Is The Sun The Future Of Energy?
I get up early and usually watch the BBC Breakfast programme.
On Sunday, this usually includes the short version of the BBC News on-line program Click.
Sometimes, it is rather wacky, but today they reported on something that will effect us all; solar power.
If you’d like to watch the short version of Click, it’s here on the BBC web site.
They have two segments that show the improvements coming in solar energy.
- In the first, the program shows how Oxford University are using better materials to improve the efficiency of panels.
- In the second, the program talked to a Swiss company called Insolight, who have developed a replacement panel that moves to focus the sun’s energy on highly-efficient tiny solar cells, which gives an efficiency of 36%.
Never underestimate the ingenuity of scientists and engineers to create a more efficient world.
A Tale Of Two Taps
I saw a Franke tap, that I liked in a plumbing shop, but the price of £240 or so plus VAT was too much.
So I looked in IKEA, where I got this very similar one for £80.
I shall add some more pictures when it is installed.
Pudding Mill Lane Pumping Station
Pudding Mill Lane Pumping Station is explained in this press release from Thames Water, which is entitled Olympic sewage site’s ‘Pinky and Perky’ scoop architectural award.
This is said.
The Pudding Mill Lane pumping station, which will take away sewage from the Olympic Park, can deal with up to 1,000 litres of sewage per second.
These pictures show the pumping station.
Unfortunately, it is all rather hidden by either wire fences or hoarding for Crossrail.
Pinky and Perky can just be seen in some pictures.
Marshgate Lane Goes Under Northern Outfall Sewer
Marshgate Lane is one of the main routes to get heavy equipment into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The pictures don’t tell the full story.
Before the construction of the Olympics started, it was a lane under the Northern Outfall Sewer, the massive set of four Victorian pipes which take away an awful lot of North London’s waste water to the pumping station at Abbey Mills before it is pumped to the Beckton works for treatment.
For the Olympics, the lane was not going to be used, but afterwards, it needed to be upgraded to a full height underpass, so that HGVs could get into the site.
So before the Olympics, a contract was negotiated to dig the underpass, through as the name Marshgate Lane suggests, not the best of soils.
I heard rumours from Thames Water engineers, that British contractors were rather pleased that the difficult contract was awarded to a German construction company.
The rumours also said that the Germans lost considerable sums of money on what was one of the more expensive projects for the Olympics.
At least they didn’t make the mistake of damaging the sewer and dumping the proceeds from over a million or so toilets all over the Olympic site.
They’d have really been in the sh*t then!
Surely The Labour Party Can Do Better Than This!
Just voted in the Hackney Mayor election.
What is the Labour Party’s logo? It doesn’t reproduce well in black and white on a ballot paper.
It looked like a cartoon version of Mr. Punch.
There was no difficulty with the others, especially the One Love Party, who had a heart!
Incidentally, the candidate for the One Love Party was French and their web site was a .eu one!
She’d probably have got nul votes in some parts of the UK.
Did The Mind Of Buyers Cause The UK’s Surprise Manufacturing Rebound?
This article on the BBC is entitled Pound jumps as UK manufacturing activity rebounds.
This is the opening paragraphs.
The value of the pound has jumped after a survey indicated the UK’s manufacturing sector rebounded sharply in August.
The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the sector rose to 53.3 in August from July’s figure of 48.3. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.
The weakening of the pound following the Brexit vote boosted exports, the survey found.
I also think another factor comes into it – The buyers who are purchasing the goods.
My father’s business was ruined by a bent buyer, who was taking bribes all over the place. When this was discovered, all the suppliers were changed and three-quarters of my father’s orders for his specialist printing disappeared to the only other company locally, who could do it.
My father was not amused and he told me so, in no uncertain terms.
There is also the story of the UK department store chain, that cut the foreign travel budget for their buyers, who were sourcing goods to sell. One unexpected consequence was that they increased the proportion of UK-made goods.
I’ve heard so many tales of bent buyers, and suitcases filled of high-value notes, that I can afford to keep some back for later.
Now though, the UK could have a rather strange advantage because of Brexit.
Say you’re a German buyer of components for your company, that are made in the UK.
Could Brexit on the horizon mean that you’re worried that in a couple of years, doing business with the UK will be a lot harder?
So perhaps now is time to have a last business trip to the UK before it gets too difficult.
If the price is right, it’s also a lot easier to go to Birmingham than Shanghai!
Never underestimate buyers, who are always looking out for themselves.
You are probably a straight buyer, but your family will probably enjoy the UK more than China.
It Certainly Caught My Eye!
I am expecting a delivery this morning and when I heard a small truck pull up opposite, I had a look.
Junk And Disorderly
Well it gave me a laugh!
Twenty minutes later, I’d also done a deal worthy of Arthur Daley to remove some junk from my hall.
It all shows the value of having a good name for your company and using humour for advertising.
Although some might think some of the wording on the truck was a bit sexist, as they are saying they can clear your life of wives, girlfriends, mother in laws and taxmen.
Meet Linda From Coventry: She’s In The Driving Seat At Citroen
The title of this post is from an article in the Business section of The Sunday Times.
How many ladies run car companies? And how many are English and run iconic quirky French ones?
According to the article she is the first British woman to run a big car company and only the third woman in ever.
She’s probably one of the first widows of either sex too!
I think it must be well done to Linda from Coventry!
Hitachi To Power Up Before Hinckley
This is the title of a small article in the Sunday Times, which talks about Hitachi’s plans to build a new nuclear power plant at Wylfa on Anglesey.
Hitachi would build a proven commercial reactor, that could be built by 2025.
Why are we bothering to still even think about the gold-plated Franco-Chinese dead elephant at Hinckley Point?
Hitachi is a private company and have to live from good designs, technology and engineering, whereas those behind Hinckley Point are governments or their agencies.
When you consider that the last big project of Hitachi in the UK, was to build a factory at Newton Aycliffe to construct trains and it would appear that that has gone to the plans, I suspect that going for Wylfa and putting Hinckley Point out of its misery, would be a pair of decisions, that have the much lesser risk.
The Anonymous Widower 