Mack's Home Energy Blog

Earth’s Ocean is Warming Up

cheapgasandelectric — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:23:58 +0000

A brand new study that has come out of Pasadena has found that the top layer in the Earth’s ocean has increased in temperature when compared to this time seventeen years ago, when the scientists first took measurements (way back in 1993).

The study did not conclude that this warming was an indicator of global warming nor a harbinger of climate change, though unsurprisingly it has been taken as being both by environmental campaigners and groups.

Equally, the study could not qualify their findings in terms of a Celsius increase – which would provide a concrete piece of information for most readers. Instead, the scientists were interested in the ability of the sea to store heat content, which is measured in joules, and is quite difficult to define for people of a non-technical bent.

As a rough bench-line, the Californian boffins suggested, in a press-friendly sound-bite, that the energy now holds enough heat energy to power five hundred light bulbs for each person on earth (at a rough guess there are 6.7 billion living people floating on this piece of rock).

The scientists measured the temperature of the earth’s sea by using autonomous, floating measuring stations and also buoys dropped by ships.

Will our new government take renewable energy seriously?

cheapgasandelectric — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:28:26 +0000

There’s a new UK Prime Minister and another touchpoint in UK history has been reached – what our new PM is calling a ‘historic and seismic shift‘, and no doubt it is. But what will an incoming lib-con government bring to the table when it comes to pushing home efficiency and renewables? And what, I wonder, are the chances that the incoming Energy Minister will look a lot more Liberal Democrat than the outgoing Mr Kidney – who lost his seat in Stafford to the Tories by16,587 to 7.4% – a bit of an energetic swing of 7.4%……

Out of the Woods? Some thoughts on our recession

cheapgasandelectric — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:17:10 +0000

The winter is virtually over now and what a cold one it has been. Quite a few people have struggled over the past few months due to the recession and the universal hike on gas and electricity, transport and every-day grocery prices.
The recession has settled into most of our lives now and even though it truly is incredibly tough, folks are getting used to saving pounds and cutting back on their expenses.

There’s an increasing ingrained sense of ‘reuse and make-do’, and I’ve seen people who were incredibly wasteful before the downturn transformed into homeowners with more in common with my parent’s generation than what I thought would be their contemporaries.
Of course, the recession (or credit crunch or whatever we’re meant to call it) has caused serious distress to people, and some people have had to really struggle through it.
However, it might also have opened another generation’s eyes to the importance of being thriftly, of reusing and making do. I personally think this is a good thing in itself. However, it can also only help benefit the environmentalist movement, too.