How low-energy LEDs could soon be lighting our homes

Scientists have found a way to increase the light-output efficiency of LEDs through pioneering nanoelectronics

Michael Pollitt The Guardian, Thursday May 8 20008

Rahman's first LED devices are intended for use in backlights within LCD TVs, replacing cold cathode tubes and helping make thin TVs even thinner. As for those bright, money-saving LED lightbulbs for the home, there may not be a long wait. "You should be able to buy them in two to three years' time,"

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Learning from Sweden

The following is cut from an article from today's Guardian on carbon reduction efforts in Sweden

"More broadly, is there anything Britain could learn from Sweden? "Homes have virtually no insulation in Britain. You could do a lot just by doing more of that," says Johansson. "When a building is renovated in Sweden, it can be properly insulated and renovated, cutting energy consumption by at least half."

"Impose a carbon tax," suggests Lindberg. "You would make it more attractive financially to go for green solutions than for carbon options."
"A carbon tax is the most cost-effective way to make carbon cuts and it does not prevent strong economic growth," adds Carlgren.

Cutting carbon emissions Swedish-style

• Swedes get a 10,000 kronor (£860) rebate when they buy a green car, ie a car that consumes less petrol, or runs on biofuels or natural gas.

• Stockholm introduced congestion charging last year. Cars going into or out of the inner city zone pay 10, 15 or 20 kronor, depending on the time of the day (the busier it gets, the more you pay).

• The government hiked the carbon tax by 2.6% in January to 2.34 kronor per litre.

• A climate change bill will be presented in September, which could include measures to promote freight transport by rail at home and a possible increase to the green car rebate. "We will be focusing on the transport sector," says the Swedish environment minister, Andreas Carlgren. In Sweden, most oil and gas is used for transport.

• Sweden gets all its electricity either from hydroelectric power or nuclear plants."

Is It Getting Warmer?

An article on Radio 4 yesterday addressed the fact raised by Nigel Lawson for his new 'sceptic' book - see below- that how come the world's average temperature has not increased since 1998? The argument was that if we use 20 years of rising temperatures to make a case for warming then surely ten years of no increase puts the hypothesis in severe doubt.

They interviewed the ex-BBC Science Editor (I think) who is also now in the sceptic camp. The scientist brought into the give the 'global warming' view said that this was just an analogy that was too be expected in such a complicated system and that there is much other evidence e.g. melting glacier to support the case.

In the end they made a bet, for £100, that there would be a year of significantly higher temperatures before 2011. We shall see.

Cap and Trade - It's the Way

I went to two talks over the past week on carbon trading.

The first was in London hosted by E-Factor with the Key Note speaker was Peter Fusaro of Global-Change a New York based energy consultancy and hedge fund advisor. He was championing the cause of freeing up the markets to address climate change with governments first establishing a regulatory framework for carbon trading with challenging limits on carbon emissions, which can be ratcheted down over time, and a stringent monitoring and enforcement function.

This would provide a secure environment in which companies would be keen to invest in the application of current and development of new technologies to achieve rapid carbon reduction. I tend to agree with him. Appeals to individual conscience to reduce carbon emissions will only work with a small proportion of the populace, not because they are not moral, but they are busy just trying to manage their own lives and their families. Energy saving will comes further down their priority list and will reach he top only when it is too late for the climate and then they may well not know what to do.

By using the price mechanism through cap and trade you get industry involved, which will bring huge investment and then the consequent price signal will mean that people have to take notice.

The EU Emissions Trading System may have stumbled in its first faced but these are just set up issues and can be addressed in the next round which started this year. Mr F says that the US will set up their own scheme within 18 months to 2 years once the new administration is settled in. Bringing the US on board in the war on climate change is essential if anything meaningful is to be achieved. The Regulation and market combination is the most powerful mechanism we have to change things. We may wish we can appeal to people's better nature but we do not have the time and when it comes to the crunch it likely does not work.

The other presentation was in Cambridge by Ben Castle from the RSA. It was about Personal Tradable Carbon Allowances. While the project and discussion was quite illuminating in the issues involved and this may eventually be a useful way of ensuring worldwide equity on carbon emissions (e.g. one tonne each, it would be too complicated to establish and for individuals to manage their allowance. Far better to start with company cap and trade and perhaps move to individuals if this ever proves necessary.

My conclusion is that I will firmly put my foot in the cap and trade camp while working for local initiatives and national policy change to reduce carbon emissions and improve quality of life.

Tread lightly: Stop buying farmed flowers

The following is taken from an article in the Guardian today:

"As with food, a greater distance from the country of origin to the UK does not necessarily equate to a higher carbon footprint for cut flowers. A study conducted by Cranfield University found that 12,000 rose stems grown in Kenya incurred a carbon footprint of 2,200kg CO2, while the equivalent supply from Holland generated 35,000kg CO2.

That's almost
0.2kg per Kenyan rose
3kg per Dutch one

A better option, therefore, is to adopt the same approach to flowers as to food, and aim to buy locally produced, seasonal varieties as much as possible. The website Online Florists has a list of what's in season. You can order seasonal bouquets of flowers that have been grown outdoors from Isles of Scilly Flowers and Scent from the Islands.

If you have the space, the best idea is to grow flowers yourself. Daffodils and tulips are a good bet for spring in the UK, sunflowers, sweet peas and rudbeckias offer bright summer colours, while heathers, ivy and holly can be used for winter decorations. Wiggly Wigglers sell almost 100 types of wildflowers and traditional flowers for planting in British gardens."

US CO2 Calculator

Science Guy

To give him his due credit, the person involved in the discussion with Nigel Lawson on Newsnight was Chris Rapley