tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145932492024-03-23T18:14:43.883+00:00Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.comBlogger1396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-75870956815338163972012-11-22T21:42:00.001+00:002012-11-22T21:42:17.191+00:00

Dear Editor, Yesterday Sarah Cassidy reported on research carried out by Age UK into the health effects of cold homes. Nearly thirty thousand deaths a year due to poor housing and high energy bills in the UK. This is a disgrace. It is also disappointing that the amazing Spread the Warmth campaign being fought by Age UK to rectify this situation seems to have garnered very little in the way

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-5632389336825553042012-11-22T20:49:00.000+00:002012-11-22T20:49:54.203+00:00

Today a respected UK charity released estimates of the death toll and the cost to the NHS of cold homes nationwide. These figures are included in The Cost of Cold (pdf). It is a shocking state of affairs. The NHS is spending roughly £1.4bn per year treating conditions brought on my cold living conditions. Even after this expenditure  roughly twenty seven thousand people a year die from

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-23981066409118573832012-11-09T10:49:00.000+00:002012-11-22T20:07:39.282+00:00

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm ever recorded, it had a huge impact along much of the United States eastern seaboard. Partly due to it creating the lowest atmospheric pressure at its latitude ever recorded; this created a huge upswell of water. Paraphrasing Bill Clintons famous 'Its The Economy Stupid' Bloomberg Buisiness Week lead with 'Its Global Warming Stupid'. But what are

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-16321564174787263112012-11-09T10:16:00.000+00:002012-11-09T10:17:01.352+00:00

The Renewable Energy Foundation  are regularly getting their distorted views on wind power published. Here is a letter that i had published in a local paper as a response. Dear Editor, On Monday you carried a story claiming wind farms will cost electricity bill payers £400 a year.  A lot of people are really struggling with energy prices, particularly in rural Aberdeenshire where

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-594953873988146142012-11-09T10:11:00.003+00:002012-11-09T10:11:59.486+00:00

The growth of biofuels is one of the leading causes of deforestation. This not only destroys the beauty and diversity contained by these rain forests but also causes the release of large quantities carbon into the atmosphere. Please sign the petition by Avaaz and help to pressurise the government not to continue subsidising this process.

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-9168536240798455502012-09-26T20:14:00.000+01:002012-09-26T20:15:56.664+01:00

It is often argued that wind power has one main failing, namely that it isn't available all of the time. Because of this, it is argued, all wind power has to have backup capacity sitting in the background. Now, there is a good deal of truth to this. Wind power spread over a geographical areas the size of the UK is significantly correlated and either backup generation or access to the European

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-29761261196870745592012-09-19T22:08:00.001+01:002012-09-19T22:08:58.925+01:00

RWE Npower has just opened a new 2000MW CCGT Power Station in Pembrokshire (UK). I mentioned in a recent post that there is an ongoing consultation on a draft energy bill, their is also a great deal of controversy about the role that this bill will grant to gas power. This controversy is driven in significant part by the government's statutory climate change advisers the Committee on Climate

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-54598693015073169152012-09-06T20:01:00.000+01:002012-09-06T20:03:57.678+01:00

UK Climate Policy is in a unique situation in that the overall aim: emissions reductions of 80% by 2050 is already written into law. During times of economic difficulty when Growth is THE issue it is significant that policy out of political fasihion is given some support by a legally binding emissions reduction law. Exactly how much the support UK Climate Change Act provides environmentalists

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-80661817834201590082012-08-25T22:36:00.001+01:002012-08-25T22:37:32.410+01:00

Arctic sea ice has just hit an all time low according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). It's the sort of thing that should be a warning sign but as i write this the US republican party are meeting and honing their climate skeptic message. Obama and the democrats are opening up the arctic to exploration for oil. So matters dont look perticuarly good for a rapid political response.

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-66399954713907320462012-08-23T23:41:00.000+01:002012-08-24T23:26:26.452+01:00

It seems like only yesterday that the 2011 energy act was established. Well, it wasn't long ago was it. But they are at it again! New government new energy policy. The Department of Energy and Climate Change have an overview of the work done so far on a new energy bill, it's all being 'worked up' at the moment and thus parliament isnt yet involved although the same cant be said about politics.

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-43343138810800079542012-08-15T23:09:00.001+01:002012-08-15T23:09:25.399+01:00

The League of Conservation Voters has an urgent appeal out. They make their point better than me so... ''Last night, Wisconsin GOP primary voters went to the polls and elected former Wisconsin governor -- and former Bush administration official -- Tommy Thompson to be the Republican nominee for the Wisconsin Senate seat. While many Americans have struggled over the past few years with a

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-78347736175936043792012-08-15T22:59:00.000+01:002012-08-15T23:18:17.669+01:00

A brief update on UK climate change campaigns. Friends of the Earth continues it's Clean British Energy campaign at it's annual conference in London on the 24th of september. For the first time ever this is a joint 'conference and open day' with all welcome; you neednt be a FOE member. UK rail fairs continue to rise(1,2) at inflation + 3% as the coallition govornment fails to integrate

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-25442203362668421872012-08-07T21:40:00.002+01:002012-08-07T21:40:43.465+01:00

There are always quite a few groups working on climate change campaigns here in the UK. Whilst there is no substitute for forming your own group or getting together with others in your local area their are still worthwhile opportunities to pressurise govornment via online petitions and letter writing.  In this post i bring together a few of the biggest current online campaigns. If you

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-63649674885657295522012-08-07T20:36:00.001+01:002012-08-07T20:36:52.083+01:00

If you live in the USA then you probably already know about the current battle over clean air legislation. If not, here is a summary. One of the more interesting facts about the clean air act is it's economic payoff: "The Clean Air Act is widely considered one of the most effective environmental laws ever passed. In fact, it provides $30 in health benefits for every dollar invested in

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-47611202946876519372012-08-06T21:09:00.000+01:002012-08-06T21:09:06.950+01:00

A little bit of good news form Scotland. Plans for a new coal power plant at Hunterston have been shelved. This is at least in part due to campainging by Christian Aid and others who have consistently pointed out the difficulty of squaring coal power expansion with Scotlands ambitious climate targets. Here is a potted history of the struggle to stop Henterston , writtem by the WWF.

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-82230119668148804002012-08-06T20:35:00.001+01:002012-08-06T20:35:13.742+01:00

California Climate Ride - September 9th - 13th   This 5 day, 300-mile ride down the California coast is a mission to inspire and empower citizens to work toward a new energy future. Nightly inspirational speakers on energy, sustainability, and cycling follow the daily 40-60 mile rides,  South by Southwest Eco - October 3rd - 5th   Hosting an international audience of

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-12498063578292919462012-08-06T01:12:00.001+01:002012-08-06T01:12:44.588+01:00

The Low Carbon kid has a story on unclaimed renewable heat initative support as his latest post. This reminded me of what a huge deal space and water heating is. This is one of the least efficient parts of our economy but it recieves far less attention than say renewable electricity or transport--even if progress on transport is scarcely greater!  I think i might do these short notes from

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-88285637285679834072012-08-06T00:14:00.001+01:002012-08-06T00:27:25.728+01:00

Up until now I have only heard in passing about the Green Deal and i would suggest that this is something the government needs to worry about. If even energy and climate nerds don't know your big new policy you probably have some work to do. So it's just as well they are considering a major publicity drive. The Green Deal is apparently a provision in the recent UK Energy Bill  and is

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-26251043270647292462012-08-03T23:15:00.001+01:002012-08-03T23:15:13.558+01:00

I haven't updated this blog much recently. No promises but i think i`m going to get back into this in a pretty serious way, so check back here for climate change news, particularly if you are interested in a UK focus. Coming back to it i do wonder if i should change things in a major way, go to a new platform or change the theme. These are pretty serious decisions-in blogging terms--and i haven't

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-83862300026431768852012-08-02T23:07:00.002+01:002012-08-02T23:19:23.892+01:00

Pressure group 38 Degrees has just launched a campaign (supplementary blog post) to persuade Nick Clegg of the political importance of sticking to Lib Dem commitments on climate change. The focus of this campaign is the electricity sector. When most people think carbon emissions they think electricity so this is an obvious target, and infact the importance of electricity as a target for

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-15453355272759984572012-01-02T18:00:00.004+00:002012-01-02T19:01:06.735+00:00

Wind power is the cheapest form of renewable energy. If we dont want to take the nuclear option and associated risks then our current best chance at reducing carbon emissions and dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices is to use wind power.On the down side, wind turbines are not a reliable form of energy. In a diverse energy grid this isn't a major issue but it is an issue that critics of wind

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-41844334235517372582011-07-01T19:54:00.002+01:002011-07-01T20:01:33.385+01:00

At the Common Ground meeting in June we got together to continue some of the discussions around radical climate action that were started at Space for Change. The conversation is progressing with lots of discussion around identity, structure, how to organise non/anti-hierarchically, how to keep a radical perspective and more.A follow-on meeting, ‘New Directions’ has been planned for the 9-10th of

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-11118260955783222402011-07-01T19:33:00.004+01:002011-07-01T19:48:37.315+01:00

The 2nd of July 2011 issue of new scientist reports that Thomas Kinnaman of Bucknel University in Lewisburg (PA) has examined six studies of the economics of shale gas extaction. Kinnaman reportedly "found that they all contain flaws that exagerated the benefits of shale gas extraction to local economies". Most of these studies also use a model called IMPLAN which makes significant

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-49808711158727946192010-12-07T23:59:00.003+00:002010-12-08T00:10:52.712+00:00

Here's a brief update of what's been going on with Coal Action Scotland and what's coming up. There's a week to go before the Autumn Gathering and lots has been happening! New THWAC! short film (Finished so Omitted) THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November Coal Action Scotland October Newsletter Action Roundup Recent News 1. New THWAC! short filmA short film about the Happendon Wood Action Camp and

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14593249.post-70754209661184540362010-08-16T16:26:00.001+01:002010-08-16T16:29:49.879+01:00

Calvin Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899904249648707318noreply@blogger.com1