A collection of links reflecting interests and experience inside industry and beyond.

Energy

Energy demand is often considered as fundamentally linked to economic growth, indeed, the UK government accepts that in recent years "there has been no decoupling of energy use from the growth of the economy as a whole", though writing in 2019, the Office for National Statistics tells us, "While UK carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions peaked in 1972, once we consider imported emissions – such as when the UK imports products that are manufactured abroad – UK emissions peaked in 2007." Increased energy efficiency, however, may not hamper the growth of an economy yet can significantly increase the life of finite fossil fuel resources, should this be a desirable aim considering 'Net-Zero' ambitions.

There are various ways of conserving energy both at home and at work. For domestic considerations, the Energy Saving Trust ( energysavingtrust.org.uk ), set up by the Government following the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and one of the UK's leading organisations addressing the effects of climate change, offers appropriate advice. Whilst The Trust extends its services to the transport and housing trade, for concerns over industrial energy efficiency the UK's Energy Institute ( www.energyinst.org.uk ) has established a Register of Energy Consultants and may represent the best starting point for a company keen to reduce its energy bills.

A group of UK companies active within the energy conservation industry formed the Association for the Conservation of Energy with the aim of encouraging a positive national awareness of the need for and benefits of energy conservation. It was to assist in establishing a sensible and consistent national policy and programme regarding energy usage and to increase investment in all appropriate energy saving measures - the Association merged with the Association for Decentralised Energy in 2019.

Environment

The most pressing concern regarding the environment, global warming, has been addressed by an initiative that involves all the major consumers of energy. Companies are being asked to tie their energy usage more securely to their accounts by means of a process of 'carbon rationing'. From January 2005, major sources of industrial CO2 will be subject to the 'cap and trade' regulation surrounding the EU Emissions Trading System - do note that provisions will need to vary given the UK's exit from the European Union. This is one part of a range of policies being put in place to reduce emissions of pollutants that are considered to give rise to global warming. Even though emission permits will be initially allocated for free through each country's national allocation plan (NAP), the carbon price generated by the trading scheme will change the marginal production cost across most energy industry sectors. Participants in the scheme will be impacted, with carbon allowances becoming either an asset or a liability. The Carbon Trust ( thecarbontrust.com ) is a quasi-independent company funded by the UK government that delivers information and advice on energy saving and carbon management to the business and public sector.

Not all commentators are convinced of the importance of 'Carbon' emissions in relation to climate change. David Bellamy, for example, considers that the main greenhouse gas - the one that has the most direct effect on land temperature by restricting release of the earth's radiation - is water vapour, 99 per cent of which is entirely natural. If all the water vapour was removed from the atmosphere, he claims, the temperature would fall by 33 degrees Celsius but by removing all the carbon dioxide the temperature might fall by only 0.3 per cent.

A reduction in the thickness of the atmospheric ozone layer in the upper atmosphere may be responsible for weather instability or even progressive climate change, but this phenomenon is considered less significant than the 'greenhouse effect'. The UK's Environment Agency has provided more details on the 'ozone holes and ozone depletion' at environment-agency.gov.uk.

Dumping campaign

Dog campaign

Dogs off our streets, out of our parks.

See also 'social media' - @da1955 with 'Twitter' and 'Facebook'.

Sarah's Stitch-Up - the lowest point in the short history of DMBC:

A second, Western, front has been opened:

A third 'Home Front' has been opened:

Yes, we now have an 'Eastern Front'!

A pattern of discrimination has emerged:

Try the Police Inspectorate:

Politics

General Election Manifesto

Imagine, reader, a street without gum,
A park without mess, an evening of peace;
Consider, please, a borough with no bum, 
A county of harmony, all noise ceased.
The foul sodomite has stopped his practice,
The hateful paedophile is kept indoors,
The druggist, the abuser, simply sits;
So how might the voter cure all these sores?
The state requires a dog under control -
A leash, a chain or cage appropriate;
It will, on occasion, proceed to kill -
It's cost-effective and proportionate.
Appeal, we must, to owners of our yobs;
Just treat the latter as we do our dogs.

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