Wynner's Blog – Ross Wynne on Anything and Everything…

Another year, another take on Live Aid.
After worthy causes such as Live Aid, Farm Aid, Self Aid, and Live 8 comes Live Earth. A day of music on 7 continents to highlight Climate Change and some worn out old artists flagging careers (Madonna anyone?). It was pointed out to me that this was probably the worst way to address climate change since it will cause large energy usage on the day and hence release additional CO2 into the atmosphere.

Let’s do some figures….
Audience of 2 Billion
Wattage per hour of an average CRT TV (excluding sound system) : 120 Watts
(Rough) Average of number of people per TV: 3 people
Number of hours Live Earth is broadcast: 24 hours
Number of hours before people get bored: 3 hours (I know, a little optimistic)

=(2B*120*3)/3
=240 Billion Watts OR 240 Gigawatts

Now factor in the number of high wattage kettles used to brew tea in between acts and the length of time needed to do so and the number of tea drinkers in the world… Stats from the the UK National Grid shows that cultural events such as World Cup games, Who Shot JR/Phil Mitchell? and others caused energy usage spikes in the order of 2.1 to 2.8 GWatts.

So with a two hour major event (say) 2.5GW per 60 Million population
and the 3 hours per person we arrive at a figure of…

125GW in addition to the TV usage.

So far that’s 325GWatts of electricity.. Let’s calculate the CO2 emissions for this…
Lets assume we’re talking about just coal fired stations.
Using coal generates about 0.00091 metric tonnes per kilowatt hour.

=0.00091*325,000,000 = 295,750 Metric Tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Impressive eh!? I’ll leave you to factor in the cost of CO2 emissions from the aircraft all the ‘stars’ and support people use to fly about promoting this event… the energy usage of the computer systems, sound systems and light systems… The million or so people expected to attend the event have to get there somehow and most will travel by car.
.. etc etc…
Okay okay I’m being a bit mean but come on! The best way to reduce CO2 emissions is to not use electricity at all. I propose on the 7th of July that our
positive contribution to the environment is to knock off as many electrical goods as possible and to go outside and spend time in the world we all want to save in the first place! Who’s with me on this?

PS Even if the organisers use renewable energy sources for the concerts themselves you have to ask yourself why they don’t just leave that capacity in the system so as to reduce the need to burn fossil fuels.

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Quite an unusual post for me considering there’s no particular news story to discuss.

I’ve recently had a run in with an apartment block that is planned to over look our garden. The fact a 17 meter high structure (relative to the road next to it) is being proposed just smacks of greed and opportunism. 17 meters… That’s about 3 standard semi-detached homes or 12 VW Golf’s stacked on top of each other.

Crazy you would think considering that the neighbouring homes are only 6 meters in height. Not so though… This is a legitimate attempt by the developers to pack as many people into as small a space as possible so as to make the profits skyrocket.

My personal opinion is that plans such as these should be summarily dismissed when they are obviously absurd and greedy.

So my 10 step plan for fairer and progressive planning laws are:

1. Compulsory scale sketches of the streetscape where a building is planned.

- without a proper sense of how the development will fit in around surrounding properties and lands a proper notion of how the streetscape will look cannot be achieved.

2. All adjoining properties are to receive hand delivered copies of planning application, plans & sketches.

- it should not be the responsibility of a neighbour to have to chase down plans.

3. All relevant documentation for each planning application to be provided for free online.

- in the era of e-Government we should expect free and easy access to public records.

4. Electronic submission of objections.

- someone answer me why I can’t at present send in a pdf’d word doc with an online credit card payment?

5. A longer period between planning application and decision.

- Lets say you go on holidays for two weeks and lets say 5 days either side of the holiday you’re wrapped up in holiday stuff. That’s almost a whole month chalked up where you mightn’t know of your neighbours plans. I would propose 8 weeks from submission to decision instead of the current 5 weeks..

6. Environmental impact studies for all properties.

- in an era that is concerned by global warming and pollution should we not also examine how the local environment will be effected by commissioning hydrological reports, soil analysis, etc.

7. Immediate planning refusal if the plans are misleading in anyway.

- If a plan says there’s a retaining wall and it’s actually a loosely put together stone wall then that misleading comment and should void the application.

8. No gated communities.

- These developments do not contribute to the local community and only exacerbate the crumbing of a society were we no longer know our neighbours names.

9. Ban the use of fibreglass.

- This is simply a pet hate since I have had to deal with a fair amount of this crud. It truly is dangerous and should be banned.

10. Compulsory solar panels on new developments.

- Another wishful thought… Embrace new technology and actually start turning the tide on climate change.

What do you think?

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It wasn’t long ago since our parents (& some of us older students) wore badges with mantras like Save the Whales & Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It’s a shame that we’re now having to refight these battles all over again due to nothing more than apathy…

Gordon Brown is expected to signal that he wants to keep and renew Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent.

BBC News – Brown signals support for Trident

For the first time since ages, the pro-whaling nations won an important victory at the International Whaling Commission today with the adoption of the St. Kitts and Nevis Declaration.

Importantly the IWC says that the moratorium on whaling is “no longer necessary” as scientists agree that many whale species and stocks are abundant. The 1982 moratorium decision, in effect since 1986, is the basis of the extremely contentious situation in the IWC.

The IWC today declared its “commitment to normalizing the functions of the IWC”, in essence that means to work towards the normalisation of commercial whaling. This includes the IWC resuming its regulatory role with respect to the management of whaling, such as deciding catch quotas based on best available scientific knowledge.

High North Alliance – Historic victory to whaling nations

On the other hand check out the ‘Harpoon Cartoons‘ if you’re a committed pro-whaler.

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