Off to a ski holiday

Today, I am off for a long-awaited ski holiday in the Austrian Alps, specifically the Arlber, partly sponsored by my aunt to reward my efforts in achieving my Masters degree last year.
I will be joined by my sister and my better half too.
It will be freezing up there, as seen by the following screen dump from http://www.lech-zuers.at



While there, I shall be hoping for a deal at Copenhagen...

I hope I will hear good news from there.

Until then! Auf wiedersehen!

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online

This will include:

'all legislation, as well as road-traffic counts over the past eight years, property prices listed with the stamp-duty yield, motoring offences with types of offence and the numbers, by county, for the top six offences.'

Amazing!

I doubt we will every be there in secret society Malta. And yes, the UK has a Data Protection Act.

Article on The Guardian

Cycling morning

I have been feeling the need to cycle a bit around since my last cycle trip with a MIRM mate in Maremma Italy. I decided to combine it with a noble act, i.e. waste disposal at a Civic Amenity Sites. These sites accept all kinds of waste from the usual paper/plastic/glass/metal to electronic and hazardous waste.

For no reason at all, I have been collecting endless amounts of old PC motherboards, CD-ROM drives, graphic cards etc. I had lots to throw away. I packed all the stuff in Baanisuu's backpack. This included 2 power supplies, 2 motherboards, 2 hard disks, a discman, a joystick, some RAM, a CD-ROM, an old car stereo and an old phone. I straped the backpack to my back and off I went.

I set off from my home in Safi and cycled all the way to the Hal Far Civic Amenity Site. It was pleasant, at times bumby and noisy (hunting season you know). I could not notice the smell of carob, the pleasent colour of green and also a particular and long crawling species that I am sorry I did not have a camera to take a picture of.

Anyway, it took me one hour in total to disposte of the waste and arrive back home. I used the cycle lanes on the urban roads. They are not bad but a little akward with lots of breaches.

Nonetheless, it was some good exercise on the thighs for sure and some long-awaited fresh air.

Andrew Simms, Met Office and Sarah Palin

Wonder what the above have in common? They all featured in articles on The Guardian today. All were related to climate change.

The article in The Guardian by Andrew Simms it is related to climate change and the need to avert significant change by doing action now. From the whole article, the following paragraph stuck out:

Considering that it took governments in the UK and US just a week to drop decades of hardened economic practice to save the financial system (a subsidiary of the environment) from meltdown, nationalising banks at great public expense, we should be asking why it takes any longer to act to save the planet from runaway warming.

Very true!

The author goes also about the environmental deficit, ie, the use of resources and disposal of waste at a rate which nature cannot recover from. This complements the article on a Met Office report that urges governments to start reducing emissions now before it is too late:

Professor Bob Watson, chief scientific adviser for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said..."If we act now, maybe we have got a fighting chance,"

Very sad!

To close it off, a third article on The Guardian identifies Sarah Palin's (running mate of McCain (Republican)) environmental credentials. Actually, she does not have much. She denies man-made climate change:
"I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made"
and would rather have oil drilling companies doing their job in Alaska rather than declaring the polar bear as an endangered specie. Luckily, she lost the case. However, she has placed an appeal against the decision!

In May the US department of the interior rejected Palin's objections and listed the bear as a threatened species, saying that two-thirds of the world's polar bears were likely to be extinct by 2050 due to the rapid melting of the sea ice. Palin, governor of Alaska and the Republican nominee for US vice-president, responded last month by suing the federal government, to try to overturn the ruling.

Outrageous!

Winds show how dirty we are

Ever noted that in Malta, when the wind gets strong, so much dirt lies around?

The cause is easy to understand. Unfortunately, we Maltese are heavy dumpers. We throw away lots of stuff away in the outside environment, such as from car windows or by accidentally dropping objects. Such items such as paper, plastic bags and bottles etc tend to congregate in shadowy corners, at the base of trees or wherever. Thus, only some patches look dirty.

However, the wind of the last days has shown our true colours. Go walk anywhere you like and you'll find lots of rubbish lying / flying around.

And for heaven's sake do not blame the laziness of garbage / litter collectors. It if were not for our constant and obscene littering, these people would not have a job!

Yes, we are a dirty people.

Green Office Project: Environmental Tips for the Workplace

Creative and straightforward video on green office tips produces by university students, including a friend of mine who is the actor ;-)

The issue of food miles and globalisation

Jacob Musyoki, who I visited on his farm in the Machakos district of Kenya, grows green beans that are air-freighted to Britain for sale in supermarkets. A lot of environmentalists want us to boycott them because of the CO2 emissions from the nightly flights from Nairobi. But that would be bad news for Musyoki, who makes a much better living growing beans for consumption in Britain than he did when his only markets were local. He has enough money for a TV. He is a citizen of the world and is proud his kids can now stay in school.

Do we really want to cut emissions by pulling the plug on Musyoki? He is not responsible for global warming. We are. Perhaps we should do something to cut our carbon emissions that inconveniences us, rather than wrecks his life. Why not keep buying the beans, but take the bus to the supermarket instead of driving?

Fred Pearce - The Guardian

Chooseday and Shut the Door!

This week I have read about two community initiatives taken in the UK that try to do simple things that help reduce CO2 emissions and improve our environmental footprint.

The first I read about was Chooseday (sounds like Tuesday). The aim of this initiatives is for people to decide a day of the week in which they will leave their car at home and travel to work by bus or carpooling. The obvious aim is to reduce the number of cars on the road (http://www.chooseday.org/). This is being carried out in Bristol.

An interesting thing I noted is that bus lanes (yes, they caused significant controversy when they were introduced for a few hundred metres in Marsa) can also be used by cars that car pool. So instead of here where bus lanes are used by buses, mini vans and taxis (even if carrying no passengers), this could be extended to allow cars that have more than two passengers. I do not know how many fines were dished or how it is monitored.

The second community initiative I read about was Close the Door. It speaks for itself: Leave doors shut and is targeted at the business community. A lot of energy is wasted by leaving the doors of shops and restaurants open. Huge losses result from lost hot / cool air. Why not close them and save this energy. It was calculated this may bring a 20-25% reduction in electricity bills. The initiative offers stickers to be fixed on doors to explain why the shop is leaving its doors closed. Good one!

I would extend this to offices too. We took a similar initiative at work to keep room doors shut when the air conditioner is on. It may go against what many cry out for the 'open door' attitude (mainly to bridge the physical divide between management and staff). I do not have records of the achievement from our initiates, but electricity consumption did fall.

So try it yourself: carpool and close that door!

Marks and Spencer hopes to cut plastic bag use with 5p levy

I wonder if any of the local supermarket chains such as PAVI, Smart, Scotts, Lidl etc have considered such a move to cut at our bad habit of filling our car booths full of goods in plastic bags. Personally, I doubt it. I still remember the outrage when the ecotax was announced. I am not aware of any figures that show wheter such a tax has managed to reduce the consumption of certain products, apart from filling the public coffers.

Marks & Spencer will charge 5p for each bag and the proceeds will go to charity. In Britain, 13billion bags are distributed each year, each of which can take up to 1000 years to decay. Plus they are made from the black gold called oil.

Can anyone tell some executive at these chains that reducing the distribution of plastic bags helps their bottom line and the environment? At least, they can start a trail at one of their many outlets and gauge customer feedback.

Source: The Guardian

This is really pure genius - a car that runs on air!

Can you imagine this? A car that runs on compressed air! I could not believe this until I saw this video. That car and future off shoots can do wonders for the environment by reducing air pollution and CO2 emissions.

I wish all the best of luck to the two engineers on succeeded in the their project.

Also, the following comment caught my eye on youtube.com:

beautiful this cars will stop the terrorism we are sponsoring by buying oil from arabs

Biofuel saga again..going the wrong way?

Once again, the biofuel issue is a hot potato. The Guardian has in the last few days mentioned concerns by the EU, as well as scientists, on the actual benefits of biofuel.

The EU has admitted that:

the environmental and social impact of producing the crops may be greater than originally thought

Also, in the US, the cultivation of maize for biofuel, has been accused of increasing food prices and damaging the environment.

A Report in Science has also indicated that biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil since they have higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland.

Another Report from the Royal Society suggested that biofuels risk failing to deliver significant reductions in transport emissions and could even be environmentally damaging unless the government implements the right policies.

Ultimately, the Royal Society was quoted as saying that given biofuels were already in the market, it was "vital that policies that promote biofuel development also address the environmental, economic and social impacts.

Sources: The Guardian
The Guardian

New ways of generating energy / heat

How about using body heat from a railway station to heat buildings next door?

Or using the heat from traffic passing on roads to heat nearby households?

And what about human excrement? Ever thought that it could be converted to biogas?

Or chocolate - using production wastes to create fuel?

Read on here: Crazy idea, but it might just work

Examplary green incentive

Here below is a good incentive proposed by French government to reduce energy consumption and produce less CO2 emissions.

...the French government (started) to offer cash bonuses of up to €1,300 (£940) to buy new low-emission cars and penalties of up to €2,600 for buying the most polluting models.

The French car scheme took effect last week and offers a €1,000 bonus for cars emitting less than 100 grammes of CO2 a kilometre, €700 for those emitting less than 120g and €200 for those emitting less than 130g. A new model emitting more than 250g, such as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo or a BMW X5, carries a penalty of €2,600.

Now isnt' that a bold decision that will make the air we (they) breathe cleaner?

Maltese politicians, get inspired!

I tell you: Scrap Biofuel away!!

Biofuel, Biodiesel, ethanol and the likes. They are pitted as the saviours for our car engines as we seek remedies to do away with fossil fuels. But, alas, not all that glitters is gold.

Research back in August quoted that: increasing production of biofuels to combat climate change will release between two and nine times more carbon gases over the next 30 years than fossil fuels Source.

One may argue that the debate is wide open, and I fully agree to that. However, what is happening is that biofuels in the form of crop derivations is financially more advantageous for certain sectors of the economy. The most is the farmer. Crops for biofuel are getting a better prices than crops for food.

This was even stated by Pippo Psaila, head of the EORC, a Maltese company that produces biofuel. Although they started and still use used cooking oil as the source of biofuel, the EORC plans to expand. And what does it offer? The end of the article in The Times, Business edition of the 6th of December says it all:

"Farmers could grow jatropha instead of fodder.... In the end, they would be growing something that gives them a much higher income for much less work".

First of all, one must be very careful when introducing new crops. It must be made sure that the plant is not invasive. We do not want jatropha to be another haxixa ingliza do we?

Secondly, the farmer will surely gain, or so he hopes, a higher yield and more valuable crop. But what about the previous user of the fodder?

We all know that food prices have risen tremendously in a few months. It is believed that food stockpiles are very low, at levels last seen in the early eighties. Exchanging food crops with fuel crops will not made the situation better.

I shall end with some text from an article I read on the reasons why food prices have risen so much:

1 Rising consumption: The appetite of fast-growing nations, such as China, is rising as economic booms cause a surge in demand for meat and dairy products

2 Competition from biofuels: The cars of the rich are now rivalling the bellies of the poor for corn, cane and edible oils

3 Climate change: Global warming is putting pressure on water needed to irrigate crops

So what do you think? Would you still go for biofuel?

Xmas lights at the cost of...?

Di-ve.com has just published the following:

Christmas street lightning gets discount
by Chris Galea, di-ve news

VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- November 26, 2007 -- 1225CET -- Enemalta Corporation has amended its scheme giving a discount to street lighting during the Christmas festivities.

The Corporation will be giving a 50 per cent discount on temporary services for the decoration of streets during the festivities, a scheme which is expected to cost Enemalta around Lm5,000.

Under its previous scheme, Enemalta used to give the first 50 units consumed for free, which effectively represented a reduction of less than Lm3 on the expense. This scheme had last year cost Enemalta less than Lm300.

The Corporation augured that that the contribution would help to further embellish the commercial centres during the festivities.

Xmas spirit apart, this is surely not the way forward to reduce energy consumption.

Eco-driving...interesting tips

Driving at 70mph rather than 85mph - a 40% fuel saving

5% fuel saving can accrue from consistently changing gear at the right time (2,500 revs in a petrol car)

Environmental advantages of taking the aggression (rapid acceleration, jerky gear changes) out of your driving and travelling smoothly and steadily

Every 45kg taken off the car can save 1% on fuel

The average eco driver, doing 12,000 miles a year, could be saving up to £273 a year on petrol

Don't bother slipping into neutral. A modern fuel-injected car coasting in neutral is basically idling in disguise and will consume more petrol than when it is in gear.

Good maintenance is at the heart of economical performance

Now how would you go about all this? Are you an eco-driver?

Source: The Guardian

Another one....

I have just got to know that the following application:

PA 00554/06
Construction of supermarket with adjacent carpark and sign.
Site at, Triq San Gwann, Safi

has been granted planning permission.

The recommendation by the Case Officer was for refusal. However, the DCC board felt that
DCC 126-01A/07 held on 6 November 2007 Approved in view that this development does not conflict with agriculture policy provides an essential service to the communities of the surrounding villages. Without adverse traffic impact. Prior to issue of permit architect to submit a landscaping scheme providing a row of trees along the southwest part of the site and other landscaping within the site.

The site is located opposite the new Karwija Boys Secondary, also ODZ, where people who pass there on a daily basis know that Triq San Gwann during school time is literary packed with cars parking on both sides of the road. It is so bad that at some points of the road two cars cannot pass easily. What's more is that buses use this road (Bus nos 32 and 34).

My reaction?

Thank you!!!

California fires

We have all heard on the devastating fires that ravaged many counties of California. Below is an interesting picture sequence of the event taken from a camera trap set up to study coyote behaviour in the area. Watch below:

At 0945, the wind picks up, and moving leaves and branches trigger the camera which takes a series of pictures, including this one at 1044.

At 0450 on 22 October a coyote runs by. It might have been fleeing the fires

The next shot, taken at 0900 speaks for itself

Just one minute later, at 0901, the fire has passed. A few shrubs continue to burn.

The camera keeps taking a picture a minute for 10 minutes until this one, at 0910. It shows just how thick the smoke was in the 0901 picture.

The camera doesn't fire again until the following day at 1112, when a coyote walks by.

Source: New Scientist

Antarctica - the final eden

For those who still to not believe!

This photo blogpost is for those of you who still believe that global warming is a myth:

Himalayas: Pictures showing the contrast between glaciers in 1968 (top) and 2007

Sea ice, polar bears' natural habitat, has been steadily receding, leaving their long-term future in doubt

Source: The Guardian