Found this hand made toaster url in my twitter stream. Love New Scientist, had to have a look.
An £5 manufactured artifact cost £1200 to put together from scratch. How far we have come in 250 years. Glad I don't have to be a Shepard because we hadn't got around to inventing fencing wire!
Now to figure out what I can do without to fit back into a 'Annual Solar Input' budget. You know the amount of energy get without burning fossil fuels!
Gnoll110
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009
Batteries and Oil to Solar
Talking on twitter last night got on to the topic 'oil to solar'. I think it topic needs a post about batteries just to make thing more informed and complex.
Stub to be expanded on
The are 3 battery types I wish to expend on. What I call electrical, thermal and chemical.
....
Gnoll110
Stub to be expanded on
The are 3 battery types I wish to expend on. What I call electrical, thermal and chemical.
....
Gnoll110
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Does Queensland Government planning suck?
Yesterday on ABC radio there was an interview with a town planner. He was talking about the Draft South East Queensland plan.
Sounds like they want an Urban & empty green space plan. All high and medium density urban or empty green (forest and farmland) space for urbanites to look at on their Sunday arvo drive in the country.
He seemed to think it was a good idea. As someone who would raised on the land and is not a farmer, but wants some room this move sucks.
New development is all small blocks or high raise (urban consolidation etc). Access to larger block (say an ½ hectare to 100 hectares) seems a thing of the past, specifically locking out sea and tree changers. The country looks to be becoming a patch of larger commercial (family & company) farms and small blocks that can't support a family full time. These smaller blocks are effectively frozen, too big to be subdivided unlocking value for the seller, too big for new smallholder to acquire for niche operations.
It leaves the small towns in a limbo of slow death. As the broadacre operations consolidate, towns and districts loose their population base. This lead to the lose of services (teachers, nurses etc to begin with, then schools, hospitals, banks, post offices etc), the start of a downward spiral if left unchecked. The only way to stop this decline is to allow population increase and that is locked out by these new planning trends. People who want to live in country towns don't move there to live like sardines. They want bigger blocks, either serviced town blocks or unserviced smallholding.
Gnoll110
Sounds like they want an Urban & empty green space plan. All high and medium density urban or empty green (forest and farmland) space for urbanites to look at on their Sunday arvo drive in the country.
He seemed to think it was a good idea. As someone who would raised on the land and is not a farmer, but wants some room this move sucks.
New development is all small blocks or high raise (urban consolidation etc). Access to larger block (say an ½ hectare to 100 hectares) seems a thing of the past, specifically locking out sea and tree changers. The country looks to be becoming a patch of larger commercial (family & company) farms and small blocks that can't support a family full time. These smaller blocks are effectively frozen, too big to be subdivided unlocking value for the seller, too big for new smallholder to acquire for niche operations.
It leaves the small towns in a limbo of slow death. As the broadacre operations consolidate, towns and districts loose their population base. This lead to the lose of services (teachers, nurses etc to begin with, then schools, hospitals, banks, post offices etc), the start of a downward spiral if left unchecked. The only way to stop this decline is to allow population increase and that is locked out by these new planning trends. People who want to live in country towns don't move there to live like sardines. They want bigger blocks, either serviced town blocks or unserviced smallholding.
Gnoll110
Saturday, January 31, 2009
A Place of My Own
Several months ago I went to order 'A Place of my Own', by Micheal Pollan.
I found that it was Out of Print. I was due to be republished in January O9. I preordered it then.
On the 12, the first week day after getting back from Queensland, I went into Smith Bookshop to check. It was there, They said it arrived just before the weekend, Happiness!
Found there was no wikipedia page for the book, that is now rectified.
Gnoll110
I found that it was Out of Print. I was due to be republished in January O9. I preordered it then.
On the 12, the first week day after getting back from Queensland, I went into Smith Bookshop to check. It was there, They said it arrived just before the weekend, Happiness!
Found there was no wikipedia page for the book, that is now rectified.
Gnoll110
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Beyond the Brink
Got Beyond the Brink by Peter Andrews for Christmas.
Only done a quick skim and read the first two chapters.
One point I've already pick up and agree with is the amount of climate change that is human induced but not due to greenhouse gases. Deforestation, particularly where the amount of tree cover drops below 10% is having a large affect on the local and regional scale that few city people understand and many farmers underestimate.
I think a lot of the lose of rainfall in the Eastern coast and internal of Australia is due to over clearing at the farm and shire level. The most stable rainfall is inevitably east of areas that are protected for some reason or where the country was so 'poor' that agriculture never got established.
Gnoll110
Only done a quick skim and read the first two chapters.
One point I've already pick up and agree with is the amount of climate change that is human induced but not due to greenhouse gases. Deforestation, particularly where the amount of tree cover drops below 10% is having a large affect on the local and regional scale that few city people understand and many farmers underestimate.
I think a lot of the lose of rainfall in the Eastern coast and internal of Australia is due to over clearing at the farm and shire level. The most stable rainfall is inevitably east of areas that are protected for some reason or where the country was so 'poor' that agriculture never got established.
Gnoll110
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Australia's move to draconian law
I'm in the process of reading Volumes I and II of Brad Lancaster's 'Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond'. Volume I is Guiding Principles and Volume II is Water-Harvesting Earthworks. The yet to be published Volume III will covers roof catchments and cistern systems.
There is a very timely comment in the Introduction to Volume I, I want to share. The last two pages of the Introduction, pages 20 and 21, is a FAQ. What follows is one of the questions and the first paragraph of Brad's response.
Gnoll110
There is a very timely comment in the Introduction to Volume I, I want to share. The last two pages of the Introduction, pages 20 and 21, is a FAQ. What follows is one of the questions and the first paragraph of Brad's response.
Are there rainwater-harvesting building codes.Over the last 30 years, the laws in Australia have gone from reasonably fair to draconian. Up until about 1980 water was tied to land title, it management and use was integrated into the landholders management practices for each individual farm. Due to changes in technology (bigger pumped and earth moving gear), some law reform was needed in the 80s. The states governments used these reforms to not tweak, but to grabbed water and make it a tradeable profit centre for their budgets.
Surface water laws vary around the country (Brad is based in Arizona), so it's wise to check in with local authorities. In my area folks can harvest all the water that falls directly on their site, but there are restriction on harvesting runoff within established waterways that pass through their site. Some arid countries have draconian laws prohibiting the harvesting of rainwater runoff generated on site. In such instances, harvest the rain before it becomes runoff.
Gnoll110
Friday, October 31, 2008
Senator Wong: incompetent, uncaring or both
Watched '4 Corners' last week. Even though its been over 10 days since it screened, I still feel strongly enough to comment about it.
Basically it shows Senator Penny Wong (the Minister for Climate Change & Water?) in both an uncaring and incompetent light at the same time. That's a combination you don't often see together!
One of her statement basically summed up the feel of the story. In plan English, she effectively said, 'My job isn't to fix the Murray/Darling, it to buy water'. A telling comment. A typical pollies comment and it show a major and chronic source of political problems. The partial quiet fixed. Fix a problem to get by for now, but level a system with at least one fundamental flaw that will be lead to crisis somewhere in the future (hopefully more the 3 or 4 years in the future).
Gnoll110
Basically it shows Senator Penny Wong (the Minister for Climate Change & Water?) in both an uncaring and incompetent light at the same time. That's a combination you don't often see together!
One of her statement basically summed up the feel of the story. In plan English, she effectively said, 'My job isn't to fix the Murray/Darling, it to buy water'. A telling comment. A typical pollies comment and it show a major and chronic source of political problems. The partial quiet fixed. Fix a problem to get by for now, but level a system with at least one fundamental flaw that will be lead to crisis somewhere in the future (hopefully more the 3 or 4 years in the future).
Gnoll110
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Can Capitalism save the Rain forests?
Tonight, ABC’s Foreign Correspondent is showing a programs entitled 'Amazon Rainforest - Can Money Grow on Trees?'. Without see the program, I going to say yes.
Why? For me it’s a matter of first principles of economics and ecology. The very words themselves point to the way forward. Both are derived from the Greek ‘eco’ (oikos), meaning 'house'.
I will argue the economics is the ecology of human societies. Money is a token measure of energy and materiel. Ecology is a study of the measure and flows of energy and materiel in the wider biosphere. Classical economics is the study competition between individual and organisation. There is cooperation and other behaviors that are seen in ecology. Lots of strategies and tactics are displayed by organisms. Taking these and applying them to economics problems and situation should be the main source for developing viable global warning measures.
Gnoll110
Why? For me it’s a matter of first principles of economics and ecology. The very words themselves point to the way forward. Both are derived from the Greek ‘eco’ (oikos), meaning 'house'.
I will argue the economics is the ecology of human societies. Money is a token measure of energy and materiel. Ecology is a study of the measure and flows of energy and materiel in the wider biosphere. Classical economics is the study competition between individual and organisation. There is cooperation and other behaviors that are seen in ecology. Lots of strategies and tactics are displayed by organisms. Taking these and applying them to economics problems and situation should be the main source for developing viable global warning measures.
Gnoll110
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
DNC, Biden and The Oil Drum on Trains and Peak Oil
It Democratic Nation Convention time in the US at the moment. I'm going to pull a few thread together and point at some goodness that could follow.
The Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden is a well know rail champion. He could be a major factor in taking some major peak oil/global warming action in the US (if elected).
Last year I blog on what we should be doing in Queensland and Australia generally.
Last month, TheOilDrum a peak oil site, ran a great article about railway electrification in the US. Lots of debate and chatter persued, all good value :)
Here are wikipedia's notes on railway electrification (root page), and pages related to the UK and the US.
If Joe Biden does choose to pursue this and succeeds, it will likely be his greatest contribution to his country. It would be what he's remembered for, short of getting himself enpeached. So Joe, no late night expedition to the Republican Party Nation Headquarters!
Gnoll110
The Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden is a well know rail champion. He could be a major factor in taking some major peak oil/global warming action in the US (if elected).
Last year I blog on what we should be doing in Queensland and Australia generally.
Last month, TheOilDrum a peak oil site, ran a great article about railway electrification in the US. Lots of debate and chatter persued, all good value :)
Here are wikipedia's notes on railway electrification (root page), and pages related to the UK and the US.
If Joe Biden does choose to pursue this and succeeds, it will likely be his greatest contribution to his country. It would be what he's remembered for, short of getting himself enpeached. So Joe, no late night expedition to the Republican Party Nation Headquarters!
Gnoll110
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Guerrilla Solar manifesto
Been reading Alternative Technology Association's (ATA) ReNew magazine. The current edition (#104, July-Sept 2008).
It has a great article entitle Guerrilla solar in the Aussie 'burbs. It's sub headed Installing grid-connect solar can be a frustrating process. Some people just give up and do it their own way, writes Avery 'Sonny' Daze and Jenny Rait.
It talks about putting a small system together. The dirty games that utilities play and getting a systems connected.
It ends this manifesto
The Guerrilla Solar manifesto
What a great call to arms!
Gnoll110
It has a great article entitle Guerrilla solar in the Aussie 'burbs. It's sub headed Installing grid-connect solar can be a frustrating process. Some people just give up and do it their own way, writes Avery 'Sonny' Daze and Jenny Rait.
It talks about putting a small system together. The dirty games that utilities play and getting a systems connected.
It ends this manifesto
The Guerrilla Solar manifesto
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all energy is freely and democratically provided by Nature, that utilities both public & private have no monopoly on the production and distribution of energy, that this century's monopolisation of energy by utilities threatens the health of our environment and the very life of our planet.
I. We, the Solar Guerrillas of this planet, therefore resolve to place energy made from sunshine, wind, and falling water on this planet's utility grids with or without permission from utilities or governments.
II. We resolve to share this energy with our neighbours without regard for financial compensation.
III. We further resolve that our renewable energy systems will be safe and will not harm utility workers, our neighbours, or our environment.
Signed: Solar Guerrillas of Planet Earth
What a great call to arms!
Gnoll110
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Queensland floodwater and where it went
Back in January it rain in southern Queensland. Four days after this post it rain at home. The heaviest falls in a short period in over 30 years. 770 points (192.5mm) overnight followed by enough in storms & showers to get over 1000 points/10 inches (250mm) in four days. Can't believe I didn't post about this then!
Anyway, I got home for a week in May. Talked to my father about what happened to the water, between the grapevine & news/current affairs (ABC generally), we worked out it all went to two places.
A majority of it end up in irrigation (public & private) storages in the Western Division of NSW. Bleed out of the Darling River both legally and illegally.
What got past the mouth of the Darling at Wentworth disappeared by/at Lock 1. That happens to be the point where Adelaide draw its water.
Nothing got to the lower lakes, the crisis there continues! The first thing to do is to stop transferring water out of the basin. That mean Adelaide and Melbourne!
Gnoll110
Anyway, I got home for a week in May. Talked to my father about what happened to the water, between the grapevine & news/current affairs (ABC generally), we worked out it all went to two places.
A majority of it end up in irrigation (public & private) storages in the Western Division of NSW. Bleed out of the Darling River both legally and illegally.
What got past the mouth of the Darling at Wentworth disappeared by/at Lock 1. That happens to be the point where Adelaide draw its water.
Nothing got to the lower lakes, the crisis there continues! The first thing to do is to stop transferring water out of the basin. That mean Adelaide and Melbourne!
Gnoll110
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tale of Three Cities
Last week a bit of publicly funded propaganda arrived in my mail box.
The one thing struck me in the ‘Budget Highlights 2008-2009’ was that the ACT Labor government is fond of trees. Indeed is seems to be the only tool in their climate change toolbox.
Here are the climate change dot points by town area.
Belconnen:
Additional tree plantings – Lake Ginninderra.
Canberra Central:
$0.267 million for Tree Replacement Program – Inner South and Inner North.
$0.250 million for Additional Tree Plantings at Lake Burley Griffin.
Gungahlin:
Additional tree plantings at Gungahlin.
Tuggeranong:
Additional tree plantings at Lake Tuggeranong.
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo:
$10.6 million for One Million Trees Initiative – Canberra International Arboretum and Gardens.
I’ve always said that renewable energy programs are a far better investment, than the knee jerk ‘plant trees’ response, for building a sustainable climate future.
Given the twists and turns in the Tuggeranong Power Station project, maybe it’s time for another approach.
Canberra hosts the Australian Federal Parliament. Lets look at the city that hosts the mother parliament; London.
The last Lord Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, set in motion a plan to make the city far most sustainable. The new Lord Mayor has undertaken to continue this drive.
What was the first thing that London did, it poached the guy that had the most foresight and experience with this kind of infrastructure redevelopment. They made Allan Jones, the energy services manager for Woking, an offer he couldn’t refuse. Over the last 20 years, he has nudged and lead the development and integration of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems and other efficient decentralized developments into the infrastructure of the English city.
Stuff about Woking and London.
Woking is a city of 60,000, a good match for the basic units of Canberra’s development, the towns.
This work doesn’t come cheap. Anyone who says fixing climate change will cost a household $200 a years in extra costs is dreaming, deluded or a con man.
Gnoll110
The one thing struck me in the ‘Budget Highlights 2008-2009’ was that the ACT Labor government is fond of trees. Indeed is seems to be the only tool in their climate change toolbox.
Here are the climate change dot points by town area.
Belconnen:
Additional tree plantings – Lake Ginninderra.
Canberra Central:
$0.267 million for Tree Replacement Program – Inner South and Inner North.
$0.250 million for Additional Tree Plantings at Lake Burley Griffin.
Gungahlin:
Additional tree plantings at Gungahlin.
Tuggeranong:
Additional tree plantings at Lake Tuggeranong.
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo:
$10.6 million for One Million Trees Initiative – Canberra International Arboretum and Gardens.
I’ve always said that renewable energy programs are a far better investment, than the knee jerk ‘plant trees’ response, for building a sustainable climate future.
Given the twists and turns in the Tuggeranong Power Station project, maybe it’s time for another approach.
Canberra hosts the Australian Federal Parliament. Lets look at the city that hosts the mother parliament; London.
The last Lord Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, set in motion a plan to make the city far most sustainable. The new Lord Mayor has undertaken to continue this drive.
What was the first thing that London did, it poached the guy that had the most foresight and experience with this kind of infrastructure redevelopment. They made Allan Jones, the energy services manager for Woking, an offer he couldn’t refuse. Over the last 20 years, he has nudged and lead the development and integration of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems and other efficient decentralized developments into the infrastructure of the English city.
Stuff about Woking and London.
Woking is a city of 60,000, a good match for the basic units of Canberra’s development, the towns.
This work doesn’t come cheap. Anyone who says fixing climate change will cost a household $200 a years in extra costs is dreaming, deluded or a con man.
Gnoll110
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Quarantine, the balls in your court.
There are plans to bring the dead human body into Australia, as part of World Youth Day 08.
The said body belongs to the Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, an Italian Catholic activist, who died of polio at age 24, in 1925.
Have done searches at both Customs's & Quarantine's web sites and come up blank.
I want to know how is this cadaver being treated and handled. Is the cadaver being treated and sealed by Customs/Quarantine before is leaves for Australia. Where is it traveling to and how is it being held, while here.
I’m sure there is a camp that will simple say “It’s a blessed body, therefore there is no risk”. I’m afraid that not enough for me. God gave me a mind and I'm going to use it!
How can people in Australia’s farming, grazing, forestry and fisheries sectors, as well as the general public, be assured the nothing unwanted is being brought in during this visit?
Maybe we should cremate the cadaver. If it survives the flames, it’s blessed and they can bring it in. If not, then they can bring the ashes to World Youth Day instead.
Gnoll110
The said body belongs to the Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, an Italian Catholic activist, who died of polio at age 24, in 1925.
Have done searches at both Customs's & Quarantine's web sites and come up blank.
I want to know how is this cadaver being treated and handled. Is the cadaver being treated and sealed by Customs/Quarantine before is leaves for Australia. Where is it traveling to and how is it being held, while here.
I’m sure there is a camp that will simple say “It’s a blessed body, therefore there is no risk”. I’m afraid that not enough for me. God gave me a mind and I'm going to use it!
How can people in Australia’s farming, grazing, forestry and fisheries sectors, as well as the general public, be assured the nothing unwanted is being brought in during this visit?
Maybe we should cremate the cadaver. If it survives the flames, it’s blessed and they can bring it in. If not, then they can bring the ashes to World Youth Day instead.
Gnoll110
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Cycle, it's all cycles!
We’ve all seen the Atmospherics CO2 graph for the last few decades. It’s an upward trending line with an annual fluctuation. The uptrend is largely the result of the burning of coal & petroleum over the last 250 years. The annual fluctuation is caused by the photosynthesis/respiration/decay cycle of vegetation, the bulk of which is in the northern hemisphere.
Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide
Ok, to stop the up trend, it pretty obvious what we need to do. Stop burn coal & petroleum! We need to shoehorn ourselves back into the annuals solar/geothermal energy budgets of the planet.
For some reason that’s beyond me, the knee jerk reaction seem to be to try to ‘freeze’ carbon out of the atmosphere using whatever mean is available. To shoehorn ourselves back into the annuals energy budgets of the planet we need to work with the carbom cycle, even accelerate it, not freeze within parts of it. This topic will be an assay in its own right, for the future. Stay tuned.
Gnoll110
Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide
Ok, to stop the up trend, it pretty obvious what we need to do. Stop burn coal & petroleum! We need to shoehorn ourselves back into the annuals solar/geothermal energy budgets of the planet.
For some reason that’s beyond me, the knee jerk reaction seem to be to try to ‘freeze’ carbon out of the atmosphere using whatever mean is available. To shoehorn ourselves back into the annuals energy budgets of the planet we need to work with the carbom cycle, even accelerate it, not freeze within parts of it. This topic will be an assay in its own right, for the future. Stay tuned.
Gnoll110
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