Well that was a slap in the face with a wet fish - Electric & Gas Costs - Some Thoughts

[BullDog]

The Earth is a self-regulating system. It has to cope with variable output from the sun and always has done . One day in the near future we shall go back into a cycle of global cooling. They come and go. Then what will be the logic behind Carbon Zero?

And in the long run we are all dead etc. etc. Meanwhile...

BTW. The Earth may or may not be a self-regulating system but show me the small print where it states all such self-regulation will be to the exclusive benefit of Homo Sapiens.

The environmentalists are principally concerned with carbon dioxide. If the concentration rises, then plant growth is enhanced and more is dissolved in the oceans.

The only mass extinction was that of the dinosaurs, caused by a heavenly body striking the earth. Rises and falls in carbon dioxide over the last few millennia have had less effect on the climate than the variations of energy from the sun. Human life an d its predecessors managed to survive all that.

TJH

The one thing that really bothers me in all this is deforestation. For example, the quite recent flooding in Pakistan which lead to a huge hue and cry in the media about climate change. Fact is since independence, Pakistan has deliberately removed most of it's tree cover. The population has exploded and the result is not a big surprise. The country floods at the drop of a hat. Yet not a great deal has been said in the media about deforestation of Pakistan. Yet there's been plenty of call for more money to be sent there though. Money isn't going to fix anything.

Definitely, in my eyes, the biggest challenge the world faces today is two fold, deforestation and over population. One is usually a result of the other. Chop down all the trees and we break the carbon cycle.

[XFool]

The only mass extinction was that of the dinosaurs, caused by a heavenly body striking the earth.

You really ought to know better! (And, if you don't...)

I just can't take you seriously on this topic.

[DrFfybes]

The environmentalists are principally concerned with carbon dioxide. If the concentration rises, then plant growth is enhanced and more is dissolved in the oceans lowering the pH and causing Ocean acidification, which reduces the ocean's capacity for further CO2 absorption and causes destruction of many of the organisms at the very bottom of the foodchain, as well shellfish, impacting economies and food security..

There you go - fixed that for you.

[James]

The only mass extinction was that of the dinosaurs, caused by a heavenly body striking the earth.

You really ought to know better! (And, if you don't...)

I just can't take you seriously on this topic.

Likewise. A simple Google reveals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extinction_events
You really shouldn't spout about environmental science if you research doesn't even extend to Wikipedia.

[xeny]

I would advocate that if 98% of UK residents believed that the world's climate was at a tipping point they would have been energy saving on this scale a few year's ago. Just shows that the whole climate thing is a lot of green washing and generally tosh.

The wince worthy energy bill will arrive at the end of the month. The scary climate issues are further away.

It's a variant of the delayed gratification thing I'd have thought, as well as a tragedy of the commons issue - your actions directly impact your energy bill but make a minute impact on GHG levels.

[djbenedict]

Well I'm not growing trees to burn. I am growing trees because I like them and a tiny part of those trees is being burned. Most of the growth cycle of the trees is being captured. I sweep up the leaves and dump them in heaps in corners of the garden where they rot down and more leaves are dumped on top. The quantity is unbelievable and that must be capturing a lot of CO2.

I know it isn't really the main point here, but for a typical tree, its leaves are about 1% of its mass. So, yes, some trees make a lot of leaves, but individually each leaf is very light and contains a tiny amount of carbon compared to the trunk, branches etc.

[monabri]

Currently with BG. I thought I'd ask Octopus to "quote me unhappy''.



Why are the unit rates crossed out? Is the day rate of 88p a kWh what they should be charging but is now capped at the reduced amount?

[Stompa]

Currently with BG. I thought I'd ask Octopus to "quote me unhappy''.



Why are the unit rates crossed out? Is the day rate of 88p a kWh what they should be charging but is now capped at the reduced amount?

Try moving your mouse over the question marks.

"Your reduced unit rate is the amount you pay for each unit of energy you use after the Energy Price Guarantee discount".

I hadn't realised Octopus were giving quotes again, it seems to be about 0.5% cheaper than BG for me.

[Lanark]

ps I'm ignoring the doomsters who claim the minute smoke particles will kill us

You can squabble with them by pointing out by burning wood not gas, you're not contributing to the global warming problem like they are, and they should be more socially responsible.

Not true. Burning wood emits large amounts of CO2.

You could say it's an accelerated fossil fuel cycle. Put the carbon from biomass into the atmosphere, bypassing the millions of years it takes to transform from living biomass to fossil fuel. And dirty, in the sense that coal was dirty before the 1950s clean air acts.

Aha, I was hoping to lead someone into saying that.

A friend of mine is a it of an eco warrior and he says yeabutnobutyeahbut wood stoves are fine. The CO2 I'm releasing is 'young CO2' captured by the tree just 30 or 40 years ago, which then ALL gets recaptured when another tree grows to replace it so the process is 'carbon neutral'. You gas burners out there are releasing CO2 captured over millions of years and it won't get re-captured any time soon by the process that created it so it just accumulates in the atmosphere.

Intuitively there feels like something wrong or flawed with this argument, but I can't put my finger on what. Do enlighten me so I can feed it back to him!

https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/env ... od-burning