Obama's Legacy?

For some years now, President Obama has been trying to make good on his promise to tackle carbon emissions in the U.S. However, he has been thwarted at every attempt to get it through the U.S. Congress, by the Republicans, who have killed off everything, no matter how watered down.

So the president is now tackling emissions via the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They have proposed a rule whereby there will be a 30% cut from 2005 levels by 2030 (See the proposal here).

These include tough limits on coal-fired plants, so the ultimate outcome may be a huge switch to natural gas fueled stations which produce around half the carbon of coal stations for the same amount of energy.

First, though, there will be a year long consultation period, and then the various States have until June 30, 2016 to come up with their plans to implement the rule - A few months before Obama leaves office.

Individual States can achieve the reduction any way they choose, whether it's by more renewables, shutting down coal stations, cap-and-trade and so on. This flexibility will give the rule a much better chance of working, especially if there are legal challenges (Which, of course, there will be).

Interestingly, by using 2005 as the baseline year, the country's emissions are already down 15%, thanks to things like the shale gas revolution. There is so much more they can do to achieve the remainder.

Aside from cutting carbon emissions, the proposed rule will also have considerable health benefits as it will also reduce the air pollution produced by the coal-fired stations - That could save around $50 billion every year.

This won't kill off coal yet - The U.S. and the rest of the world is too dependent on it, and renewables are nowhere near taking over from it any time soon - but it may be the start of a lengthy decline.

The new rule will have much wider implications though. It makes a global climate agreement far more likely come late 2015 in Paris, and it will up the ambition of countries like China and India who have been dragging their feet, citing the american lack of effort as a reason. Already various countries and blocs have welcomed the news. Suddenly the U.S. are being hailed as heroes, with Obama at their head.

Of course, there's a long way to go before the rule is in place. The fossil fuel industry will fight it all the way, and the Republicans will no doubt try to axe it or the EPA the first chance they get, out of sheer spite, but Obama has a very real chance here of leaving a lasting legacy: Future generations (our kids amongst them) may look back on this move as the game-changer that gave them hope.

Re-boot

Wow, it's been a while since my last post.

There were several reasons for my lack of activity here: I was cheesed off by the lack of feedback I was getting; I was doing an on-line climate change course that was taking up my time; I was getting bored with covering the same old ground.

Well, I've decided to freshen things up with a new approach.

I will be attempting to avoid moaning about politicians, climate deniers, and all the other negatives connected with climate change, and concentrate on more positive aspects. Such as the science, the solutions, and progress towards a global agreement.

If you go to the tab at the top of this page called "The Reason For This Blog", you'll find that I'm not some extreme environmentalist hell-bent on destroying your lifestyle, I'm just a dad who wants his kids, all kids to have a decent future.

That doesn't mean we have to go back to the Dark Ages as some climate deniers would have you believe, it just means we have to act more responsibly.

Does The World Need Fixing?

I'm currently reading a book called Seven Ways To Fix The World by Christopher Barnatt. It's proving to be a really good read.

It's basic idea is: We humans are building up a lot of problems for ourselves; We need to solve them; and the only way we can do that is change the very way society functions.

The problems Barnatt lists are peak oil, climate change, peak water, food shortages, resource depletion, population expansion, and unchecked economic growth.

Most of these have been covered in my blog (and best summarised here), so you'd expect me to agree that the world needs fixing. However, a few things have occurred to me while reading the book.

• Since I first talked about peak oil (Here), it's become apparent that there are now enough reserves of oil to theoretically last a another couple of decades before peak oil is reached. However, because most of the new reserves are in difficult places (e.g. The Arctic and deep ocean), oil prices may reach unsustainable levels well before then anyway.

• The first 5 items on Barnatt's list are basically all a result of a combination of the last 2. There are just too many people on this planet demanding more and more stuff. This may sound like the same old, tired rhetoric the greens come out with but there's an important point here: Any one of those first five items will have profound consequences for all of us - The current global financial crisis is like a tea party compared to what they could do to us - and all of them will happen if we stick with business as usual.

UK Energy Companies To Profit From Green Tax Cuts

The story so far: A few weeks back most of the big UK energy companies announced their latest, above inflation, fuel price increases.

To divert attention from their profiteering at a time when most Brits are feeling financially squeezed, they cunningly emphasised that a (small) part of the increase was down to 'green taxes'.

Pretty soon the newspapers were all over it and the government, desperate to cling onto their voter share, quickly announced they would be dropping the 'taxes' (Reducing the rise in the average household energy bill to 'just' £70. Big deal).

Then after talks with the energy companies, the government proudly announced that those companies had agreed to a price freeze until 2015 (election year by coincidence), er, if the wholesale gas price doesn't go up (it's being going up for the last decade).

So, basically, they've agreed that they won't put prices up next year if they can't actually justify it...

Anyway, as part of this agreement, the government said the energy firms could have 4 years instead of just 2 to reach their 'ECO' targets. ECO is a scheme that requires energy suppliers to seek out and subsidise home insulation for low-income households.

Think about that for a moment: Insulating the homes of the poor is a very good way of helping them cut their energy bills. But, for the convenience of those companies, tens of thousands of low-income households will be denied these savings for 2 or 3 more years.

How will the UK Energy Companies profit from all this? Simple. Every year a low income house goes uninsulated, it's paying bigger heating bills. Thus lining the pockets of the very companies who asked the government for a delay. Robbing the poor to pay the rich.

Lucky for the government, the poor aren't natural Conservative voters huh?

Inflatable Solar?!

Yes, it's true. Engineers are working on an idea to construct enormous, inflatable solar chimneys that will use hot rising air to drive turbines and generate electric.

The idea is a variation on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) or, more precisely, a solar updraft tower but potentially a lot cheaper to construct.

More here.

It's ideas like this that, once world leaders finally agree on a global emissions cutting deal, can be rapidly developed to dramatically bring down the cost of renewables and be part of the solution. We have the technology.

Free On-line Climate Change Course

The University of Exeter (UK) will be providing a free, 8 week, on-line Climate Change course starting 13th January 2014. No experience or qualifications required. More information here.

Energy Saving Tips

I've been doing this blog for a while now and I thought I'd heard all the energy saving ideas I could use in our home but this website had some new ones.

It's a pretty good summary of all the things you should be thinking about if you want to save money on your bills.

I'll definately be looking into louvred vents and heat recovery fans.

Global Climate Deal Not Necessary?

According to the New Scientist's editorial for the 9th November 2013, we could be on the way to saving our planet even without a climate deal.

Really?

They base this wildly optimistic view on a report I highlighted last week. In it the writers say that annual global CO2 emissions increases are slowing down and may even start decreasing by 2020.

It's good news, but a long, long way from "job done". The gap between the commitments made by individual countries and what's actually needed to keep global warming below 2 C is huge. So, when I see the New Scientist say "...while a global deal would clearly be a good thing, we could be on the way to saving the planet without it." I'm left shaking my head. What an incredibly naiive thing to say.

Also dangerous. If the politicians start thinking this way before a global deal is reached in 2015, we're screwed.

Energy Saving Tip: Electric Showers

Electric showers use a lot of energy.

For example, our family's usage (There are 4 of us) consumes more electric in a week than the average combined use of our dishwasher, washing machine, and tumble dryer over over a similar period.

So it can be a promising area in which to cut your energy bills.

One possibility is, when you next replace your shower, look for one with a lower wattage than your current one. That could make a noticeable dent in your bills.

Another simple way is to put a timer in your shower area. You can find a variety of digital timers online which can be setup to give you a 5 minute warning. This way you can have a decent length shower without over doing it. You then save energy AND water.

I should say that we've tried 2 or 3 timers and all of them have failed after a short time. I suspect they've not been suitable for a damp environment like the bathroom. So we're now using a 5 minute 'egg-timer' from Gorilla Spoke. It's working really well - It seems to bring out everyone's competitive instincts. Expecially the kids!

I look forward to cut's in both our electric and water bills.

Energy Saving Tips: Your Chimney

Heating a house is often a major expense. Especially if it's poorly insulated or drafty.

Fortunately, you can find all sorts of advise on insulating your home and stopping heat-loss round doors and such.

However, it's very rare to find any mention of what could be the biggest source of heat-loss in a fully insulated and draft-proofed house: The chimney.

Think about it: Every fireplace you have is an opening to the outside, so part of the heat from your radiators is going out your chimney (between 5% and 15% apparently!).

Some people have no use for their fireplaces, so they either block them off or cap the chimney. But, for those of us who still occasionally use them (probably because we're losing heat through them!), it would be a good idea to stop the heat-loss in between times.

There are one or two products out there that help with this:

Fireplace Heatsaver is a transparent perspex surround that completely encloses your fireplace sealing it off. But, at £80, it's quite expensive.

Chimsoc, Chimney Balloon, and Chimney Sheep are cheaper alternatives (between £16 and £25), and are things to block the chimney off just above the fireplace.

I've even heard of people using towels etc.

What you've always got to keep in mind is: Don't forget it's there when you DO light the fire; and make sure it's not flammable just in case you do!