Fracking threat to the Mendip Hills

I live on the Mendip Hills, so I was interested to learn that a gas company has been given permission to make exploratory drills in the Mendips with a view to extracting natural gas through hydraulic fracturing or "fracking".

Fracking involves drilling, then cracking the rocks with small explosions, maintaining the cracks by injecting sand and high pressure (up to 15,000 psi)  fluids, and collecting the gas that seeps out.

There are many charming features associated with fracking, including blowouts and minor earthquakes, but the  major problem is contamination of ground water. The US Environmental Protection Agency found arsenic, copper, vanadium and adamantes (a form of hydrocarbon) in water near fracking, although,  having been emasculated by George Dubya, they were coy about attributing causality to the fracking.

A number of toxic chemicals, including carcinogens,  are used in the fracking process.

Reports that it was possible to set fire to tap water due to shale gas getting in to the water, although impressive, have been vigorously challenged, on the basis of one sample, which showed the gas had biological origin.

Whatever the truth of inflammable tapwater, it is very clear that the risks of fracking in the Mendips is contamination of the vast, interlinked underwater reservoirs. Mendip limestone has more holes than a Swiss cheese. It is a famous centre for caving, and is also an underground  reservoir for Bath, Bristol and Weston-super-Mare.

It is unlikely that citizen pressure can stop the initial exploratory drilling. An intense campaign would be necessary to prevent the local councils witholding planning permission for the actual fracking, because councils  tend to roll over and let large companies tickle their tummies.  Past experience suggests that Somerset folk are not up for intense campaigns, especially as the local newspapers will most likely be giving blanket coverage to the safety and job-creation opportunities of this wonderful new way of producing carbon dioxide.

The best strategy would be for us to press councils to insist that Eden Energy and UK Methane (the gas companies) take out full insurance for remediation of any ground water contamination that follows from their process. This is reasonable, and the costs involved (assuming they can get an insurance company to take them on) will likely make the process uneconomic, because ground water contamination could go on for decades.

I have phoned my District Councillor, who had heard nothing about it on the council.

There is a Facebook page - No Fracking UK - for campaigners here.

One of the counter arguments that will come out is that if we have a large amount of renewable energy in the UK, it will need to be supplemented with a fleet of gas turbines to cover the times when the wind stops. The alternative to this is (a) large amounts of storage capacity, primarily hydro-electric, but also electrolytic, and (b) a Europe wide HVDC supergrid which will connect all renewable sources, overriding individual intermittencies.

[Update] I have been given the coordinates by Government, below]

PEDL225

The licensed area is bounded by the coordinates:

ST 5000 5000

ST 6000 5000

ST 6000 4500

ST 7000 4500

ST 7000 3500

ST 6000 3500

ST 6000 4000

ST 5000 4000

ST 5000 5000.

PEDL226

The licensed area is bounded by the coordinates:

ST 5000 7000

ST 6000 7000

ST 6000 5000

ST 5000 5000

ST 5000 7000.

PEDL227

The licensed area is bounded by the coordinates:

ST 6000 6000

ST 7000 6000

ST 7000 4500

ST 6000 4500

ST 6000 6000.

PEDL228

The licensed area is bounded by the coordinates:

ST 6000 7000

ST 7000 7000

ST 7000 6000

ST 6000 6000

ST 6000 7000.

The OS maps I hold just cover PEDL 225 & 226.

225 is a region including Wells,  Evercreech and Pilton. 

226 covers Flax bourton, Hengrove, Chewton Mendip and Westbury Beacon.

I do not have maps for the other areas.

They are pretty vast areas. I guess they will be doing sonar geological studies to map out the area. It is clear that the areas include limestone areas of the Mendip Hills.

Post-revolutionary Arab governments must address unemployment and poverty

	TUNISIA	EGYPT	JORDAN	YEMEN	SAUDI	SUDAN	BAHRAIN
DICTATOR	X	X	M	X	X	X	M
CORRUPTION	-	X	-	-	-	X	X
FREE SPEECH	-	-	-	-	-	X	-
POLICE BRUTALITY	X	X	-	-	-	-	-
UE	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
POVERTY	X	X	X	X	-	X	-
FOOD PRICES	X	x	X	X	-	-	-
WATER	-	-	-	X	-	-	-
INFLATION	X	X	X	X	-	X	-

KEYM     = Monarchy
UE    = Unemployment

This crude table represents data that I have picked up on searches about the causes of protests in the Arab States. It is work in progress, and blanks (-) mean that I have not yet gathered anything on that field.

What emerges very strongly already is that unemployment, poverty and food prices are very common factors driving the dissent. Unemployment is the hey, because it creates poverty, and increases the RPG.

Even when all the dictators are gone, the new democratic governments will face major economic problems. It is very clear that the current economic model is not working. If there is no food, not even the purest of pure democratic governments cannot magic food out of the air.

We need a new economic model that can address unemployment, poverty and food prices. Conventional economics has one simple, single minded answer to this: Economic Growth in the Free Market. This model is not delivering. It pours investment into big businesses, who do employ some in making grandiose projects, but most of the investment sticks to the upper levels of management, who can buy grand homes, and save their wealth in banks at home and overseas.

Conventional economic growth does enable the rich to get richer, but the money does not "trickle down" to the working classes. The Trickle Down theory is discredited.

Green economics turns conventional economics on its head. Instead of beginning with money and markets, it is founded on ecology - our relation with the natural resources we need to live - water, food, energy, shelter, hygiene - and conviviality. (More)

The Green economic approach has a lot to offer the incoming democratic governments. The major headline areas for employment are water, food, energy and corruption control.

Water, for instance is an acute problem in Yemen, and a challenge in all arid regions.

Strategists have long worried about conflict over water resources.

However, Peter Gleik of the Pacific Institute states "Water resources have rarely, if ever, been the sole source of violent conflict or war."

Humans have evolved a way of co-operating about this most basic life resource.

Aaron Wolf believes that co-operation over scarce water resources offers a path to peace. Here is his resource page.

I have long been advocating the expansion of the approach of Friends of the Earth Middle East in cross community approach to water as a pathway to peace in Israel-Palestine.

So. Unemployment and water shortages are threats, but also opportunities.

We can create work in water management.

First, stop wasting water. Rural communities can use composting toilets instead of crapping into the drinking water. You know it makes sense. Return the matured compost safely to the land to boost fertility.

Second, harvest rainwater. You need plastic guttering, pipes, and storage tanks. Fit to each and every roof, and run the water into tanks. Use, after filtering and treatment if necessary.

Third, plant trees from the coast inwards. Forests act as aerial aquifers, absorbing and storing moisture, increasing cloud cover and precipitation.

Fourth, solar desalination plants offer great promise in production of electricity (ans salt) from seawater.

That's water. Next, food.

The Cuban response to food shortages is well known: Maximise domestic and small gardens.

In hot countries, this has an important secondary, cooling effect. Every bit of sunlight that is captured and turned into sugars by photosynthesis is a unit of sunlight that does not overheat the city.

Here is a .pdf on the Economic, Social and Ecosystem Benefits of the Urban Forest.

Even widespread use of window boxes can have a cooling effect, while at the same time providing fresh food to the household.

Vertical Gardens are a promising approach to extending urban growing space.

Next, Energy. North African countries are plentifully supplied with sunlight.

Solar water heating and photovoltaic collectors can be distributed on homes and workplaces.

Insulation is still necessary in hot countries, to keep heat out as well as in. All measures that reduce heat in living spaces reduces the need for energy expenditure on air conditioning.

As well as small-scale, distributed activity, there is a huge opportunity for economic activity in large scale solar energy collection, in the form of Concentrated Solar Power, as well as large-scale PV arrays.

Linked to this is the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology that will be able to export surplus solar generated electricity to countries that can use it. In the long run, HVDC grids will play a very important part in our transition away from insecure and damaging fossil fuels.

These last two offer opportunities for classic, large scale investment, while the other measures are low-tech, small scale, labour intensive technologies that benefit people directly.


Finally, one more employment opportunity for white collar workers: an Anti-Corruption Police force. A new unit can be set up charged with identifying and prosecuting corrupt officials. This will massively reduce economic inefficiency.

In short, there is an opportunity in the green sector of the economy to address unemployment directly, with the result of both short and long-term economic benefit.

Methane Venting from the Seabed can be used

One of the fascinating episodes in Iain Stewart's film (see yesterday's blog) was to see him diving on a seabed release of methane. Huge amounts of methane were bubbling up around him.

Geological methane (natural gas) often combines with water at high pressures and low temperatures to form clathrates, a white solid.  There are 1-5 million cubic kilometers of this within the earth, equivalent to 500-2500 GigaTonnes of carbon, which is more than the ~230 GigaTonnes of natural gas reserves.

Global warming increases the release of methane from clathrates, and one potential tipping point (the "Clathrate Gun Hypothesis") leading to catastrophic runaway climate change, would result from ever increasing release of this methane.

Methane has 25x the global warming potential of CO2, so it is better to collect it and extract its energy, saving on the use of more carbon dense fuels like coal and oil.

I could not find the amounts of methane which are bubbling up from the seabed in the situations of Iain's film, but it makes perfect sense to collect and use it.

Collection is not rocket science. I knocked up this little design for a Methane Capure Tent last night.

Vents (1) on the seabed outgas methane (2) which is captured in a conical fabric structure (3) which is fastened by cables (4) to anchor blocks (5).  The methane collects at (6) and is pumped away for use at the pipe (7). In the physical embodiment the pump and pipe could preferably be below the sea surface, to isolate the whole structure from surface waves.

Simple, no?  This design is offered free of charge to anyone who wishes to realise it.

While we are at it, it is totally mad to flare off gas at drilling rigs and refineries. Apart from the waste of energy, it is bad for birds and local humans. Pumped, purified and compressed, it becomes CNG, which can be used as transport fuel. Years ago, I asked an oil company why they flare, and they said "It is only 2% of the total production". 2%! You only need 50 2% savings, and you've saved the whole lot. Words fail me.

Telegraph Collection Gas Energy Saver : Do Not Buy!

As an inventor, I was thinking about our gas stove, and how to increase the efficiency of heat transfer from flame to saucepan. I was doodling about with a design, and in researching it, found this item here. On the Telegraph marketing site.

Great. One less thing for me to do. So last May I bought a pair (£21 inc p+p) online.
They sit on the flame, go red hot, and as it says on the site,
"Most gas hobs burn gas inefficiently, resulting in expensive bills for your family. The Gas Energy Saver solves this problem by using a special catalytic alloy disc to convert all the unburnt gas to heat and energy instantly.

It fits all gas hobs, neatly sitting on your job, heating to over 1000^oC, dramatically reducing your cooking time. The special stainless steel alloy is dishwasher safe. Measures 14x1cm (51/2x1/4in)".

Get that? "Dramatically reducing your cooking time".

Seven months later, I decided to quantify the amount of gas I was saving, with the following

EXPERIMENT

Method

Turn on gas, and leave it on at the same rate.
Take one saucepan, fill with one full egg-cup of water from the cold tap, place on flame, first with the Gas Energy Saver grid in place. Hit start button of stopwatch. Observe when boiling starts, which is taken as substantial bubbling occurring at the edge of the water. Record time. Remove grid, discard water (into a thermos flask, if you must know, so as to conserve the heated water), remove grid, refill saucepan with the same amount of water, and repeat.

I tried to keep the timings of the actions I took as regular as possible.

In all I took 16 readings, 8 with the Energy Saver Grid (ESG) in place, and 8 in the normal way, with the pan just sitting on the gas hob.

Results

Number of seconds to end point with ESG in place:
106, 44, 137, 156*, 62, 145, 80*, 149
* = end point taken as evidence of boiling dry, with dry pan appearing before boiling was observed.

Average time to boil using the ESG : 110 seconds

Number of seconds to end point without ESG in place:

73, 28, 32, 60, 51, 51, 53, 43
Average time to boil without using the ESG : 49 seconds

Discussion
There was a wide variation in the readings of the "Energy Saver" compared with the readings for the ordinary flame. This could have been due to variations on how the ESG sits on the hob, as it has a toothed structure, which if they are not bedded down on the hob, may hold the pot further from the flame, or not, depending how it is situated. It may be supposed that the device fails because it holds the pot further from the flame.

Conclusion
The Gas Energy Saver has been wasting a significant amount of energy. It is surprising that no trials were carried out on the invention before it was put on the market.

The appliance is not recommended by this blog.

Declaration: No money changed hands in connection with this experiment.

I will now have to fashion and trial my own design to increase the efficiency of heat transfer from flame to saucepan. Bother.

[update 25.1.10: Still no reply from the Telegraph Collection to my letter. 3 weeks now. It was just a polite letter of information. Perhaps they would reply if I mention the Trades Descriptions Act.]
[update 1.2.2010: Just got this email:

Your message

To:      Customer Services
Cc:     
Subject: Gas Energy Saver Trial
Sent:    Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:38:10 -0000

was deleted without being read on Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:16:00 -0000

Great. I'll send it again.

Update: a lab test contradicts my findings. 

The reason for this is that I was using my apparatus upside down. Which might appear to be stupid, but I was following the picture of the item. 

So now, when I get a round tuit, I will find the items, and repeat the experiment with them the right way up.

10 African countries threatened by sea storm surges

On this, Dr Stephen Salter tells me in an email that there is evidence that wave power technology, by extracting energy from the sea, tend to resist coastal erosion and even cause beaches to build up. Although the wave power machines are designed to let storms pass over them, it is still the case that by building up beaches, wave power technology will reduce the damage caused by storm surges.

Restoration of the mangroves will also help to protect the seashore. In th eglobal greens' Conference lat year I met a Senegalese guy who had planted thousands of mangroves successfully, aided by his children aged 7 and 8.

!IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that World Bank researchers have crunched population, economic, and elevation maps to analyse which countries are most at risk from storm surges, assuming a one metre rise in sea level (due to climate change).

"A Comparative Analysis of Impacts in Developing Countries, reveals "very heavy potential losses. [which] further strengthen the case for rapid action to protect endangered coastal populations".

The 10 countries with the largest increases in at-risk land area are:

Mozambique - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MZ

Madagascar - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MG

Nigeria - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=NG

Mauritania - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MR

Senegal -

Guinea-Bissau -

Cote d'Ivoire -

Gabon -

South Africa -

Somalia -
"

Bush throws $17 billion down the energy drain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush announced $17.4 billion in emergency loans to faltering U.S. carmakers on Friday in a dramatic step to guard the industry from imminent collapse and save hundreds of thousands of jobs from falling victim to a deep recession.

So. Bush has done the mad mad deed. $17.4 billion to the motor industry. What an idiot. What a complete and utter numbskull.

Bush is pouring public money into motor cars. Motor cars are an energy drain. Also a money drain. If you don't believe me, just put your household invoices into Excel and make a pie chart. See that bit of the pie that is so big that only a greedy person would eat it? That's your motoring expenses.

This act would have Keynes spinning in his grave. It ought to have the free-marketeers out in the streets throwing Molotov cocktails, but it doesn't, because they have shares in the motor industry, and in the end, money is more important to them than principles.

I understand full well the consequences of leaving the motor industry to free-market forces, but as the Good Book says, "He that lives by free market forces will die by free market forces".

If nobody wants to buy American cars, no amount of money in the world will save Detroit. What Detroit has to do is to be adroit: they have to make a swift and intelligent change in direction, like a great quarterback jinking past the opposition to make a brilliant touchdown. There is plenty of things that motor engineers can do. They can repair the old cars that people are hanging on to, because they cannot get a loan for a new one. They can even design a new, more efficient engine, one that they can drop into the old car. Except that the old car will tend to rust up due to planned obsolescence - so they will have to provide a Waxoyl (r) service. &c.

Or they can turn their hands to making gearboxes for wind and sea turbines, or wood gasifiers, or biogas digesters, or anything, but not cars. Not American gas-guzzling cars, because nobody wants them any more. They are soooooooooooooooooooo 20th century, and so like totally uncool.

The point in a recession is for the government to use the people's money intelligently on behalf of the people, to give security to them and their children. We are taking Investment here, Mr President, not Giving Money Away to People So They Can Snort it Out of Their Tailpipes, driving around using up the scarce resources that you sent your boys to lay down their lives for in Iraq.

Investment means giving money to energy sources, not energy drains. Benign energy sources that do not upset the atmosphere's infra red absorbent characteristics.

...sigh...

The worst thing is that because Bush has done it, Brown will want to do it.

Here is a letter that you can copy, paste and send :

Mr G. Brown
10 Downing Street
London SW1A

Dear Mr Brown

If Mr Mandelson whispers in your ear that you want to give a few billion to the motor industry -

TELL HIM TO GET LOST!!

Tell him that prudent investment of taxpayers' money in the economy is for energy conservation and benign, renewable energy production, NOT for the dirty toxic congestive unhealthy killing maiming energy drain that is the motor car.

Merry Christmas

Yours truly

(sign here)

Light Relief from the Credit Crunch

Chris Smith Loves Coastal Erosion - fact

Ironic that Chris Smith should oppose the Severn Barrage at the same time as he admits that the EA is going to let the sea invade the coastline of the UK. One of the virtues of the Barrage is that it will protect the whole of Severnside (including towns and cities Like Newport, Cardiff, Gloucester, Bristol Portishead and Weston-super-Mare) from flooding as sea levels rise if we fail to check global warming. Also a couple of nuclear power stations. Oh, and the Slimbridge wild fowl reservation.

Also, wave barrages off the coast of vulnerable places like Norfolk could protect the coastline while producing valuable renewable energy.

Red tape and cuts see householders give up on green grants, MP says | Environment | The Guardian

Red tape and cuts see householders give up on green grants, MP says

Slash Gordon Leaves Planet Earth

"The 2% of our total energy that now comes from renewables is much less than in many other European countries. In the Energy White Paper we announced plans to triple the amount of electricity from renewables by 2015. But as the urgency of tackling climate change and achieving energy security increases, the case for more reliance on renewables has become more compelling. And that is why at the European Council this year Britain led the way to an agreement that by 2020 one-fifth of all Europe's energy should come from renewables, a near threefold increase.

The UK worked hard to get agreement to this target and let me make it absolutely clear, we are completely committed to meeting our share. The European Commission will, as you know, come forward with their proposals for how the overall target is to be divided between member states in January. A final decision is expected in early 2009. We do not yet know therefore what the UK contribution will be but it is clear that over the next decade and beyond Britain will need to raise very significantly the proportion of our energy from renewable sources and we must start planning for this now." Gordon Brown PM 19 November.

And the assembled hacks solemnly enter his words into their spiral bound notebooks, all unaware that this is the Gordon whose Government spend April capping the Low Carbon buildings Programme to £2500 per domestic property, thus slashing the take up of domestic solar heating and PV. His ignorant Government is also resisting a feed in tariff, which is the means used in Germany who have 100 PV domestic cells for every one in the UK?

Darkness Falling

Went to a big seminar on the Severn Estuary yesterday in Clevedon.

I learned stuff.

I learned that the Environment Agency do not realise that siltation is coming from farm runoff, and that soil erosion is much less of a problem from organic farms. Frightening ignorance.

And then we got onto the cost of electricity from the Severn Barrage, and comparative costs between coal and renewable, and it suddenly dawned on me that whereas renewable electricity costs are detailed down to the last penny, when they are then compared to coal, oil gas and nuclear where only the up front costs are counted, and the end of pipe costs are discounted, as "externalities". How can we put a cost on the atmospheric impact of global warming and acid rain? Or the cancers, or a Maximum Credible Accident caused by an al-Quaeda hit on a nuclear power station? They do not even insure the damn things. Comparative costings do not and cannot exist.

The more I look at it, the more I realise we are living in a stacked deck. Yet we must keep on speaking truth to power, not because we believe power is listening, but because if we do not, the darkness will get that much worse.