Jaffa's Juicy Bits

Jaffa's Juicy Bits A blog about gadgets and green stuff http://www.jaffacake.net/ en-us Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:05:20 +0100 Review: Rara.com Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:05:20 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=review-rara.com http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/review-rara.com Reviews Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/review-rara.com?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/review-rara.com
That technology is provided by Gracenote, a company owned by Sony which now maintains a database of over one billion pieces of data that it licenses to the likes of Apple, Bose, Spotify and even Google. But it's never had its own branded music product, although the closest so far is music service rara.com.

Formed out of a partnership with Omnifone, that sees the two provide back end technology for London based rara.com, the music service now carries over 18,000,000 tracks and is available in most parts of the world including the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. As there is currently a free 7 day trial until the end of January, I thought I'd try it out.

Going from iTunes and Rhapsody, thru Last.FM and Napster and on to Spotify and Google Play Music, I've used my fair share of music services along with the benefits and negatives of each. Currently I use Spotify for my primary album listening but use Napster for its charts and Google Play Music to easily play my iTunes ripped CD back catalog without using an Apple device.

I was hoping that rara.com could maybe combine the best elements of Napster and Spotify, allowing me quick access to the latest albums whilst helping me find new music - indeed, the press release even pointed me to a somewhat random playlist of "Mood Boosting" tracks that contained everything from Tchaikovsky to M People.

A dip into the settings menu shows just a few options, but one nice feature in particular that other music apps could learn a lot from. Song storage allocation settings allow you to limit the amount of space used up on your phone for music downloads - leaving you guaranteed space for photos and other storage. Using other music apps I've found it far to easy to use up every byte of my phone space and then not to even be able to take a photo.

However, having actually failed to find an easy way in the Android app of copying the playlist for off-line use, I moved on to check out the sound quality. Whilst there appears to be no obvious claims about bitrate of their streamed music, quality through my Bose QC15 headphones and Samsung Galaxy S3 was better than expected, although the app lacks access to the Android EQ that Google Play Music and Spotify are able to use. We're not really on a par with Spotify's "Extreme Quality" download, but we are talking about a service that could cost me £6 instead of £30 over the next three months - a saving we could all do with when that credit card bill lands on the doormat after Christmas.

The rara.com front screen allows access to a number of features from recommended playlists, thru "Moods" and new music focussed "rara radar", to "Charts" - which is an interesting one. Despite being a British outfit, rara.com appears to lack the UK charts which, far from a criticism, is actually quite useful. One of the things I always used to like about US based Rhapsody (not to be mistaken for the Rhapsody owned UK Napster service) was the ability to play American charts and discover new bands that simply never reach this side of the Atlantic - I've discovered bands like Collective Soul and Five for Fighting that way. There's certainly many of ways to happen upon new albums here, even if I might go off and purchase it in a higher quality for repeated playback on my decent hi-fi kit.

I decided I'd see how complete the 18 million track back-catalogue is - some 1,000 times bigger than my own iTunes library. Impressive perhaps but Spotify, with it's estimated 20m tracks, wasn't enough for me which is why I've ended up having to use Google Play Music alongside it. A search for 90's band The KLF had me surprised with the amount of results, in fact that it had any at all. On retirement, The KLF reportedly burned one million pounds in cash, because they could, and then deleted their entire back catalogue so nobody could buy their music any more. The end result is that Spotify can't find KLF album The White Room...but rara.com can. I think perhaps other passengers wondered why I was grinning so much as I was All Aboard the Last Train to Trancentral via Waterloo on my way home from work, but I thoroughly enjoyed a trip into a top album from my childhood. Sadly, another search for The Prodigy's Experience album turned up a blank - yet another music service that isn't quite as good as my own.

So, overall, is rara.com as good as the competition? Well maybe it still has some catching up to do but, if you sign up before the end of the month, you'll get 7 days free followed by 3 months at 99p each or £1.99 for mobile access. At that price it's certainly worth a look and allows you to find some new music whilst you put your Spotify payments on hold as you try to pay off those Christmas bills. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/review-rara.com http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/review-rara.com?opendocument&comments Winter Fuel Payments - Fixed Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:35:39 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=winter-fuel-payments-fixed http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/winter-fuel-payments-fixed Random Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/winter-fuel-payments-fixed?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/winter-fuel-payments-fixed
It's a tricky argument as not all pensioners are affected. Some have loads in the bank and don't need the benefit. Some even have loads in the bank and still won't turn the heating on. No matter how much you give them as a hand out, it won't encourage them to turn the heating on.

Took me about 2 minutes to come up with a fix, the news bulletin hadn't even finished on ITV.

Kill the winter fuel payments...completely. Save the government a load of money. Nobody gets paid cash they don't need, or for heating they may not turn on. At the same time, introduce legislation on the energy companies to make them reduce the winter bill for qualifying pensioners by the same amount. e.g. if we currently give pensioners a £50 pay-out for winter fuel, then make the energy company take £50 off their next bill in Winter.

We all know the energy companies coin it in, especially from pensioners who don't really understand the complicated tariffs and discounts available from changing supplier. They're all just happy to sit with British Gas like it's still some nationalised company. It's not...and, under my proposal, Centrica would be paying out £50 for every pensioner on its books.

So we save the government money, pensioners still get their benefit and we impose an indirect "tax" on the utility companies.

Perfect solution? I think so. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/winter-fuel-payments-fixed http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/winter-fuel-payments-fixed?opendocument&comments Auto Trader turns on the ignition Wed, 7 Nov 2012 19:55:02 +0100 I don't own an iPad and, to be honest, have never really wanted one. Being a bit of a gadget nut, I've never really had much difficulty in justif ... ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition I Love Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition I don't own an iPad and, to be honest, have never really wanted one. Being a bit of a gadget nut, I've never really had much difficulty in justifying a purchase of the latest kit, I've just never had the use for one. I've only ever seen it as an oversized iPod Touch and a ridiculously expensive way of reading a newspaper on the train.

Many publications are now making the digital switch, carefully typesetting their publications to allow them to be easily ported between print and iPad editions. You can call me a traditionalist though as I've always been of the opinion that, if I wanted to read a magazine like What Car?, I'd always prefer to turn the pages of a paper magazine. So, with this mind-set firmly in place, I ironically found myself invited to the launch of ignition, the new iPad based magazine from Auto Trader.

Currently exclusive to iPad and the Apple Newsstand - I guess that's the Apple equivalent of WH "would you like a chocolate bar with that?" Smith - ignition will be published monthly and is being pitched at a launch price of £1.49. That's actually pretty cheap for a car magazine.

So what makes it so different from other publications?

Well firstly, it's got unique content that's only available in this format - there simply isn't a print version. Secondly, it's been purpose built from the ground up to be tablet based, rather than just another print mag with a page turner on board. As such, every little element of the screen comes to life. You touch an image and it may start an interactive video, or it may click you straight through to the related article. Swiping a photo within an article allows you to simply browse the whole album of images - no need to continually scroll up and down the article. The whole thing is like some kind of automotive sliding block puzzle.

It sounds complicated but the whole thing is really intuitive and within a couple of minutes you master the interface and realise just how easy it is to pick up...much easier that it is to put down. This is more that just a website that works off-line.

Where the magazine really excels is where it integrates closely with the original Auto Trader magazine and, most importantly, the UK's biggest marketplace for new and used cars. Click for information about a car and within a click of your fingers, you're looking at used values of the car you've just read about.

Needless to say, having been a sceptic on arrival, I'm really quite impressed and I genuinely see it as a massive nail in the lid of the coffin for traditional magazines. People had been saying print is dead for some time but it's not until you see a publication like this, with its embedded video reviews and live interactive social media sourced content, that you realise what the future is.
]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/auto-trader-turns-on-the-ignition?opendocument&comments Green Electricity? Not really... Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:05:51 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=green-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity Green Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity
For years ecologist, conservationists, governments and even power companies have been encouraging us to switch to low energy light bulbs and to turn off appliances when they aren't in use. There's a good reason for that, electricity needs to be generated and electricity generation can create lots of emissions. Here enters all the talk about carbon footprints and AAA rated refrigerators.

Now the world is being turned upside-down due to the constant talk about electric cars and how they help the environment. They're apparently "zero emissions" and buying one will save the planet. There's talk about green electricity tariffs, solar panels and wind turbines which ensure electric vehicle (EV) owners don't create any power station emissions from their overpriced car. So why do I constantly tell people that I think this is utter bollocks? Let me explain...

Every day of the year, we usually have enough wind to turn a few turbines. These generate a bit of electricity and this is fed into the National Grid. As I type this post, wind turbines are apparently generating some 648MW of electricity. Sounds impressive. At the same time, we may have some hydro-electric power being generated from tide, waves and other sources. Apparently this is currently generating around 605MW of electricity. On top of that, during daylight hours at least, we generate some electricity from solar panels on the rooftops of buildings and homes. Some companies even have stand-alone solar "farms" to capture as much sunlight as they can.

All of this electricity is green, in that it has a carbon footprint of zero once the generator has been built and installed, and helps reduce the overall carbon footprint of the National Grid. All of this is good stuff, we should have more of it, and if you have a solar panel or other such device you should give yourself a hearty pat on the back.

So what happens to all this green power? It gets pumped straight into the National Grid for everybody to use. Yes, everybody. Not just people on a green tariff? No, power is power and the National Grid doesn't care where it comes from - they just supply power to meet demand all day every day. Monday to Friday demand is higher, industry uses a lot of electricity, so they have to supply more. They do this by buying it in from power companies. This whole supply and demand thing is where it all gets a bit tricky for green power.

Solar power only works in the day. Wind power only works when it's windy and hydro electric power has it's only limitations. It's not exactly, as they used to say in the British Gas adverts, turn-off-and-on-able. When the sun is shining, those solar panels will feed the grid and the units sold to the highest bidder. Likewise the wind turbines will keep turning as long as somebody, anybody, will buy that electricity. It can't be stored until the solar panel owner gets home from work to charge their EV, so it's sold for use in a chemical plant, office block or to anybody really - whether they care about what a carbon footprint is or not.

At the moment we're generating around 1200MW of electricity from green sources and all of it is being used. Some of it might be being burned in the computer on which I am typing this post, even though I'm not on a green tariff. Unfortunately, however, current demand is around 45,000MW and this green electricity represents less than 3% of all that electricity currently in use. So where does the rest come from?

Currently, 13.2% of electricity is coming from nuclear power stations. These, like our green sources, run 24x7 to try and supply as much electricity as they can. As with green, however, supply still can't meet demand though and we have to fill the gap from somewhere else. But where?

The answer is that 80% of all electricity currently being used is coming from either coal fired or gas turbine power stations. These create CO2 and other emissions into the atmosphere. They are "brown" sources of electricity and exactly why we need to turn stuff of that isn't being used.

100% of green electricity is being utilised. 100% of nuclear electricity is now being utilised. If I now turn a light on, where will the National Grid get the power from? Chances are that they'll tell a guy in a power station up north to throw a few more coals on the fire. As long as demand for electricity exceeds green electricity supply, this will always be the case. The ONLY place to get additional electricity from is a brown source.

So what if I rush out and buy an electric car? Where will the electricity come from? There is only one place...and it stinks. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/green-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity?opendocument&comments Empty Seats - an insight into commuting by rail Tue, 2 Oct 2012 19:22:00 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=empty-seats http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats I Hate Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats
Extra traffic lights, extra cyclists and changes in traffic light phasing all led to traffic getting progressively slower. The slower it got, the more people took to their cycles, slowing average traffic speeds further still. Surrey's roads aren't really suited to two lanes of cars as well as cyclists. It may take several miles to safely pass a cyclist, only for him to illegally undertake you further up the road. In the end, despite having a lovely £50k Lexus to do the journey in, I realised I simply wasn't enjoying it any more.

If I have to allow an hour for every journey to/from work, I may as well get the train. I've always made sure I live walking distance from the station, just in case this day arrived, and it did. I quit my job and headed off to the big lights of the City.

I feared the worst. Over the years I've heard frequent tales of delays, cancellations, no seats and missed connections. What was I letting myself in for?

My new job, based in St. Paul's, would see me get three different trains. Firstly, I'd catch the train from Addlestone to Weybridge. These run twice an hour and connect with the train coming from Woking that takes me in to Waterloo. From there, I jump on the Waterloo & City line to Bank from which I walk to the office. If I get the 07:02 train from Addlestone, connecting at 07:11 for the "semi-fast" train that goes fast from Surbiton, I'll be in Waterloo by 07:49. On a good day, I'll be in the city in about an hour. Perfect.

On the way home, the train leaves at twenty past or ten to the hour connecting 37mins later at Weybridge for the 07 or 37 train to Addlestone. A bit longer on the way home as it stops at more stations, but acceptable, and will get me home in time for the children's bedtime.

After doing this journey for around 4 months, I'm genuinely astounded by the service. I've not been late for work, not once. Every Addlestone departure has been within on minute of schedule and never failed to meet the train in Weybridge, which has always been on time. On the way home, I've missed a few trains myself but only perhaps twice has it missed my connection beyond my control. Problems happen and, trust me, if you'd driven the Surrey roads for the past 16 years, you'd realise that the M25 and surrounding routes are considerably less reliable.

Oddly, however, I see constant complaints about South West Trains on twitter. Often retweeted by @my6percent, these are frequently complaints from people who use the same Woking-Waterloo route as myself. The most common gripe appears to be about seats, or lack thereof, usually from people who get on in Woking. Which is somewhat confusing, as I get the Woking-Waterloo service myself and it leaves Woking with only about 1 in 10 seats occupied, if that.

Today's complaint came from @angelaboodoo who reckons all the Woking trains never have any seats. She was so adamant about this, despite photos of empty seats to the contrary, that she even went so far as blocking me on twitter. She's not the first Woking commuter to get angry with me on this topic, for some reason they just don't seem to be able to handle the truth.

So why the totally contrasting opinions? Let me explain...after a picture of some empty seats, seen earlier today.

The service I catch each morning at Weybridge takes 47 minutes to get from Woking, where it starts, to Waterloo where it ends. For those who board at one of the six stations in-between - like Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames or Esher - this is the fastest way to Waterloo. The closer you get to London, the cheaper the total price you pay. But in contrast, the closer you get to London, the lower your chances of getting a seat.

Let's over analyse a bit, in the usual way...

Using the handy on-line season ticket calculator, we can see how much a monthly ticket might cost for all of the stops on route. It's hard to work out the exact distance travelled between stops, but we can use the timetable to give us a rough estimate.

The train departs Surbiton direct for Waterloo at 07:27, arriving at 07:49 - a journey time of 22 minutes. Our cheapest monthly ticket comes up at £157.50, or £7.88/day in February based on the minimum 20 working days your ticket may be valid for. This gives us £3.94 for our journey into Waterloo or 17.9 pence per minute travelled and also not much chance of a seat.

Esher passengers are on the train a little longer, departing at 07.22 - a 27 minute journey. Based on a monthly season ticket of £177.80, this makes it £4.45 to get to Waterloo or 16.5 pence per minute. A longer distance, seemingly better value, and a chance of a seat towards the back.

The train departs Hersham at 07:19, making it a 30 minute journey for £191.70 or £4.79 to get to Waterloo each morning. Cheaper still at 15.9p per minute travelled and you should find a seat, if you make an effort.

Walton-on-Thames is a popular station but you'd be very unlucky not to get a seat when boarding here. For the privilege you'll travel three minutes longer, a total of 33 minutes to Waterloo using a monthly season ticket at £202.00 - or £5.05 for our journey to Waterloo. That's 15.3 pence per minute travelled.

The train pulls into Weybridge with almost nobody on board, everybody gets a seat and you can even choose window or aisle as you prefer. Good job though, you're going to be on board for 38 minutes at a cost of £5.52 from your £220.80 per month travel card. That's 14.5 pence per minute.

West Byfleet passengers can't really believe this train came from Woking, there's practically nobody on it except the occasional pregnant woman. A 42 minute journey for £240/month. That's a round £6/day into Waterloo or 14.3 pence per minute.

Which brings us to our friends in Woking and their £266.90 per month season ticket - £6.67 per day for their journey into Waterloo. That's 47 minutes at 14.2 pence per minute and, as the train originates there, it's empty when it pulls in. You're guaranteed a seat for the lowest price per distance travelled.

Twelve empty carriages sat on a platform but nobody gets on it. Why? Because, whilst to others this is "the train", if you live in Woking this is "the slow train". Woking happens to be on the route of some major inter-city services from the South coast. As a designated connection point for Heathrow, if you're coming up from Portsmouth, Southampton or Bournemouth, you may consider Woking as a route to the airport or the main route in to London.

As stations inside the M25 are served up by the route I covered in detail above, there is little point in the Portsmouth Harbour service stopping again after Woking, so it doesn't. As a result, the Portsmouth service becomes an express from Woking to Waterloo. For the same £6.67/day, Woking passengers can have a few minutes longer in bed and still get to work on time.

It used to be treated as a 20 minute journey from Woking to Waterloo. It's not. The shortest journey, arriving at Waterloo before 9am, is 27 minutes. This is regarded as half an hour by the many who turn their noses up at the "slow train" which "takes an hour". It doesn't though, we already said above that it takes just 47 minutes. With the average journey time from Woking on the "fast train" being 29 minutes, that makes it just 18 minutes faster than the slower, stopping train.

So what does everybody do? They have a few more minutes in bed and then cramp on to the long distance inter-city express. The whole journey from Portsmouth to Waterloo is 1hr 42mins so, unsurprisingly, when it pulls in to Woking it's rather busy. They shove each other out of the way to get to the few seats that may be available and, if they fail, stand in crowded corridors by bins and toilets sending ranting texts to @sw_trains asking why they never get a seat from Woking.

You don't get a seat because 18 minutes is too long for you. As @drlodge put it:

"Thing is, I want to get to work before lunchtime."

Even better, @angelaboodoo explained:

"I don't use the slow service because it adds an extra hour to my journey duh"

Eighteen minutes. EIGHTEEN MINUTES. It's apparently an hour, if you live in Woking.

I personally know exactly what 18 minutes is, as it's precisely how soon I arrive at my office before I am due to start work. I only get two "slow" trains an hour and, if I get the next one, I will be 12 minutes late. I pay over 2% more than you do for my slightly shorter journey yet you feel the need to complain about the train company because you are fortunate enough to have a busy express service?

David Lodge explains that:

"for customers paying £3k/year, there should be a seat say 95% of time"

David, you get a seat offered 100% of the time. You just have to get the other service that takes an average 18 minutes longer. Trust me, it gives you an extra 18 minutes to laugh at ranting Woking people on twitter. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/empty-seats http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats?opendocument&comments Locked Out Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:32:39 +0100 I got home from what felt like the longest day of my life to find I had forgotten my house keys and couldn't let myself in.
http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=locked-out http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/locked-out Domestic Gadgets Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/locked-out?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/locked-out I got home from what felt like the longest day of my life to find I had forgotten my house keys and couldn't let myself in.

No problem, I thought, my wife will be home and I'll just ring the doorbell. I rang. Nothing. I rang again. Still nothing. I checked my watch...bathtime! A quick glance at the bathroom window confirmed the light through the cracks in our window shutters.

Oblivious to me being stood on the dark doorstep, my wife was upstairs with my son splashing around in the bath whilst listening to the latest Jessie J album via Spotify. Alright for her, but the volume was so loud she couldn't hear my attempts to attract her attention.

What to do? I sent her an sms message knowing full well that it would fail as she wouldn't take her phone in the bathroom. So I headed back to the car to sit it out, hoping she didn't put Frazer to bed before she came down. Then it struck me...

She was listening to music in the bathroom using our whole house Sonos music system. She takes its splashproof controller into the bathroom with her and Frazer has a boogie whilst splashing in the bath. Maybe...just maybe?

I pulled out my phone and checked that I could connect to the home wifi from outside. The signal was weak, but enough. I then loaded up the Sonos Controller for Android. It worked and I could clearly see Jessie J on the "now playing" screen for the bathroom, and bedroom, and en-suite. No wonder she couldn't hear me, it was blasting out through the entire first floor of the house.

I touched the music button and decided Napster was the best option, as its library is much bigger than Spotify. Search...tracks..."locked out". Within fractions of a second, an unfamiliar Crowded House track appeared from their best of album..."Locked Out". I hit Play Now and hoped it would work.

Indoors, Frazer was no longer in the bath and they were in fact brushing his teeth when the music stopped. At first my wife thought the Virgin Media internet connection had gone down...again...but then the music resumed. But a totally different track, one that wasn't even in the playlist she had created.

The song opened with the line "I been locked out" and she glanced at the controller to confirm it was indeed called "Locked Out". A few seconds later, she opened the shutters, saw me sat in the car on the driveway and came downstairs to let me in...laughing her head off.

Funny, I was just queueing up "Baby it's cold outside". ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/locked-out http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/locked-out?opendocument&comments Volvo Car UK - Emissions Equality Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:28:00 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality Green Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality launched its Emissions Equality campaign. Aimed at "providing all motorists with a broader range of emissions information when they buy their next car" the new think tank would "help combat the UK’s rising problem of poor air quality."

As an active campaigner to reduce pollution and improve air quality I naturally took an interest and was impressed by its alleged proposals, although at the same time perhaps rather sceptical that it was just a thinly veiled marketing campaign with the aim of convincing the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to exempt its vehicles from the London Congestion Charge.

Sadly, as an ecologist, Volvo Car UK truly let me down. As soon as they managed to turn Boris around, and its particulate emitting diesel cars were exempted from the charge, the campaign seemed to completely lose focus. Worst of all, the Emissions Equality app that they had launched lay abandoned in the middle of the iTunes store without an update.

In March 2011, I called them out on this situation in my post entitled Emissions Inequality. I explained about the campaign, its apparent lack of focus and the fact that the app was completely useless to new buyers as it contained only very old data - despite daily updates being available from the VCA that take into account all new car models that are launched.

I received a fairly prompt response from both Jay Negley at Redspy (who developed the app whilst running the Clean Green Cars website promoted within it) and Duncan Forrester from Volvo Car UK who informed me that an update would hopefully be available soon. In March 2011, the month I wrote my inequality post, the app was indeed updated.

Fast forward to January 2012 and there have been dozens, probably hundreds of unique car models released since then. Car buyers may be keen to compare the emissions of these new vehicles with others that are on sale, in order to help reduce some 50,000 premature deaths a year that are caused by air pollution. (Source: Volvo Car UK).

So what will the Emissions Equality Think Tank offer them in 2012?

1) The application has not been updated since I last queried it in March 2011 - almost one year ago.

2) The Emissions Equality Facebook page hasn't received an update since July 2010.

3) Volvo Car UK hasn't released any information on the topic since October 2010, when they were celebrating their victory in changing the London Congestion Charge rules.

So, is Emissions Equality a campaign to help improve air quality and reduce all types of pollution from vehicles in the UK? Or is it just a long forgotten Volvo marketing campaign? You decide. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality?opendocument&comments The changing face of electricity Thu, 8 Dec 2011 14:53:55 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=the-changing-face-of-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity Domestic Appliances Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity
There’s a massive CO2 footprint for electricity production. Generating just 1kWh of electricity in the UK releases around 525g of CO2 and other emissions into the atmosphere from our coal and natural gas fired power stations.

Naturally, this made me cast a critical eye over the recent boom in electric vehicles (EVs) and I previously examined the hidden emissions that come from driving an EV like the Nissan LEAF after the seemingly constant claims that these vehicles are “Zero Emission”. In fact, just last week, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was making big claims around the CO2 that hasn’t been emitted as a result of people driving the LEAF.

Everybody is jumping on the EV bandwagon now, with many manufacturers having a pure EV or plug-in hybrid on sale or coming to market. Last week I was invited to the Volvo HQ in Gothenburg to see the new V60 plug-in hybrid vehicle. Naturally, I sat there doing sums about how much CO2 would be generated in charging its 11.2kWh battery pack and then put the question to Volvo about how exactly this was going to help the environment. I wasn’t ready for the answer.

It seems that Volvo has done a nice little deal with Swedish electricity provider Vattenfall which will give buyers the option of taking the car along with three years of renewable energy supply. Generated from hydro-electric or wind, this supply has a carbon footprint of approximately zero meaning that, on a full charge, the V60 plug-in hybrid will go up to 32 miles with no CO2 emissions from the tailpipe or the power station. Rather different from simply pretending there aren’t any emissions from the use of electricity.

Perhaps things have changed at Nissan in almost two years since I first looked into EVs? I asked Nissan UK if it was prepared to discuss why it continually fails to acknowledge the carbon footprint of electricity production whilst promoting EVs. I submitted the following questions to its press office:

1) How does plugging something in and leaving it turned on overnight help save the environment?

2) Doesn't this go against the messages we've been receiving from ecologists for years?"

3) Why aren't other products, like tumble dryers and fridge/freezers being marketed as "zero emission" if a car, that uses considerably more power, can be.

4) What is Nissan doing to help reduce the environmental impact of electricity production?

Nissan responded by saying that “Unfortunately, we are not in a position to comment on your questions.”

Meanwhile, Volvo is looking into providing a renewable energy option in all locations they plan to sell plug-in vehicles. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/the-changing-face-of-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity?opendocument&comments Zero Emissions? Or Just Hot Air? Wed, 2 Nov 2011 10:15:00 +0100
Regular readers of this site will likely have read some of the previous articles f ... ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air Green Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air
Regular readers of this site will likely have read some of the previous articles featured on this site around the Nissan LEAF and electric cars in general. So imagine my surprise when British Gas contacted me to let me know they run Nissan LEAF models as pool cars from there offices in Windsor and Staines.

Not only that, but they claim that these cars are truly zero emissions as they are each powered by some dedicated solar panels - recharging the vehicles using just the power of the sun.

Needless to say I was keen to take a look so I packed my camera, a Surrey Police Inspector and the MilesPerLitre.com team and we headed over there for a special report.

Are these Nissan LEAF pool cars truly zero emissions from usage? Or is British Gas trying to sell us a load of hot air? Take a look at the full article over on the MilesPerLitre.com site. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/zero-emissions-or-just-hot-air?opendocument&comments £1bn loss in fuel duty? Really? Wed, 5 Oct 2011 11:55:39 +0100 http://www.jaffacake.net/trackback?open&id=fuel-duty http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/fuel-duty Green Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/fuel-duty?opendocument&comments http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/fuel-duty BBC even claim that “the fall in sales has deprived the Treasury of nearly £1bn in fuel duty between January and June this year”.

Sure there is no denying that, in the first six months of 2011, retailers have sold 1.7bn less litres of petrol compared with 3 years ago. But what else has happened over that same period?

In 2008, the AA reported that “Fuel price falls to 21- month low”. If we look at the middle of that six month period in 2008, the AA fuel price report March 2008, we’ll see that the UK average prices were 106.8 and 114.3 pence per litre respectively for petrol and diesel. Of this they claim tax of 62% (66.2p) for petrol and 58.94% (67.4p) for diesel.

Fast forward to March 2011 and we now have a UK average of 132.9p for Petrol and 139.0p for Diesel. With tax of 61% and 59.08% that equates to 81.1p per litre tax on petrol and 81.9p per litre tax on diesel. So, in the 3 year period being reported on, the tax on a litre of petrol has actually gone up 14.9 pence or 22.5%.

So they’re selling 15% less fuel, but the Government is actually taking home 7.5% more tax - helped in part by the increase in VAT. Not exactly that £1bn reduction in fuel duty you may have perceived, is it?

In reality, the last 5 years has seen the introduction of Euro 5 and other emissions legislation which has resulted in significantly more economical diesel cars. We now have family sized cars from the likes of Volvo that will do around 1000 miles on a single tank of diesel. With more than half of cars now being sold on PCP schemes, that result in a new car every 3-5 years, in this 3 year period a large proportion new cars buyers will have switched from an older Euro 4 car to a Euro 5 compliant diesel with economy improvements of up to 50%.

This would have resulted in significantly reduced diesel sales but the migration of petrol drivers to DERV has pretty much matched the economy improvements in this area, with a 0.5% drop in diesel sales since 2008. The overall loser is petrol. No surprise as supply and demand is clearly displayed in the pump price which has risen much less than diesel in recent times.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that the Government didn’t see this one coming and, with diesel taxes up 21% in the same period, they’re clearly raking it in. ]]> http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/fuel-duty http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/fuel-duty?opendocument&comments