Going Green

In this episode we look at the mayor's of London plan to ease traffic congestion to improve air quality and reduce air pollution About 40,000 deaths in Britain each year are linked to air pollution with most of the pollution coming from traffic congestion. therefore the mayor of London has proposed some changes to the congestion charge to help pay for air pollution reducing measures. We explo...

Seen companies marketing their goods with Eco Buzz words? this marketing ploy is called greenwashing, it trying to convince customers that the company is making positive environmental choices.  The Statement "this podcast is CFC free" is a easy example of greenwashing. a claim that is true, wholesome and environmentally friendly. but if you think twice about it, Most/all podcast are CFC...

We look at if a climate change prevention strategy of planting a tree to offset carbon emission. Recently in wales an investment company is set to offer tree planting as a way for companies to offset their carbon emission. Locals welsh farmers are unhappy with this due to the idea that having a forest would be ruining the landscape.... Surely this should be the other way around. In other news, we...

With the huge tornadoes that brought disaster to 6 States happened last week we were shocked to find out that these tornadoes didn't occur in tornado alley, wondering if climate change had anything to do with it it turns out that there are more tornadoes outside tornado alley than in! we discuss how does climate change impact tornadoes, as well as other things which such as the distinct line...

How do we grow More food with Less space. With the an estimated 9 billion people to be living on this planet by 2050, 100% more food will be required to feed them, but we limited on space or arable land so what can we do.    currently Food production make up 26% of our CO2 equivalent emissions already and we really do not want to increase it, so we -as a species- got get more efficient. whether th...

For years Gas companies and suppliers, have been telling us to cook with gas, because cooking with gas is FASTER, CLEANER, and CHEAPER than Electricity. Except cooking with gas produces lots of harmful pollutants, and recently has become more expensive. But electricity has been becoming cheaper due to the new renewables coming online. so they only thing the gas companies can say is that gas stoves...

The last couple of years have really decimated the holiday industry, and now may be a good time as you think about next year's holiday to do something a little different and a little greener. Perhaps instead of flying somewhere then maybe taking the train and making a second holiday of taking the train somewhere might be a better idea. Using the train is a much more green approach than drivin...

In this episode Philip and Paul look at SailGP and its Sustainability Impact League. As well as being Powered by Nature, the organisers have gone one stage further by introducing a Green aspect to the competition. There is an additional prize for the most green team.  A second leader board, which runs alongside the Season Championship, has been created to monitor the performance of the teams in th...

In this weeks podcast, We discuss the expected outcomes of COP26. go through what has been agreed at COP26 and how those outcomes will help prevent or decrease global warming to 1.5 degrees of pre industrial levels. We talk about what isn't expected but need by others and how current Goals dont meet the outcomes of previous COP's. the Major Agreements are; More than 100 world leaders pro...

Philip and Paul look into fireworks and the chemicals that they use in their propellants such as Sulfur Carbon and Potassium Nitrate and the toxic chemicals like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide that they produce. They also look at the toxic chemicals that make the pretty colours. When these fireworks explode they leave behind microscopic particulates in the air. The largest of these called PM10 s...

What is meant by Carbon Neutral and how can we get there is a common question. Philip and Paul discuss how they can get to carbon neutral or better. My company buys in Power. Much of this is made via solar panels, but at night we need to get the power from the grid, which is up to 50% renewably generated. Our hot water is supplied during the summer by solar thermal, but in the winter not enough he...

There are becoming more options available as Gas prices soar and the Government stop new installations of Gas boilers. New homes will be banned from installing new gas and oil boilers by 2025 and the government wants to see no new gas and oil boilers sold after 2035. So what are the options and what are the costs involved. Philip and Paul find out. There are just a few choices you can make. Air /G...

There are five categories of prizes to projects that might change the world. This Sunday the prizes are to be given. Philip and Paul take a look at some of the finalists and given their opinion on which prizes they think should win. All these projects look good even ones that are not the finalists since we all need to our bit to improve the world we live in. There are five prize areas the first is...

The PM announced UK to move to all renewable energy by 2035. Much of this power will come from Wind Turbines, which over the past 4 years have nearly doubled in capacity from 19GW to 35GW. But the easy installations of the offshore wind farms have been done, so now it is more likely to have to be floating  wind farms further out to sea or just in deeper waters. It is not just these wind farms that...

We watch Extinction Rebellion climbing on trains and the protestors pulled off by the passengers, and we see Insulate Britain, blocked the main motorways of the UK bringing hundreds of people to a standstill preventing them going to work. Do these protests work. They certainly upset many of the people nearby, but they do make the headlines. Do people the think about insulating their house because...

Power in the UK is either Electric or gas and a small amount of Oil and LPG. Gas widely used for Heating and Cooking and is used Electricity for everything else. The bulk of our energy needs or demand is about 30 - 40GW.  Where does our electricity come from ? Nuclear 15% ranges from 10% - 20%, Biomass 5%, Coal is now < 1% Gas 47% Gas is scaled to fit the Wind and Solar. Wind and Solar vary  Wi...

I did an experiment in the classroom yesterday making some hydrogen and it was colourless,  but that isn't what the colours of hydrogen are all about. Most of all our hydrogen - a safe clean gas to burn for energy is called Brown Hydrogen, made from Fossils fuels and in the manufacture of this lots of Carbon and other toxic substances like sulfur are produced and typically these are left as p...

Scientists are calling for emissions in Carbon Dioxide to be cut by 7.6% per year. This means that by 2030 the Carbon Dioxide emissions will be cut by half. The scientists are also calling for a 3% a year cut in extracting coal, oil and gas - effectively leaving the reserves in the ground. But at present rather than a drop in production, the production has actually increased worldwide. During the...

Decarbonising the world isn't about getting rid of the carbon - that’s impossible, but it all about managing the resource. Carbon Taxes can be applied to industries to push them in the right direction allowing the more efficient companies to trades carbon credits with other companies by setting caps and allowing trade. Carbon Coins are used to reward companies for not emitting carbon. The sys...

Reduce, Repair, Rethink, Recycle, Reuse or Reimagine If you can buy from a different manufacturer who makes a longer lasting product, perhaps one that can have parts easily replaced or upgraded, then this helps stop the throwaway culture we live in. If you can buy a product in recycled packaging, then this also helps. Slowly manufacturers  are going back to products that can be repaired and upgrad...

Should we stop all oil production. Should we turn to electric cars powered by wind power. Should we get rid of the coal mines and only use clean wind and tidal power. Sounds great but … What would you wear? Plastics are made from Oil. No oil - no clothes, no glue, no spectacles, no computers, no cars, no phones - no kitchens units, no tea bags, no batteries!! We could be stuck in the 1870's -...

The IPCC report comes out the week we get the hottest day ever in Europe. In the week that there are fires in Italy, Greece and Turkey. In the week when floods are also swallowing up Turkey and the USA California fires have been going on for a month. Philip and Paul look at just a few headlines from the report which blames all the current global warming on the people and paint a grim picture for t...

This week's topics were wide ranging from Green Games to Concrete. Moss is a wonderful substance holding up to eight times its weight in water and storing carbon for centuries as peat. This system is being used to slow down the water that rains in the centre of the country and releasing it slower so that large towns on rivers are not so easily flooded. Philip and Paul then talked about the ne...

Over the past few weeks we have seen, Wildfires, Floods, extremes of heat in the Northern Hemisphere and Snow in Brazil. The Met Office in the UK has confirmed that the 10 hottest years have occurred in the last 20 years. Is climate change already here?  Have we reached the tipping point already? - The climate has become more chaotic. The Number of methane producing ruminants (herbivores) is far g...

Over the past few days we have seen extreme temperatures in the USA along with Wildfires A large Heat Dome bottling in the heat. Canada too has had extreme temperatures along with Siberia and northern China. These have all been record breaking. In contrast some of Europe and  China have had record breaking rain leading to vast flooding and loss of life. China's floods were caused by a once in...