Irish Government announces national insulation programme for economic recovery

The Irish Governement today 8th February 2009, announced a new €100 million investment program to assist home owners to increase the energy efficiency of their homes through insulation.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley today launched the national insulation programme for economic recovery. The three-strand insulation programme will cut heating bills for householders, reduce carbon emissions and create thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly over the course of 2009.

Announcing the investment Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said, “This programme will provide a welcome boost to the economy. Central to Government spending in sustainable energy is to get the economy back on track. We need to replace the spending and lending that has contracted and re-focus our public and private investment.

Insulation makes homes warmer and more comfortable. Householders can expect to have their heating bills with reductions of €700 per annum. This means more money in their pockets. Construction workers will benefit from the thousands of jobs these measures we create. These will be jobs for trades-people throughout the country.

In our current economic climate we need direction and radical thinking. This insulation programme saves energy, saves money and creates jobs. This is what our people, our homes and our economy need at this time”

This is an excellent program, infact I was thinking about getting further insulation in my home this year, but was worried as I work for myself that the money put in would take several years to pay for itself. And with the current economic conditions and the "fear" (I am not too worried but...) that money will be a bit slower in collecting this year any investment with several years of return is more risky. But with this new initative it is now a no brainer for me and hopefully I will qualify, then its straight to BER Ratings company Ber Necessties for my BER Assesment. Hopefully I will score enough to get a reasonable grant. >:¬}

It will also help reduce my monthly heating bill which is now over €200 per month during winter thanks to the Mad gas prices.. Ok I would say a lot of these grants are been funded by the extra monies the Irish Government has taken in from the fuel pumps these last few months now that the price per barrell has reduced to something akin to what it was almost 4 years ago but the price at the pump is almost 60% that what it was then... but thats just the cynical part of me thinking that. Atleast they are givining it back in some form. So this kind of taxation I do not mind.

The programme will consist of a number of grant schemes:

The Home Energy Saving Scheme (private middle income homes) - €50 million

Warmer Homes Scheme and Local Authority housing (low income private homes and rented local authority housing) - €50 million

Grants to support a range of improvements will be available.

The Home Energy Saving Scheme (middle income private homes):

Application process:

• It is expected that the scheme will open for homeowner applications in March 2009. At that time, applications can be made through Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), online at www.sei.ie/hes or by post on forms which will be available on request by ringing 1890 927 000.

• SEI are now accepting expressions of interest in participating in the scheme. Homeowners who have expressed an interest in the scheme will be advised when the formal application process is available.

• After registering with SEI, homeowners can immediately arrange for a BER assessment to be carried out, if they wish, without awaiting from grant approval. However, the grant for the BER will only be payable after upgrade measures and follow up BER are completed. Applicants must complete the formal application form and await written grant approval before having upgrade measures carried out.

Eligibility:

• The scheme is aimed at older houses that would not typically have the energy efficiency features of recently built homes. The scheme is open to all houses built prior to 2006. Houses built from 2006 onwards should be built to the Building Regulations 2002 standard, which specifies high quality insulation and heating controls

Objectives

The objectives of the Home Energy Saving Scheme are:

(1) To reduce energy use and CO₂ emissions from the existing housing stock, and

(2) To support the development of the energy services industry in Ireland.

Eligible measures:

The table below sets out:

· the eligible measures and the set grant amounts available.

· the typical improvement in BER rating that could be expected from each individual measure, done in isolation. Note that in estimating the total potential BER improvement, if the full range of measures is installed, the potential BER improvements for each measure should not be added together.

· the typical payback period for each measure, arising from energy saved.

Measure	Grant rate	Typical net BER improvement	Typical payback (years)
Roof Insulation	€250	10-20%	3-6
Cavity Wall Insulation	€400	15-20%	4-5
Internal Wall Insulation	€2,500	25-30%	7-10
External Wall Insulation	€4,000	25-30%	15-20
High efficiency boiler plus heating control upgrade	€700	25-30%	4-5
Heating control upgrade only	€500	15 -25%	4-5
Building Energy Rating	€200

Minimum investment:

• A minimum level of investment is required of householders to participate in the scheme. Householders must avail of measures (excluding BER) involving a minimum grant payment of €500 for a first application. This means that householders cannot avail of a grant for roof insulation or cavity wall insulation only. These low cost measures must be undertaken together or with another measure.

Heating controls and boilers

• To avail of the €500 grant for heating controls, a homeowner must install a range of time, temperature and zone controls on their heating system and electric immersion water cylinder. This low cost measure can improve a home’s BER rating by up to 25%, yet has a payback of only 4 to 5 years.

• While heating controls can be added to an existing heating system, it is particularly attractive to any homeowner replacing their boiler to also install heating controls at that time. Under the Building Regulations 2008, anybody replacing an existing oil or gas boiler must install a condensing boiler with a minimum seasonal efficiency of 86%. Condensing boilers with an efficiency of up to 95% are available on the market. This additional efficiency can lead to significant savings. A grant of €200 towards the cost of these higher efficiency boilers is available to any homeowner who is also installing heating controls.

Wall insulation options

• To insulate the walls of their home, owners may have a choice of cavity wall, internal or external insulation, depending on the construction of their home. Homeowners should seek professional advice on which option is most suitable for their home.

• Where a house has a suitable cavity, then cavity wall insulation is the most economical investment. Where this is not possible the options are either internal dry lining or external insulation. Internal dry lining, while considerably less expensive than external insulation, will ultimately reduce somewhat the internal habitable space of the home and may not be practical where there is decorative internal plasterwork. External wall insulation may prove preferable where a significant upgrade to the external facade is already envisaged. Both may result in additional works in order to reinstate electrical, plumbing and glazing fixtures.

Building Energy Rating

• A BER assessment is not required for participation in the scheme. However, a BER carried out prior to works can provide useful advice to a homeowner on the upgrade measures he or she needs to take to improve the home’s energy efficiency. A BER conducted after the measures are finished can establish the impact of the works and give the homeowner comfort regarding their investment.

• To avail of the BER grant of €200, a homeowner must have a BER assessment conducted before and after works. Anybody wishing to secure the services of a registered BER assessor can find details at www.sei.ie/ber. Homeowners should shop around for the best price.

Contractors

• SEI will be registering contractors for participation in the scheme on the basis of commitments to a range of Terms and Conditions, including specified competence and experience requirements, as well as specified tax and insurance criteria. Contractors should contact SEI on 1850-927000 or at hescontractor@sei.ie for further details and to receive application forms. Alternatively, log onto www.sei.ie/hes

The Warmer Homes Scheme (low income or for those on a social welfare allowance):

The Warmer Homes Scheme is part of the Low Income Housing Programme, administered by SEI. The Scheme was introduced in 2002 and provides funding, through community based organisations, to those on low income for the installation of energy efficiency measures in their homes. Already, up to 9,750 energy efficiency improvements have been made including upgrading the fabric of the building with attic insulation, cavity wall insulation, draught proofing the home and provision of lagging jackets. Homes that receive the full suite of available measures under the current scheme will have the potential to achieve energy savings of up to 50%.

There are currently twenty community based organisations involved in the Scheme. All homes will receive a “Keep Well, Keep Warm” booklet shortly and a website will be available. Applicants should see http://www.sei.ie/ for further detail on how to apply to community groups involved.

Flood in the Dodder River

A tree broke near the river with all the rain we have been having over the last few months and then got stuck by the bridge which formed a natural damn. If you see in the background behind the Dropping Well pub there is a nice lake.... well that was the car park. Don't think I will be going to the Well tonight!

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Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico discovered a way to utilise the power of sunlight to produce methanol and or gasoline (petrol). Now I must say at first glance this is exciting but unfortunately if they discover a way to perfect this then this could assist in reducing the overal global contribution of large power plants and general industry to the Global Warming contribution with their outputs.

Maybe if Governments were not so short sighted they could force the oil companies to contribute some of their massive new profits to invest in this and a few other Carbon Scrubbing technologies. Sunlight to Petrol method they claim that it

reverses the combustion process, recovering the building blocks of hydrocarbons. "This is about closing the cycle," said Ellen Stechel, manager of Sandia's Fuels and Energy Transitions department. "Right now our fossil fuels are emitting CO2. This would help us manage and reduce our emissions and put us on the path to a carbon-neutral energy system."

.

The prototype device, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5, for short), will break a carbon-oxygen bond in the carbon dioxide to form carbon monoxide and oxygen in two distinct steps. It is a major piece of an approach to converting carbon dioxide into fuel from sunlight.

“Our overall objective with this prototype is to demonstrate the practicality of the CR5 concept and to determine how test results from small-scale testing can be expanded to work in real devices,” Miller says. “The design is conservative compared to what might eventually be developed.”

But then if you can imagine that every C02 producing power plant had one of these connected, then it could completely close the loop with not only stop the pumping of more C02 into the environment, but lengthen the time we have with fossil fuels. This could be a win win situation.


Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2


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Global Warming | Alternative Energy | recession | Oil
Stumble It!

The Price of Oil going to cause the next Global Recession.

The Price of Oil and how it is going to cause the next Global Recession, but there is something we can do about it!

I just received this in my email, and I must say its brilliant. Usually I just delete the chain mails, but I got this through Digg (now spammers please don't use this method) and I must say its simple and ingenious, and I for one am going to follow this though in Ireland. Rabbit About: Forums - Petrol Prices - I know this has been going around for a while, but.....

The price of Oil, Petrol, Gas what ever you call it has gone through the roof and its something that really frustrates me on how much like cattle we are to the GREED of the oil industry, they stumbled upon a way on how to easily make massive profits on fear.

The first big hike in prices was the invasion of Afghanistan and then it went up a few cents, to almost $50 (US) wow it was expensive, then it was the fear that the Oil would stop flowing after Iraq, well it didn't but the prices stayed high at over $70-80 a barrel. And the Oil experts were saying that the prices here to stay because of the constant fear of the Middle East exploding.. hell when has it not been in fear of this. But I think then the industry as a whole had an Eureka moment!

They then realised that just the fear of something happening in a local event will make the pricing crazy with almost double percentage growth change in the price in a few short days.. It was the storm in the Gulf of Mexico that pushed prices above $85 (not too sure of the prices at the time but I think its accurate). Now the Gulf only produces not even 10% of the Oil Production in the US, which equates to not even 2% of world production. The storms were going to effect the production for a few days maybe even weeks. But now all of a sudden it made a big difference on the Global Market, forgetting the fact that if the production was seriously effected the US Oil reserve would have taken up the slack and the Federal Government could have made the companies step up production to shore up the short fall when the storms abated. Forgetting the fact that previous years there were storms and it did not make much of a difference in the price.

We have been conditioned by fear to accept these prices, as a part of life, but what has been forgotten is that production costs have not increased by 300% in the last few years. But the cost to the consumer has. Another big jump was the scare of Russia has or is about to pass the Peak Production cycle. Bam! another jump in prices on the global stage. Forget the fact that the US passed theirs in the 70's at the same time there was a ARAB OIL PRODUCTION EMBARGO! Which means they were not selling theirs to the west at all. There were massive fuel shortages all over the world, ques at pumps for miles and I remember my father filling up several gallon tanks at a time and leaving them at the bottom of the garden because he and no one new when they were able to get oil again... NOW THAT WAS FEAR, REAL AND JUSTIFIED. Then the price of Oil increased from about $5 to about $9 in two years. But there was a real shortage then the price increases were justified as there was scarcity of supply. More Pricing here.

The ironic thing was when Opec discovered the new pricing model they discovered not only new world power but how much more money they could make.

We are going to face a world where Oil will become more scarce, and yes I do strongly believe that we should seriously look at decreasing our dependency in Oil and its by products which are just huge, from our tooth brush to beauty products. I would much rather the actual increases be levied on us not by the oil industry but by our Governments who pocket the lions share of the increase and they say and allocate all of this money into research into Alternative fuels and new sources of Energy, hell even go to the Moon to mine for Helium-3 (have a nice post in draft on this).

But no the vast majority of these profits are going to the Oil industry and lining their pockets with even greater funds. The price of Oil has been the single largest contributor to the current state of the Global Economy. With more money and wealth transferred from the Middle and Working classes because the cost of the every day items increasing dramatically directly in the cost of just getting the goods to the store, then from actually getting to the store to buy them through to the actual cost of the raw materials themselves (plastic industry, paint some foodstuffs etc).

Over the last several months we have seen food riots across the world because of price increases now other every day goods are going to start doubling in prices if we do not do something about it... because if we do not we will see a Global Recession with mad inflation and there will be nothing we can do about it.

So please do something and stop this spiral of increase in the price of OIL!

So why not teach the industry a lesson and actually search out the cheapest supplier of Oil/Gas/Petrol you can find and keep on going to them and Prove to these Greed infested monsters that we the little people can actually make a difference!

The statement below is from Energy Information Administration
Do consumers impact gasoline prices?
Consumers have very little power as individuals but, if enough consumers give the same “market signal,” they can impact prices. First, when consumers buy gasoline at service stations in their areas with the lowest price, they take market share away from higher-priced stations; these stations may then eventually reduce their prices to be more competitive. The second way consumers impact the market is by reducing gasoline consumption. If enough people reduce driving or switch to more energy-efficient vehicles, gasoline demand would decline and prices would be dampened.

Visit RabbitAbout this Snip taken from them..
I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ..

THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Seed Newsvine
Global Warming | Alternative Energy | recession | Oil
Stumble It!

CLIMATE CHANGE – RESEARCH SUGGESTS IT IS NOT A SWINDLE

Skeptics claiming that Man Made Climate change is nothing but a puff of smoke (all be it carbon ridden smoke >:¬} ) have been delt a blow this week with research published ealier this month from the Institute of Physics.

The research published on Thursday 3rd April states (in was to refute the Channel 4 - UK) piece called "The Great Global Warming Swindle", broadcast in 2007, suggested that global warming is due to a decrease in cosmic rays over the last hundred years.

The new research shows that change in cloud cover over the Earth does not correlate to changes in cosmic ray intensity. Neither does it show increases and decreases during the sporadic bursts and decreases in the cosmic ray intensity which occur regularly.

Now I am infact a proponent of Global Warming is happening but it is also caused by a huge range of events, from Man Made, Cylical, Decrease in Magnetosphere etc. But I do think that while most politicians are now claiming that there is a problem, they are still doing nothing or atleast very little about it. There are many things we can do to atleast reduce the affect of the Man Made elements, and at the same time lead mankind to a better healther future. But most politicians are looking for the 8 second sound bite and no real concrete planning (environmentally friendly concrete ofcourse).

The one thing I am worried about it is that there could be so much fear mongering that stupid things will be implemented, billions of Euros wasted and nothing much done. But I heard an interesting interview a few weeks back on George Hook with a man who was not disputing Global Warming (will get the refence to it later in a talk back) but was saying that we could do so much more for people now in the very short time with a fraction of the investment and see instant results, whilst at the same time put inplace proper medium planning to help reduce the effects of the possible future clamity which is very hard to stop now.

But what it did do was raise a excellent point in that with politics and media clamouring end of the world and oh woe claims this puts things into context and atleast opens the debate in a planned way and what we can actually do. In otherwords everything should be run through a "Cost Benifits Analysis". Spend 50 billion on neculear power plants and they take 10 - 15 years to build and only start to reduce Carbon productions in 25-50 years (after you take the actual build into consideration) or reduce direct taxation on wages and increase the tax on heavey carbon producing products, yes you are giving to take away, but atleast the general mass's will not suffer in the process too much and there is direct correlation to the increase in tax take to planning and development of proper public transport.
Subsidise fully or almost fully energy saving products for the home, either by grants or through tax breaks. Here again there is direct benifits and instant. House's will cost and use less to heat thus there will be less requirement for power production.

There are a whole host of simple things that can be introduced but are not Sexy so they don't get the chance or airing but they should.




Seed Newsvine

Stop stealing our forest!

Stop stealing our forest!
Got this invite to a site just before I was going to head of to bed, and I am glad I did. Its from the Friends of the Earth Netherlands and they have an action group that is visiting cities and planting trees around them at night trying to promote the fact of illegal logging world-wide.

This is a major contributor to the damage done to our global environment, it does more damage to the world then smoking does to a person. As we are cutting out pieces of our lungs by doing this. And all of the global efforts in replanting just doesn't come close to the amount that has been stolen from the globe.

There are so many action points to consider in the fight against global warming but this one should be close to the top of everyone's list. What these guys are doing is illegal, but it is probably one of the very best ways of bringing the issue to the forefront. Well Done! I will do what I can to help.





Global Warming

Irelands Carbon Budget

The Irish Minister for the Environment John Gormley (Green Party) has announced a Carbon Budget today in Dail (Irish Parliament). In essence the policies will be:

Every Government initiative will "carbon-proofed" prior to instigation.
Their is new Motor Taxation on cars that will charge owners of larger cars by the following:
Motor tax rates will be graduated as one moves up the CO2 bands.

* Band A (under 120 grams per km) - €100.
* Band B (121-140 grams per km) - €150.
* Band C (141-155 grams per km) - €290.
* Band D (156-170 grams per km) - €430.
* Band E (171-190 grams per km) - €600.
* Band F (191-225 grams per km) - €1,000.
* Band G, the top band -€2,000, reflecting CO2 emissions of over 225grams per km.

"The clear objective of this new motor tax system is to influence the purchasing decisions of consumers by rewarding the buyers of low-emitting cars and charging a premium on less efficient vehicles," Mr Gormley said.

Also he announced that incandescent bulbs will no longer be sold in Ireland by January 2009.

These are a start, but to be honest with you it is nowhere near enough. I would have expected so much more. If it was me I would have insisted on the following:

Tax Credits to all apartment management companies that install solar and wind powered generation to contribute towards the running of the electric power of the complexes

Issue "fuel stamps" like payments to every householder of €100 to purchase long life bulbs (total cost €146,952,100)

Place 100% environmental Levy on standard bulbs (potential revenue €95,812,769

Nett cost of the last two is a maximum €51,139,330 Saving to the consumer on power (average) €125 per year on electrical charges.

We would also reduce upto 700,000 tonnes in carbon emission production.

But because I am not in power can't do this, but I will make my own representations on this.


Carbon Budget

If man made global warming is a myth does it really matter?

There has been thousands, no hundreds of thousands of pages written on global warming, its effects and how it is going to damage and destroy life as we know it. Depending on your point of view man is 100% to blame for the current crisis, or man is not to blame, but it is a normal circular pattern of the global climate for the last number of eons.

Now I do not know which side is right, personally I think both are right and both are wrong. There is not enough data to say (this may surprise you that I am saying this) that man is to blame, but neither is there enough to say that he isn't. What is REAL IS THAT IT IS HAPPENING, and we can actually effect the results and the actual damages to ourselves and our planet.

From my research albeit done from a layman's point of view (but I would like to think an informed and open minded stance) from man been 100% to blame for the current situation to I would say anywhere between 30-50% to blame. Over the last few years research has come about that has led to some interesting facts, that were once theory.

1. Magnetosphere - This is an area that surrounds the planet that in essence protects us from the deadly solar winds that bombard us constantly, and which when the sun goes into its heavy cycle of flares protects us from becoming like Mars. DEAD! For more detailed information on the Magnetosphere and what it is, go to the boys in Nasa they seem to know a bit about space! This image was taken from the National Geophysical Data Center on the pages concerning Geomagnetism. Now you may be wondering why I am mentioning this in an article about Global Warming. Well its because this protects the Earth and its weakening.... Oh no not another thing we have damaged, well I don't think we have anything to do with this, but it is regular every couple of hundred thousand years it gets weaker and lets more of the harmful rays of the sun in.... we get hotter. Now for the last few hundred years it has gotten markedly weaker, this also happened to coincide with the start of the Industrial Revolution and our exponential growth. The weakening is a part of nature and in essence it is a way for the system to reset itself. Now once it goes and resets itself it will be back to almost near full strength but the fact it is weaker now than it has been for the last few tens of thousands of years and lets more and more of the Suns rays in will in effect increase the effect of Global Warming. One of the nice things when it goes is we will have much more Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights all over the planet. But it will heat us up even more, and with Mans own contribution in the over production of Methane, Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide it doesn't help. Another weird effect is that the magnetic polls reverse, in that North becomes South and vice a versa. Here is a chart on the growth of the number of posts on Magnetosphere English posts that contain Magnetosphere per day for the last 30 days. Also from 2010-through to 2016 there will be a series of major Solar flares which will hit us, when the Magnetosphere is at its weakest. Now this coinciding with an expected increase in Greenhouse Gas emissions and further warming could cause some serious damage to the environment. But I am just a layman what do I know.
   
   
   Get your own chart!

1. Global Dimming - Now I wrote about this in a previous post on the Effects of Global Dimming produced by the BBC and Horizon team. As stated here an what they discovered is that the effects o Global Dimming in fact actually reduced the Global Warming effect on the planet. But not any more... we kind of cured Global Dimming (which was a major contributor to Bob Geldof making a come back and becoming "sir" because o the World Aid). Global Dimming is (taken from NERC - National Environment Research Council) airborne particles in the atmosphere, released since the start of the industrial revolution, mean less sunlight reaches the planet's surface. These small particles reflect the sun's heat back out to space - global dimming. Remember the whole in the ozone layer?? That was created by all those nasty CFC's (Chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant) these were found in fridges, hairspray etc. well we kind of got rid of them and then this reduced the actual overall effect of Global Dimming. This then had a direct result in letting more of the Suns rays hit us and stay in the atmosphere and heat us up more because there is more Greenhouse Gases now. English posts that contain Global Dimming per day for the last 30 days.
   
   Get your own chart!

There is not need for me to go into any further of mans direct affects on the Environment as these are already well documented. But to be honest with you we really have to make a greater effort in curbing or waste into landfill, recyle more, use less power and more public transport. I know I am one to speak I have done in the last year over 100,000 air miles but I am trying to off set this by almost recycling everything even down to my wormary for organic waste I wrote some small things about how to do even the simplest of things and it can make a difference here.

Over the coming weeks I will be writing more about the environment and global warming issues in a blog over at GreenCareHome.com the nice people there asked me to contribute to their blog.

Magnetosphere
Global Warming
Global Dimming
Solar Flares
Geomagnetism

New Irish Enviromental Website just launched

GreenCareHome.com is Ireland's first and leading independent green environmental website. Greencarehome.com has been established to provide consumers with quality green environmental information.

Living with climate change in the Alps.

The Alps are warming 3 times faster then the rest of the world, threatening the whole reagion.
Global warming is happening. Temperatures have already risen by 0.76 degrees since the industrial revolution and are projected to rise further by 1.8 - 4 degrees by the end of the century. The last time climate change happened at this pace was 125,000 years ago and led to a 4-6 metre sea level rise.

Global warming at the upper end of the scale predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change would have catastrophic consequences for Europe. Up to 30% of plant, animal and bird species would be wiped out and the threat of natural disasters such as landslides, floods and mudslides would increase significantly.

Nuclear Energy Hot topic again.... oh no!

Wired News - AP News
BOSTON (AP) -- "Thanks to global warming, nuclear energy is hot again. Its promise of abundant, carbon emissions-free power is being pushed by the president and newly considered by environmentalists. But any expansion won't come cheap or easy."

I am not a big fan of this source of energy, for a whole host of reasons, cost, value, what do to about waste, also it will NOT stop climate change. Even make a substantial dent.

Nuclear power produces direct and indirect emission of 68 to 230 grams of CO2 per kWh electricity produced. This comes from the mining process all the way to production. Where as wind and solar are free of emissions and within 18 months f production will have counter acted the cost in fossil fuel production in the manufacture of the farms. Wave power is close to this but the power generated has still to step up, more investment is required here, of course if they a tiny diverted portion of the funds to even promote nuclear as an option it may make a bigger difference.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study on “The Future of Nuclear Power” stated that a global growth scenario for as many as 1500 one thousand megawatt-electric new reactors would be needed to displace a significant amount of carbon-emitting fossil generation.

Excellent article on this can be found here
alternative energy

Real Time carbon dioxide emission levels for the entire world

Interesting site http://www.breathingearth.net/
They say that Ireland has a population of 4,234,925 and there is 1000 Tonnes of CO2 emitted every 12.2 minutes. 1 person dies every 15.8 minutes and there is 1 person born every 8.6 minutes.

The site displays the carbon dioxide emission levels of every country in the world in real time.

Check it out.

Global Dimming

Just to make things more complicated.

"We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.

The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel. Comparing Israeli sunlight records from the 1950s with current ones, Stanhill was astonished to find a large fall in solar radiation. "There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me," he says......"

I remember years ago my gran said those planes will ruin the atmosphere! Looks like you are right, sorry gran for not believing you.

After 911 Dr David Travis from the University of Wisconsin, Whiterwater noticed how incredibly blue and clear the skies were and unusually clear. He was researching for 15 years were the vapour trials left by aeroplanes affecting the climate (he must have heard my gran). In the aftermath of 911 the entire US fleet were grounded (aside from the bin laden family and other friend of G.W. Bush of course). He thought that the ground might make a tiny affect. He found the change in temperature range over the the days there was a change in over 1 degree in three days. None had ever seen such a big change in such a short change. This was not at the ground level but in the atmosphere where the climate is more static and constant. Take a look at the video and think some more.

Giant microwave turns plastic back to oil

Now I got to get me one of these... looks great but what I want to know is how much energy does it use to generate the oil?
Quote from New Scientist.. "A US company is taking plastics recycling to another level – turning them back into the oil they were made from, and gas.

All that is needed, claims Global Resource Corporation (GRC), is a finely tuned microwave and – hey presto! – a mix of materials that were made from oil can be reduced back to oil and combustible gas (and a few leftovers).

Key to GRC’s process is a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials. As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas."
Here is a video demonstration, bit jumpy but you will get the idea.

NASA - Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching 'Dangerous' Point

NASA - Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching 'Dangerous' Point
Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching 'Dangerous' Point 05.30.07

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.
Antarctica lost much more ice to the sea than it gained from snowfall according to a NASA survey done between 1992 and 2002. It also had a corresponding rise in sea level. The survey documented for the first time extensive thinning of the West Antarctic ice shelves. Credit: NASA/SVS

EO News: Widespread 'Twilight Zone' Detected Around Clouds - May 3, 2007

EO News: Widespread 'Twilight Zone' Detected Around Clouds - May 3, 2007
There seems to be something new under the sun -- in the sky, specifically -- that could complicate scientists' efforts to get a fix on how much the world will warm in the future. Greenhouse gases are not the only things in the air that influence the temperature of our atmosphere. Clouds and small airborne particles called aerosols also play an important and complicated role. And now a new ingredient has been discovered: an extensive and previously unseen “twilight zone” of particles that represents a gradual transition from cloud droplets to dry particles.

Hidden Resource to fight the Main Cause of Global Warming

I recently was reading my Feb 2007 issue of National Geographic and aside from the other wonderful articles they had an amazing one entitled "Forests of the Tide". In this article it raised, and I must admit I was amazed at this fact. That Mangrove forests are highly effective carbon sinks.. I quote from the National Geographic Article "By measuring photosynthesis, sap flow, and other processes in the leaves of the forest canopy, Ong and his team can tell how much carbon is assimilated into mangrove leaves, how much is stored in living trees, and how much eventually makes its way into nearby waterways. The measurements suggest that mangroves may have the highest net productivity of carbon of any natural ecosystem (about a hundred pounds per acre [45 kilograms per 0.4 hectares] per day) and that as much as a third of this may be exported in the form of organic compounds to mudflats. Mangroves, it seems, are carbon factories, and their demolition robs the marine environment of a vital element.



Ong's team has also shown that a significant portion of the carbon ends up in forest sediments, remaining sequestered there for thousands of years. Conversion of a mangrove forest to a shrimp pond changes a carbon sink into a carbon source, liberating the accumulated carbon back into the atmosphere—but 50 times faster than it was sequestered."

After this I went a little further and started going around the Net to see if there was anything else, especially more on this research and found Prof. Jin Eong Ong's page on this Summary - Prof. Ong The Hidden Costs of Mangrove Destruction. Another quote from this site " 4 June 2002 – Bali, Indonesia – The destruction of mangrove forests in SE Asia, primarily due to digging ponds for shrimp aquaculture and for wood chips for the rayon industry, is releasing as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year as 1.5 million cars..
Setting aside the obvious value of the Mangrove Forests to assist in correcting the balance at the moment they also provided immense support and protection to the areas that were hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, another quote: "Where mangrove forests were intact, they served as natural breakwaters, dissipating the energy of the waves, mitigating property damage, perhaps saving lives. Post-tsunami, the logic of allowing a country's mangrove "bioshields" to be bulldozed looked not just flawed but reprehensible."
Over the coming weeks I want to write some more on Mangroves so if anyone has anything interesting or usefull links please drop me an email or comment.

Shape my day the Quantum Way

Over the last number of years I have been thinking on the possibilities of the mind, where we have come from, where we are and where we will be in the never ending now!
I have noticed that over the last 20 years (OK its taken me a long time), either I have been more receptive or there has actually been a major increase in group awareness of the power of the "Unified Mind" and what it can achieve.

Ireland and the Celtic Tiger I feel is a classic example of an awaking to the potential. For decades essentially since independence from Britain the Irish had a down beat view of ourselves, we had probably one of the greatest inferiority complex a nation could have. We worked hard outside of Ireland and "dossed" at home. We were always the almost haves, we almost won a medal in the Olympics. We had this sicofantic notion of ourselves that we were held back from our true potential by the BRITS, why it was their fault that we did not... what ever.

The ironic thing about our "sudden" belief in ourselves as a nation of peoples who can achieve things on a global scale, to be peoples who actually matter, to be a country that people want to come to visit on holidays (in their millions) to a country that is now viewed as the land of opportunity for hundreds of thousands of Europeans is actually down to a few BRITS, Jack Charlton, Daniel Day Lewis, Alan Parker to name but a few (ok Jim Sheridan and Roddy Doyle are Dubs and Irish but go with me on this)!

Upto the late 1980's and early 1990's Ireland was a nation of major begrudgers and we were a net exporter of our own People! Then it started with Big Jack and Stuttgard 1988 ENGLAND 0-1 IRELAND all of a sudden we bet them.. we actually bet them in their own beautiful game (OK it was a Scottish guy who scored the goal). Before the game we did not even think it could happen. Our hearts dreamt of the day that we would have a team that would actually bet England, but our heads new we couldn't... sure what the hell were we doing in the European Championships anyway. We won! God I remember the parties that day. Most people can remember where they were that day as well. Hearing the stories from people you would think that most of Ireland was actually there in the Stuttgard. When the boys came back it was to a hero's welcome. Not because we won the European Championships ( we did not.. not even close) but what they did was all of a sudden our hearts desire became a reality ... We bet England in football. This was to become known as "The Stuttgart Effect"! If we could do this we could achieve almost anything. Jack Charlton gave us a belief in ourselves.

In 1989 Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day-Lewis brought home the Oscars and a slue of other awards. My god what was happening, we are beginning to believe in ourselves now.

1990 Italy world cup finals again. This time we are expecting something great. We go there in our tens of thousands essentially to do what we do best and Party. But we also now believe we can win match's! We get to the quarter finals and were robbed by the Italians. In the 1980's and before we would have been depressed, but now hell we had a great time, we loved the journey now lets party. When the boys came back they were cheered on through the streets of Dublin by over 200,000 fans.

We are now a nation of believers we can achieve things. The biggest band in the world, why its an Irish Band, U2. Waterford Crystal becomes one of the most famous desirable brand in the luxury market. Guinness, Baileys Irish Cream, Jameson, these are now world brands and Irish. We are now a nation of potential and we are proud, we brag and hold our shoulders up high. Over the course of the next 10 years we have added many other Brands to the world market, Ryan Air now one of the largest Airlines in the World.

will finish this later....Quantum

Environment on Squidoo

Environment on Squidoo Here is my new section on the Future of the Environment as I see it. Because I feel this is the most important issue facing us today this deserves to have as many pages dedicated to is as possible. Over the coming weeks I will be adding many more pages here and in my new look Gogan site. I will also be putting a substantial section on my work site Future Business.

ireland.com - The Irish Times - Tue, Feb 13, 2007 - US diplomat attacks EU's 'goofy' emissions policy

ireland.com - The Irish Times - Tue, Feb 13, 2007 - US diplomat attacks EU's 'goofy' emissions policy: "Mr Gray robustly defended the US policy on climate change, arguing that the US was investing more in research into renewables and clean coal technology than Europe. 'I don't feel we should take a back seat to anybody in terms of how we are going about this and how we are doing . . . I don't think we need to be embarrassed,' he said."

True, neither does the current administration feel embarrassed about Iraq and Afghanistan. The US administration do not want to curb their C02 emissions, but thank god that the US city fathers and many non Republican States don't follow G.W line. Otherwise we would be in a real big mess even faster (Republican States use more electricity than California by three times and are twice the norm national average and these states are not the heavily industrialised ones either!

California's emissions will soon be lower than that of Denmark, and in its own right it is in the worlds top 5 economies. If most major countries followed their lead with "I'll be back Arnie" then $60 billion world wide invested into renewables (USA did $30 billion last year) then we do stand a good chance of atleast slowing down the affects of Global Warming and buying ourselves more time.

What the IPCC didn't tell us

• 0.13 °C. The amount the atmosphere is warming each decade
• 1.3 times as much CO2 is entering the atmosphere compared with just 20 years ago
• 3 kilometres. The depth to which the oceans have warmed
• 3.1 centimetres. The rise in sea level each decade
• 90 per cent certainty that we are to blame

"The word they were most pleased with was "unequivocal". Three hundred government-appointed delegates from 113 countries were last week unanimous in agreeing what most climate scientists have believed for years: that the world is warming fast and that humans are almost certainly to blame." New Scientist 9 Feb 07

I do not know which scares me more, the fact that 113 different government appointed delegates unanimously agree or that the Environment is actually worse off than I thought!

Your right, the delegates agreeing is scarier!

U.S. behind curve on global warming | The Progressive

"The other report, released by the Union of Concerned Scientists -- the organization I work for -- and the Government Accountability Project uncovered new evidence that political barriers are hindering federal climate scientists from releasing and discussing their findings on global warming.
One hundred-fifty scientists reported at least 435 occurrences of political interference in their work over the past five years. Interference ranged from pressure to eliminate the words "climate change" and "global warming" in their communications to officials listening in on interviews between scientists and journalists.
Rather than trying to silence global warming scientists, whose research is funded by the American public, the federal government needs to listen to the experts, consider their scientific conclusions and take action."

Kathleen Rest is executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.

Hopefully now the interfernce will end, there will be World Peace, the cow will jump over the moon and G.W. will actually care about the common person.

Wonder which will come first.

"Car firms attack pollution plans" .. what a surprise

"European car makers have described plans to force them to cut back on harmful exhaust emissions as "unbalanced" and "damaging"." as seen on BBC News Site today. This I must say is a real surprise (sic). It kind of harks back to the halcian days of the catalytic converter and when the EPA (click here) the now great protector of the environment according to BIG OIL. But when the motor industry brought them in as standard it did not mark the collapse of the industry and all the jobs.

Big business is essentially afraid of change, there has been so many examples of this in the past, where companies were almost destroyed (and in many cases were) where they did not face up to the challenge of change. The ironic thing is that it is the revolutionary change that is the very best for big business. It keeps things evolutionarily fresh, it allows for exponential profit growth, it speeds up competition and provides better service to the customer!

"If left unchanged, the commission proposal would erode the economic strength of Europe ", says ACEA president Sergio Marchionne. In other words short term loss of profits for the car firms, long term loss for the world. Fear, they have learned has worked in influencing policy makers and the media loves these kind of headlines, then the politicians follow this like lemmings and the mass unwashed go it was in the papers it must be true! We then have the brave backing down and the "Close to death" business leaders patting themselves on the back and awarding themselves a larger bonus this year for "protecting" the industry.

But another vested interest that do not want us to have more fuel efficient, environmentally GREENER cars are those lovable greeners the BIG OIL. Because if the CO2 emissions are cut by 20% we will use 20% less fuel and thus save more money at the petrol/gas tank. But they forget, that their business will last 20% because they will have more fuel to sell. God I hate short term thinkers!

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Ok so the "INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE" has just produced it "
"Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis"( click to read the report). To sumerise this briefly:

1. Do nothing and we are screwed
2. Do a little and we are screwed
3. Do a bit more and we are still screwed!

We have VERY little time left to get our collective brains together and actually act. If we sit and wait for our lofty politicians to do something then go to point 1and point 2 above. We maybe lucky and they then get all excited and start on point 3 above. We really can't rely on them to lead us. The last few years have shown me that our politicians do not lead us where we want to go (Iraq, Afganistan, democracy), no they go where their short term gain is or their mid term monetary gain is for their friends.

We must act, we do not have to really do much to start really making a big difference. How about looking at this in a way that might be eaiser. Insurance has gotten more and more expensive over the last decade and by 2010-2015 (between three and eight years away) it is set to more than triple. In the last thirty years in the US alone insurance damages have gone from an average of $1,000,000,000 per year to €17,000,000,000 PER YEAR. Just imagine that you bought a beautiful new home somewhere near a coastline in the US (54% of all Americans live within a 50 mile drive to the coast), you insure your home against all risks but within the next year or so a nasty pesky hurricane, tornado, tidal surge or just really bad storm distroys it. Your covered with your insurance right.... wrong. As quoted in Newsweek 29th Jan 2007; "We believe what the scientists are telling us", says Michael Trevino, a spokesman for Allstate insurance, which paid €5.7 billion in catastrophic losses in 2005 and they have sharpely cut back on this kind of coverage. "The country is in the beginning period where we.ve sustained more frequent and more intense hurricanes," he says. "We believe it would be bad business to continue to add to our risk".

In short you are screwed, and I do not blame them, or any other insurance company for not covering this. I must admit where I sympathise with anyone suffering loss or damages on a human individual level, we have only got ourselves to blame for this, not pur leaders, or company owners (ok they could have helped a damn bit more). But we vote them in, we use there products, we throw things away, drive the big cars, go on REALLY SHORT journies and use needless power. I have been one of those wasters, but I am changing.

In my previous post I am recylcing just about everything and now I have changed my power supplier to a Wind Generating Power company http://www.airtricity.com. Within the next few months I will be changing my car. I will be doing a bit of research as to weither it is better to buy one of the brand new dual powered cars, like Saab Biopower , Biofuel Focus, or one of the hybrids. Needless to say I will use a bit of brain matter and reasrch to see which is the best in the long run, converting my existing car for biofuel or a better second hand. But what ever will have the best and least impact to the enviroment I will go for (yes and only use it when I really need to).

My friend Trevor Sargent TD (http://www.greenparty.ie/people/trevor_sargent) got me the wormery and he has saved me and will save me thousands. And I must say that of all the politicians out there he is one of conviction, honesty and integrity. We need more like him! I always viewed myself as a liberial, enviromentalist, tree hugging neo-conservative. But I finally got off the fence and see myself as a "Envirocapitalist" (you have seen it first here)!

Hopefully over the next few weeks I will be redeveloping the www.gogan.com site proper, and I will be putting in much more information on the enviroment and will leave here more for the daily/regular rant!

Don't know about you but!

I don't know about you but I have noticed that in Ireland it has gotten much winder these last few years especially the 12 twelve months are so. I have always been a supporter of Global warming (as in always agrered with the theory) but its now that we are REALY seeing the actual results. This image is from Met.ie and shows a major increase in the average temperature in Ireland over the last few hundred years.

People always say well there is nothing we the little people can do! Me thats for the lazy and the cop out ones. There is a huge amount as an individual one can do. Forget about the fact that you can lobby your local Liar (politician) but if you start been more careful in your usage of power you can make a huge diference.

I live in an apartment block here in Dublin and I am absolutely amazed at how lazy people here are. We have amazing recylce facilities here, they take everything bar organic waste (will look after this in a moment). To this end I bought myself a small wormery now I am throwing out not even a small bag of waste a month. Everything else is recyled. I am hoping that I will soon get a house and I will then be litterly throwing out nothing. So that means that at the end of one year I will have manufactured through my womery (just with my own organic waste 500 kilos of compost for my garden. This will save my roughly about €200 on compost to purchase and will have about 100 litres of liquid plant food as well. Not only that, because I am recyling everything I will also save in excess of €357 on my bin charges. I will also be changing all my light bulbs to long lasting energy efficient ones and will replace them when the old ones are used up. This will also save me

If you follow the simple steps below you can reduce not only the waste and energy you use, but increase your bank balance as well. Believe me over the coming months and years with ever increasing costs for energy starting now will make all the difference:

• Switch of all lights and TV's videos etc when you are not using them. Doing this you can save up to 20% on your fuel bill


• Turn your heating down by 1-2 degrees and save another 10%


• Use CFLs bulbs and there is another 20% saved on your lighting


• Use a wormery and save upto €300 per year

Over the next while I will be adding many more new hints and tips, these are just the obvious ones but already if you follow them you could reduce your energy bill by almost 40% in a year. But more importantly you will reduce your contribution to global warming in CO2 emissions by several tonnes per year.