A blog about gadgets and green stuffhttp://www.jaffacake.net/en-usMon, 15 Aug 2011 21:18:14 +0100 Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:05:51 +0100http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricityI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/green-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/green-electricity?opendocument&comments Tue, 2 Oct 2012 19:22:00 +0100http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seatsI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/empty-seats http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/empty-seats?opendocument&comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:28:00 +0100http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equalityI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/volvo-car-uk-emissions-equality?opendocument&comments Thu, 8 Dec 2011 14:53:55 +0100http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricityI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/the-changing-face-of-electricity http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/the-changing-face-of-electricity?opendocument&comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:16:19 +0100
I have been a customer of HSBC since 1991, when I was 16 years of age.

Since then I have been able to manage my account a number of ways. I could use my Debit card at an ATM to check my balance, transfer funds or even print off recent transactions.

I could use telephone banking to check my balance at my convenience from any telephone, 24 hours a day. I could even speak to a friendly human being, until you moved the call centre to India and things started to go downhill.

That's OK, I still had the friendly people in my local Addlestone branch. I could drop in there and talk to them with any queries and pay-in cheques as required. But then you turned it into a lobby style branch, pretty much removing all the people unless I pressed a buzzer to get one out of the back office. They were quite helpful for showing me how to use the machine, which couldn't handle my enquiry, or directing me to the internal courtesy phone that would connect me free of charge to your call centre...in India.

Thankfully Internet Banking was available which has allowed me, for many years, to access my accounts on-line. I can check balances, transfer money, make payments etc. as required. I just need to sign-in with my user ID, date of birth and random characters from my password. It works well and has done for years.

Presumably people started going into my local branch less and less, as you closed it - along with my nearest cash machine. Quite ironic that a company with the strapline "the world's local bank" would go ahead and no longer be local thousands of customers. To pay-in cheques, which lets face it will be in Birthday cards from Grandparents for years to come, I now have to drive many miles to find a branch that's open on a Saturday morning as I can't get to the nearest branch during its limited opening hours. Thankfully most people transfer money electronically these days so I've put up with this minor inconvenience for quite a while. The irony that a relative's gift to my son is actually a trip to the bank with his mum to pay in the cheque. She can no longer walk to the branch with her buggy. Instead, she has to load the children and buggy in the car, drive to an open branch, pay to park and then line up to pay in the cheque.

This wasn't really very practical, so we opened an account for our son at the local Nationwide. We became familiar with that branch as it is now our closest cash machine, since you closed ours. They provide us with a service so they get our custom. That's how it works. HSBC may be the world's local bank, but ours is a small branch of Nationwide. They also got our Mortgage business when we moved house because not only were their flexible mortgage deals great value, they were also...you know...open.
]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-hsbcI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-hsbc?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-hsbc http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/dear-hsbc http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-hsbc?opendocument&comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:43:27 +0100This is an article about Scan Computers International Ltd. 25-28 Enterprise Park, Middlebrook, Horwich, Bolton, BL6 6PE - not to be mistaken w]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/scan-computers-3xs-system-reviewI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/scan-computers-3xs-system-review?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/scan-computers-3xs-system-review http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/scan-computers-3xs-system-review http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/scan-computers-3xs-system-review?opendocument&comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:55:34 +0100
European emissio]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-car-magazineI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-car-magazine?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-car-magazine http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/dear-car-magazine http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/dear-car-magazine?opendocument&comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 10:21:16 +0100
I wasn't there myself, I had my Ampera first drive at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum event in May, but this time attendees were apparently told amazing facts like under 40g/km of CO2, charging time of under 4 hours and some rather insane combined fuel economy figure of more than 176mpg. Naturally, as I did with the Nissan Leaf, I've done a few sums of my own.


It would seem the Vauxhall Ampera is being marketed as one of these wonderful new electric eco cars. Sold in the US as the Chevrolet Volt, it's the first of a new type of vehicle known as the Extended Range Electric Vehicle or E-REV - notice how they split of the E to make it look that little bit more eco? I expect on some marketing leaflet somewhere, they'll make that first E green and lower case, just to make it even cooler. It will probably go on to win a load of so called "Green Car Awards" but I digress.
]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/vauxhall-ampera-any-colour-but-greenI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/vauxhall-ampera-any-colour-but-green?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/vauxhall-ampera-any-colour-but-green http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/vauxhall-ampera-any-colour-but-green http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/vauxhall-ampera-any-colour-but-green?opendocument&comments Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:32:33 +0100
Currently, in the UK, the US or anywhere else in the world...electricity demand exceeds our means to produce it by renewable means. Until we have enough solar panels, wind turbines, tidal generators etc. the ONLY way we can generate enough power is by burning fossil fuels. The more power you use, the more power we need to generate.

Buying an electric car increases the power that you use. Buying such a vehicle would double my electricity usage, double my bill, and double the emissions from the grid related to my usage. It won't magically make the world a better place, it just moves the problem from the exhaust pipe to the power station.

Making electric cars cheaper, by offering subsidies, doesn't help. It just encourages people to buy them, adding more demand to an already over-used National Grid and increasing overall emissions. You've got a solar panel on your house? So what? That panel is connected to the National Grid, you get paid a substantial bonus for that, and is intended to help reduce emissions on the grid...not offset some of the extra load generated from your car.

The only way to improve the situation is to either a) use less electricity (preferred) or b) generate more of our electricity from low emissions sources. The government sort of helped recently, by taxing power companies more for power generated from non-renewable sources but, ultimately, they've just passed this cost on, pushed up the wholesale cost of electricity and all our domestic bills are going up.

Taxing the power companies will always have limited effect, they just pass on the costs. What we need to do is tax the users.

Currently, domestic electricity is charged at a reduced 10% rate of VAT in the UK, compared to the standard 20%. Waving the mighty "if I were in charge" banner, I would remove this reduced rate and charge "normal" electricity tariffs at the full rate of 20%. This would hurt consumers, seriously hurt, and properly make them aware of their usage. People would make more efforts to use low energy light bulbs instead of clearing the shelf every time they find stock of old style 100W bulbs. But they would also have an alternative...
]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/a-green-futureI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/a-green-future?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/a-green-future http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/a-green-future http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/a-green-future?opendocument&comments Fri, 27 May 2011 11:18:24 +0100@majorgav very accu]]>http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/my-smmt-in-a-nutshellI HateBen Rosehttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/my-smmt-in-a-nutshell?opendocument&commentshttp://www.jaffacake.net/dx/my-smmt-in-a-nutshell http://www.jaffacake.net/dxcomments/my-smmt-in-a-nutshell http://www.jaffacake.net/dx/my-smmt-in-a-nutshell?opendocument&comments