Couple of nuggets of information I’ve gathered that I’m passing on. Might be interesting, may not, depending on your interest.
I was reading an article today about how the suns output has diminished. Apparently the last time this happened we went into a mini ice age so don’t just listen to the AGW loonies and make sure you include some nice winter clothing and heaters for those cold days and nights. I wonder about solar panels in those situations as well. Anyone now how much less the panels produce in the winter?
I’ve been a bit remiss in my tasks over the last few days. As you know I’m not working at the moment and not working seems to take up more time than working. It makes no sense. The DWP are pretty useless as well. It seems that despite me paying in for such a long time to an insurance fund called NI they have spent all the money on wasteful projects and still need more so I have to beg for what I get. If it was a private firm it would be a scam and the directors would be in jail but with the government it is business as usual.
I’ve also started, unpaid, part time work working for a biodiversity group who are cataloguing the wildlife and fauna in this area. I’m working on an Android App for them to collect data from volunteers in the wild. There are a lot of people out there that collect this data in their spare time. Couldn’t meet a nicer bunch of people and I’m enjoying it. I’ve found out so much already about the plants and animals in this area and if I find anything of interest I’ll pass it on.
I’ve also been invited to a local get together so that we can mingle and network. I’ll try and get some ideas from there for a similar event for us. I’ve never really used networking as a tool. Perhaps it is time I did so although at introductions I always feel like I should be saying ‘My name is Skean and I’m an alcoholic..’ And although I’m fine with people I know and people I’m working for I don’t feel comfortable in a room full of strangers, even if they are in their underwear. I hate public speaking.
Solar Power (Photo Voltaic) power is reduced *a lot* in the winter (in the UK which is relatively far north).
Yet another article I need to get around to doing.
That said when they discuss solar dimming I’ve usually heard amounts in the 2 to 5% dimming which will have realtively close impacts on solar output (dropping it to 97 to 95%) a reduction but not a terribly concerning one.
Skean
Just as this site was getting interesting you spoil it all (for me) by talking about ‘AGW loonies’
I didn’t realise that anticipating and preparing for future crises went along with the AGW global conspiracy thingy. Sorry – I can’t get into this mindset.
Skvez,
Thanks for that. I shall await the articles.
A 5% reduction in output sounds a lot to me. Basically if X heats our planet up to where we are now from 3 degrees above absolute zero then a 5% reduction in X should give a drop of around 20 degrees. -273 to 15ish is effectivly 400. 3% is then a drop of around 12. So where we had -10 a few months ago would be -30 worst case but still -22 best case. Am I wrong the way I’m looking at it? Do you have any calculated figures for the impact?
Marianne,
I’m sorry you see it that way. Let me state my views which are;
There are issues with the climate. Climate has been changing for billions of years though and this is no different. We are arrogant if we think we can control that change.
Our economies are stalled, cost of living is increasing and moving to wind and solar power to the detriment of tried and working power generation now will be disasterous for our society. Subsidy for wind is why our electrickery is going up £200 this year alone.
The AGW case is not proven and every day more and more information is coming out to discredit it. Estimates are disproven with facts, Faulty models disproven with facts, manipulated data and false predictions are hidden. Science sacrificed on the alter of a Climate Agenda. If the models are spot on why are we surprised by the weather. We are expected to believe they can calculate water height, temp and climate for 2050 when we cannot predict it only a few days in advance.
I think we should do what we can to reduce our footprint on the planet. That is part of what this site is about. Reducing our reliance on third parties; government, power companies, food producers, etc. is a good thing for us. We should also recycle where we can but the way it is being done is wrong. It is being used as a way to increase our taxes all under a banner of a benevolent mother making her kids tidy up for their own good.
Now the AGW loonies part. There are people out there that want our society to go back to little villages where we toil all day just to produce enough food to live. Hundreds of millions will die of starvation. Many of them in the UK. Our standard of living and life spans will decline. They are willing and enabling the government to steal more and more money from us to further their agendas. Most do not realise the implications and those that do are well placed with their own generators, vast tracts of land and livestock and crops to keep them going.
Do your own research. Look at what has been said in the past, what has happened and watch them ignore those facts and repeat their claims. They try and silence dissent and claim it is all science. Consensus is meaningless. AGW is more religion now than science. Believe or be branded a heretic. Sorry, I am a scientist. I like to look at facts and make decision based on logic not take leaps of faith and ignore facts that do not fit with my agenda.
So it is actually another reason to prepare but not because of AGW but because of the governments solution.
Happy to discuss if you want to.
Skean
Thank you for your reply. I think we will have to agree to differ on the matter of climate change. We have obviously informed our respective beliefs from very different sources.
Where I do agree with you is that we should reduce ‘our reliance on third parties; government, power companies, food producers.’
I find, like many people who have started or are well on the way to survival planning, that I am very isolated in this respect. I do not share my ideas with friends or neighbours and only fairly cautiously with my family. Which is why sites such as yours are so welcome. The USA seems to have an abundance of them but the situation there is rather different from the UK so it is good to be able to discuss aspects from within the UK context.
Marianne,
I’m glad you see it that way. We are walking the same path and can share information that helps us both.
I think you will find most of us are isolated that way. Cautious with friends and family and very aware we are thought of as nutters. It is a club we can call our own.
I agree about the differences between the US and us 🙂 and it is why I set up this site to learn and to help others. If you have anything you wish to add, and most people do, feel free to pass it on and I will post it.
Skean,
Most of our heat comes from the core of the earth, this is why it gets colder as you go up a mouintain not warmer (less air between you and the sun but still colder). 5% reduction in solar radiation will not drop us from 300K (27C) to 285K (12C). There will be some reduction but probably just a degree on average.
“AGW loonies”: you have to be careful labelling theories as crackpot, for example we all KNOW the universe was created in a Big Bang… well actually the phrase was coined by Fred Hoyle who DIDN’T believe in it. Sir Patrick Moore in the book BANG! says that it’s only a theory and that the evidence is not yet all in and indicates that he’d be amazed if in years to come the Big Bang Theory didn’t need to be substantially re-written.
An interesting article from SPACE.com saying we might be heading into a mini ice age: http://www.space.com/11960-fading-sunspots-slower-solar-activity-solar-cycle.html
Moosedog,
You assume I am labelling all theories as crackpot. I’m not. I agree with your bit on the big bang.
Science is based on observation, recording, extrapolation and coming up with theories. These theories are tested and some hold and some fall by the wayside. The data can be examined by anyone and the models checked and validated.
The Big bang is just one theory that is under threat as our knowledge of the universe expands.
AGW is different. I agree that there is global climate change. The difference is that some people are suggesting that we are to blame and we must fix it. For one I’m not convinced we are to blame. I remember reading about people skating on the Thames because it was frozen over. I also remember that we used to grow grapes in middle england because the weather was warmer. Yet we had no coal stations,cars, 4x4s etc. then so what caused it?
Then when we look at the data available we discover it has all been modified. The modelling software does not predict the current weather yet predicts the weather to within 0.x of a degree in 50 years time. A true test of a model is to put all but the last 10 years data in and get it to predict todays weather. It fails miserable. We are out by quite a bit. Remember 2010 was one of the years taled about in 1998. We are here now where is our sea level rise, our scorched earth and millions dead? We can’t see the real data and the models are not released.
Now it needs someone to look at it and sort it out but all the data is tainted. People are intrenched and we are paying extra for windmills that won’t meet our requirement and it is predicted that in 2014 we will start having brownouts.
Now people are AGW supporters and I don’t blame them, they are shown statements and supporting data that they don’t fully understand, neither do I, that says we must go back to an agricultural society to save the planet. We cannot support our society that way. Millions will die. Yet AGW loonies still want to do it. They don’t care about people and openly call for us to reduce ourselves to a few hundred million. Of course Al Gore and his family will be there. They are too precious to live like us.
So I call AGW a scam and as the news expands about the suns cooling and now we are looking at a new ice age I suspect that will be out fault too. This time it will be AGC. Open up those pockets.
Climate has changed for millions of years. Our arrogance is to think that we can control it. These loonies are extremists and unlike normal extremists we just ignore they have given our politicians an excuse to tax us even more and boy have they grabbed that with both hands.
So AGW theory. Fine. I don’t believe it and the evidence isn’t all in yet, what is left untainted, but AGW loonies have already spent billions of our money to fight it.
Ooops. I went on a bit there. I don’t want to get too involved in AGW here. Suffice to say our preps also include cold weather gear.
Skvez,
That doesn’t make sense to me.
We get colder as we go higher because there is less air which retains the heat.
The earth is not round either. It is squashed at the poles and the equator expanded. This makes the equator further from the centre of the earth and so the poles should not be frozen while the equator would be colder than the poles. That is clearly not the case.
At night the earth gets cold even in the middle of summer. The suns output is reduced 100% though.
The earth tilting on it’s axis gives us the seasons. That change must equate to only a few % of the suns output for us yet is significant in temperature.
So; It seems reasonable to accept that the earths core will give us some extra heat and help keep the temperature up. The oceans as well. However, over a long period those would lose heat themselves and thus I don’t see it only changing by 1 degree.
Skean: I wasn’t suggesting you labelled all theories as crackpot, just pointing out the danger of accepting the available scientific evidence and assuming it’s correct. As far as AGW goes I have no opinion either way as the facts we have are manipulated by whichever side is using them at the time. As the facts are not fully available it’s impossible to reach an informed conclusion. I do, however, have my winter woolies packed along with my sunscreen. And waterproofs.
Moosedog,
Bad wording on my part. I understand what you were trying to say. I agree with your stance as well.
skean, i believed that global warming was the most dangerous threat to us we had faced but lately i now see it as a way for our gov to increase taxes and impose laws on us. ive visited many websites looking at this and it is interesting that the news which most people read avoids anything that does not support the gov agenda. visiting many blogs gives some intelligent debunking of the global warming agenda and now i am not concerned with that and more concerned with a short term economic issues caused by actions to fix global warming issues. we need to ignore the gov controlled media and read more blogs they explain things where global warming sites just say believe us we know best.
Maddog,
I agree. There are many web sites out there discussing the AGW agenda. Some make for frightening reading especially the fact that by not going nuclear we run a very high risk of running out of power in a few years as well as the economic cost of the policies.
There are a lot of hidden agendas at play but our preparations will put us in a better position than most. So we should take advantage of what we can.