Daily archives: March 30, 2006


Around Spinneyhead

Mongrels– the first instalment of this webcomic has been delayed due to spending Monday evening in the Eye Hospital and finishing off another project. It will be published on the first day of every week.

Tiger– progress is still slow, only another laid out page this week.

Small Scale Customs- Coming soon. One of my first ideas for online commerce should finally see the light before the weekend’s over.

Technorati tag:


Mini microgeneration

The government’s plans to support microgeneration sound good, but many believe them to be all hot wind and no heat exchanger.

“A large number of the ‘actions’ in the strategy are not actions at all, if by that we mean proposed concrete steps to deliver real policy changes,” said Seb Berry, head of micro-renewables at the Renewable Energy Association.

“A large number are contingent on further research and review – eg ‘DTI will undertake further research and analysis’, ‘DTI will investigate’, and ‘Defra will look carefully at’,” he said.

Technorati tag: ,


Nuclear power has cost us how much?

My main reason for opposing new nuclear plants is an economic one. The CO2 savings per pound invested in energy saving measures, micro-generation and renewables will be far greater than that on more reactors. To drive the fact home comes the news that the clean up costs for the last generation of nuclear reactors is going to be far higher than estimated. This was announced as plans go ahead to privatise the division of BNFL that does the decommissioning. I’m with Amicus on that move-

“Our union is opposed to the sale of the British Nuclear Group in principle,” said Amicus national officer Dougie Rooney.

“But we are also concerned that it could compromise the government’s stated objectives of decommissioning civil nuclear sites in the UK at a reduced cost to the taxpayer and a reduced timescale while maintaining safety standards.”

So let’s not throw any more cash into the nuclear money pit, and invest in sensible solutions instead.

Technorati tag: ,


BRE's Environmental Assessment Method

US Green websites mention LEED a lot, it’s an energy efficiciency standard to measure new builds against. I hadn’t thought to find out if there was a British equivalent, until spotting a post on Enviropundit.

For over a decade, BRE’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) has been used to assess the environmental performance of both new and existing buildings. It is regarded by the UK’s construction and property sectors as the measure of best practice in environmental design and management.

BREEAM’s success stems from its unique ability to cover a wide range of environmental issues within one assessment, and to present the results in a way that is widely understood by those involved in property procurement and management.

Technorati tag: , ,


Ticketing SUVs

The Alliance Against Urban 4x4s have a bunch of “Poor Driving Choice” parking tickets available for download or purchase. I saw one of those stupid Mitsubishi half-cab pickup monstrositys being displayed in the Printworks yesterday and wanted to find a way to erect a sign saying “There are cheaper ways to prove you’re an idiot.” in front of it.

via Treehugger

Technorati tag: ,