The Global Warming 'Hoax'

From time to time, I come across articles on the Web claiming that Global Warming is a hoax or a global conspiracy.

I for one would love these conspiracy theories to be true so that I can stop worrying the planet. Sadly though, these skeptics have got it wrong.

Their ideas have had their chance: Once upon a time they were the 'majority' view or, at least, the view of those that talked the loudest (like those companies and governments with a vested interest in keeping business-as-usual). "Where's the evidence?" they all shouted.

Then, of course, the evidence came flooding in (No pun intended). From retreating glaciers to thinning polar ice caps to rising sea levels to acidification of the oceans to data showing rising temperatures, the scientists demonstrated that climate change was happening and that it was very likely our fault.

To believe the 'hoax', we have to accept that thousands of scientists, all over the world, have conspired to falsify this data. In other words: Lie. To what end?

One theory is that it's to secure funding for their projects. Really? Surely there'd be more available if they took the opposite view? All those oil producing companies and countries, the car manufacturers, and the coal industry would love for global warming to go away.

Another theory is that western governments want to keep the people scared for some reason now that we're no longer threatened by nuclear war.

This all smacks of desperation to me.

No, as far as I'm concerned, when the scientific community speak with one voice, as they are on this issue, we should all listen.

The 1010UK campaign.

If you're one these people who like something to aim for, why not trim 10% off your carbon footprint in 2010 with 1010UK. They've got 10's of thousands in the campaign already including plenty of celebs and businesses. They have plenty of tips on their website and send you a regular newsletter.

Electric vs. Hybrid Cars

Believe it or not, electric cars have been around since the late 1800's. Indeed, they even out-sold petrol driven cars for a number of years after their arrival. They practically disappeared after the 1930's, but had a brief comeback in the 1990's before being withdrawn under mysterious circumstances. A few years on, and they are beginning to re-appear again. This time, it seems, they're here to stay.

One day, I'm sure, most cars on the roads will be electric. At the moment though, buying an electric car over a 'normal' one isn't a straight forward decision, even for a committed environmentalist.

On the one hand, you have a car which produces no carbon emissions or pollutants, costs just 1 to 2 pence a mile to run, has zero or very low annual road tax, avoids congestion charges (in London), has very low servicing and maintenance costs and, in some cases, won't ever rust because it's made of plastic.

On the other hand, most electric vehicles are relatively expensive to buy, have limited range (Typically 40 miles or 64 km per charge), generally look odd, are not big enough to be a family car, and the batteries cost a fortune to replace when they eventually fail.

I also wonder how much support you might get if you don't live near the manufacturers or a salesroom. For example, if I lived in Cornwall and had a new car shipped from London because it was my closest salesroom, would I get adequate backup should something go wrong with, say, the charging system?

So, it looks like electric vehicles are currently more suited to local commuting in cities which have electric car salesrooms. Certainly, they're becoming an increasingly common sight in London, where there are plenty of reasons for driving them. Elsewhere in the UK, I think it's going to take a while for them to appear in any numbers, particularly in rural areas where the limited range will be a deciding factor.

Given time though, the problems will be solved, and manufacturers will open outlets in many more towns and cities. Electric cars will then have their day (More about Electric Cars).

Until then, the way to go seems to be a hybrid car like the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid. They have all the advantages of a normal car like size, range and street cred, but they use less fuel (Particularly in towns) and pump out far less emissions (around 40 - 50% less CO2 than the equivalent size petrol car). What's more, buying a 4 or 5 year old hybrid can cost you less than £8000.

Upgrading Appliances Part 2

We've just replaced our beat-up old, inefficient (D rated) freezer with a new, A rated one.

Rather than give the old one to the suppliers of our new freezer for recycling, we've decided to give it away to someone who needs it using Freecycle. The freezer IS still useable afterall. I'm just hoping the recipient isn't a dealer who wants to make a fast buck. I guess we don't have much control over that.

UK Climate Change Measures

Since November 2008, the UK has been committed under it's own laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

This is something to be proud of. Hopefully, the rest of the world will follow our lead.

As a step towards that target, the government is aiming for cuts of 34% by 2020 and has spelt how it plans to do that here.

Actually, since we're already at 21% (the government's own figure) this means we're only planning a 13% cut over 10 years. This seems a bit unambitious considering the opportunities that are out there from things like the new generation low emission cars, renewable energies, and the public's increasing willingness to reduce their carbon footprint.

Ah well, maybe they'll see the light and revise the target upwards at some stage.

If you want to read more on all this, see here.

Carbon Offsetting

We all know that trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and pump out oxygen. So the obvious answer to global warming is to plant a lot more trees, right?

Sadly, no. There isn't enough land available for the numbers of trees we'd need to plant for all that CO2.

Don't let that put you off planting trees wherever possible though. They can be as important to reducing your carbon footprint as all those other apparently little things like using low energy lightbulbs and recycling.

In fact, doing things like planting trees, where you're trying to balance out your CO2 emissions, has it's own name: Carbon Offsetting.

Are there any other ways we can offset? Yes. There are companies out there who have all sorts of projects from planting forests, to renewable energy schemes in poorer countries, that you can support (i.e. pay) to offset part or all of your footprint.

Here are some examples: Carbon Footprint, Carbon Neutral, and Offset Carbon.

However, in my opinion, we should only ever use this when we've done all we can to reduce our CO2 in the first place. Otherwise we get lazy: we do nothing and pay someone else to do the work.

In my family's case, we might use it to offset what's left over after all our carbon reduction efforts, down to 2 tonnes per person (The U.N. recommended level). Another reason might be for the odd plane flight.

It's up to you how you use it, but if you do offset, I recommend that you research the companies you're interested in to make sure they're for real. I have no doubt that there are a few scammers out there already.

UK Wind Farms

The UK government's recent approval for several new offshore wind farm sites around Britain was good news. Even better news was that this is part of a strategy for getting 25% of our energy from wind by 2020.

However, it would seem that the 25% figure is a bit of political sleight of hand. Most will assume that this is 25% of ALL our energy needs but that's not the case.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry's own 2001 figures, only 9% of our energy requirements come from electricity. The rest is largely fossil fuel (Natural Gas 40%, Petrol 32%, Coal 17%, plus 1% from renewables). Meaning just 2.2% of our total energy needs will come from wind.

Our use of petrol and coal will inevitably decline by 2020, but what, if anything, is being done about our dependence on natural gas? Looking at government projections for 2020, absolutely nothing.

4 Steps To Reducing Your Electric Bill

This link helps you understand where your money is going and how to cut both your bill and your carbon footprint.

What Do I Do With Used Low Energy Lightbulbs?

You can and should recycle all used low energy lightbulbs.

They contain a small amount of mercury so must be taken, intact, to your local household waste recycling centre (i.e. the council dump) where they have separate containers for these bulbs. These containers are then returned to specialist companies for recycling.

See here for more information.

Why Recycle?

There are 2 main reasons for recycling:

1) Reducing Landfill. Finding sufficient places to dump all the waste we humans create is becoming increasingly difficult. We can't go on this way for much longer unless we're prepared to sacrifice vast areas of the countryside. This has become such a big problem in Europe that the EU has actually brought in legislation to force it's population to recycle a lot more. Hefty fines await those local authorities that don't meet their targets.

By the way, landfill produces huge quantities of methane (another greenhouse gas) as it decomposes, adding to the global warming problem. We can each save the equivalent of around 100kg of carbon dioxide per year by recycling all cardboard and composting all our garden and food waste.

2) Saves Energy and therefore CO2 emissions. Recycling paper uses between 40% and 64% less energy than paper made from unrecycled wood pulp.

Recycling glass uses about 40% less energy than making glass from raw materials (sand, lime and soda), as the furnaces don't need so much energy.

Recycling aluminium cans uses just 5% of the energy used to produce them the traditional way!

Recycling steel saves 80% of the carbon emissions produced when making steel from iron ore.

On average, a person who recycles nothing produces 1.5 tonnes a year more CO2 than one who recycles everything.