Archive for the 'Commentary' Category

Environmental Effects of Winter Wood Burning

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Over on the Fire and Light page, I recommend wood fires. A recent visitor to this site asked if wood burning is not bad for the environment, and I went to do some research on it. The answer is essentially that wood burning is not environmentally unfriendly, although there are some aspects of it you […]

UK Met Office Winter Predictions 2007-2008

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

The official Met Office Winter Prediction is out, and it largely agrees with their earlier NAO-based forecast - milder than average, but colder than last year.
Otherwise, looking at the current local weather forecasts, I’m thinking we might see a first frost in Dublin in early November; possibly around the 3rd to the 6th. The coldest […]

Winter Car Kit

Monday, September 17th, 2007

Every morning, as soon as I get up, I go to let the cat in. This morning, I opened the door to a blast of what seemed like arctic air. It was only 10°C, but it felt far colder. And then today, there was a very unseasonal shower of sleet around lunchtime. So it’s getting […]

Fifty Degrees Below

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

I’m currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Fifty Degrees Below, which is about climate change and economic and political responses, and is a sequel to Forty Signs of Rain. There’s a section of the book about the concept of getting ready for winter that I’m - obviously - interested in, and I’m going to quote some […]