@Arellcat
How did you get CO<sub>2</sub> to work? Almost as important as the Keeling Curve.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Climate Crisis
(1297 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Let's see...CO₂.
It's a separate unicode character. Copy/paste from here (or learn the code point, I suppose): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superscripts_and_Subscripts_(Unicode_block)
Which also allows one to type "CO²"
Posted 5 years ago # -
I do laugh when I see it written as CO-squared. Given O is singular, presumably CO² is algebraically the same as CO.
Kids, know your subscripts!
:>
Posted 5 years ago # -
CO² is algebraically the same as CO
Uh, no. The top right quadrant is reserved for electrical charge, but without the sign it's ambivalent.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I might even go a step further than Baldycyclist. The Planet will survive and might even reach equilibrium fast enough that some mammals and humans will survive. Life and civilisation as we know it however appear doomed. There are too many people who care about their next hit of disposable convenience or at being convinced they do by capitalism to quickly stop the spiral.
However there will be an equilibrium where the planet can once again cope with it's inhabitants. That might be 7 billion or more if we are careful or it might not fully reach equilibrium until just a handful of hold outs survive. The outlook is bleak for us but I don't think humans are done just yet.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I don't think anyone should be forced to replace a boiler. Burning gas is part of the problem. We should be insisting that people remove boilers and replace them with more environmentally sustainable heating methods.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Has anyone here got an electric boiler? My gas combi boiler is showing signs of needing replaced in the next few years, and I'd like to get an electric one (For hot water and central heating), but I'm not sure how they are for energy efficiency compared to gas boilers? Anything I should be aware of?
I never have my boiler on "pre-heat" mode, so it almost always takes about 30-60 seconds before I get hot water out of it, so that's not a concern to me.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Some comparisons here:
https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/boilers/combi-boilers/electric-combi-boilersAverage running costs about £500 a year more than gas. Though probably last longer and need less maintenance.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Baldycyclist, The running cost is presumably the only reason they aren't mainstream yet. In much the same way that people drive because it is the cheapest option people still prefer gas boilers because they are the cheapest option.
The only people I know who have disconnected their gas have electric underfloor heating and solar heated hot water. I'm not sure how their financial comparisons are working out though.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Ground-source heatpumps are the way forward (they're electric & highly efficient).
If ground-source is not practical, then air-source.
Posted 5 years ago # -
The comparisons are interesting, because until my current property the 3 before have been all electric with storage heating, immersion boiler, and I confess I don't feel £40 or more a month better off (maybe £40 a month better off for half the year...).
Posted 5 years ago # -
Double glazing versus single glazing:
- Double glazed pane fitted in existing sash, U-value 1.3W/m2K
- Unimproved single glazing, U-value 5.4W/m2K
- Closing wooden shutters on single glazing, U-value 2.2W/m2K
- Closing shutters and closing heavy curtains on single glazing, U-value 1.9W/m2KSo U values of 1.9 versus 1.3
From the doc to be found here: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/archives-and-research/publications/publication/?publicationId=246ff4ae-1483-452a-8fb3-a59500bd05d5
Posted 5 years ago # -
Honestly, I would not install traditional heating-element type electric boilers or heaters, especially given that ~50% of UK electricity is generated by... gas!
Posted 5 years ago # -
Indeed, while gas is 3p per kWh and electricity is 12p per kWh and half the electricity is generated from gas, it's hard to justify the extra cost of using electric for heating.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"half the electricity is generated from gas"
That is starting to change, there was something in the news recently where for a week, the first week ever all of the UK's electricity was provided by renewable sources.
My provider - ironically Shell - who took over First Utility a couple of months ago, are claiming they are providing 100% renewable electricity to all customers. So we're now getting 100% renewable on a standard - and pretty competitive - tariff.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Renewable energy tariffs are a bit of a red herring here. You are paying for renewable energy, in the sense that your money is going to your provider, who then only pays for renewable energy to be put into the grid on the open market, but the energy entering your home is still coming down the same cable off the same grid and will have the same generation mix as your neighbour who's been on the Scottish Power standard tariff for the last decade. The majority (all?) of the time, this will not be 100% renewable.
In other words, it doesn't matter where your money goes - the energy going into your hypothetical electric boiler is still going to be generated using a lot of gas.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@jonty it does matter where your money goes since the more people that switch to renewable tariffs, especially those from genuinely green energy companies that actually invest directly in the construction of renewable generation, the greater the proportion of green electricity in the grid...
Posted 5 years ago # -
Yes, but the more people that are on a renewable tariff, then more renewable energy is going into the grid - whether it reaches your house or not there is benefit.
Snap. ;)
Posted 5 years ago # -
:)
Posted 5 years ago # -
More on the Scottish Government's climate emergency:-
he Scottish Government has quietly halved funding for communities tackling climate pollution, depriving 43 local projects of grants and putting people out of work.
The Ferret has discovered that the budget for the Climate Challenge Fund to support new projects has been cut from around £5 million last year to £2 million this year. Only 22 new schemes were funded in 2019, compared to 65 in 2018.
This has resulted in ventures to save energy and reduce waste across Scotland having to be abandoned. Staff have been made redundant, and dozens of opportunities to help people live more environmentally sustainable lives have been lost.
https://theferret.scot/climate-challenge-fund-scottish-government/
Posted 5 years ago # -
The idea of subsidising Scotland's landowners to put our land back the way it should be is disgusting. If there's an emergency then the owners should be expropriated just like they would be in wartime.
In 1715 and 1745 the lands of those who had got themselves on the wrong side of history were simply confiscated by the British state. Time for a re-run, no?
Posted 5 years ago # -
“
No roads will be officially closed due to insufficient time to put traffic orders in place – and bus routes and traffic in the city centre will be disrupted by the action.
“
Posted 5 years ago # -
“The idea of subsidising Scotland's landowners to put our land back the way it should be is disgusting.”
Posted 5 years ago # -
I am currently applying to the Council for funding so that I can afford not to put a large oil-burning generator in my back garden. We've all got to do our bit for climate change yeah?
Posted 5 years ago # -
edinburgh-traffic-chaos-looms etc.
Lovely bit of traffic chaos this morning.
They're digging up the mini roundabout at Firrhill for gas mains work, and the tailbacks on Colinton Mains Drive and both halves of Colinton Road were insane, a good half a mile long each. I have never been quite so forthright in filtering in the torpedo.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@arellcat - have you a video of that?
Had a flick through Sunday Mail to see how they were continuing with Scottish Green conversion. Hardly anything obvious - sex worker story was their main thing this week.
They did cover EU elections but much further inside.Posted 5 years ago # -
@LB, I do. I'll have a look when I get home.
Posted 5 years ago #
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