PROF'S POSER - Dial 'S' for 'Sun'

Nothing like tapping into the best brains out there.

Sp sorry if this is another question without an answer, as yet.

This weekend I bought a solar security lamp combo.

Where it was needed rather determined where it went and, despite a 5m cable, my choices were limited.

However, I did manage, a great risk to life and limb, to get it pretty high up, to make the most of the daytime sunlight. And, despite the picture, the panel is pretty much clear exposure all day.

However, I faced it due South. And near vertical. Now I have noticed, on a nice day like today, it is missing out on any solar impact until mid-morning, though if the sun stays out it will keep it pretty much until dusk.

My question is whether this is the most sensible orientation? Two real issues. When is the sun mostly 'out', and when is it at its most solarific?

I know that data will exist, and can determine the optimum year-round setting, as I don't want to go up there again. Scaaaaareee!

In passing, I will advise that I am working on a self powered device to help panels auto-track the heat of the sun, which I'll share when complete.

RE:tie - Uses

A few business folk have dismissed the RE:tie as they can't think why anyone would use them.

How do I love thee, RE:tie, let me (and I rather suspect, nay hope, others' imaginations may add to the list) count the ways ....

Bag tie - (if you are being charged per bag, you'll want to fill it to the top. So you'll need a tie)
Bean canes -
Cable Tidy - no pix yet
Connector -
Sign-posting -
Supermarket baskets -
Wheel hubs -

ADDENDUM -

By happy coincidence, I already have come across the next batch, from nifty reuse site repurposeful (featured in links..RHS)

Bogey persons

Opposing wind farms should be socially taboo, says Ed Miliband

This should, technically, be under the ALT. ENERGY category, but I think I'll give it its own splash.

What the heck does that headline, and by association the words of a government minister, mean?

'Should be socially taboo'? Is he simple? Or just playing to the crowd at the premiere of the Age of Stupid which, a few blogs earlier I have stated I wish to watch, but am more than unimpressed that will not allow any dissenting commentary to enter their realms.

Opposing wind farms should be subject to reasoned debate, facts, objectivity and (what is left of it) democratic process. Plus...enviROI. Just because there's a big whirl thing that meets an EU target and a lobbyist's entreaties doesn't make it right.

Next thing you'll find is Ministers will go on air claiming that the court of public opinion should take precedence over the law....oh.

I think these things can and should be embraced, wherever and whenever practically and cost/eco-effectively possible. But then I don't live near any. I like the look of them. But I accept there are negatives, from noise (close up) to property prices being reduced. Such things cannot be dismissed in such a manner by breaking out of one's pod like something from 'Invasion of the Body Snatcher's and hissing 'Nimby' at folk who have other views, any more than one should throw around pejoratives like 'denier' or 'Treehugger'. Especially if thy are there and you are just passing by.

I'm with Voltaire here, and I while I may agree with much that Mr. M is trying to do, I think he has a darned doltish way of saying it.

Worried about CO2 and Methane?

Well, apart from these two well known greenhouse gases, there are now a couple more to worry about too, as this from SciScoop reports.

Apparently, concentrations of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and sulfuryl fluoride (SO2F2) are rapidly increasing in our atmosphere and both are known to be powerful greenhouse gases.

Just how many more straws can we (mankind) load onto the camel's back?

POOH CORNER - Wee Directive?

NASA delays test of space station urine recycler

And here's me thinking it was in the Carling 'brewery'.

CAMPAIGN - Action Earth

I'm often not big on campaigns, but this one looks OK:

actionearth.org.uk

A bit of sponsorship in there, but that's fine. Plus some nice funding for nifty local activities.

PR COVERAGE - And it's Rubbish... thankfully

They do say it's the awards from your peers that mean the most.

rubbish-diet-awards-2009

I'll go along with that:)

Stupid is as Stupid does

I am going to see the Age of Stupid.

I am going to do so because I have heard about it, it sounds interesting, it may be worth a gander and I'll learn something.

The producers must be thrilled.

However, they might not be so pleased that I am going with an eyebrow now cranked, and not in a good way. And it's their fault.

The rage of stupid

This bit, especially, did not help: the site's managers are taking no chances. Their comment box carries a legend that somewhat undermines this apparently glowing feedback. It reads: "Any comments from climate deniers/sceptics will be deleted."..the site's managers are taking no chances. "

That smacks of a slight lack of confidence from the off, and also suggests that balance may not be uppermost. Which means the science I see may not be the science there is.

You know, I may wait for a few more reviews where all 'sides' are allowed to comment free of censorship/agenda/narrative enhancing, etc, and then decide whether I'll go.

Now, was/is that the intention?

Big issues. No #36G.

Can cosmetic surgery ever be green?

Nice to see the Londonistas getting to the 'meat' (sorry) of the big eco-issues.

I can see this really bothering my missus of an evening. Population control (major s**t-fight on the BBC this morning. And an interesting way of spinning it in The Observer), MMGW, etc... and getting perky in a way that will impress the gels at the next eco-gathering. Mind you, we do often get excited about plastics, so maybe it's 'in the zone'.

Sadly no option to respond.

My answer to the headline is.. 'Of course. A rusty blade. Limited access to medical care, a bit of gangrene and Bob's your uncle (or boobs the colour of pus-flecked corruption).

Probably just as well I didn't get the chance.

Next up... 'Is your fresh Tofu flown in AND offset?'

Addendum

No, I think this one is better... and for real. Sadly:

The Aga saga: George Monbiot v William McGrath

PROF'S POSER - Up in smoke?

This is firmly in the 'Two wrong's do not...' camp, but I would like to know*:

Do you think the BBC environment correspondent will tell us how much CO2 and sulfur compounds has been released by the Tongan volcano in the last two days, and what % this represents of the sum of similar gases released by annual human industrial activity?

This may bring up an 'inconvenient' fact or two.

It becomes pertinent as one discusses the relative man-worsened aspects of anthropomorphic climate change. I wonder if we will get any discussion, much less answers, from some usual suspects quitekeen on rushing to print and screen with other data when it suits?

Times - Underwater volcano sends huge columns of ash into Pacific sky

Indy - Volcano shatters Pacific calm around Tonga

ADDENDUM

*I asked; I may have an answer (if from another source, and an unvetted one for now. And I await, with dread, the publishing of equally valid-looking data that claims the exact opposite) in another blog...

48. At 8:58pm on 21 Mar 2009, manysummits

We have injected a trillion (1 x 10 EEX 12) metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere since 1751, half of that in the last twenty five years, and we are increasing that by some two to three percent per year. Background volcanic emmisions from all volcanoes, including the 60,000 kilometer mid-ocean ridge system, are on the order of 0.2 to at most 1 billion (1 x 10 EEX 9) tons per year, two orders of magnitude less than we, anthropogens all, are emitting per year.

CO2 is up 38 percent over preindustrial levels (280 to 387 ppmv), and has never been above 300 ppmv for at least 450,000 years (four glacial intergalcial cycles).

The search continues.

ADDENDUM 23/03/09 - Alaskan volcano Mount Redoubt erupts -

But... do we get a big answer?

The Big Question: Does an impending shortage of vital resources threaten catastrophe?

Well, I am all for balance, but we end up with six.... 3 each way:

Will we be living in a dystopian nightmare world within 20 years?

Yes...

* By 2030 we may lack about 50 per cent of the food and energy we need to sustain everyone on the planet

* Millions of people may have been displaced from their homes and nations by water shortages

* It is more than conceivable that critical shortages of resources will lead to global instability and war

No...

* Don't take scientists' scare tactics too seriously. By overstating their concerns, they receive more funding

* A raft of technological advances and efficiency savings will ensure that the worst aspects of climate change are ameliorated

* We will certainly not become extinct – nature always finds a way

I merely note, especially as this is a climate pessimistic, action proactive paper, that the qualifiers 'may' seem to crop up in one section more, and not the one I'd imagined.

One man's meat...

Bag a polar bear for $35,000: the new threat to the species

Hard to figure the challenge of standing off an popping a high-powered round from a distance at an unarmed creature, but heigh-ho. Last time I heard the word respect used in the context above I think it was in Grand Theft Auto/San Andreas, and the protagonist had an UZI. The other guy ended up pretty much like the polar bear, mind.

And what are they THINKING???? Don't they realise that these creatures are being wiped out by man in other ways and are to only be used for promotional purposes on melting icebergs.

Seems some folk just haven't got the whole 'Save the...' gig joined up and sorted. Darned indigenous community types.

XXX-rated

I mean my comment, not the um, ad, or product, in question:)

Why bottled Bling H2O is an eco low

Looking at the bright side, and back at the main image (a lot), there does at least seem to be more than a small hint at the benefits of packaging reuse here, at least if my memory of an accidental click on a a spam email about a young lady called Cindy's love for her pet Rabbit was any guide.

The media, me, and the planet

I have mixed feelings about the media. Complex ones.

Made all the more so because, in some ways, Junkk.com and this blog have become one, of sorts, and I their reporter/editor, with all the opportunities and responsibilities that represents.

As an 'amateur', and an online blogger rather than a 'real' MSM representative, I do feel there is a difference, which can be good and bad. Mostly good, IMHO.

One thing is that I feel more credible as one of the great unwashed that is the public/consumer classes (not that anyone, from BBC editor to Guardian commentator isn't one too, or at least should have some empathy with. But often don't), and hence crank more the the odd eyebrow at some of the pronouncements for our 4th estate, especially in matters green.

I am especially sensitive to those that are sloppy on science, more for ratings and/or worst of all, straight out of 'DDAIDDAIS' camp.

There are way to many who do little more than talk, often talk tosh, and then go on to become poor examples of 'MEDIUM vs. MESSENGER', often undoing much that they pontificate on by either treating it as a one-off story or frankly seeing themselves as above the very things they finger wave at others for... often only briefly.

But there are honourable exceptions. Rare ones. And when they crop up I am going to take note, stay with them, and share. They seem to understand the concept of doing and, perhaps more importantly, sharing and leading by example.

One such is John-Paul Flintoff of the Times. His column is now linked on the blog roll at right.

I also wonder if it is no coincidence that, where I get studiously ignored or even blanked by many 'green VIPs' (I often write to suggest things to such folk), these guys also seem a heck of a lot nicer and more polite. He didn't have to, but Mr. Flintoff sought me out and wrote a very nice few words about what I'm trying to do. Which, in my lowly media position, was a heck of a thing and a real boost.

I love the smell of box-ticking in the afternoon!

Major UK retailers and brands agreed to introduce on-pack recycling labelling system

Once you read that, best make add at the front 'Some...'

I love the smell of box-ticking in the afternoon!

It will be interesting to see how national brands end up coordinating with local authority variations. Especially as this 'non compulsory' scheme is 'encouraged' hither and thither.

I, for one, look forward to yet more info crammed on my pack side, but do wonder if the missus and kids will be too inspired as they stand, binside, getting to grips with bits that are 'widely recycled', and doubt rather whether they will be scooting off on a case by case basis to 'check local recycling'. Actually our local bods do at least take plastics, at least in the swimming pool carpark skip, and we just heave it all in there, from PEP to HDPE to lord knows what.

Well, at least the bits we don't reuse on Junkk.com or pop in our RE:box weekly kerbside boxes- soon to be ditched in favour of a big green wheelie taking everything in a big black plastic bag two counties across to be turned into recyclate tonnages that most recyclers won't take due to quality compromises, but still 'count' for EU targets - will now be better directed.

I cannot wait for the multi-million campaign to create 'awareness' for all this, driving up rates and helping with the bonuses of all (well, most: the consumer is still out of this loop) involved.

Just hope the planet and our kids' futures will benefit as much as the box tickers.

Ain't green grand?

Whodathunkit?

No, minister: mandarins frustrate Miliband's green revolution

I liked this bit::

'One high-profile political colleague was surprised to find the Climate Change Secretary holding a meeting in a small side room with plastic chairs, rather than in the more suitable surroundings of a ministerial office.

"After holding court in the plush ministerial office of [former Environment secretary] Hilary Benn, it was a bit of a change to find Ed in a small room with plastic chairs, a table and a white board," said an official present at the meeting. "It looked like a classroom."'

Well, yes, I can see how not having nice offices would be seen as below the plush levels one expected of a person looking to balance the needs of economy and demands of environmental issues. 'Like a classroom'... indeed. The very idea. Good enough for our kids, though, I guess.

Telegraph - NEW - Where’s the investment needed to green the economy?

SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES - Crusty wisdom

It's a new 'theme'. I make little or no comment, but simply share.

Saving the planet the Vivienne Westwood way

In this case I found it of interest for the topic, protagonist and author.

It's a tough job...

Ethical dilemmas: is walking more polluting than driving?

Not to mention flying hither and thither in the name of 'awareness', it seems.

What a dilemma! Two hours relaxing in the soft leather seats of a billionaire's private jet or 20 hours behind the wheel of a hire car

One faced by many around the world, daily, I'm sure. Along with the other daunting choices faced. Has Mr. Harrabin got back from his scuba diving trip yet? Message and messengers again spring to mind.

Worth a read

An interesting view on the recent Copenhagen Climate conference..

What message, and whose, from Copenhagen?

Though it might be noted that even the author of this, in my view more nuanced and balanced view to almost all partisan reports I have been exposed/subjected to so far, falls a tad short on DOING, too.

Oh, the grand old Duke of York...

And when it was up it was up, and when it was down it was down...

Oceans are 'soaking up less CO2'

'Coral lab' offers acidity insight

There seems to be one constant, and that's the ability of environmental reporters to fly nice places and lounge around posting whatever latest wheeze is in the wind.

Not sure it's doing much for my understanding of climate, or my desire to cut back whilst they carry on their vital works.