I had been getting worried about anthropogenic global warming, but this guy has made me realise it’s all just a hoax:
This is the first part of a series of videos from The Ghost of Sabotage, and I look forward to featuring part 2 of the climate change hoax (unless people suggest I shouldn’t).
Like many people I’ve been more interested in this election than any other, and as a floating voter I’ve been weighing up which party manifesto makes the most sense to me.
I tend to think differently from the majority of people. In fact my wife recently pointed out in an argument that I’m not ‘normal’ which I took as a great compliment. So, although the vast majority of people will be voting on issues such as the economy, immigration, education and healthcare, I find that I’m more interested in the parties’ environmental policies.
I was initially caught up in the whole ‘Cleggmania’ thing after the first TV debate, but after recently reading a book by a 90 year old, independent British scientist I have completely changed my opinion about the Liberal Democrats and particularly their environmental policies.
The scientist I am talking about is James Lovelock and I highly recommend you read The Vanishing Face of Gaia – A Final Warning by James Lovelock.
In summary, he believes that:
(I haven’t read anywhere what he thinks about energy rated windows, but I’m confident that he will feel we have more pressing issues to worry about).
The following interview by Sir David Frost on the Al Jazeera TV channel gives a bit of an idea about what he is predicting:
He predicts much of Europe will become uninhabitable having turned to desert and Britain will become Europe’s “life-raft” due to its stable temperature caused by being surrounded by the ocean.
He suggests that “we have to keep in mind the awesome pace of change and realise how little time is left to act, and then each community and nation must find the best use of the resources they have to sustain civilisation for as long as they can”.
He believes that humans are too stupid to act fast enough to halt global heating, and even if they could it’s probably too late anyway. Most people have a ‘business as usual’ mentality and as E.O. Wilson pointed out ‘how unfortunate that the Earth’s first intelligent social animal is a tribal carnivore’.
So, we need to ensure that we have plenty of food and a reliable, self sufficient energy supply.
Nuclear energy is the only realistic alternative to fossil fuels that has the capacity to both fulfill the large scale energy needs of humankind while also reducing greenhouse emissions. Renewable energy options are a waste of time.
“You’re never going to get enough energy from wind to run a society such as ours,” Lovelock says. “Windmills! Oh no. No way of doing it. You can cover the whole country with the blasted things, millions of them. Waste of time.”
The following video is a graphic representation of the number of wind turbines required to equal the output of one nuclear power station:
Nuclear power stations are not atomic bombs waiting to go off
The problem is nuclear power has had a very bad press, and people are naturally worried by the concept. In reality, nuclear power is a safe, reliable and developing technology. The fact that we have rejected nuclear for so long, and are still dithering about it today, has a lot to do with the myths surrounding Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Windscale. In reality, far more people in the world have died in coal burning power stations over the years, but there is not the media hype.
Much of today’s anti-nuclear hysteria is based on a misunderstanding of what happened in the Ukraine, as the following article argues:
Let’s challenge these myths of Chernobyl
Opinions are gradually changing though, and the current Labour government has named 10 potential sites that could have new reactors by 2025.
EDF plans to build the first by 2017, with plans for three more, while a E.ON/RWE joint venture is aiming to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear plants in the UK by 2025.
While both Labour and the Conservatives support nuclear power, the Lib Dems say they oppose building new nuclear power stations because the industry has “a dirty legacy and increases the global security threat.”
Interestingly, UKIP proposes an increase in nuclear power generation to provide 50% or more of our growing electricity needs within 10-15 years, even though the party is mostly sceptical about global warming.
They state: ‘UK Independence believes that global warming is a recognisable phenomenon, but that there is insufficient proof that this is generated by carbon emissions. The over-reaction by other parties to global warming borders on the hysterical and risks damaging Britain’s economy and its people’s way of life’.
So, whether you believe in global warming or not, the UK needs energy security and with dwindling supplies of coal, Nuclear is the sensible cost effective solution. Dave Blakeman recently wrote about ‘Climate Change vs Energy Security’ on his excellent blog.
My worry is that a hung parliament with a strong, anti-nuclear Liberal Democrat Party could derail the multi-billion pound expansion of Britain’s nuclear industry. The Liberal Democrats have hinted that their opposition to a new fleet of nuclear power plants is likely to be non-negotiable in the event of the party holding the balance of power.
So, for this reason, I will not be voting for the Liberal Democrats on March 6th.
So, who will I vote for?
Well, the simple answer is I won’t be voting for anyone. I’m flying off with my family to Portugal on May 5th and didn’t manage to sort out my postal application in time!
And, as Lovelock suggests: ‘Enjoy life while you can!’
I’ve now set things up with Ripple Africa for Conservatory Outlet to fund 24 tree nurseries in Malawi, and you may have seen the press release we’ve sent out to the trade media. For example, this is the release in the Glazine:
http://www.the-glazine.com/WeeklyFolders/glazine13april2010/African_charity_link-up.html.
I’ve also added details on the Conservatory Outlet website with the emphasis on every frame we make (window frame, conservatory frame, composite door) then we plant a tree.
In actual fact, we’re more likely to make around 50,000 frames this year so we’re actually planting more than one tree per frame, but the numbers are not really too important.
What interests me is the idea that other companies in our industry join Conservatory Outlet and support Ripple Africa in planting thousands of trees in this very poor part of the world. This is about alleviating poverty while at the same time absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helping fight climate change.
I’ve spoken to a couple of big players in our industry who are keen to get involved. I’m intending to go over to Malawi in June / July to see the charity in action and visit the various tree nurseries.
Wouldn’t it send out a good message to consumers if as an industry we were planting millions of trees whilst at the same time helping fight poverty in one of the poorest countries of the world….
If you wish to find out more please email me at matthew@conservatoryoutlet.co.uk
If you’re a regular reader you’ll know I’ve been grappling with the whole climate change issue for a while now.
Back in January 2009 I tried to set up a tree planting charity with a few other people from the industry, and actually went as far as creating website called Trees4Windows.com. At the time, I lost a bit of enthusiasm when I received negative feedback from some quarters, and then buried myself back into work commitments. But, I never stopped thinking that I would at some point like to get involved with planting trees on a large scale.
Then, more recently I’ve been thinking about climate change a lot more, as a result of the post I wrote about whether humans are responsible for anthropogenic global warming. The debate between John O’Sullivan and Canbanjo allowed me to research both the skeptic and ‘warmist’ points of view, and I’ve read a lot about the science supporting human induced global warming.
I have come to the conclusion that whether or not global warming is happening, the risks associated with not acting are greater than those associated with acting. So, I am going to try cut my own personal CO2 emissions as much as I can, and try to reduce those of my company. (By the way, I decided to order a BMW 318d rather than the Jag or the milk float, as the CO2 emissions are lowish, and fuel economy will save me money).
I then started researching tree planting again. Back in January 2009 I met up with the Woodland Trust to see if we could set up a deal with them for planting trees on a large scale, and with other companies from our industry taking part. The problem for me was that to sponsor a tree is around £15 – which covers the cost of the tree, planting it, purchase of land, maintaining it over the coming years and a contribution towards the overheads of the charity. To me, that’s not good value for money, and not enough trees could be planted.
So, I started researching dorestation and reforestion projects in the Amazon Rainforest. There does seem to be a lot of focus on the Amazon Rainforest, and for very good reasons. I found that the rate of deforestation in the area has slowed over recent years, so I then started researching deforestation in Africa, and found this website:
I was immediately impressed with the website and liked the feel of the charity, probably because it reminded me of Heal. Ripple Africa is run by a husband and wife team, Geoff and Liz Furber, who are based in Buckingham. They set up the charity around five years ago after purchasing a small property next to Lake Malawi and decided to start helping out the local community.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the charity is involved in education, healthcare and environmental projects. In particular, Geoff and Liz have put a lot of time and effort into setting up tree nurseries.
According to the website:
Trees in Malawi are being cut down at an alarming rate. An area of forest the size of a football pitch is cut down every 10 minutes. This tree planting project is centred in Nkhata Bay District, Malawi, Africa, an area of 4,000 sq.km which is about the size of Kent. Ultimately, we want to set up 400 community tree nurseries growing a total of 4 million trees per year.
Since 2006, we have helped 176 community tree nurseries to plant over three million trees, and we estimate that 3,000 people are working on this project. We are planting a combination of indigenous, exotic and fruit trees. The main aims of the project are to provide sustainable timber in woodlots for firewood, building, etc., to restore degraded land by planting indigenous trees, and to provide additional food using fruit trees and nitrogen-fixing trees. In addition to tree planting, we are also involved in environmental awareness training.
So, I made contact and went down to meet Geoff and Liz on Monday to find out more, particularly about the environmental side of their work. I have to say, the passion and hard work that they put into this small charity is very inspiring, and they do it for free as volunteers. The vast majority of the money they raise is sent to Malawi where they are now the largest employer in that area of Malawi.
They accept that it has not all been plain sailing, and they are still learning as they go, but they are making a real difference to the lives of very poor people.
I have decided to support the work of Ripple Africa, and particularly help fund their tree nursery projects. We have agreed to fund 24 tree nurseries which will plant in the region of 72,000 trees per year. We will promote the relationship with Ripple Africa through our Conservatory Outlet website. The detail needs sorting out, but we will promote something like ‘For every conservatory we install, we will plant 50 trees in Malawi’.
I hate to use the term ‘carbon offsetting’ as the planting of trees in Malawi is more than just trying to help climate change. Ripple Africa’s primar environmental objectives are to help local communities in Malawi to:
plant trees
reduce deforestation and land degradation
protect and manage the local environment
develop sustainable local livelihoods
alleviate poverty
I’m not for one minute suggesting that by partnering with Ripple Africa I’ll be making a massive contribution to fighting global warming. The problem needs tackling head on by world leaders on a macro scale with a massive change in how we look at energy generation.
For me, I’m happy to be helping a small charity make a big difference. I’ll finish this post by recommending you view the following video:
You can view other videos from Ripple Africa at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rippleafrica#p/u
If other companies are interested in helping Ripple Africa with their environmental projects, please contact me. There is also the potential to resurrect the Trees4Windows concept with the focus on planting trees in Malawi. I hope to visit Malawi in the Summer and see the tree nurseries in action.
In the meantime, I look forward to hearing your constructive thoughts…
When I suggested in a previous post that ‘Humans are responsible for Global Warming’ I wasn’t expecting the degree of debate the issue of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) would generate on my site.
The main debate involves ‘canbanjo’ an architect who stumbled upon my site while searching for information about the Part L requirements for small extensions, and John O’Sullivan, an experienced climate sceptic who believes global warming is history’s biggest scam.
John’s profile on his blogger webpage states that he is a:
British crime writer and legal advocate, John O’Sullivan was born in 1961 in Berkshire, England, the son of immigrant Irish parents. An avid scholar, John taught and lectured for twenty years at various schools and colleges in the east of England. He litigated, with his second wife, a former New York correction officer, in one of America’s longest and most extraordinary sexual harassment cases. He has gleaned a wealth of knowledge and experience in filing court petitions, motions, mandamus and appeals in the New York State Division of Human Rights, mandamus petitions in the New York State Supreme Court, as well as US federal court. John has also prepared analysis and arguments used in UK criminal court that concerned police officer malfeasance. He has written two ‘Cupboard 55′ novels including ‘Summit Shock’ based on his wife’s epic story. Among the author’s other published credits are; ‘The Jimston Journal’, ‘Invisible Ink,’ ‘The Secret Attic,’ ‘Big Ugly Review and’ ‘The Zip Book.’ John is a prolific writer with over 100 publishing credits relating to his analysis of the ‘Climategate’ data fraud scandal involving criminal conduct by an elite clique of climate scientists.
I find it very difficult to take John’s comments seriously, and if you read some of the nonsense on the ClimateGate.com website of which he is a contributor it is very worrying. John contributes to many blogs on climate change – he must have ‘Google Alerts’ (or similar) set for terms like ‘global warming’ which allows him to easily identify relevant content where he can copy and paste from a library of tosh (whilst building links and traffic to the ClimateGate.com website at the same time).
Basically, John believes he’s in a battle against the ‘religion of settled science’. According the the ClimateGate website:
The goal of Climategate.com is to provide a daily dose of information regarding the world’s greatest scam, climategate, and other information and news to help you in your battle against the Religion of Settled Science to dispute their views on Anthropogenic Global Warming, and in addition, to battle the one-world socialist agenda, which is the movement’s leaders’ real goal.
So, Climategate.com publishes material that they hope others will spread across the internet, creating as much confusion as possible so that the normal man or woman in the street is unsure about the real science. I’ve never been one for conspiracy theories, and to suggest that 97.5% of the world’s climate scientists are conspiring to create a one-world socialist government seems so far fetched it sounds laughable.
An example of the desperate measures the ClimateGate.com team undertakes is when they supported Nick Griffin from the BNP stating he ‘tells it like it is’. They later decided to pull the article when even their normally supportive followers pointed out they’d gone a bit too far this time.
John O’ Sullivan states that he is pleased that the BNP have chosen to support the idea that AGW is a hoax. You can see his comment here.
Here’s Mr Griffin in full flow:
Well, I don’t think it was John O’ Sullivan’s intention, but the more I’ve looked at what he and his colleagues have to say, the less respect I have for their arguments.
The last few posts I’ve added to the site seem to have ruffled a few feathers at times, and as I’m chilled out and half way through a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon I thought I’d write a few thoughts which are unlikely to cause any controversy whatsoever.
[I guess at this point I've probably lost half of my readers].
6203 steps
This morning I was surprised to receive a gift from the marketing department at Profile 22. I’m not sure what they’re trying to tell me, but they have supplied me with a little device that clips on my belt and counts how many steps I take. Since around 10am this morning I have walked a massive 6203 steps.
Are you impressed? Well, I was really surprised and quite pleased with myself, but then I googled ‘average steps per day’ and found that the guidelines state I should be walking 10,000 steps per day! As I’m now sat on the couch with a glass of red wine, it’s unlikely I’m going to hit my target. (I have to confess also that I have actually fiddled the figures by finishing work early and taking the dogs for a long walk).
PIGS
No, don’t worry my wife has not gone out and bought some pigs to keep our donkeys company. No, I’m talking about the next Publicity in Glazing Society meeting next Thursday in London. The details are on the Glazine at this link.
Any excuse to socialise with industry professionals, I’ve booked train tickets and the hotel and am attending with our kid.
According to the press release:
Everyone who wants to socialise, network and yes, even talk business, is welcome to join editors, advertising, marketing, PR, event organisers and suppliers from the industry on Thursday 4 March.
If you’re going – I’ll see you there!
Huddersfield Town v Leeds United
I’m not sure if you’re aware but I’m a big fan of West Yorkshire’s best football team – Huddersfield Town. On Saturday we host local rivals Leeds United. It’s all set up to be a great game for the following reasons:
Huddersfield are unbeaten in the last 10 games
Huddersfield are the only team unbeaten at home this season
Huddersfield have won their last three games all away from home!
Leeds are in really poor form, although they won on Tuesday night
Of the last 4 times the two teams have played Town have won three and drawn one
With all this in mind, Leeds are bound to win!!! Conservatory Outlet and West Yorkshire Windows share a hospitality box at the Galpharm Stadium and we’ve got 5 town fans and 5 Leeds fans attending on Saturday. A few beers, friendly banter and hopefully a good game. I can’t wait!
Climate Change
I’ve enjoyed the debate on this website about whether climate change is human induced. I accept I need to do a lot more reading up, but at this stage having listened to all the arguments I’m becoming more and more convinced that global warming is happening.
But, if it isn’t then I think the following picture highlights why we should take action anyway:
Following on from my previous post about whether humans are influencing climate change, I’ve been doing quite a lot of reading up on the subject.
An architect stumbled upon this site and added a number of links to resources which I have since looked at. I have also looked at a number of skeptic websites and tried to make my mind up as to whether humanity is responsible for global warming.
To me, the science appears to stack up and human activity is clearly affecting the global climate in a very worrying way.
I refer people to the Copenhagen Diagnosis Climate Science Report. This report covers the range of topics evaluated by Working Group I of the IPCC, namely the Physical Science Basis. This includes:
•an analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and their atmospheric concentrations, as well as the global carbon cycle;
•coverage of the atmosphere, the land-surface, the oceans, and all of the major components of the cryosphere (land-ice, glaciers, ice shelves, sea-ice and permafrost);
•paleoclimate, extreme events, sea level, future projections, abrupt change and tipping points;
•separate boxes devoted to explaining some of the common misconceptions surrounding climate change science.
For me, it is difficult to argue with the majority of scientists on this matter. I’ve also found reading the following website very informative:
Without Hot Air is a free online book by a cambridge physics professor, who is currently government chief energy advisor, which seeks to outline the difficult energy problems we need to deal with urgently.
I also found a series of YouTube videos which helped me understand the topic in more detail, and dispel some of the arguments of the climate skeptics. Visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54?blend=1&ob=4
Potholer is a retired science correspondent, with a degree in geology, and argues a strong case that people should look at the real science, rather than listening to the various nonsense written in the media and blog sites. This is the first in a series of videos he has produced which are easy to understand and informative:
Interestingly, people have been voting on this blog for a couple of weeks now and providing me with feedback as to whether they believe humans are responsible for climate change and the results so far are:
Quite frankly, this is very worrying. If the majority of people don’t believe the science, or are unsure about the science, then it is unlikely that the politicians throughout the world will take the difficult decisions needed to radically overhaul the way we use energy in such a short period of time.
I’ve been so chilled out today. Nothing seems to be getting me wound up at all, even my wife seems to be making sense.
Unfortunately, others around me seem to be losing their heads. I’m particularly referring to some of the comments on this blog recently. One of the problems with the internet is that people often rant at each other in ways they wouldn’t do if they were face to face. I had to disable comments on our YouTube videos as many of the comments were completely out of order. Generally, on this website, people are civilised, although I do delete a number of comments each month which are not suitable.
It’s great that people are passionate, and the debate between various contributors is mostly better than any content I write. But, I would prefer people to show a little more restraint in some instances.
Fair Trade Hardware
A few weeks ago I wrote about my concerns that people in the Far East were being exploited while manufacturing hardware products to fit to UK windows and doors. I’ll be honest, I haven’t made any progress with my thinking, albeit I do have a meeting with my main hardware supplier to discuss in the near future.
I did put a comment on here that I would welcome the opportunity to visit any UK hardware supplier’s factory in China to see the conditions for myself. As yet, I haven’t had any offers 
Global Warming / Climate Change
I’m still trying to get my head around whether human induced climate change is actually happening. There’s been some very informed comments on the original post I wrote, and many thanks to those who have voted. At the moment, it looks like people are equally as confused as myself. If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so at the right hand side.
Why I don’t watch TV any more
Many thanks to John Keleher at Crittall Windows for mentioning this post on Twitter, which very much sums up why I continue adding content to this website:
I often get asked why I bother, and sometimes it’s difficult to explain why I feel the need to keep writing all this stuff. Well, it’s difficult to fully quantify, and I have questioned many times why I bother, but I feel the above post pretty much sums up why I prefer blogging to watching TV.
GlassTalk
I haven’t mentioned GlassTalk for a while, mainly because the dust has been settling from the last event. Tomorrow we’re finishing early and travelling down to Warwickshire to view a rather posh hotel. Nothing is fixed yet, but it is more than likely going to happen on May 27th, so if you’re thinking of attending it would pay to leave this day free in your diary. More news to follow.
I think about climate change quite often.
I’m a natural born worrier and it bothers me that humans may be affecting the climate in such a way that it may have a catastrophic effect if it is actually happening.
I’ve listened to the arguments put forward by the large number of scientists who believe that human activity is responsible for a planet that is warming up rapidly. I’ve also read information from various climate sceptics who believe it’s all nonsense and we have nothing to worry about.
To be honest, I’m not sure which side to believe.
When I speak with friends, family and colleagues about man-made climate change few people seem overly concerned, and even fewer seem prepared to change their habits. It worries me that should the world be heading towards a big increase in temperature during this century, then attitudes will have to change or we’re doomed.
I’m interested to know whether people reading this blog believe that global warming is happening, or not. Or, is it more than just me who’s confused. Considering our industry has a vital part to play in helping the UK reduce its CO2 emissions, do we believe there is a problem in the first place.
I’ve added a poll to the right hand side to see what you all think. And please leave any thoughts below that might help me make my mind up 
Guest post by Rob
I decided the following comment from one of my readers deserved a post of its own:
“There is a wider issue that no-one is picking up on. To get the UK’s CO2 emissions down, the onus is going to fall on the householder, not road traffic (how dare anyone interfere with our right to wheels!), not air travel (I WANT my annual holiday!), not industry (UK has to be competitive, unlimited growth, city bonuses).
99.9% of UK housing stock is already built, and to the lowest standards the building industry can get away with. Even new houses are poorly designed (poor detailing on insulation/airtightness, no microrenewables, poor design re solar gain, too many ensuites, no easily accessible central services, no peripheral cool food storage).
Faced with accelerating CO2 emissions, and genuinely scared of what climate change may bring, the government/insurance industry/media have promoted micro-renewable energy generation without realising that
1) they are of no use unless the house is thoroughly insulated, and
2) because sun, wind etc do not generate electricity/heat at convenient times, hence the power source must be linked to the grid, and the householder paid (meter driven in reverse) at a rate to make it worthwhile.
But first, to retrofit insulation, and install most micro-renewables is destructive and very expensive. To rub salt in, and this is my main point, YOU PAY 15% TAX (SOON TO BE 20%) ON YOUR BUILDERS TIME, ON THE INSULATING MATERIALS, ON EXCAVATING, PIPEWORK AND EVERYTHING REQUIRED TO GET YOUR HOUSE BACK TO NORMAL!
For most people, if your job and life are uncertain, if you may move house, then the disruption and expense are not worthwhile. The payback time of most microrenewable equipment, alone, is measured in decades.
We have to insulate below solid and suspended timber floors, take up and insulate under flat roof, relocate and replace oil boiler with biomass boiler, and apart from a grant for the boiler, we have to pay (2010 onwards) 20% tax to HMRC. on all labour and costs – where is the logic in that, and should we bother?
It’s illuminating that most MPs expenses claims were for tarty makeovers rather than, say for dry lining their entire house and installing a ground-source heat pump! Shows how much they understand the problem of retro-insulating the UK’s housing stock!
This window scrappage idea is just one small part of an impasse we are all in. What next for scrappage? In logical order of emissions/heat loss we should then have a roof scrappage scheme, then walls, doors, floors, boilers … Firstly, building materials related to energy conservation must be zero-VAT rated.”
