I was excited to read in the EDP, about the new green black taxis being developed by Norfolk car manufacturer, Lotus, as part of a project to reduce car fumes and noise in urban areas.

At present, the EDP report says, there are 20,000 black cabs in London. It is hoped that the first fleet of 20 green taxis and six hydrogen refuelling stations will be running by the 2012 Olympics. It is part of mayor Boris Johnson’s commitment to make all taxis in London zero-emissions in 10 years’ time.

Its a bit different from what they normally do! Neil Parsons the project manager:

We have worked on trucks, lorries and buses in the past, but it is a quite heavy vehicle and we could have made it considerably lighter, but it was not an upgrade project. We want to get it on the road to support the 2012 Olympics.

It is quite slow compared to some Lotus vehicles, but it is quicker than a normal black cab by about six seconds [from 0-60mph].

This technology could be the way forward. Mr Pearson told the EDP that that hydrogen-powered vehicles would not cost much more than a regular petrol or diesel engine once it is mass produced.

Good luck to them! And, please can we have some in Norwich?

It is the most beautiful place.  You enter through a very well stocked gift shop, and wander through the woodland down to the broad (or lake).  Much of the time you are alongside streams, and much of the vegetation is water based.  Big leaves and yellow irses, little pink flowers, and lots of birds singing high in the trees.  It is like stepping into paradise.

The thing it reminded me most of was Aslan’s place on the mountains beyond the edge of the world in The Silver Chair by CS Lewis.  I kept expecting to find Jill Pole sobbing by a stream because she had pushed Eustace over the edge of the cliff.  It was a hot and sunny Saturday today so there were lots of people, but it didn’t matter  The stillness came through.

Fairhaven, which was gifted by the late 2nd Lord Fairhaven in 1973, and opened to the public in 1975, has quite rightly won several awards.  Their website boasts a Green Tourism silver badge and a Berry Savory tourism award.

It also has its own private broad (lake) and you can take boat trips to see the ruins of St. Benet’s Abbey.

My friend works in the gardens and is looking very happy and fit on it.  The centre has a well stocked plant sales area, and she is starting a small vegetable garden, although starting this from scratch is hard work.

We shall be back there later in the year.  Dogs are welcome so we may be taking my Mother and her west highland terrier, Tracker.

If you are in the area, I suggest you go too.

They have obtained a contract with the national social housing organisation Places for People to replace old double glazed units with recycled ones. It is estimated that they will be replacing between 2,000 and 5,000 units per year.  Places for People are known for their innovative approach to environmental sustainability which lead to their receiving a Gold Award in 2007.

The old PVC units are to be recycled by double glazing manufacturer VEKA at its plant in Germany.  This is one of the few plants in the world able to do this.  If there is sufficient demand it is expected that they will be building a similar recycling plant in the UK which is excellent news.

Ashford Business process manager Stuart Mack said:

‘These recycled windows not only save clogging up landfill but also need less energy to manufacture and don’t depelete the Earth’s mineral resources, so they are a triple bonus for the environment’

Apparently the technology has been around for some time, but only now has a major company shown faith it in to place a large order.  Hopefully this will kick start the industry.

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Unfortunately the website www.pavegensystems.com is not particularly informative, and the statement that it has “global patent protection for its technology and law firms on a retainer basis looking for violations” strikes a rather sour note.  Which is inevitably picked up by commentators to the online version of Lucy Siegle’s observer article, some of whom also question whether the technology will actually work.

Hopefully however it will work out and be taken up.  The Observer article says

Urban planners and architects can’t get enough of the clever design (the paving stones can easily be retrofitted into pavements), and at trade shows well-shod design professionals can be seen queuing up for their turn to bound across the Pavegen surface (they are made from 100% recycled car tyres) and watch each one light up.

The statement about urban planners etc not getting enough is pooh poohed by the commentators, but if it is modestly priced and brings down local authority power bills, it could be very useful.  It seems that the product is in the final states of testing, to make sure it can stand up to the sort of vigorous use it can expect if the slabs are sited in busy areas.

The inventor, Laurence Kemball-Cook (24) hopes that the product will go global

“I can imagine Pavegen in more remote areas of India, for instance,” he says. “There’s huge footfall there, but where there is power it’s polluting, fossil-fuel energy. This could be transformative.”

It is also very good news to hear that the slabs are made of re-cycled car tyres.  This could finally be a way of getting rid of those used car tyre mountains.

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It is called “Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe“.

The backgroup to the report is as follows:

In October 2009, European leaders’ committed to an 80-95 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050; Roadmap 2050 was commissioned to determine how these emissions reductions goals could efficiently be met. The technical and economic analyses of the report outline why a zero-carbon power sector is required to meet this commitment and illustrate its feasibility by 2050 given current technology.

I was a bit disappointed to find that the video presentation n the OMA web-site not play and that the link to the full report went to a 404 page.

However from the Ob article, it looks as if they are suggesting different parts of Europe specialise in different green energy technologies, so that if one fails energy can be supplemented by another.  So if the British wind farms stop producing when the wind fails, energy needs can be supplemented by solar energy from Southern Spain and even (perhaps) North Africa.

This is interesting because something very similar was suggested by Chris Goodall in his book Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, which I reviewed a while back.

The plan sounds sensible, although I have not seen much of it other than the Observer/Guardian review.  However the author claims that proposal is being considered by the EU Council of Ministers, for their possible endorsement. So it could happen!

The map by the way is:

Europe redrawn as “Eneropa”, with regions defined by their energy source. Ireland and the western half of Britain become the “tidal states”, while the eastern half forms part of the “isles of wind”. Former Yugoslavia is miraculously reunited as “Biomassburg”. Most of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece become “Solaria”.

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It is a massive achievement. Although many people believe in green issues, this does not always translate into support for the Green Party. Getting the first MP of a new party into Parliament is always the hardest thing.

We in Norwich South were very disappointed when Adrian Ramsay did not get in. However he more than doubled his vote, which is good, and at least we have got rid of Charles Clarke. Adrian is young energetic and talented. He will get there eventually. Just not this time.

But Caroline will be able to carry the Green message to the heart of Westminster. With a hung Parliament she will have more influence to promote the green cause. This is the beginning.

After reading and reviewing Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, I decided that I ought to read a book coming from the other side.  An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming by Nigel Lawson jumped off the bookshop’s shelves, so I duly took it home with me (after paying for it first of course).

It was not an easy book to read.  Mr Lawson is skeptical about climate change.  Although accepting that he is not a scientist and therefore cannot really challenge scientific evidence, he says that so far as he can see there is little evidence to justify many of the statements made about the immediate danger to our planet.  He points out that most of us have lifestyles which are far more comfortable than that of any of our ancestors, and the indications are that this will continue.

Climate change and the alleged need to save the planet from global warning has, he claims, become a new religion, and most of us are feverent believers and unable to see the truth, ie that it is not happening.

These are worrying ideas.  Are we all deluding ourselves?  I am not a scientist either, and haven’t a clue, from my own knowledge,  whether the planet is warming up, cooling down, or just staying the same.  But can anyone?  I once read somewhere that the only accurate model of the planet is the planet itself.  We don’t know.

So what if climate change is not happening?

So where does this leave me as a green supporter?  Should I gleefully join those who have been crowing over the ineptly drafted emails hacked from the UEA scientists? Should we turn the heating up, stop worrying about plastic bags at the supermarket, and forget about the train holidays in favour of air travel?

My answer

I have, essentially, had green leanings all my life  I have worried about pollution and wanted to live a  greener life.  These beliefs were not because I thought the planet was overheating.  No-one thought this twenty years ago.  I  believed these things because I though they were right.

People don’t support green principals and ideas just because they worry about global warning.  There are many sensible reasons for acting on green principals and developing the technologies described by Chris Goodall in his book :

• It is unwise to become too dependent on oil, because one day it will run out.  Peak oil it is called.
• The oil industry can be very destructive to the environment.  As I write a huge oil slick is approaching the beautiful and unique Florida coast, threatening to do enormous damage
• Plastic bags wash out to sea, where they are unsightly and can strangle wildlife

There are also often sound economic and other reasons for developing green technologies, as this post on the UEA sportspark shows.  Even though we have a long way to go in developing green technology :

• for virtually all insulation and micro generation projects there is a payback time (the problem is being able to afford to do them in the first place)
• windfarms usually cost little to run once they are up (apart from basic maintenance)
• it is healthier to walk modest distances, rather than to drive everywhere (and cheaper)
• growing (some of) your own food is healthier, both because the food is nicer and because of the exercise involved in growing it

So if Mr Lawson is right and the planet is not warming, then good.  That will be nicer for our descendants.  However this does not mean that we should not develop green technologies as fast as we can.

Look to the future not the past

When I was younger a computer was something which took up an entire room, and the internet had not been invented.  Now I can perch a computer, just as powerful if not more so than those room filing monsters, on my knee while I type this post, and carry one even smaller in my handbag (its called an iphone).

There is no reason why green technology should not develop equally as dramatically, and in as unexpected ways.  We should not hark back to a golden past allegedly lost, but look forward to an exciting future.  But that future will be more sustainable if we use the resources at our disposal in a responsible way, and respect our environment.  That is only common sense. And even if the planet is not warming dangerously just now (although of course if could be), it may still do so in the future.  We only have the one planet – can we risk it? It behoves us to take care.

People often say “What is the point of voting for the Green party?  They are never going to get in.  My vote will be wasted!”

Well that was answered recently when Jenny Jones, one of two Green Party members of the London Assemby, visited Norwich:

“In the London Assembly, two elected Greens have had a significant impact. In the Scottish parliament, two elected Greens are making a real difference,” said Adrian Ramsay, Green Party hopeful for the Norwich South seat

“If the first Green MPs are elected at this general election we can make a real difference at Westminster, especially if there’s a hung parliament.”

Ms Jones said that “pester power” is very important:

“You cannot underestimate that politics of embarrassment and constantly raising issues,” she said.

“Electing a Green MP would be incredible and give the party a high level of visibility nationally. The MP for Norwich South would be constantly in the news.”

So if you are fed up with both main parties and think that the Lib Dems are a bit inadequate (after all they have been the third party for about 100 years – thats a long time trying), there is an alternative. Particuarly if you are in Norwich South or Brighton where the Greens have a very good chance of winning a seat in Parliament.  Its worth thinking about ..

It is also completely self financing and receives no subsidy.  How can this be?

Perhaps its secret is its energy efficient design.  A recent article in EDP Business reported:

Director of PE and sport Keith Nicholls said high levels of insulation, heat reclamation and the design of the building with two arms around a central hub helped minimise energy and staff costs.

Its 50-metre pool also has an energy- efficient design, reducing running costs, which bosses say has helped make it the only pool in the country to operate without a subsidy, with entrance fees covering maintenance costs and contributing to Sports-park’s running costs.

Going to prove that energy efficiency and green principles are not just airy fairy nonsense but can produce substantial financial benefits to organisations.

Peas in their bottles

Goodness we have had a long cold winter!  As I said in my earlier post, last year I let the garden lie fallow, hopefully to replenish itself, and am starting again this year.  I’ve ordered the seeds and everything.  All we need is the weather.  But day after day it is cold, wet and miserable.

A couple of weeks ago I prepared a small bed and planted out the crimson flowered broad beans.  They are always the first.  Then I prepared and planted out the mange tout peas.  I have  two types this year – the normal Weggiser which I have been growing for years, and a new one, golden sweet, a yellow podded pea which I ordered from the real seed catalogue (scroll down and you will see it). The weggiser are going along the back fence, the golden sweet I will try to train up an arch I have going over the path.

In doing this however I found to my horror that most of the fruit juice bottles that I use for protecting the peas and beans have disappeared.  Horrors!  I had enough for the  peas, but I have to do two rows of beans in a month or so’s time!

We drink a lot of orange barley water, and the bottles (with the bottoms cut out) are ideal for providing shelter.  The shoots grow up out of the neck, by which time they have been protected from the weather and cats wanting to dig them up (we get a lot of  cats coming along wanting to use the facilities …)

But at least the peas and bean seeds are in. Hopefully the weather won’t be so dire that they will rot in the soil. I was going to dedicate much of the Easter break to dealing with the garden, but the forecast doesn’t look very good. Rain, rain and more rain.

We shall see.