Roof Clutter
This house is near to where I live.
Roof Clutter
There has been a lot of controversy about whether the solar panels they have installed should be allowed. You can just about see them. But surely the real eyesores are the television aerials, satellite dish and the overhead wires to bring in the phone lines!
The Fightback Against Cable Theft Has Begun
Last night there was a debate in the House of Lords about the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester said this, whilst proposing two amendments to deal with scrap metal theft.
As an indication of what we are up against, I would draw your Lordships’ attention to a giant screen advertisement at West Ham United’s football ground,which was seen on 27 September and which, I believe is there on a regular basis. It says, in huge letters, “We want your scrap for cash”, followed by three exclamation marks. All that was missing were the three words “No questions asked”.
So what was the evidence on the 27th of September? The picture is shown here.
Sense on Wind Farms From the Duke of Edinburgh
Wind generation of electricity has its place, but it will never generate the large amount of electricity we need. They only work economically with heavy subsidies and when the wind blows. They also need back-up power plants for when the wind doesn’t blow.
On the front page of the Sunday Times, the Duke of Edinburgh is quoted about his opposition to the farms.
We would be much better using the subsidies we all pay with our electricity bills to insulate houses and other buildings, rather than waste it on uneconomic wind farms.
Consumers Are Lazy When It Comes To Saving Energy
I diidn’t say this, Chris Huhne did and it’s the lead story on the front page of The Times.
But it’s true!
- The first thing I did with this house was to get rid of most of the high consumption bulbs. For a start I had 17 of those awful halogen downlights, that make better short life room heaters, than lights. The LEDs I used were a straight replacement.
- I searched for electricity and gas companies that gave me a good deal.
- But my biggest saving was selling my car and using public transport. That is not for everyone, but surely many families could make do with one less vehicle.
It’s not difficult, but people always find an excuse not to save money. And then moan about it.
Good Riddance To The Sixty Watt Light Bulb!
People have a lot of misplaced love for the old sixty watt light-bulb, as this story on the BBC shows.
It doesn’t bother me, as I won’t have an incandescent bulb in the house because of the safety risk, when they fail. An A & E doctor once told me, that they’d had several people come into hospital after falls, where an incandescent bulb had failed and this had tripped out all the lights, which meant they had fallen over the cat, dog or whatever.
But the lights I hate are those halogen MR16 and GU10 bulbs. There average life span is very short and the light they give out, used to give me headches until I went gluten free. I have a lot of those size of bulb in this house and all have been replaced with LED versions, which are brighter, use less energy and rarely fail.
My real problem in this house is finding some lights to replace some of the awful ones that Jerry installed to boost his profits.
Some Truly Hideous Lights
They really are truly hideous. Some of the lights he used were even worse and when I left them on the front patio for someone to take if they wanted, they didn’t remove one. But they did take a couple of old incandescent bulbs!
Rolls-Royce Move Into Tidal Power
It is being reported that Rolls-Royce has moved into tidal power generation after the acquisition of Tidal Generation Ltd. There are some details here.
I know I keep bringing the Balaena up on this blog. But this surely is another place where the technology could be used. An appropriately sized column-like Balaena could be an ideal mount for the turbine.
What Would God Think?
Bradford Cathedral would appear to be the first cathedral to have solar panels on the roof. It’s here in the Yorkshire Post.
I suspect that some will think it is a desecration of a holy building!
I’m sure God, if he or she exists, which I doubt, would actually be pleased as hopefully the cells would make peoples’ lives just that little bit better in the longer term.
Could a Balaena-Like Structure Be Used As a Wind Power Platform?
Last night I was watching reports on the BBC about the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm.
Again, I can’t help thinking that a Balaena like structure could be used. It would be tall and thin and the wind-turbine could just be lifted onto the top.
It would be built in a shipyard horizontally and would have a steel tank at the bottom to give it stability. As with the original Balaena weight and the gum-boot syndrome would keep it in place.
It would also be towed out horizontally and then upended by filling the tank. I proved that this would work nearly forty years ago and I’m sure if you get the sizes right, it would be very stable. You then just lift the power unit on the top in the normal way.
But then I’m no structural engineer. On the other I have a memory like an elephant and never forget anything useful.
Where is Buckminster Fuller when you need him?
Fuel Prices
After my stroke, I gave up driving and moved to a highly-insulated house in Dalston.
If you don’t like fuel costs, then move somewhere, where you don’t need a car and your house has affordable and efficient central heating.
I do all my shopping either on the Internet or by bus. I even go to IKEA on a bus and that is real fun!
Using People to Heat Buildings
I like this story on the BBC web site.
I think I read somewhere that a person gives out about the same heat as a one bar electric fire.
We rarely collect it to make sure buildings are warm enough. But that amount of heat does explain why the Underground gets hot.
The Anonymous Widower 