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1. Lazarus Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   I think it’s an excellent idea of having a wind turbine in the back garden. If we have radiation beaming down to aerials, satellites and mobile phones, why not an implement of cheap energy. Methinks it is because the 900 million profits will be lost for these unscrupulous energy companies. Jobs will be offset by engineers to build and maintain the turbines.

2. barrow Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Never mind the future.How can many pay the costs now?I am 61 and on a small pension where a quarter now goes on gas and electricty I got a 2% pay rise,yet gas goes up 35%.I am sure many others will find paying a problem.Maybe put the back boiler back and burn logs,or buy a wood burning range to heat water and cook on

3. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Nobody has yet answered the question "How much energy is needed to create and build a wind turbine? If they are such a great source of energy, why are the factories that make them, not powered by them?"

   I suspect that it is because they only generate for less than 25% of the time in the British Isles – the wind is either too strong or not strong enough.

   If you covered the entire mainland of Britain with them, they would not generate a fraction of the output of Drax.

4. MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Considering there is a so called fuel crisis, it was strange to see BP posting profits in the Billions!

   I worked selling Solid fuel burners and people would pay high prices for them, knowing they were saving in the long run. I also sold Solar panels, which although were not as popular still sold reasonably well.

5. Chromosome23 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Unfortunately the technology to make renewable energy completely reliable does not yet exist. Maybe if the oil revenue that we received in the ‘80’s had been invested in research, instead of being frittered away on unemployment benefit, then we might be in a different position.

   At present there are only two real solutions. Either use a lot less energy, or make a dash for nuclear power.

6. Mark11 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   I realise that yesterdays announcements are very bad if you are struggling to psy your bills now but i believe things are going to get a lot worse as the worlds supply of gas is mainly at the mercy of Russia and the main supply of oil at the moment is at the mercy of the very volatile middle east. Successive governments but mainly the present labour ones have not planned for energy to become so pricey , they could have built underground gas storage as other countries have done which would have helped us now and they could have started building more nuclear reactors years ago but all of the time planning issues and the " nimby" majority have helped cause this issue now. I do not say that wind turbines are the only answer as some people have intimated but they are one of the resources we could enhance. Other countries use them far more then us without issue and i feel they will play a part in helping us to deal with this crisis.

7. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Ten years for a nuclear power station?

   When North Sea oil was ‘discovered’, it was going to take ten years to get it ashore. Then there was an oil crisis and almost within a year the first oil was coming ashore – ‘sufficient to fill our needs for generations’.

   Can anyone remember the Selby coalfield that was going to ‘supply our needs for the next 300 years’? That coal is still there. It was known about 100 years ago – read the book "Hull as a Coal Port".

8. Mark11 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Again i can see the time ahead when that coal may be needed but that doesn’t seem to be on anyones agenda and yet you can see the coal trains all day every day from the docks full to the brim with imported coal going straight to Drax and Eggborough , and yes 10 years is a conservative estimate to bring a nuclear power station online.

9. barrow Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

   Immingham imports millions of coal every year.Hull ports once exported millions of coal a year

10. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Barrow: You’ve been reading "Hull As A Coal Port". :-)

11. barrow Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    No.Never read that book.But read the Hull and Barnsley rail book.

12. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Barrow: I’ve read them; their are a few. I once knew an old gentleman who remembered the Hull and Barnsley being built. He was about eleven years old at the time.

13. mii Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    i have a cast iron fire place and a few weeks ago i was debating wether to have it blocked up as its looking very tired and not in its best shape (its a victorian one so you can imagine what it looks like ) and its not in keeping with my modern living room . yesterday after hearing the rise i decided that i’d be better off burning coal and wooden logs on it instead of turning on the heating,at this moment i think i’d be insane to block it up !. also the fuel rise have a knock on effect to others to, are people still going to enjoy cooking a sunday roast without wondering how much its going cost them in gas ? maybe some people might start to think ‘well its cheaper to buy ready meals that go in the microwave for a few minutes’. if people do start eating convenience food for fear of high bills then we could start looking at the health issues of this . i think this winter im going to stock up on veg to make stews ,broths ,soups and other body warming meals that can also be frozen for a future meal . i might even take up knitting and knit us all house coats lol!

14. MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Mii, you can buy a cheap device which crushes paper and cardboard so that it burns longer. The device turns the paper etc into handy bricks which can be easily thrown onto the fire.

15. JosephPublicski Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    We are sitting on the finest deep mine coal in the world, why are we not using it, either by converting it to smokeless fuel, or making the power stations cleaner. Australia are exporting coal to China, pollution doesn’t seem to bother them, its a matter of survival. We should re-open our pits up.

16. kath Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    i have capped my gas and electric with british gas just before the prices went up but last time i did that the prices stayed the same and did not go up this time they told me that my prices will still go up but not as much as they should i dont call this capping the prices its a rip off

17. MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    This article was published today on the "Science daily" website, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731143345.htm

    It appears MIT has designed a solar powered carbon free power producing thing!

18. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    One, or two, minor questions about the article.

    "....new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas." – When you remove oxygen from water, all that is left is hydrogen, so why is another catalyst needed?

    "when electricity whether from ….or any other source" – so who generates the electricity from this other source?

    It is not so long since that some American scientists claimed to have combined Hydrogen atoms into Helium without thermo-nuclear temperatures. haven’t heard much of them of late.

19. MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I have no idea Colombo, all the scientific stuff got me stumped, but the picture of the glass with bubbles in looked nice!

20. Frogman Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Some MP’s are proposing for the introduction of a Windfall Tax on BP and other energy giants massive profits.They also added that this extra money could be used to help support those on the poverty line with their fuel bills.Who are they kidding-once the money is transferred into the Government’s coffers, we will never see it!

21. Mark11 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    As an extra to my original post i read today that energy watchdogs are predicting regional blackouts for the UK by 2014 because we wont have generating capacity online to supply the full country , thats without not having enough gas or oil. Reminds me of the ‘Winter of discontent’ when me and my parents huddled around a candles for light and warmth during the blackouts and listened to the radio for news about who’s power was on or off.

22. mii Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    mike covell i have heard about those things that make them into brickettes but i never come across one and i wouldnt know where to look

23. barrow Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    They tend to be advertised in the free catalogues that come through the post

24. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    There are a myriad ways to replace our dependance on solid fuels. I have seen the equivalent of a small city run completely on solar power and wind turbine technology. Solar steam powered generators have been around at least since the Great Exhibition in Paris in the 1800’s, where it printed a newspaper called ‘Le Soleil’.

    It seems to me it is not by accident that we are so dependant on these huge corporations for our most basic means.

    I believe it is time to get creative as communities and get off the grid in as many ways as possible.

    Most of our power consumption can be easily covered by a 12v system, like a caravan. And this is easily achievable with wind and solar.

    Don’t forget also that we have used alternative sources of power for centuries.

    Windmills, waterwheels etc…

    I often think it would be marvellous if the whole street decided to get together pool there yearly energy expenditure and take the street off the grid.

    The energy corporations are bleeding us dry because they know for most of us there is no alternative, they announce record profits and huge price hikes, and what do we do?

    Grumble and cough up!

    James Acland.

25. The-Tom Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    If you look to marine turbines you often find on boats, for about £500 you can get a reliable generator that will output around 350 Watts at 12 Volts, link this to regulated battery storage, under your stairs for example, and you would have a free, renewable power supply. I know that does not sound like a lot of power, however, most of the lights in my home are already 12 Volt or low energy or LED, some of yours are too, probabily. I bet that we could run our lights in the summer at the very least and contribute to their running in the winter. If we were all to invest, or to hassle the Government enough for funding or grants, the savings would be small but they would be continual. While I am on the topic, I hope everyone does have energy saving lightbulbs fitted. Again the savings are small, but they are continual. We should all stop moaning about the price rises the energy providers are all inplementing and do something about it!!! If the demand for energy drops, they might lower their prices!! Well, you never know!

26. kennethtinkle Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Jamesacland why am i sceptical about your comments young man.I believe you made the whole thing up.

27. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    There is very little that is free from any disadvantage. It is necessary to look at a wider picture.

    Even low energy light bulbs can, apparently, pose problems in their disposal, as they contain some hazardous gas, and I have found their lifespan is not always as great as is claimed. Filament bulbs are filled with Nitrogen, which makes up about 80% of the atmosphere anyway, but are relatively inefficient producers of light.

    A 350 watt appliance running on 12 volts, takes nearly 30 amps and needs much thicker wire than one running at 240 volts and 1.5 amps.

28. kennethtinkle Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Mankind is doomed Colombo,their is little that can be done which would make a difference,i say were doomed.

29. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    "Jamesacland why am i sceptical about your comments young man.I believe you made the whole thing up."

    If you could be more specific I’d be glad to enlighten you. I assure you none of what I wrote above is made up.

    James Acland

30. kennethtinkle Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    most of it young man.

31. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Okay Young Man,

    I see we can’t expect much sense out of you.

32. Dodger Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    There is enough energy coming from the sun to provide all the world’s energy needs. It is just a case of converting it. This is happening already in Spain where a solar powered power station has recently come on line. I’ve heard of plans for siting them in the Sahara where enough of them could supply all of Europe’s energy needs. What we have to bear in mind in terms of energy utilisation is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. In other words you don’t get something for nothing. For example hydrogen fuelled cars, the development of which costs, in terms of a carbon footprint, at least as much or more than it would actually save.

33. kennethtinkle Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    that dodger is highly dubious,where do you get your information from young man.

34. Dodger Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I read the papers and follow the news.

35. Chromosome23 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I was a bit confused about that article myself Colombo. For one thing, how would the oxygen and hydrogen be stored, bearing in mind that the impression the article gave was that the potential power could be kept until required?

36. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I forget which eminent engineer remarked, of allegedly revolutionary discoveries, if it is in contravention of the Third Law of Thermodynamics you are doomed to failure.

    It’s to do with a thing called Entropy, and, simply put, means that you will never get out as much as you put in.

    In Thermodynamic machines, you will get no more than about 30% of the total energy of the fuel. It is, as far as I know, the only Law in which time has to be positive.

37. Chromosome23 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I thought that was the Second Law?

38. MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Mii, Google "Brickette Maker" there are a few on Amazon, Ebay and via several of the top DIY suppliers.

    If anyone has a solid fuel burner, and want’s any cardboard please feel free to email me, I have a shed full of the stuff!

39. Denno Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    mike covell i have heard about those things that make them into brickettes but i never come across one and i wouldnt know where to look

    B&Q have them in stock. £19.99

40. HarryDownes Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    The Brickette Maker is often advertised in the ‘Home and Health’ suplement that is included in some mags.

41. SkyWalker Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I think one harsh winter and lot of people will freeze to death in this country. On a scale like in France with the heat when thousands died. This will happen as the fat cats give themselves another bonus. These people have no morals.

    I think the best heating at the moment is an old style open fire. My mum has one, I smash up pallets from work and she burns them. The sales of wood burners has increased a lot recently. Bad for air quality though.

42. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    There is a Paper Log maker on page 138 of the current catalogue of The Original Gift Company – www.theoriginalgift.co.uk.

    It is priced at £19.95, but I am sure I have seen them at about half this price.

43. SkyWalker Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I bet you could make one yourself by drilling a few holes in an old biscuit tin. Then squash the pulp down with a bit of wood.

    I used to have log maker a few years back. It takes ages for them to dry out though.

    But they do burn for quite a while.

44. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Glad to see some folk approaching the problem of high bills with some pragmatism.

    Ultimately though as communities we need to take back the power over our most basic amenities on a local level and distribute them fairly.

    ‘Centrica, owner of British Gas, today revealed profits of nearly £1 billion and a £144.6 million dividend payout for its shareholders just hours after unveiling the largest energy price hike in UK history … It also announced that its investors will receive a 16 per cent increase in the dividend for the first six months to June 30. Yesterday, Centrica unveiled huge rises in energy bills which could increase the cost of gas and electricity for some of British Gas’s 10 million customers by up to 44 per cent.’ -Times

    Full link here: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article4434019.ece

    James Acland.

45. Chromosome23 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    This looks like it could be an interesting development.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy

    A lot less obtrusive than wind generators as well.

46. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Looks like the moral is buy shares in Centrica.

47. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I disagree, the lesson here is if we let huge faceless greedy corporations control our basic amenities, they will fleece us until we are all baldy.

    James Acland.

48. Mark11 Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    After reading most of the replies about this subject i am surprised people havn’t made more about the governments role in all of this. i laughed a few weeks ago when Brown went of to Saudi to plead with them to financially back the government with their plans for renewable energy sources , i mean did he really ask them to pay for something that would mean us needing less oil? Then he asks them to produce more oil and what happens ? China says it will buy any extra produced so back to square one Mr Brown. The most recent report this weekend was about the only TWO conectors we have to this country for gas supplies and what would happen if one of them failed or was hit by a terrorist attack. The country would be plunged into crisis within days especially if the closure was in the winter. It Just gets better and better.

49. Colombo Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    If they really wanted to, they could lay a temporary pipeline to France, in 24 hours, call it ‘Pluto’ and ask for all the oil back that we used liberating them.

50. JamesAcland Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Ahh Colmbo, I am learning that you can be relied upon to derail threads into Jingoistic borderline racist commentary. The issue here is huge greedy corporations holding the public to ransom over basic amenities, the shortage of fuel is a fiction, which I suspect you well know.

    James Acland.

51. black Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Surely this can’t come as a surprise to anyone, when i was i school…um… 25 years ago they were telling students that our dependance on fossil fuels could only last another 30 years! and here we are..

52. black Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Also it’s no good complaining about the company profits, these people have been privatised…and everyone went along with it, everyone had an opportunity to buy shares, "has anyone seen sid!" etc. British Gas etc, have a responsibilty to their share holders – who are ironically you and me! and if they didn’t pay out – then those people would be up in arms too..

53. karl Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    As Bazza pointed out this happened under that wonderful woman thatcher. Privatisation of utilities was always going to cost the public money and now its costing us big time.

54. Mark11 Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    The way energy is been used by Russia as a weapon was this week very evident in the crisis in Georgia. Both France and Germany refused to back NATO demands for Russia to leave Georgia all because both countries have recently signed big supply deals with Russias biggest gas supplier and they didn’t want to risk upsetting this deal. So already Russia is showing how energy will be a major weapon of theirs in the future and this will worsen if the rumoured massive finds of oil under the arctic ice caps are designated to be in Russian territory as expected. We can expect to be held to ransom more and more by Russia in the future.Who needs tanks and guns eh?

55. kath Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    anyone else get a present from British gas this morning they sent it to 52million people so they say wait for it—4 energy saving bulbs again so nothing new there then, they could have knocked the cost of them from your bills instead. we did an energy saving survey and sent it off and they said we were doing every thing right so how come we still get big bills

56. MikeCovell Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    To pay for the fat-cats Christmas bonus!

57. Dodger Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I switched to Npower last month after a four year running battle with BritGas. A few days later I got a nice polite phone caller trying to tempt me back. I made it plain I wasn’t interested. A day or so later I got another call telling me I owed them £1.27p and would I pay at my local post office asap. I made a rude noise and hung up. I wonder when they’ll send in the debt collector.
58. 

    YourMailWill Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I received my free energy saving bulbs last week. I think they are giving them away for a number of reasons:

    1: Many people still think they are dingy compared to regular bulbs, and won’t even try them. Perhaps having a few for free will make people realise that energy saving bulbs are just as good as regular. Older examples took a second or two to come on, and several minutes to warm up to full brightness, which still seemed dim by comparison to regular bulbs. Newer examples are much better. I’ve had a number of them in my house for some time and they come on at almost full brightness within a split second of flicking the switch. They take less than a minute to warm up to full capacity and the amount and colour of the light is perfectly fine. Perhaps those people who previously refused to buy them will try it if it’s free and then decide they’re not so bad after all.

    2: As they use less power than regular bulbs to generate the same amount of light, they can save you money on your energy bills. It may not be much but in the current economic climate it can’t be a bad thing. It also reduces our demands on the power generation systems of the national grid, which is good for all concerned.

    3: Although the initial cost may be higher, energy saving bulbs last a lot longer than regular bulbs on average and so it balances out in their favour in the long run.

    4: As British Gas have had to increase their prices dramatically, it pays to make a gesture towards their customers in this way.

    By no means should you remove an old style bulb before it has pinged out of use, but when it does, consider the energy saving alternative.

59. Lazarus Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I had a run-in with BG a couple of years ago when I proved they had stole money from me. When I rang them up to point this out the official said "If you’re not happy with our pricing policy then we will come and remove our meter." And I replid, "If this is going to stop you stealing from me, come on then!" And they did.

    I’m not a big advocate of energy saving bulbs. I planted some last year, but nothing seems to be happening.

60. black Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    if british gas wanted to make a gesture (why would they.. they aren’t in business to please anyone cept shareholders) then they could invest in some understanding call centre staff. They recently upped my monthly direct debt.. nearly doubling it.. I rang and said I dont’ want that.. they said I had no choice.. so after a lot of arguing, and swearing.. I said.. right..send me a paper bill then.. I simply couldn’t understand it.. they already have my bank details, do they think i’m going to use a lot of electric then leave the country!.. unreal. so now i’m billed the old fashioned way!!

61. Colombo Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Energy saving bulbs will cause a problem when the time comes to dispose of them, because of the gases they contain.

62. kath Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    my son is with NP he is at work all day all his bulbs are energy saving he hardly has lights on anyway in fact nothing is in use till he comes home from work he lives just with his son who works with his dad and he has just got a combined bill for gas and electric of nearly 200.00 and thats for summer and NP say nothing is wrong

63. Dodger Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    The age of the monster power stations like Drax and Egboro is over. Grossly inefficient and wasteful, they spew out huge amounts of sulphur and CO2, significantly adding to the effects of global warming and the destruction of our precious natural environment. The move has got to be towards small-scale local generation of power, using a combination of wind tidal and coal. Yes I know coal is a fossil fuel but the technology exists to design clean small-scale coal-fired power stations, using fluidized bed and carbon capture technology. There are 400 million tons of coal beneath our feet which could be used instead of nuclear power stations which are massively expensive to build and run. the fuel they use is also finite, which means that one day it will run out. The waste they produce is deadly and remains so for millennia. There is still no ultimately safe way of storing or disposing of it. As an interim measure I believe coal is the best solution as a standby.

64. Colombo Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    I thought that Drax and Eggborough used fluidized bed boilers.

    No matter how you burn coal to generate power, 12 pounds of it will generate 44 pound of carbon dioxide.

    If all the power required by an individual, during their lifetime, were generated by burning coal, then several train loads of ash would need to be disposed of, apart from the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. If this power were generated by nuclear means, then the waste would just about fill a dustbin, and there would be no atmospheric emissions.

65. Dodger Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    Hi Colombo, I’m quite sure that Drax & Eggborough are not pressurised fluid bed combustors (PFBC). Their sheer size rules that out, because the fluidized bed technology is more ideally suited for small-scale power plants. The one and only PFBC plant was built at Grimethorpe in the late 80s at a cost of £100 million. The Tory govt, anxious to kill off the mining industry, left it to rust. It would have operated more efficiently than standard coal-fired stations, getting 30% more energy per ton of coal than a standard coal station. How can you get 44pounds of CO2 from 12 of coal? I’m sure Einstein would have been interested in that:) And I did say that say that if PFBC was combined with the proposed carbon capture method it would virtually eliminate sulphur, nitrogen oxides and co2 emissions. The ash could be turned into building materials or used for land reclamation. Re nuclear power, I’m firmly opposed to it for a number of reasons which i won’t go into right now. Probably later.

66. Colombo Submitted about 1 month ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!

    12 pounds of Carbon, when it burns, takes 32 pounds of Oxygen from the atmosphere, to produce 44 pounds of Carbon Dioxide.

    Drax already sell a lot of their ash for other uses. They have regular visits round the site. Why not contact them and ask for details.

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