Saturday, June 20, 2009
Denmark to power electric cars by wind
Interesting: Denmark to power electric cars by wind in vehicle-to-grid experiment - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/19/denmark-wind-electric-cars
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Climate Protection Pays Off
The German Federal Environment Ministry has published a brochure entitled Climate Protection Pays Off - essential reading, especially for the dinosaurs who keep moaning about the costs of climate protection measures. The brochure is available via this link:
http://www.bmu.de/english/climate/downloads/doc/37944.php
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Open letter to William Hague: Time to take proportional representation seriously
Dear Mr Hague
BBC Question Time is one of my favourite TV programmes these days, and on 21 May I attentively watched another very interesting episode.
I found myself in agreement with virtually all your statements and sentiments, but I'm afraid I felt that your credibility as a potential future foreign secretary was somewhat undermined by your off-the-cuff remark about proportional representation.
Look at Germany, for example. Modern Germany is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. Far from "one party being in office all the time", Germany has had a range of different coalition constellations, and the special proportional representation election system that was implemented there after the war is working very well indeed.
The German system was developed based on previous experience and with a view to avoid the problems and mistakes of the past. In simple terms, half the seats are elected on a first past the post basis, while the rest are distributed proportionally. Crucially, the system has a so-called "5% hurdle" that prevents fringe parties from entering parliament.
It is high time for Britain to take proportional representation seriously and move away from the present system of "elected dictatorship", where a party can end up with a massive majority in parliament with little over 30% of the vote and can then basically do what it wants for the next 4 or 5 years, with little scope of intervention by the opposition parties.
Yours sincerely
Herbert Eppel, Leicester
www.HETranslation.co.uk
BBC Question Time is one of my favourite TV programmes these days, and on 21 May I attentively watched another very interesting episode.
I found myself in agreement with virtually all your statements and sentiments, but I'm afraid I felt that your credibility as a potential future foreign secretary was somewhat undermined by your off-the-cuff remark about proportional representation.
Look at Germany, for example. Modern Germany is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. Far from "one party being in office all the time", Germany has had a range of different coalition constellations, and the special proportional representation election system that was implemented there after the war is working very well indeed.
The German system was developed based on previous experience and with a view to avoid the problems and mistakes of the past. In simple terms, half the seats are elected on a first past the post basis, while the rest are distributed proportionally. Crucially, the system has a so-called "5% hurdle" that prevents fringe parties from entering parliament.
It is high time for Britain to take proportional representation seriously and move away from the present system of "elected dictatorship", where a party can end up with a massive majority in parliament with little over 30% of the vote and can then basically do what it wants for the next 4 or 5 years, with little scope of intervention by the opposition parties.
Yours sincerely
Herbert Eppel, Leicester
www.HETranslation.co.uk
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Nuclear Monbiot
Update 7th December 2013:
Excellent article by Jonathon Porritt under the heading "It can't be easy being George Monbiot" in the Ecologist.
_____________________________________________________________________________
See below for nuclear-related e-mail sent to George Monbiot on 16 April 2009.
On a related note, see also
*******************************************************
Subject: Let's resist the atomic menace
From: Herbert Eppel
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:53 +0100
To: George Monbiot
CC: ...
Dear George
I don't know whether you remember, but we met and had a brief chat at the Road Block conference in Birmingham a couple of years or so ago.
I regularly read your excellent, thought-provoking and indeed witty columns in the Guardian - today's hilarious statement "Carrier bags were so poorly represented in my sample that I am considering reporting the matter to the Royal Society for the Protection of Plastic Waste" followed by the serious message "Yes of course we should wage war on the plastic bag. But it should be our 1000th environmental priority, not our first and - in some cases - only one" is another classic!
However, in view of the fact that I having been campaigning (more or less actively and in various roles and wearing different hats) for energy efficiency and renewables and against nuclear power for 20 years, I am somewhat alarmed by the apparent U-turn by some environmentalists (including, apparently, yourself) who seem to see nuclear power as a necessary evil for solving the climate change problem, which I feel plays right into the hands of the nuclear lobby.
...
I strongly feel that nuclear power is not only undesirable for numerous, well-documented reasons, but also unnecessary, as demonstrated by Germany's nuclear exit strategy, for example. ...
Here is a good article, if you haven't seen it already:
Germany: The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy
Quote: "It's ambitious, but Germany can be running on renewable energy by 2050 if there is the political will."
No doubt Britain could do it too if it didn't keep getting side-tracked by climate numpties etc.
In summary, I strongly feel that [climate] campaigners should stand firm and united against the 'atomic menace'.
Best wishes
Herbert Eppel, wearing the following hats, among others:
Excellent article by Jonathon Porritt under the heading "It can't be easy being George Monbiot" in the Ecologist.
_____________________________________________________________________________
See below for nuclear-related e-mail sent to George Monbiot on 16 April 2009.
On a related note, see also
*******************************************************
Subject: Let's resist the atomic menace
From: Herbert Eppel
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:53 +0100
To: George Monbiot
CC: ...
Dear George
I don't know whether you remember, but we met and had a brief chat at the Road Block conference in Birmingham a couple of years or so ago.
I regularly read your excellent, thought-provoking and indeed witty columns in the Guardian - today's hilarious statement "Carrier bags were so poorly represented in my sample that I am considering reporting the matter to the Royal Society for the Protection of Plastic Waste" followed by the serious message "Yes of course we should wage war on the plastic bag. But it should be our 1000th environmental priority, not our first and - in some cases - only one" is another classic!
However, in view of the fact that I having been campaigning (more or less actively and in various roles and wearing different hats) for energy efficiency and renewables and against nuclear power for 20 years, I am somewhat alarmed by the apparent U-turn by some environmentalists (including, apparently, yourself) who seem to see nuclear power as a necessary evil for solving the climate change problem, which I feel plays right into the hands of the nuclear lobby.
...
I strongly feel that nuclear power is not only undesirable for numerous, well-documented reasons, but also unnecessary, as demonstrated by Germany's nuclear exit strategy, for example. ...
Here is a good article, if you haven't seen it already:
Germany: The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy
Quote: "It's ambitious, but Germany can be running on renewable energy by 2050 if there is the political will."
No doubt Britain could do it too if it didn't keep getting side-tracked by climate numpties etc.
In summary, I strongly feel that [climate] campaigners should stand firm and united against the 'atomic menace'.
Best wishes
Herbert Eppel, wearing the following hats, among others:
- Pro Wind Alliance www.ProWA.org.uk
- Leicester FoE
- HE Translations http://www.HETranslations.uk
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