Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for February, 2007

end of domestic-scale chp?

Posted in chp, climate change, energy, engineering, micro chp on February 27, 2007 | 8 Comments »

It was announced this month that BG Microgen are closing their doors. Microgen is one of two major players in the much hyped and still nascent domestic-scale CHP market. Why would a company backed by British Gas, with over £50m already invested, and poised to take a significant share of a huge market (so we’re [...]

Read Full Post »

forget insulation. install a display meter

Posted in climate change, energy, engineering on February 14, 2007 | 4 Comments »

Engineers spend a lot of time during the design of a new building predicting how much energy it will consume, banging away on spreadsheets or simulation software and ending up with deceptively precise numbers. The predictions are useful as a like-for-like comparison with buildings of a similar type but the problem comes when you treat [...]

Read Full Post »

my energy slaves

Posted in climate change, consumerism, energy, sustainability on February 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Up to a point, higher energy consumption brings higher quality of life: lower infant mortality, longer life expectancy, higher literacy, etc. In communities where the main sources of energy for work are people and livestock, there isn’t much energy available, and what there is must be used in survival activities that produce a bit more [...]

Read Full Post »

ipcc report out today

Posted in climate change, energy on February 2, 2007 | 3 Comments »

The first volume summary of the fourth IPCC Assessment Report is out today and its conclusions are that there’s a greater than 90% likelihood that human activity is warming the planet and that global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8° and 4.0° this century. Importantly, the report will form the basis for negotiations to [...]

Read Full Post »