine had a huge advantage that it used a separate condenser.  Up until then the existing engines had … Continue reading

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One thing we have learnt this week- nuclear is more expensive than we thought!

Nuclear is more expensive than we thought? That’s the lesson this week as the private consortium tasked with cleaning up the UK’s “magnox” reactors is laying off 1600 workers.  There is a suspicion that this could be a prelude to … Continue reading

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Grid capacity restrictions hit solar

As a community energy scheme opened in Bristol last week there could be problems getting other such schemes off the ground due to grid capacity restrictions.   This is very much the case in SW England and Wales.  It seems that … Continue reading

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One thing we have learnt this week – junk food costs less

One of of life’s great mysteries is why junk food is so much cheaper than unprocessed food.  Almost everything we use is laden with oil or gas (as embedded energy).  In fact its difficult to think of anything in modern … Continue reading

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What an earth is going to happen to the oil price?

What an earth is going to happen to the oil price?  This is the question going around in my head at the moment.  The oil price has been creeping up almost unnoticed over the last month or so, as a … Continue reading

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One thing we have learnt this week-climate change and the election campaign

As the UK’s general election campaign draws to its bad tempered close (for the moment?) the big surprise is how little climate change and energy policy has featured as an issue.  After all the UK government (whoever that will be) … Continue reading

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Climate refugees

Is the current global refugee crisis going to be a picnic when compared with climate refugees?  At the moment in the UK general election some surveys have immigration as the number 1 issue. At the same time thousands of boat … Continue reading

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One thing we have learnt this week- Church of England has divested

The big news this morning is that the Church of England has divested at least partially from investments in tar sands and coal.  I was very disappointed to learn that the Church of England had investments in tar sands although … Continue reading

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