Steven P

Is it worth it..... depends on your time, but if it will mean you pay less for fuel and wouldn't be doing much anyway then probably, or if you gave up say a gym membership to do that work out instead. Looks like commercially once dried you'd have to spend a fair bit to get the same quantity delivered.

Never split acacia but it looks very twisty - a tricky one

I can't imagine that being any good: "Hold on, nearly got it, yes got the weapon moving now." "Fecking screw driver attachment! Give me a moment" "OK and fire"

Looks like oak, or very similar, slow grown - lots of close growth rings = lots of energy. Splitting should be reasonably easy just now - still fresh, straight grain, and very few branches. I find the small branches are what slows me down the most. Something like that I'd be doing some splits one handed just because it will.

For the nuisance, how much of the tree are you wanting to prune? not sure if it will make a difference, but if you were taking off a small amount this might be different from removing the 3/4 that is over hanging your garden. Might be seen more favourably that you only pruned away the nuisance parts and not everything (even if you did take away more than absolutely necessary).

I reckon the same the same ay I would find out?

No joke but I remember paying 50p a pint in the 90s. It was an appetiser since it made the 75p a pint beer taste so much better.

Whoops - that was meant to be kW

Depends what you are asking for, the cheapest (least efficient) are half the price of the most efficient, ranging from about £800 / kwh to £1500 / kwh.

What I love about the report I read this week is that the offenders were stopped, had to reload their vans, then had the vans confiscated and were prosecuted. Almost perfect, if only they had to walk home instead of a comfy ride to the police station. (I have no sympathy for them, mentioned here I litter picked my road over Christmas, a few hours, today, big bag of litter thrown out of car.... 25m from the litter bin... no excuses)

It's not the political party as such but more the idea that Tony Benn, who was Secretary of State for Energy 45 years ago has such as great influence on our energy security today. Not believing that line.

You got to do the full quote!! In the medium term yes, I think what ever storage there is has to be an energy dense storage. I don't have the figures but reckon that equivalent energy in pumped storage and in Hydrogen, and Hydrogen will take up much less space, just as an example.

Even in the 30 years of Conservative governments?

As I read it, he didn't do a deal with Iran (a beacon of world stability) and made a certain type of Nuclear reactor in the UK because Iran would have half owned it? I think looking at world history in the last 45 years probably a good thing (of course, doing a few deals here or there might have changed history, we will never know). Of course, since 1979, Thatcher came to power Benn wasn't secretary of State for Energy, and U2 released their first album (1980). Bono and his hippy ilk were in no position in 1977 to influence the government. 40 years later and of course, Tony Benns hatred of nuclear power has influenced Conservative, Labour and coalition governments? (even extending beyond his death?). I don't think his influence extended that far.

Pumped storage: It is quite a recent problem we are talking about and the technology is catching up. 10 years ago windfarms and solar were a small part of the generation mix, we could generally take all they produced and no problem, overcast still days we just ramped up another generator to make it all work. Now of course about 40% of our electricity can be produced by renewable means... but the storage solutions have only recently (last few years) become viable for large amounts. I reckon this discussion will go on and around for a few years till the engineers get something worthwhile working. My money would be to convert spare electricity to hydrogen generation in the medium term - we are used to storing liquid fuels and transporting them, small changes we could supply domestic gas as hydrogen - I think they are trying this in Hartlepool. Discounting large pumped storage, the energy store isn't large enough in the UK (I think enough for a days electricity before the dams are empty), though we have an interconnector to Norway, we take electricity as needed and can send it the other way to refill their pumped stores (which empty when we need it). Domestically... you could say that heat pumps are pumped storage on a micro scale, instead of water it is heat we are pumping. Needs a different mindset to use though, got to get away from needing instant heat, and have constant heating at a lower heat output.. and that can help even out doemstic electricity supplies too, reduces the peaks first thing when the electric boilers start and at tea time when we al come on from work.

Didn't realise that Labour politician served in Thatchers government

Have you seen Jacob Rees-Mogg? Eat the rich, We'd need to feed him up first to make it worthwhile

So does Denmark - we had a week staying with friends who took the empties back after... and had a meal out on what we drunk

They're the worst for greenhouse gasses....

or just use them regularly

Looking at the chart above.... anyone notice India with the same population as China are a ticking time bomb when it comes to green stuff?

For kindling I use a no-name DIY warehouse hatchet - great if you use them for that - wouldn't even consider going across the grain with it though - I need a better collection of axes I think,

Wasn't it Tesco that coined the phrase, "Every Little Helps"?

Just to add a little more details, here is the government report on this.# A few charts, some are split into PM2.5 at the road side and in Urban areas (doesn't specify the exact difference), roadside has more particles and urban values follow the roadside values closely.... which to me suggest the biggest culprit occurs at the road. Also to note that in the last 30 years that the charts show, the values have dropped to between 1/3 and 1/4 what they were in 1992... the issue is getting smaller over time despite the recent popularity of wood burning stoves (small dip during the Covid years when we weren't driving about as much) Particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5) - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK

I'd also blame volcanos as well, and forest fires.