Building cladding in the Portsmouth area

Southdown View block of flats at Hilsea. For some time now the ground floor intended for retail businesses has been boarded up. The boarding has been removed and it appears that glass windows are being installed. This is of course a modern build so should be to a higher standard than older blocks.

Update 01/07/17
The News reports that Southdown View cladding has been tested:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/our-region/portsmouth/cladding-concern-as-three-more-blocks-of-flats-in-portsmouth-fail-fire-safety-tests-1-8035382




Portsmouth University has a big portfolio of clad buildings, the most recent being student accomodation blocks.
It does seem though that the latest conversion appears to use fiberous insulation that is seperate from the external weather proofing panels.

This photo shows a panel removed from the new student block near Portsmouth and Southsea Station (maybe for inspection?).

Update 01/07/17.

Work appears to continue on the panels of these refurbished tower blocks. I was in town yesterday and there were a lot of workmen apparently putting new panels on the lower floors of the larger block.

In the photo you can see that on the 25/06/17 the panels on the lower floors were in place so I think they must have been removed in the last few days.
Was this work a result of the Grenfell disaster??

Murray Energy (Coal) sue John Oliver (British comedian)

The dying American coal industry (avid funder of Donald Trump) has decided that one man, John Oliver, and HBO are responsible for their woes, as a result Murray Energy and others are suing John Oliver for defamation.

Amusingly the legal document which Murray Energy is submitting has a lot of ranting in it appealing for the sympathy vote rather than any substantial legal claim.

The sad fact is many wealthy business folk think they are important beyond any reality just because they have wealth. Anyone who has watched John Oliver knows that he has a go at people, nations and businesses in a satirical manor which is very amusing and democratic.

The  reality is that renewable energy employs many times more people in America than the coal industry, it could employ many more including ex-coal workers!

This video posted by a lawyer deconstructs the Murray Energy lawsuit:

 Added 24/06/17...

It should also be noted John Oliver actually defames himself in the same broadcasted show! So maybe he should sue himself as well. Oh, wait a minute John Oliver has a sense of humour.

Note this video may not work for long:

03/07/17
Oh dear. Youtube removed the video. Told you so!


Links:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-robert-murray-coal-mining-lawsuit-sued-hbo-a7802266.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/06/22/coal_baron_robert_murray_is_suing_john_oliver_over_his_segment_featuring.html 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/06/22/coal_baron_robert_murray_is_suing_john_oliver_over_his_segment_featuring.html

Upgraded street lamps become EV charging points

A German company has developed street lighting technology that allows Electric Vehicles to be charged at adapted street lamps. When street lighting is upgraded to low energy LED technology, the cables that supply the lamps with power are effectively under used. This is where the EV charging technology comes in. Ubitricity can install the EV charging technology in any style of lamp post, retro or modern.

Once a street lamp is installed all an EV owner has to do is to sign up with Ubitricity, the owner then receives a special cable from Ubitricity which monitors electricity usage of the owner. The user is then debted the cost of the electricity. The cable has an inline small box with buttons and a display, so I presume that it is password protected to prevent possible mis-use. However I assume that if the cable were stolen, it could be reported and the account suspended until a new cable were supplied.

No additional load is put on the local electricity cables because they were originally designed to take a bigger load than the LED lighting puts on the system.

Robert L explains in this video how it works and interviews the local council that has installed the lamps as well as a representative of Ubitricity.



https://www.ubitricity.com/en

Designer 'Edison' light bulbs

Not sure what the legality is regarding the sale of high wattage designer filament bulbs.

But the fact is you can get low power LED versions I bought this one for £12 in IKEA.
1.8 watts as opposed to 40 or 60 watts for an incandescent filament lamp.

Now I am not sure where to put it!

Grenfell Tower fire and Daily Mail Green Target misinformation

The despicable Daily Mail today were pointing the finger at green energy targets for fueling the Grenfell Tower fire in London.

This of course is a political tactic from a political activist media company, it is designed to divert attention from real financial issues relating to the buildings upgrade.

Setting a green target does not imply that cheap flammable materials should be used as a cladding/insulation material in order to achieve that target. The alternative to insulation is cold damp rooms and high energy bills for the poor people living in the building.

Other newspapers (including the Express) have highlighted the fact that fire proof cladding would have only cost £5000 more for the WHOLE building. Yes the WHOLE building could have been made safer for an additional £5000.

For the cost of the Daily Mail editor (Paul Dacre) installing trendy bi-fold doors in his expensive privately owned home or installing a new bath room etc. the Grenfell building could have been made safer.

So the FACT is - 60 peoples lives were taken away so that the contractor and council could save £5000. Green targets were not responsible for that.

Please someone take the Daily Mail down in court, even social media can do better news reporting than that despicable company. It isn't amusing and we can no longer make excuses about the 'Daily Mail'.

June 2017 Election Manifesto Analysis

Lets have a look at the main issue that the manifestos cover:

Liberal Democrats 

The Liberal Democratic manifesto commits to 60% renewable energy by 2030. Similar to Labours commitment (see below). Unlike the Conservatives and Labour, they explicitly commit to restoring onshore wind energy and solar energy to our supported energy mix.
.

Conservatives

The Tories manifesto states that the party does not believe that more onshore wind energy is right for England and oppose large scale onshore wind projects, but supports continued investment in offshore wind energy.
But Hampshire does not have any wind farms, even small ones! Hampshire has land and wind resources, but no wind farms harnessing those resources. Not only that but Hampshires nearest offshore wind energy project was cancelled. So the Conservatives are applying ideological reasons for not pursuing onshore wind as well as putting their wealthy rural supporters before the nation and the planet.
They also commit to low cost energy, which economically and technically must mean more onshore wind and solar energy, so they have contradicting statements in their manifesto

Labour

Labours manifesto is even less detailed than the Conservatives but commits to 60% zero carbon or renewable energy by 2030.
What is zero carbon energy??
All energy has at least a small carbon footprint.
They don't however say what technologies will make up this new commitment, they don't mention onshore wind or solar energy.

Green Party

Like the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party are commited to removing the Conservatives effective ban on onshore wind energy projects. They also want to scale up offshore wind and marine energy projects.

UKIP

The party has a record of denying mainstream climate science so it is not surprising that they wish to remove 'subsidies' from wind and solar energy projects. To be honest in a few years time they won't need such a policy because even in the UK government encouragement won't be needed. Solar and wind are becoming cheaper than the old school fossil fuel sources that we became to dependent on.


Well that's the analysis of the main policies of the locally relevant political parties. Energy and the environment are the key issues.