A Note On Some Other Useful Sites

Blogs, Fora and News Sources

UK Green Deal and "ECO" Programmes in the UK

In association with the Green Deal (GD) from 2013 will be the ECO (Energy Company Obligation) programme (replacing CERT, CESP et al).

DECC Green Deal main page.
2012/11/20: Green Deal ORB: find an assessor.
2012/10/18: Green Deal: Gov.UK overview and the Green Deal Cash Back Website (£100 for loft insulation including top-up to £650 for solid-wall insulation for example).
2012/06/11: The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation consultation including the Government response.
2011/05: Extra help where it is needed: a new Energy Company Obligation.

Old News From Yesteryear

2012/06/25: It is less carbon intensive to refurbish even existing "hard to treat" homes than to demolish them and build new homes.
2012/06/19: Croydon pilot concluded that people used around five per cent less energy per month after receiving extra information with their bills comparing their energy usage to their neighbours'. Consumption fell further when personalised advice was included in the bills.
DECC definition of a hard to treat cavity wall.
2012/06/18: Global weight gain more damaging than rising numbers: developing-world education and reducing car use everyhere may be the planet's saving?
2012/06/15: What's In it for Me?: Using the benefits of energy efficiency to overcome the barriers. (Segment your target audience and don't mix/dilute the message.)
2012/06/06: Microhydro energy: reinventing the wheel.
2012/06/01: California: New roofs must be solar ready from 2014.
2012/05/19: Wind power 100 times cleaner than coal, Colorado NREL researchers say (and PV ~25x less CO2e/kWh than coal so maybe ~12x less than gas).
2012/04/03: Flexible working trial reveals big benefit for the environment: O2 sent all but 125 of 3000 HQ staff to work from home 8th February: 88% of staff said that they were at least as productive as on a normal day at the office, with 36% claiming to have been more productive.
EU GHG emissions map.
2012/04/02: Domestic energy use map of Britain down to very small areas giving consumption averages for ~6000 people. Area E02000602 in Kingston upon Thames: average consumption of gas, per meter, kilo-watt hours: 13,143kWh, average consumption of electricity, per meter, kWh: 4,106kWh (cf ~6,000 and ~1,000 respectively for us, 14,898kWh and 4,709kWh for Britain). See backing data.
2012/04/02: New energy saving advice line launches: energy efficiency advisors will be on hand to take calls from the public on 0300 123 1234.
2012/03/25: The solar envelope: how to heat and cool cities without fossil fuels.
2012/03/19: Over 60% renewable electricity country list.
2012/02/16: Western HVDC Link to be fully operational by 2016: 420km, 2.2GW, 600kV from Hunterston, North Ayrshire in Scotland to Connah's Quay in Flintshire, north Wales.
2012/02/09: DECC: Improvements to the Feed-in Tariffs scheme.
2012/02/08: Do the Math: The Alternative Energy Matrix; look where solar PV is on the grid!
2012/02/08: Energy Realities. From New Scientist, The Economist and others.
2012/02/08: DECC launches the EEDO ie Energy Efficiency Deployment Office.
2012/01/31: US report finds that building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction.
2012/01/18: Elexon currently 'sees' (ie meters input to the GB national grid from) 4GW of 6GW installed capacity (assumed GB wind capacity rather than UK).
2011/12/15: Low-carbon technology 'will not mean big bill rises' (BBC/CCC).
2011/12/12: Fun rebuttal of "hide the decline" hype.
2011/10/31: BBC Energy Futures section.
2011/10/14: Here comes the sun: a field trial of solar water heating systems: EST study finds "well-installed and properly used systems provided around 60 per cent of a household's hot water. The trial also found examples where systems were not properly configured or used, and where the contribution from solar was as low as 9 per cent. The median across all systems was 39 per cent" and "there was little difference between the total solar energy yield of those installations that used flat-plate solar collectors and those that used evacuated-tube solar collectors."
2011/10/03: Got Storage? How hard can it be?
2011/09/12: The AEA Microgeneration Index: reports total UK microgeneration at 160.96MWe (PV ~75%/120MWe) as of 2011/06/30, with Kingston-upon-Thames borough at 0.121MWe (0.08% of the UK total) of which about 4% is on my roof!
2011/09/07: It's cooler in the cloud: using the cloud can mean a smaller carbon footprint...
2011/09/07: Cure for Wind Farm Noise Policy Gridlock: Back Off, But Allow Easements.
The new setsuden culture in Japan: energy saving in the wake of Fukushima.
2011/07/12: DECC UK Renewable Energy Roadmap.
2011/07/12: DECC Electricity Market Reform (EMR) White Paper 2011.
2011/06/10: Skeptic Arguments and What the Science Says.
2011/06/06: Is Burning Wood For Heat Really Green? To which the answer is almost certainly "no" in urban areas on the basis of particulate emissions, regardless of the CO2 story.
2011/05/26: GE unveils power plant optimized for renewable energy at over 61% efficiency and a ramp rate of 50MW per minute, this 500MW gas plant is can help support use of intermittent sources elsewhere on the same grid.
2011/04/13: Reducing wind generation balancing costs: "The turbine is set on a target power and will vary the pitch of the blades and the strength of the magnetic field to reach that target".
2011/03/25: Solar PV and manure biogas each ~2% (12TWh+) of German electricity in 2010! And 7.4GW of new PV installed...
2011/03/13: Deaths per TWh by Energy Source ranging from coal (161 for 50% of world's electricity, though 15 in US) through natural gas (4 for 21% of world energy), rooftop solar (0.44 for less than 0.1% of world energy) and wind (0.15 for under 1% of world energy) down to nuclear (0.04 for 5.9% of world energy).
2011/03/11: RHI announcement.
2011/03/07: Carbon emissions from every public building in England and Wales: badger your local school/council/etc to stop wasting energy and money! (Our daughter's school is band E, urgh.)
2011/02/05: Europe's Energy.
2011/02/01: The Guardian: an atlas of the world in CO2 emissions.
Particulate (PM) emissions in g/GJ for various fuels (see tables 2.4 and 2.5) circa natural gas 1g/Gj, gas oil 5, pellet boiler 30, wood chip 60-80, log boiler 105 and coal 120.
A (slightly US-centric) Guide to Green Mortgages / Energy Efficient Mortgages pointed out by Barbara T (thanks).
2010/12/20: Carbon Compliance recommendations released: 10kgCO2e/m^2/y for detached houses to 14kgCO2e/m^2/y for low rise apartment blocks...
2010/12/18: EcoBonds from Ecotricity oversubscribed.
2010/12/07: Close The Door asks shops not to keep their doors open wasting energy.
2010/10/20: FiTs left intact in Spending Review: Feed-In Tariffs will be refocused on the most cost-effective technologies saving £4 million in 2014-15. The changes will be implemented at the first scheduled review of tariffs unless higher than expected deployment requires an early review.
2011/03/11: RHI announcement.
2010/10/16: LA eco-living: what works and what doesn't, from clothes line to composting toilet.
2010/08/09: Energy Secretary overturns law banning councils from selling renewable electricity.
2010/07/27: UK's DECC shares its 2050 calculator tool.
July 2010 zerocarbonbritain2030 "provides political and economic solutions to the urgent challenges raised by the climate science, outlining how we can transform the UK into an efficient, clean, prosperous zero-carbon society."
2010/02/13: Family size has become the great unmentionable of the campaign for more environmentally friendly lifestyles according to the Guardian. (My view is that having at most two children per couple in the UK, ie slightly below replacement rate, allows for a gentle graceful decline in population, without forcing a future rapidly-shrinking working-age population to support a relatively-huge geriatric overhang.)
December 2009: BBC list of key sceptics' points and their rebuttals in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, and New Scientist's 50 reasons why global warming isn't natural.
December 2009: Britain's green rich list.
December 2009: UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Smart Grid report.
NewScientist climate change articles, and how how psychology can help the planet stay cool.

Air-Quality Links

Especially with reference to biomass use in urban areas:

London Air at KCL.
DEFRA latest measurements eg for London.
EU Air Quality Standards PMs, NO2, etc.
WHO Health guidelines.
Clean Air In London.
Air Quality Monitoring at Mapping For Change.
Open Air Quality Platform at Change London.
AQE1 dashboard and raw data at Xively.
Smart Citizen Kit.
Danger Maps Backed by Alibaba Pinpoint Chinese Pollution.

Sources/Links

Money Saving Expert: Energy Saving Myths including good myth-busting on how to run space/central heating.
Green Deal and Retrofit Jargon-Buster.
UK Seasonal Outlook and Seasonal outlook.
GreenSpec: green building products and techniques.
Microgen Database: UK wide network of PV generators.
EMEC: The European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney.
Europe's energy prices by country.

Sustainable Building consultancy and training.
Insulation: first the body, then the home.
Geek out with all kinds of alternative energy!
2011/03/23: NEP's Energy Costs Comparison by fuel, allowing for efficiency (>1 for heat-pumps) for example showing electric resistance heating at 13.11p/kWh heat (efficiency 100%, CoP 1), mains gas 4.34p/kWh (90% efficient, CoP 0.9), ASHP 4.42p/kWh (CoP 2.5) and GSHP the lowest at 3.45p/kWp (CoP 3.2).
DECC's RESTATS sub-site.
Planning Renewables.
Review of biomass combustion emission reports.
Here's how you can reduce your carbon footprint by 1 tonne per year; just four steps for the average Brit.
Two sites following 'peak oil' and related issues are The Oil Drum and Energy Bulletin.
The 2005 book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" [excerpt] by Jared Diamond (of "Guns Germs and Steel") explores how modern society may be vulnerable to collapse from resource shortages and environmental damage, looking at present and past examples starting with Montana and Easter Island.
The 40% House vision to deliver 60% carbon saving in the UK's residential energy use by 2050 (2005 report). See also the newer Home Truths report (Nov 2007) from the same group on how to deliver 80% cut in carbon emissions from UK homes by 2050.
The comprehensive Digest of United Kingdom energy statistics (DUKES).
The BBC's 'Energy' microsite.
WasherHelp: good site on good choice and use of washing machines.
Rob Walker's Energy Saving page, with his 'to do' and 'done' lists and use of AlertMe to monitor usage.
Renewable energy, analog[ue] design, and real-life experience!
BWEA British Wind Energy Association.
See the UK Women's Institute (WI) Carbon Challenge.
The Micropower Council, a newly established coordinating association for various types of small scale generation.
Saving-Energy.EU "is the new European portal for scientists and other people who want to contribute to a lower energy consumption. We want to give people a voice on the internet to help interesting ideas to be heard."
See the Review Centre "sharing their product and service experiences".
"Calculating the true cost of your electrical appliances" with EarthPill.
See London Remade, a not-for-profit that aims "to transform London's waste into a reusable resource and to develop markets for recycled products". Or as we might say in Yorkshire: "Where there's muck, there's brass."
The London Climate Change Action site.
The One Minute Water Calculator.
A real-life case study: Alternative Technology At Home.
A low-impact home in Wales that uses solar PV, and a Low Impact blog.
Self sufficient ish.com: "The urban guide to almost self sufficiency (Urban Homesteading)."
Another UK household's energy diet plan!
Practical advice at the WhatYouCanDo site. See also Energy Saving Secrets, though it is a little selfish with links off-site other than ads...
The Carbon Footprint site, including a footprint calculator.
The ECO2-Rechner suggests that as of the start of 2009 I (and each of my family) are consuming very roughly the equivalent of 3.4kW continuously (4.9tCO2e/year) or twice the supportable and equitable figure of 2kW as promoted by the 2000-Watt Society, though only maybe half the Western European average. (Stern/IPCC suggest a similar 2tCO2/y per person target.)
The (international) Energy Storage Association.
AMEE, whose "aim is to map, measure and track all the energy data on Earth. This includes aggregating every emission factor and methodology related to CO2 and Energy Assessments (individuals, businesses, buildings, products, supply chains, countries, etc.), and all the consumption data (fuel, water, waste, quantitative and qualitative factors)."
RENEWABLE ENERGY UK which I enjoy dipping into frequently for its many bite-size articles.
Brian Mark, Fulcrum Consulting.
In 2008 the US produced 806TWh of nuclear power 19.4% of total electrical production in 2007.
US DoE United Kingdom Energy Profile.
The Green Homes Concierge Service in London.
Sensible Home Energy Advice from the UK's largest building society ("mutual" in US terms).
BBC 2009/12/29 "Viewpoint" We must not accept Copenhagen's failings.
The BBC's 'Energy' 2006 microsite.
The European Tribune: "a forum for thoughtful political dialogue between European countries on their national and European affairs and also with Americans (and Canadians and others!) on world affairs."
Energy Efficiency News: published by Afion Media Ltd, an independent science and technical publisher, based in Cheltenham, UK.
SunPluggers blog ("Serious Solar"), c/o Dan Fink.
The Build It Solar site.
Nuclear Engineering International news, features and company data.
Lightning protection for wind and other RE sources.
Thermal mass, decrement delay, admittance values, and more!
15 Acronyms Every Urbanist Should Know, plus of course BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.
An interesting non-AGW site "Watts Up With That" by ex-TV meteorologist Anthony Watts. The Logarithmic Effect of Carbon Dioxide.
One of the JavaScript Minifiers used during construction of this site.

Earth Notes: A Note On Some Other Useful Sites

Blogs, Fora and News Sources

UK Green Deal and "ECO" Programmes in the UK

Old News From Yesteryear

Air-Quality Links

Sources/Links