ENERGY MATTERS

[Tizer]

Changes in CO2 emissions are important in their effects on global temperature but they have little direct effect on O2 concentration in the atmosphere. There's about 400 times more O2 than CO2.

[Stanley]

I can remember getting thoroughly confused when Bertie Boake, our chemistry master, explained THIS to us. I couldn't see why it wasn't carbon dioxide.

[plaques]

Joseph Priestley, and Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier got a lot nearer to the truth with their experiments. It should all be in the book that you have offered to loan to me. No rush with it I've just picked up two more from the Library.
PS, Libraries are now open on a limited access basis. Very well controlled the place felt empty.

[Stanley]

Ready when you are Ken..... And it will be a gift, not a loan as I can't see me ever opening it again!
British Gas are going to lose about 500 service engineers because today they sack them because they have not signed their new contract. The reason is that the new contract reduces wages and increases anti-social hours. Employment experts say that these 'fire and re-hire' contracts are more common since the advent of Covid.
Shades of M Thatcher's dictum 'be glad you have a job'. All part of the Tory project to take us back to the good old days of the laisser faire 19th century.

[PanBiker]

British Gas are going to lose about 500 service engineers because today they sack them because they have not signed their new contract. The reason is that the new contract reduces wages and increases anti-social hours. Employment experts say that these 'fire and re-hire' contracts are more common since the advent of Covid.

The practice may be more common due to Covid but it was applied by LCC quite few years ago during and after the BSF project. I was subject to the latter which only applied to support staff? It had a direct knock on to when they wanted to make by job role "no longer required". I was 56 at the time and I screwed them for every penny I could get! Managed to pay my mortgage off but never had a full time job since. 40 years experience counts for nothing apparently. Water under the bridge now and a lot has happened in the time since which alters your viewpoint of what is actually valuable.

[Stanley]

Trying to force a worse contract on an employee by threatening to sack them is never a good idea whenever it was done.

[Tizer]

It's good to see something as simple as baryte being used instead of a complicated chemical only found in trace amounts at the bottom of a mile deep mine. Terry Pratchett would love this - it also mentions an ultra-black paint but Pratchett was describing things that were `blacker than black' in the 1990s!
`'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight' LINK

[Stanley]

My experience with Barytes was at the Dalintober Street works of the Arran Barytes Company in Glasgow. I used to take ten ton loads of bagged ground Barytes to Cooke's Explosives at Penrhyndeudraeth in N Wales where it was used as a filler in the manufacture of Gelignite. (LINK)

[Tizer]

Here's an interesting fact. Baryte (barium sulphate) is used in the barium meals given before X-rays to allow the contents of the gut to be visualised. It's harmless, not broken down or absorbed and passes right through the gut. Witherite (barium carbonate) is quite different. A small amount ingested will kill you. It's the stuff in the soil up on Alston Moor that kills sheep (and some farmers). Being a carbonate, it reacts with stomach acid, releasing barium ions which are poisonous.
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It's time for Chinatyke to have a word in the ear of Xi Jinping.Tell him you can save him $1.6 trillion...
`China 'can save $1.6 trillion by scrapping coal', report says' LINK
`China can save up to $1.6 trillion (£1.2 trillion) over 20 years by switching from coal power to renewables, a report says. The authors say China must close 588 coal-fired power plants in a decade to meet climate pledges - but they insist the move will save cash. That's because renewables are now so much cheaper than coal. It mirrors the situation in the US, where coal tumbled from being the cheapest major fuel to the most expensive. China is currently running 1,058 coal plants – more than half the world’s capacity....According to research published by the Global Energy Monitor, a recent boom in coal-fired power construction in China is offsetting the cuts made in the rest of the world. China completed 38.4 GW of new capacity in 2020, higher than the 37.8 GW of coal plants that were retired globally. It commissioned 76% of the world’s new coal plants last year, up from 64% in 2019, according to TransitionZero..'.

[chinatyke]

You think they will listen to me? China is also installing "green" energy plants like nuclear ones and has just pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050? or 2060? They are aware of the problem and have pledged to do something about it.

China (as a country) uses over 20% less energy per person than the UK, but the average UK person uses about 12% less electricity (4500kWh/a) than the Chinese person (5297kWh/a).

Source: https://ourworldindata.org/energy/count ... HN~IND~GBR

I did my bit and changed to LED lightbulbs. I make no other economies and run fish pond filter pumps, air pumps, uv lights, and immersion heater for stored hot water 24/7. We still only use <2000kWh per annum per person which is about 37% of the Chinese average per person (5297kWh) so there must be a lot of wastrels out there.

[Stanley]

"there must be a lot of wastrels out there"
I often think the same thing China when I look at houses at night. Glad I don't have their bills!

[Tizer]

China is also installing "green" energy plants like nuclear ones and has just pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050? or 2060? They are aware of the problem and have pledged to do something about it.

I definitely agree with that. When I hear people criticising China I've always pointed out that while Western governments were unwilling to accept the fact of climate change and take action 15 to 20 years ago China was already building new strengthened roads in the north of the country in preparation for when the permafrost melted.

[Stanley]

And as a general rule they keep their promises.

[Tizer]

`UK could be left behind in the electric car race, warns report' LINK

[Stanley]

"As a result, the Brussels-based campaign group says that, despite being one of the first countries to outlaw the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, the UK will be almost wholly reliant on electric vehicles imported from abroad."
And that sounds to be about par for the course. Wouldn't surprise me at all if I was around to see it.

[plaques]

It exposes the nonsense of Brexit. The EU countries will continue trading among themselves at zero tariffs while meanwhile we will have a self imposed export tariff to make life more difficult. Of course its the EU fault for letting us leave.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

`Nuclear energy: Fusion plant backed by Jeff Bezos to be built in UK' LINK
`A company backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos is set to build a large-scale nuclear fusion demonstration plant in Oxfordshire. Canada's General Fusion is one of the leading private firms aiming to turn the promise of fusion into a commercially viable energy source. The new facility will be built at Culham, home to the UK's national fusion research programme. It won't generate power, but will be 70% the size of a commercial reactor. General Fusion will enter into a long-term commercial lease with the UK Atomic Energy Authority following the construction of the facility at the Culham campus. While commercial details have not been disclosed, the development is said to cost around $400m. It aims to be operational by 2025...'.

I had to laugh when I saw that photo of Bezos with a lady who I assume might be his wife or girlfriend. Back in the good old days the techie types from Silicon Valley were said to spend all their time on computers and software and be frightened of women - they'd run a mile if a girl showed a bit of ankle. It looks like money overcomes shyness!

[PanBiker]

I had to laugh when I saw that photo of Bezos with a lady who I assume might be his wife or girlfriend. Back in the good old days the techie types from Silicon Valley were said to spend all their time on computers and software and be frightened of women - they'd run a mile if a girl showed a bit of ankle. It looks like money overcomes shyness!

The photo reminded me of Mrs Merton's interview with the lovely Debbie McGee, "and what attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels Debbie?"

[Tizer]

Bezos probably decided she had desirable assets!

[Stanley]

Fusion..... That was such a promising field and I really did believe at one time that it could be the answer to our problems but we still haven't cracked the problem. Pity, it was so attractive, a bucket of water kept a small town going for a day and no dangerous by-products. Ah well, back to nuclear I suppose.....

[Stanley]

I have always supported BG and their smart meters but I am sorry to report that they have cocked up. For some reason my 'smart meter' for leccy has not been reading and sending and they have been estimating my bill but not telling me. After about 6 months that means I am in debit by over £70. They know exactly what I think of them and an engineer comes to 'commission' the electricity meter on July 30th. That has wasted 45 minutes of my valuable time. The bastards!!!

[chinatyke]

I have always supported BG and their smart meters but I am sorry to report that they have cocked up. For some reason my 'smart meter' for leccy has not been reading and sending and they have been estimating my bill but not telling me. After about 6 months that means I am in debit by over £70. They know exactly what I think of them and an engineer comes to 'commission' the electricity meter on July 30th. That has wasted 45 minutes of my valuable time. The bastards!!!

Challenge them to forget the debit! You're not called SC for nothing! It's surprising what they will allow to keep a customer happy.

[Big Kev]

I keep a close eye on the Eon Next app to make sure my meters are sending. I seem to have the direct debit at the right level, both gas and elec are around £0 ready to start building credit for winter.

[Stanley]

I shall be a lot more careful with mine Kev. I trusted them and never bothered to check.
Not worth the hassle Graham, I've used the juice and will pay. I went to a lot of trouble to stop all the estimating crap after they told me I owed about £500. If you remember I got a rebate off that.
Putting my old man's hat on. Day was when they sent a bill once a month and you went in the Leccy shop on Church street and paid it. Same with the gas. They say that what we have now is an improvement.....