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October 20, 2005
Powergen and Scottish Power biggest CO2 emitters
Friends of the Earth Scotland have published a table of figures on energy companies, showing where their electricity comes from, as well as the extent of their production of CO2 and nuclear waste. (This information is now available as a result of new EU rules.)
Powergen’s performance was the poorest with 56 percent of its energy from coal and only 0.5 percent from clean renewables. Scottish Power came next with 48 percent from coal and 6 percent from renewables. Only Good Energy had a completely clean sheet, although it is worth noting that the main suppliers offer different tariffs, some more green than others.
FoE Scotland also provide information about switching provider or tariff.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20051002b.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:50 PM | TrackBack
October 09, 2005
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Wonderful exhibition at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh. Many of the photographs are familiar but it was fascinating to see them alongside less well-known images.
If someone asks me in 20 years time what the 20th-century looked like, I’ll probably say “Cartier-Bresson!”. It is all there: the topical and the timeless, the political and the apolitical, the famous and the unknown, the rich and the poor, the east and the west, the north and the south.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 08:17 PM | TrackBack
Hiatus
British Telecom kindly restored my broadband connection on Friday 7 October.
When we moved to Haddington three weeks ago, they originally told us there was no line to the house. Eventually they discovered there was one, but until the number was put in their database, I was not allowed to apply for broadband. Then when I was able to apply, they did not enable it by the agreed date.
It would be better if the telecoms did not control access to the internet. They never expected to have it, showed scant interest in DSL when it first appeared, at first attempted to delay its implementation, and then tried to squeeze as much money out of it as possible when they realized what had landed in their very corporate laps.
What are the alternatives? I have always argued that just as we own our own houses, cars, washing machines, computers and indeed telephones we should aldo be allowed to own the 40p-worth of copper wiring that links it to the nearest CAB box (I believe that is the right technical term) or, if practicable, the whole individual installation up to and including the unique line card in the local telephone exchange.
At the point where the individual line meets the larger system, the user should have a free choice of services from internet and telecom providers.