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Car Emission Tips

Sat 23rd Oct 2021

Below are a few tips, in no particular order, that might help you to reduce the emissions from your car and hence your carbon footprint.

(1) Don't use your car - very obvious but only use your car when you must.

(2) Check your tyre pressures at least once a month. Low tyre pressure increases fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. With a tyre under-inflated by 20 percent fuel economy is reduced by around 20%. When replacing your tyres consider choosing ones that have low rolling resistance the difference could be as much as 0.5 litres of fuel per 100km

(3) Air Conditioning - makes the engine work harder, increasing the vehicle emissions. Turning off the air conditioning a few miles before reaching your destination as cool air will continue circulating via the fans.

(4) Reduce idle time - contrary to popular belief, idling for 10 seconds wastes more fuel than restarting. If your car is fitted with a stop-start system, make sure it is switched on.

(5) Maintain your vehicles aerodynamic efficiency - if you have a roof rack, bike carrier or roof box fitted on your vehicle this will create resistance and cause drag increasing you vehicle emissions. Consider removing these items when not in use.

'No Business as Usual'

Wed 17th Nov 2021

Julian Allwood, professor of engineering and the environment at the University of Cambridge has said that the solutions being discussed at Glasgow COP26 depend on unrealistic amounts of clean electricity, carbon capture and biomass.

'If you compare the amount with what's available today and any plausible growth rate, there's no possibility we will have enough of those,' he said.

'We therefore need a different sets of policies such as using half the amount of electricity. We must cut levels of flying, shipping, cement and ruminants because there's no way of dealing with them'.

This is an unpalatable message for politicians who want to achieve a stable climate by tweaking 'Business As Usual'.

Politicians - A Year Off

Wed 17th Nov 2021

Scientists and leading climate experts have voiced concerns about the outcomes of the COP26 climate conference, in Glasgow.

Those who spoke to the BBC praised the conference for getting countries to agree to meet again next year to pledge deeper emissions cuts. And they welcomed agreements on forests,innovation and especially methane - from fossil fuel extraction and livestock. But the scientists fear politicians won't deliver. And they say the hope of holding temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is far too unambitious anyway.

The experts say that with a temperature rise so far of just 1.1C, the world is already in a state of dangerous heating, with record temperatures, wildfires, floods and droughts.

All the 'experts' that are coming out of the woodwork may or may not be correct about the effects on undoubted climate change but there is no such doubt that politicians will basically achieve nothing. It is our planet and it is up to us to make the change. We must all make at least three unpalatable changes to our lifestyle for quick results.

A Stark Message

Mon 11th Apr 2022

Globalwarming is the issue of the age and unlike other issues this is not transitory. Globalwarming will never vanish and for many years to come, humanity will be grappling with this problem.

If the last twenty years has proved anything it is that all the major political parties of all the countries in the world do not have the inclination to do what is necessary and make extremely unpopular decisions on their watch.

There you have it, the nub of the problem.

Green Parties of all complexions are the only ones who WILL act for our good! If you are wary of voting for them, we believe you should be because drastic situations need drastic measures. Present day 'won't do politicians' have, with our connivance, brought us to this disastrous position.

Regrettably, tomorrow is too late to act

Exhausted Options

Wed 20th Apr 2022

It's a shame last week's grim report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - advising that "transport pricing" should favour energy-efficient modes - wasn't published earlier.

If Rishi Sunak had realised petrol and diesel cars are bad for the environment, he might not have cut fuel duty by 5p a litre in his spring statement - on top of the real-terms cut from fuel duty being frozen for more than a decade - after whacking up fares on trains and London buses.

Last year his government's transport decarbonation plan pledged to reverse the trend, where motoring costs had plummeted by 15 percent in real terms over 20 years while rail fares had increased by 20 percent and bus fares by more than 40 percent. But Sunak doesn't apparently read his own government's plans.

Rationing On The Cards

Thu 21st Apr 2022

The government's new "British energy security strategy", a remarkably short document, can't bear the weight of it's title. It's no more than a slight beefing-up of the "green industrial revolution" (2020) and "net zero carbon" (2021) policies, rebranded with a "security" tag.

It's too late now to take out an energy insurance policy for 2022 when the threat is already present. A meaningful security strategy for right now would include measures to address the worst out come should it befall. In that case, although the document is entirely silent on the matter, there is no doubt whatever, that energy rationing will be needed.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps airily says ministers don't want that. Maybe not - but then again, they're too young to remember how the energy crisis of 1973-4 was managed. Oil rationing took place on national and global levels. If Putin cuts off the gas and oil, or if western buyers boycott him there will be nothing else to do, and rationing by organised means has certain societal advantages over the alternative, which is rationing by price (aka letting granny freeze).

At the same time, the document rehearses existing policy for improving energy efficiency and home insulation - one of he very few things that might make an immediate contribution (Eye 1570). But government ineffectiveness on this is neatly illustrated by one of the statistics cited, namely that "2,300 social housing homes are in the process of being improved". That's out of a total of just under 4m!