Comments scatter has made

Have you seen this one?

http://www.csiro.au/science/Ultra-Battery.html

http://www.csiro.au/news/UltraBattery.html

A very elegant solution I think.

I don't see that as a big problem, Max. Portable devices are always going to be very efficient, however much storage you have. And if they replace desktop and even laptop usage then more the better.

And there's a mix from them here.

Very true post. Energy efficiency is a hard sell. One example:

In Europe, efficient driving is called Ecodriving. In the US it's called HYPERMILING. Real men can hold their heads up high and say they hypermile. Ecodriving maybe less so...
:)

Sorry Amber, too many TLAs.... :)

CFL = Compact Fluorescent Lamp (energy saving bulb)

PIR = Passive Infra Red (the kind of sensors you get on outdoor security lights)

(I think you can only do a couple of replies because it'll get more and more squashed over to the right by the indents)

OK I take your point on Exxon not really having much of an alternative, but consider a manufactured product like a car. Wouldn't the tax provide a strong incentive to spur the manufacturer towards implementing strong energy efficiency measures and therefore offer their product at a lower price than their competitors? A car has embodied carbon of maybe 5 to 10tCO2. At $100 a tonne, a manufacturer that's more heavily reliant on carbon intensive processes could be at a substantial disadvantage compared to a lower carbon competitor.

Once all cost effective efficiency measures had been implemented they could move to low carbon energy sources. Shareholders might even start to *demand* energy efficiency and low carbon energy sources as part of the company's duty to maximise shareholder profits? (That would be quite something!).

"Just because it looks elegant sketched on an economist’s whiteboard doesn’t mean a tax can’t be corrupted in the real-world political process. (Have a quick look at the U.S. tax code.)"

I just can't see what kind of exotic tax structures a company could design to avoid a carbon tax in the way a company might avoid taxes on earnings.

Money is ephemeral, digital, virtual (or non-existent as it turns out) and can be transferred at the speed of light around the world at the touch of a computer button.

Fossil fuels on the other hand are tangible, physical and dense and must be shipped or piped around the world and the country through a comparatively limited number of ports and nodes of entry and extraction. It is therefore much easier to track flows of fuel than money. The tax would be charged at these nodes and then passed down the supply chain to the end user wouldn't it?

Surely import duties on goods mostly work? Sure you get black market trade in cigarettes and booze and what have you, but that would be kind of tricky at a supertanker scale, wouldn't it?

If someone can suggest a way that a company could dodge a carbon tax while still burning enough fossil fuel to go about their business, I'd be very interested to hear it!

I'm with barromatt

I don't see any problems with albedo modification or biochar sequestration as they're both fully reversibleOn Geoengineering is risky but likely inevitable, so we better start thinking it through posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 10 Responses

Reduce not Negate

The rebound effect is very real but if you halve the per mile cost of driving, you're not going to double the vehicle miles driven - people have much better things to be doing with their time than drive around. Figures vary but reductions in theoretical savings range from 10% to 30%. It's worth reading this:

http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/Downloads/PDF/07/0710ReboundEffect ...

Public transport must be strongly developed all over the world but it will never be suitable for all journeys. People will still need to drive and if they're going to drive it needs to happen in the most efficient vehicles possible.On Hybrid production costs may drop two-thirds within 10 years posted 1 year, 1 month ago 3 Responses

Some big gaps in that map jb

This one's a little better connected...

http://encarta.msn.com/media_701509077/the_national_power ...On Short-term dip in oil prices will not offset long-term increases posted 1 year, 3 months ago 17 Responses

"plus the new...

...superconducting ribbon cable"

Say what?On 'Major discovery' from MIT unpractical, and ignores present advances in solar baseload posted 1 year, 3 months ago 22 Responses

B Amer

Embodied carbon of batteries can be found here:

http://sustainableresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-resea ...

I've been hunting for ages for that data.

In Europe, WEEE (waste electronic and electrical equipment) must by law be recycled. This includes batteries. Modern automotive batteries are recyclable and I would be astonished if hybrid and EV batteries weren't recycled in the US. You must have some end of life vehicle legislation don't you?On Short, medium, and long-term solutions to phase out oil posted 1 year, 4 months ago 46 Responses

Keep up Mr Bailo

This technology already exists in the form of start/stop systems. The BMW 1 and 3 Series and some Citroen cars use them.

But I wouldn't recommend switching off the engine in your car too frequently - it's the recipe for a swiftly broken starter motor. Start/stop systems have beefed up starter motors which can take it but normal cars don't.On Toyota may put solar panels on new Prius to power air conditioning posted 1 year, 4 months ago 14 Responses

Biodiversivist

You either have either bang up to the minute, high efficiency consumer electronics or a broken ammeter! What is 26 cents, 2.6kWh? That's less than 4 watts average standby.

New switched mode PSUs on mobile phones can quite comfortably get sub 1W but anything with a linear PSU will likely have well over 1W. On A Cambridge physicist's cooling summer treat posted 1 year, 5 months ago 27 Responses

Interesting

Thanks for that Erik. I'll look into buying that book.On A techno blog for the doubters posted 1 year, 5 months ago 5 Responses

Sure...

some of them are signficant questions which I have no doubt can be addressed through a combination of supply / storage / grid solutions.

I just find it a little tedious that he endlessly repeats the same questions. Indeed it appears to be the only thing he comments on here. Fix the damned record!

His main question seems to revolve around the "why hasn't [insert renewable generation technology here] replaced any [insert conventional generation technology here] power stations?"

I can suggest an answer: it's mostly because the renewables industry is up against the largest, most deeply entrenched, heavily subsidised and well connected industry on earth.

And yet many of these entrenched industries aren't growing while renewables are seeing sustained double digit growth rates.  

And this is even before we've got even vaguely serious with these technologies.On What should I ask the efficiency guru about nuclear power? posted 1 year, 5 months ago 67 Responses

Airships

Yes they are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-791
http://www.hacinc.us/

No need to call on helium though as that's running out. Hydrogen will do just fine.On Last flight out posted 1 year, 6 months ago 7 Responses

Nice choice!

Lyrics Born is great. Here's a nice tune from him. Hit play here:

http://www.last.fm/music/Lyrics+Born/_/Callin'+Out

Getting artists involved in spreading the word about climate change is extremely important. They're often much better at communicating effectively with the public. Cape Farewell is an excellent organisation who bring together artists and climate scientists on  Arctic voyages:

http://www.capefarewell.com/On Socially conscious bugout hip-hop funk posted 1 year, 6 months ago 3 Responses

Halogen replacements

You can get some reflector CFLs that fit halogen sockets:

http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=2

LEDs are on the cusp of breaking out. Give it a couple of years and we'll be there.
On Please don't use incandescent bulbs for heating posted 1 year, 8 months ago 12 Responses

I can't wait

"Each Americans share in 2040 will be 18 inches long, accumulated over 70+ years, about one fourth the volume of a Chap Stick cap each year."

Wow, with just shy of 400m Americans projected for 2040, that's just 178,000km of waste; only half way to the moon; it could wrap around the world a measly 4 times.On Building faster to get the power to build faster posted 1 year, 8 months ago 10 Responses

That easy eh?

I'm not talking about carbon trading or offsetting.

I'm talking about reducing the carbon intensity of the goods that make our society tick. Not a futile exercise in my view, in fact it's absolutely critical if we're to achieve a low carbon society.On Can we trust carbon labeling? posted 1 year, 8 months ago 7 Responses

A mirage?

"Ultimately, a system of comprehensive and reliable emissions measurements is a mirage."

At the moment maybe but perhaps not in the future.

What if full carbon accountancy for all products and services were introduced across the globe?

How about if every company was obliged to submit accounts, signed off by a carbon accountant, which provided a true and fair picture of the organisation's carbon footprint and product carbon intensity, just as they are obliged to submit finanical accounts?

It would be an enormous task no doubt but if we really want to move towards a true low carbon society I think it'll be necessary.

RFID technology would help greatly as it would enable products, their components and transport pathways to be tracked from birth to recycling.On Can we trust carbon labeling? posted 1 year, 8 months ago 7 Responses

Level playing field?

My nuclear comment was more in reference to your "energy facts" article which on a brief glance appears to be casually dismissive of renewables while boosting nuclear.

After many decades of government subsidy in the fossil fuel and nuclear industries, getting rid of subsidies completely wouldn't level the playing field at all. Renewables are finally just getting started and haven't had access to a fraction of these subsidies -  what's level about that? Perhaps if they had a decent level of support we'd start to see a clean, green energy system emerge.

"It is widely believed that the use of energy is bad for the environment, and any reduction in energy use is therefore good."

Come on! It's not some environmental puritanism view point I'm taking here - suggesting we should go back to the stone age or something. It's lazy to suggest that calls for energy efficiency stem from that.

We use our energy spectacularly inefficiently. That's where we can cut back. In all sectors, not just domestic consumption.On A third of our military budget could cure our carbon addiction posted 1 year, 9 months ago 44 Responses

Heat Replacement Effect

The commenters above are referring to what is known in the UK as the heat replacement effect and it should be taken into account if you're calculating a carbon saving from installing efficient electrical products.

In the UK, average lighting demand is around 700kWh per year while average heating demand is around 21,000kWh per year. Anyone have the figures for the US?

From the UK perspective: Let's assume (and it's a very big assumption), that all of the 75% (525kWh) of that lighting energy you lose by installing CFLs is replaced by an increased load on your heating system.  That's an increase in heating demand of 2.5%. I'd be amazed if your average thermostat has those kinds of tolerances (I have no figures but they're not exactly high precision instruments). Most of that lighting heat is going to be lost in the noise and taken as increased comfort by the occupier of the home.

Anyway, it really depends on what fuel you use to heat your home. In the UK it's mostly natural gas and electricity is 2.5 times as carbon intensive per kWh than gas so using your lights to heat your home is a Bad Idea. What's the average grid carbon factor and main heating fuel in the US?On Have you been naughty with your light bulbs? You need some good old command and control. posted 1 year, 9 months ago 33 Responses

Thanks for the smarmy reply RHY

My airship comment appeared after your response appeared

If you read my post again I point out that the emissions should be split between the origin and destination country. It's hardly fair for all of the emissions to be lumped on NZ is it?

Also my calculation allows for a 9% uplift for non-great circle routing.
On Tourism and carbon neutrality posted 1 year, 10 months ago 12 Responses

Why is it an underestimate?

There is no generally accepted way of apportioning flight emissions yet but they should surely be divided equally between the departure and arrival country. They're saying an average of 3.3 tonnes CO2e per visitor so an average of 6.6 tonnes total for each flight.

A flight from the UK to NZ will generate around 4.3 tonnes of CO2 or 8.3 tonnes CO2e if you apply an RFI of 1.9 (which is controversial in itself).

The UK is just about as far from NZ as you can possibly get on earth so an average of 6.6 tonnes for all visitors seems plausible.

That's not to defend the emissions though! International flight emissions MUST be better accounted and attributed and this must be done soon!On Tourism and carbon neutrality posted 1 year, 10 months ago 12 Responses

There's a high level of fruitcakery because...

...as Ben Goldacre of Bad Science pointed out in the first of his Ten pieces of advice for old media:

Forget trying to foster linear discussion among your readers. You are a national newspaper, pulling in millions of viewers, the comments threads beneath your articles will always be rubbish, because the community is too large. Nobody will read all the other comments before writing one themselves, so there is no discussion, and in such a large community there is no shared pool of knowledge. At best your discussions might work with threaded comments, or with peer voting, like on bigger communities such as Slashdot. But linear comments - for communities that pull millions of visitors - can never produce interesting conversations.On Me in CiF posted 1 year, 11 months ago 3 Responses

Oh absolutely

It was half in jest. Please carry on!

But it would be interesting to get an indication of what proportion have done some work on the subject.On Today: Thomas Ring posted 1 year, 11 months ago 66 Responses

Hmmmm

Is the 25 year timeframe the reason for no mention of EVs, solar thermal electric or CSP? I'd hope that within two and a half decades those technologies are making very big dents in GHG emissions.

But why solar water heating but not home insulation? Hot water demand must be pretty small compared to space heating demand. On Guess which type of energy comes in last in a recent poll posted 1 year, 11 months ago 10 Responses

A quick bit of googling produced...

A Soil Association-certified single malt:

Benromach Organic Malt Whisky

http://www.benromach.com/Product-Benromach-Organic.htmlOn My search for organic amber spirits turned up only Scotch posted 2 years ago 5 Responses

Good work Grist!

I can heartily recommend this band to all and sundry. Magnificent music!On Some sticky old-fashioned funk for your weekend posted 2 years, 1 month ago 1 Response

RFI

Just a quick comment on non-CO2 emissions and RFIs. The 2.7 figure you quoted has been widely picked up but is quite shaky (even if it did come from Nobel prize winners ;) and not the correct way to quantify non-CO2 effects. What is certain is that there are effects which go beyond the CO2 emissions. How strong they are is a topic of fierce discussion.

If you're really keen, an attempt to explain it can be found in the following document but I warn you that it's a little dry, and the climate scientist who pointed me towards said "it is a complex issue and one needs to understand the details of RF calculations for this to 'click'". I'm still scratching my head...

http://snipurl.com/aviationandrfi (p29 onwards)

There's a much more user friendly discussion here (and lots of other interesting aviation & climate related info):

http://snipurl.com/panddOn Umbra on planes and cars posted 2 years, 1 month ago 8 Responses

Oh I do think about it.

I just took exception to the arrogant way John put it.

I know I'm preaching to the converted here but the whole point is that the quality of life that many aspire to doesn't have to come with the consumption.

The same mistakes don't have to be made again. On The Solar Power Conference revealed no breakthrough solar tech -- and that's a good thing posted 2 years, 1 month ago 13 Responses

I don't get you

Do you mean you read the whole post in your RSS reader?

I use iGoogle (which I heartily recommend because all your RSS feeds are there when you log into your Gmail account so your feeds are with you on all computers - very handy) and it has a plus sign next to each RSS entry which can expand to show the text but I never use it.

Instead I just follow the link to the site so I can read the post, comments, related stories, other nuggets of interest.

I only started using iGoogle about 6 months ago but it's completely revolutionised how I manage the avalanche of information spewing forth from blogs. If you don't do RSS already get using it!On Always offer full-content RSS feeds posted 2 years, 1 month ago 7 Responses

That's exactly how people will use it!

In the UK, 55% of car journeys are under 5 miles. My guess is that average journeys are a fair bit longer in the states but I'm sure there's a stat which isn't that far away from that.

Sadly the Volt's only shooting for a 40 mile battery only range but others are aiming much higher. Cleanova for example will offer a battery only range of 100 miles and the range extender will increase that to 250+ miles.On Sure looks that way posted 2 years, 4 months ago 50 Responses

Not for LCD screens

I've had this one sent to me so many times over the last couple of weeks. Sadly it doesn't apply to LCD screens (which have a backlight which is always on) so the saving must be for CRTsOn Back(ground) in black posted 2 years, 4 months ago 8 Responses

Flying low

means flying through higher density air. At 20,000 feet the air is about 70% denser than at 35,000 feet so drag is 70% greater. I would expect the increased fuel burn to offset any global warming savings achieved by avoiding contrails. They just talk vaguely about designing aircraft that can be as fuel efficient at 20k as they are at 35k but I wonder how that could be achieved? On Maybe we're wrong thinking that airline executives don't get it posted 2 years, 6 months ago 7 Responses

My guess

is because the car industry has gone about hydrogen technology in an extremely disingenuous way. Claiming that it's totally green, that the only emissions you get are water vapour, but without proposing a serious solution of how we're going to produce it. Spectacular amounts of public money have been invested in it to little gain (although finally the fruits might be appearing in 10 years time), while other technologies (such as BEVs) have been left languishing in its wake.

And digging a little deeper I find that global gallium production amounts to about 150 tonnes per year:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gallium/ ...

Not a great deal. Maybe there are alternatives available though.On All about hydrogen posted 2 years, 6 months ago 17 Responses

Interesting

Bill wouldn't they have to be tethered in order to provide a reaction and get the lift to stay in the air?

But you're absolutely correct that the jet stream meanders around a lot (although i don't know how rapidly). I guess you'd have to reel them in before they swing too far from the base station and then reel out another neighbouring one.

Jetstreams can be 100s of miles wide and a few miles deep so routing aircraft around them shouldn't be too difficult.

There are some big engineering obstacles out there but they shouldn't be insurmountable. I like this idea.On Neat posted 2 years, 6 months ago 31 Responses

Pedal hard!

If you can accelerate from 0-60 in less than 12 seconds and have a minimum top speed of 100mph then yes!

http://auto.xprize.org/downloads/AXP_Draft_Competition_Gu ...On X Marks the Pot posted 2 years, 7 months ago 2 Responses

I'm sure it was exagerrated

It was reported in the UK as 221,000kWh of electricity. The average household here consumes about 4,000kWh! Cutting back unnecessary consumption is surely the first priority for everyone.On Personal ethics pledge my left foot posted 2 years, 8 months ago 11 Responses

But you don't need high tech...

...to make fuel efficient cars. All you need is to get rid of the insanely large, inefficient engines and cut down on the cup holders. It's no great secret.On Even with the proposal as low as 4 percent per year posted 2 years, 8 months ago 13 Responses

Looks like it's still open on Comment is Free?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2032575, ...

I agree that not many will see the rebuttals. I've spoken to a few of my friends in real life and others on forums who've seen this and I was staggered by how readily they accepted this programme.On It ain't pretty posted 2 years, 8 months ago 17 Responses

How many datapoints?

I too have had the misfortune to read this "study".

It's a very poorly written document which leads to an intense headache after a few chapters. It's quite clever really as it means the journalists will never acutally read the thing but instead just quote from the introductory paragraph as that economist article did.

On the face of it it appears to be exhaustively researched but it's quite interesting to do a simple piece of arthimetic: 312 cars x 4,000 datapoints per car = 1.25 million datapoints in total. CNW claims it took two years to collect the data. That's 1,700 datapoints a day or one a minute. My how industrious they are over at CNW Marketing Research!On Prius consumes more energy in lifetime than Cherokee posted 2 years, 9 months ago 52 Responses

But this is based on current battery technology

2007 is looking like it might be an interesting year for battery developments.  Rumours abound about different companies with products under development with cycle lives far in excess of the current state of the art.  

Altairnano has one which is said to be capable of 15,000+ cycles and Eestor has one that's said to be in the million+ cycle range. These may just prove to be frustrating roumours but I have a feeling progress is going to be made in the coming year.  Announcements are coming very soon.On It's not the key to making renewables work posted 2 years, 11 months ago 23 Responses

Very cool

more info here: http://www.newscientisttech.com/channel/tech/mg18524881.6...On Check out the KiteShip posted 3 years, 2 months ago 1 Response

EVs are The Answer

EVs are genuinely Zero Emission Vehicles if the energy is sourced from renewables and the embodied energy is offset (as i think Tesla and others are doing).  There is no point in buying an EV if you're going to use fossil energy and thankfully EV companies strongly push their customers in a renewable direction as well as having deals with green energy suppliers.  

Once the mass market takes off, legislation may be necessary to ensure EVs don't displace emissions from the tailpipe to the power station stack.  Until that point, most EV purhcasers are likely to be environmentally conscious.  

I'm surprised you didn't mention the battery though.  These are full of all sorts of environmental nasties however the good news is that these are recyclable and in Europe this is now a legal obligation.

EVs are definitely The Answer for personal transport (once they sort out some battery recharge and range issues).  

Forget combustion engines - as you said they are grossly inefficient.  

Forget fuel cells - it's a costly distraction that is wasting time: Why take electricity (from wind or solar), use it to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, transport it to your car, fill up a tank, and then recombine the hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity again in a fuel cell to power an electric motor?  

EVs cut out the middle man and just imagine where we'd be now if the car manufacturers had invested all those billions in proven battery technology?

And indeed yay for life cycle analyses!  We need much more of this, ESPECIALLY when it comes to products that claim to be sustainable.  Proper LCA is the only way we can work out what is the best option - I can't emphasise this enough!

http://www.ilea.org/ is worth looking at, although is now sadly defunct.On Umbra on electric cars posted 3 years, 3 months ago 12 Responses