Campaign to reduce carbon levels

[EdHornby]

The Co-operative Bank - The Big Ask

Come on then YD - time to give your local MP a shove to do something about carbon emmissions

The Cooperative Bank and Friends of the Earth are running a campaign to support an Early Day Motion in the house of commons to set a yearly target to reduce carbon levels

The Co-operative Bank - The Big Ask

check out the link for more details - email your local MP directly from this site also

get to it people - all in a good cause I wonder if YD can get all UK MP's from our geographical spread ??? that would be cool....

many thanks

[G man]

I havent read the link but you have a really enviromentally unfreindly hobby.

You need a big compressor to fill your tanks giving out lots of nasty exaust gasses.

Then the car journey to get to the dive site mor Co emissions

The big boat out to the dive site yet more co emissions.

Or a big plane to get to the country you want to dive in.

the best option would be to give up diving.

[sexydivebuddy]

Originally Posted by G man

I havent read the link but you have a really enviromentally unfreindly hobby.

You need a big compressor to fill your tanks giving out lots of nasty exaust gasses.

Then the car journey to get to the dive site mor Co emissions

The big boat out to the dive site yet more co emissions.

Or a big plane to get to the country you want to dive in.

the best option would be to give up diving.

totally agree!

we are a long way off reducing carbon emissions significantly as long as we use carbon-based fuel!
the only reason that the uk has somewhat reduced emissions is mainly due to the fact that we have little heavy industry now and other parts of the world have growing industrial economies!
but we all have a need and use cement and this material contributes to about 8% of the world total annual carbon budget!
alternative renewable energy is the only option. we are a long way off that though!
this is a never-ending discussion and there is no real answer ..... yet!

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by sexydivebuddy

totally agree!

we are a long way off reducing carbon emissions significantly as long as we use carbon-based fuel!
the only reason that the uk has somewhat reduced emissions is mainly due to the fact that we have little heavy industry now and other parts of the world have growing industrial economies!
but we all have a need and use cement and this material contributes to about 8% of the world total annual carbon budget!
alternative renewable energy is the only option. we are a long way off that though!
this is a never-ending discussion and there is no real answer ..... yet!

There are a couple of projects in the pipeline which I am aware of which promise to increase the efficiency of coal burning power plants to as high as 75%, possibly higher. (compared with current world's best practice of around 40%).

Fact is, it's going to be virtually impossible to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and why would we when by many estimates 500 yrs supply left world-wide? (when you include coal and oil-shale). Some of the answer is going to be CO2 capture at source and sequestration either geological, polar or deep ocean, or direct air capture and sequestration as above.

Renewables - when the sun don't shine (12 hrs a day), when the wind don't blow, when the rivers don't run because it hasn't rained and when the tide ain't running, you either don't have power, or you have it when you don't need it. Add to that the truely phenomenal amount of capital investment represented by existing power plants and electricity distribution infrastructure, centred around centres of population and power plants rather than where it's windy, or where it rains, or where it's sunny and you realise it's going to be bloody difficult to simply replace it all, or even integrate one into the other.

My state (Tasmania) runs on renewables, namely hydroelectricity. Since the 1930s, every major river in every significant catchment in the state has been dammed, with each river often having several dams on it. Tasmania is about the same size as Ireland but with annual rainfall across more than half of the landmass (where the hydro-dams are) exceeding 1500mm (about double Manchester and 3X London).

We have a population of under 500,000 yet even with this mighty investment in renewable power generation, with only one major run of river not yet dammed, we still have to import power via undersea cable from the mainland, or fire up a thermal (natural gas) power station most years to ensure the supply. Hydro power has a great advantage in that you can turn it on and off quickly and it is a fairly dense power source, comnpared with wind energy.

If we can't do it here for 470,000 population, how on earth will the UK do it, with 55,000,000 (or whatever it now is) packed into the same area?

[Little Pete]

Start small folks, replace every plain bulb in your house with an energy saving one. A small cost yes but a step towards reducing. Then make all your friends and family do it too

(After that collect all the old bulbs and begin your nefarious plan to create race of lightbulb monsters).


In all seriousness though, Jeremy Leggett wrote a book called Half Gone which I would reccomend and there are others that are well worth a read. I think a shift to renewables is certainly possible if you restructure the grid and cut power use in general. It will be an interesting 50 years to come though that's for sure.

[SilvaFish]

And here's PROOF!!!!!

We all need to play a part.....