The rise and rise of sea power

Over what seems little more than a few months, I am somewhat amazed to see that I have gone from being thought of as some kind of “nut” because I was considered to speak against wind power and in favour of water based energy production. I didn’t really, if anyone bothered to read on, I just cautioned against its seemingly universal acceptance as the solution to renewable energy. Now, it seem that the news carries stories about wonderful new major sea and river based energy projects, and wind power has been relegated to some sort of planning pariah as it encroaches on the countryside, destroys peoples’ lives and peace, and places air travel in danger as the turbines interfere with civilian and military radar. Oh, and it kills birds.

Not my words, you’ll find all that in the news – it seems that the wind power bubble may have burst, and water based power is the media darling, for the moment. Maybe I should now predict that nuclear power will be their next darling in a few years, when they eventually decide to put the boot into water based systems, and that nuclear is safe. The Marine Conservation Society already has the underwater system in its sights, challenging Scottish Power’s assertion that their systems will pose no threats to marine life, and seeking rigorous environmental impact assessments.

It looks as if I might not be the “nut” now though, as Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, suffers something of a delusional attack while visiting Caithness as the Crown Estate opens the seabed for lease when said the firth could be seen as “the Saudi Arabia of marine energy”. I’m afraid a quick look at the map suggests that might just be slight overstatement – but then again, politicians are reputed to be quite good at that, aren’t they?

As noted in here before, Scottish Power has been working on the Lanstrom device, which is said to be the world’s most advanced tidal turbine. The Scottish and Irish sites would host up to 60 of the turbines – 20 at each site – generating 60 megawatts of power for up to 40,000 homes.The company is expected to apply for planning permission next year. The device, similar to an underwater wind turbine, has been tested in a Norwegian fjord.

The director of Scottish Power’s renewable arm, Keith Anderson, said: “The rapid technological advancement of tidal power has enabled us to progress plans for this substantial project which has the real potential to deliver significant environmental and economic benefits.”

Speaking during his visit to Caithness, Mr Salmond said opening the firth for energy generation on a commercial scale was “exciting news” for Scotland’s renewables sector, environment and economy. These developments are a significant step forward in Scotland’s journey to become a world leader in the development of renewable energy. The Pentland Firth is the Saudi Arabia of marine power. Our seas alone could provide 25% of Europe’s tidal power and 10% of wave power. The vast potential of the Pentland Firth will mean more investment, more jobs and more opportunities for the Caithness area.”

(Those are impressive numbers, which have been quoted in the news before, by the politicians, but they’ve yet to justify them, and they might be similar in terms of “smoke and mirrors” to the wonderful claims that were made for wind power, but turn out to be ideal numbers, which tumble to a fraction of their oft-quoted values when applied to real world installations.)

Eann Sinclair, of Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership, said: “Proposals are under way for projects such as the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy project and the development of Scrabster and Wick Harbours, as well as the creation of new jobs in the engineering sector.”

With the decommissioning of the old Dounreay nuclear power station, the area is looking to the future and local employment, although there will still be many years of employment to come from from the decommissioning project itself before work on the old site dries up altogether.

Health and Safety – 1, Sanity – nil, Syn – nil

I used to poke fun at the antics of the Jobsworth types that use “Health and Safety” as some sort of bizarre catch-all to ensure that the rest of us have no fun – my favourite example was the ending of “open cockpit” days at air museums, where the curators were bludgeoned into closing their exhibits to the public on the basis that they were a radiation hazard thanks to the radium in the luminous paint used on the instruments to provide night-time visibility for the pilots during the war.

Then I stopped laughing as these petty minded individuals discovered they had the power to do as they pleased, and moved from genuine hazards that might present a real danger, and became the guides for anyone that wanted to avoid being sued for anything from a paper cut and above.

We’ve just had the last episode of BBC 7′s current run of The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn” (which is highly recommended), and the announcer rounded the series off with the announcement that Health and Safety had put an end to the annual celebration of the character, which takes place in Dymchurch, Kent.

Apparently, it’s too dangerous to have the swashbuckling hero ride a horse through the village in 2008, and he must walk instead.

This smacks of the same insanity from one of our earlier stories that has seen the cancellation and ending of ending of a number of Remembrance Day parades because someone advised the organisers that someone may be injured, and they can no longer afford the rocketing cost of insurance, or of policing parade.

Since few might believe me, here’s the story in full:

For the past 44-years, villagers in Dymchurch, Kent, have celebrated the character of Dr Syn, a quiet village vicar by day and a smuggler hero by night, who was created by local author Russell Thorndike.

Dr Syn galloped through seven novels, donning a scarecrow disguise to avoid excisemen and soldiers as he and his desperate band of night riders bought food and drink to starving villagers.

On the second August bank holiday of every other year, a resident of Dymchurch has dressed as Dr Syn to gallop along a nearby beach and ride through the streets for a Day of Syn celebrating the hero.

However, this year, his exploits were curtailed after insurers decided it was too dangerous, leaving Dr Syn instead forced to walk.

Many insurers rejected cover outright, and the cheapest quote was £1,000.

Ian Hyson, Chairman of the Day of Syn, said: “For 44 years Dr Syn has burst into the festival on horseback. He is the main show and when he makes his entrance people are truly overwhelmed.

“But this time he just had to walk around. It just wasn’t the same.”

“He has been on horseback since 1964, but this year the insurers just did not want to know because they said riding a horse was a ‘severe’ health and safety risk. Only one insurer would listen and they quoted us £1,000.

“We simply cannot afford that, so had to do without.”

In previous years organisers relied on public liability insurance to cover the event, but then discovered the policy, which cost around £450 for the entire festival, did not cover someone on horseback.

Angela Green, a fan of the books, said: “I’ve read all his novels and when it comes down to it Dr Syn is a horseman, plain and simple.

“For him to be without a horse makes a mockery of the whole thing. He’s on the front cover of the first ever book for God’s sake.”

Russell Thorndike wrote seven Dr Syn books set around Romney Marsh, from 1915 including titles such as The Courageous Exploits of Dr Syn, Dr Syn on the High Seas and The Amazing Quest of Dr Syn. Thorndike died in 1972 at the age of 87.

Health and safety fears finally halt swashbuckling Dr Syn Telegraph.co.uk, September 4, 2008.

It’s a shame that Health and Safety, which is deadly serious, is now often reduced to a joke when applied inappropriately, or to allow someone to make themselves feel important, as they know that once they quote the phrase “For Health and Safety reasons”, few will dare to argue with them.

Cat has 8 lives after seaside trip under camper van

Camper van cat © BBC

A male tabby nicknamed Bumper has survived a 30 mile trip from Muirhouse to the seaside in East Lothian.

The cat clung to the underside of a camper van as it made the journey, and was only discovered when the owner reached his destination and saw the cat’s tail sticking out from below the bumper, and thought he had hit it at some time during the journey, but found the tabby was alive and well, but covered in diesel and in no hurry to move.

By using a beach towel, the van’s owner and a vet from Haddington managed to dislodge the cat, which was uninjured but had to be cleaned of the fuel  covering his coat, which would have been hazardous if he had been able to groom and clean himself, and swallowed the diesel fuel.

So far, no-one has come forward to report the lost cat, and the vet will look after it for the next week, after which the owner of the camper van has said he will look after the cat if its owner is not traced.

I hope the BBC don’t mind their pic being used, but there’s always a chance that someone might see the pic who knows the cat’s owners.

Summerlee Heritage Park re-opens

Summerlee refurbishment © Thomas Nugent

Billed as Scotland’s Noisiest Museum, Summerlee Heritage Park in Coatbridge re-opens on Friday, September 26, 2008, after the completion of a £10 million refurbishment. This saw the main exhibition hall being completely cleared, and the building stripped back to its bare skeleton as part of an almost complete rebuild, as you can see in our selected pic.

The museum closed back in October 2006, so has been off the radar for almost two years, and sorely missed by those who came to see it as a regular appointment. Within the collection of authentic, working exhibits of our industrial and mechanical past the visitor can enjoy the noise, or trace the evolution of of heavy industry from Victorian times to the present day. Historic items include working steam engines, trams, and a replica of the Vulcan, the first all iron boat in Scotland.

Families can (at the right time of year of course) enjoy the play area and picnic areas at the side of the Monklands Canal, which flows through the site.

The site itself is of historic significance, having been the Summerlee Ironworks.

View Larger Map

• Superb new exhibition hall with interactive displays and kid’s Discovery Zone
• Scotland’s only working electric tramway
• Underground mine and miners’ cottages from 1840 to 1960
• Great playpark for tots to teens
• Café and shop. Free parking.

Open all year 10am to 5pm (4pm Nov – March)
Closed Dec 25 & 26 and Jan 1 & 2.

Admission Free

Address:

Heritage Way
Coatbridge
Lanarkshire
ML5 1QD

Tel: (01236) 638460
Fax: (01236) 638454

A day to be ashamed to be British

It’s a bit sad that something I noticed as amusing last night should have turned into something a little sad and alarming when I looked at the news today.

It takes me about half an hour to stoat along to the shops, and during that time it can be interesting to note that I can’t understand a single conversation overheard on a mobile phone as I pass people in the street. It’s now the exception, rather than the rule, to hear any of them chattering away in English. I was going to post about that as something amusing, then I saw the news.

The first identity cards which will be issued in November as part of the current government’s controversial national scheme went on show today. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to “easily and securely prove their identity”, and went on to use nationalistic paranoia as justification, adding: “We want to be able to prevent those here illegally from benefiting from the privileges of Britain. Employers and colleges want to be confident people are who they say they are, and immigration and police officers want to verify identity and detect abuse. We all want to see our borders more secure, and human trafficking, organised immigration crime, illegal working and benefit fraud tackled. ID cards for foreign nationals, in locking people to one identity, will deliver in all these areas.”

That would almost be sound rationalisation… if only the people listed feared and respected the law, and were going to queue up in an orderly fashion along with the honest folk that will be tagged by the system.

Has no-one noticed that every so-called “secure” system is hacked by organised crime?

Has no-one noticed that the government keeps dropping thousands, and even millions, of people’s personal records, and just carries on saying “Oops, sorry, we won’t do it again”, then hits the headlines a few days later… for something very much the same?

The scheme will first be used to identify students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa – the two groups claimed to be most likely to be abusing immigration rules, but…  the card cannot be issued to people from most parts of Europe because they have the right to move freely in and out of the UK.

When the Labour Government’s disgraced former Home Secretary first brought the ID Card scheme into being, I predicted that it would be both unpopular, and intruduced by stealth onto a sleepwaking British population, and that’s just what’s happening. First it was passport and benefits, now it’s immigrant control – all groups that either cannot afford not to comply, or are too weak and powerless to complain to any effect.

Which disgraced Home Secretary? Take your pick: David Blunkett – resigned twice; or Charles Clarke – hung on until forced to resign. Their successors have been much more careful.

Just why does Labour stand virtually alone in wanting to establish a scheme modelled on Hitler’s old system of being able to identify individuals, especially Johnny Foreigner, or those on benefit for example, while the other parties seem to have little enthusiasm for the plan? He planned to use a computerised system to, and even back in the 1930s had IBM on hand to run the system for him.

The Conservatives oppose the country’s identity card scheme but say they support the use of biometric information in immigration documents.

Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne said identity cards “remained a grotesque intrusion on the liberty of the British people” and the scheme “will prove to be a laminated Poll Tax. The government is using vulnerable members of our society, like foreign nationals who do not have the vote, as guinea pigs for a deeply unpopular and unworkable policy.”

SNP Home Affairs spokesman Pete Wishart MP said his party had opposed ID cards from the outset but the government’s “abysmal record on data protection” was reason enough to cancel them. He said the government looked “absurd” for pushing ahead with such a costly project.He want on to say “These cards will not make out communities more secure, they will not reduce the terrorist threat and they will not make public services more efficient.”

Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a “softening-up exercise”.

Speaking to the BBC, he said “The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can. Once they get some people to take the card it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The volume of foreign nationals involved is minuscule so it won’t do anything to tackle illegal immigration.”

Funnily enough, and it’s not the amusing kind of funny, described as right wing, Migrationwatch UK has supported the scheme, with Sir Andrew Green saying “We welcome the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals as part of wider measures to tackle illegal immigration,” he said. “These reforms are essential if we are to restore order to our immigration system as the public certainly wish to see.”

Right wing? Isn’t that sometimes associated with Nazism, or am I reading too much into those who like to be able to point the finger at groups and individuals, especially the vulnerable or minorities, for their own reasons?

New hydro-electric station announced in Perthshire

I’ve banged on in here for a while (and probably still will) about water-based power, lamenting the endless worship of the holy god of wind power, and how anyone serious about renewable or alternative energy production had better start looking elsewhere or we’ll be up a river – or all at sea – without a paddle when the wind money (or supply of acceptable sites) dries up, or realisation dawns that while it is certainly not a dead dog (I’ve never said that, and never would), it is not the magical answer to renewables that some would have them believe.

The Scottish Government’s target is to produce 50% of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2020, and that won’t happen without a balanced or integrated approach.

Ambling through the headlines over the past few weeks, it’s been gratifying to note a steady increase – at last – of schemes looking towards the wet stuff as a source of power, and I’ve mentioned quite a few in here recently.

I also postulated the need to look at smaller hydro-schemes since all the large, prime sites had already been used in the past decades. A comment I made just before those in a position to do something about it made a public announcement to the same effect – thank goodness I published first, a few posts back.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see that the momentum of the past few weeks is continuing, and that plans to build a new hydro-electric station in Highland Perthshire have just been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government. The 2 MW Keltney Burn scheme near Aberfeldy is a ‘run-of-river’ project, which means it will use its elevation and natural flow to generate electricity, and is described as being able to produce enough energy to power 1,300 homes.

Energy Minister Jim Mather said: “This is a tangible demonstration that new hydro power has a bright future in Scotland. We need to harness all of Scotland’s diverse renewables potential, and provided schemes operate in harmony with the environment, we will continue to support hydro development – large or small – to help tackle climate change and contribute to sustainable economic growth.”

(Here’s hoping that’s not forgotten when folk go looking for development cash).

North Tayside MSP John Swinney added: “I am delighted to hear that this project has been given the go-ahead. This is a project that will benefit the local area. This decision has been a long time coming, but now that it has been approved, I hope that it will get up and running to make a difference to surrounding communities.”

Anonymous contractor floods Gorbals

I’d like to give a little publicity to the careful contractor that managed to burst a 24 inch water main in the Gorbals this morning, flooding the immediate area and leaving thousands of homes in the east and north of Glasgow without any water supplies this morning.

Homes and businesses were affected in Gorbals, Rutherglen, Oatlands, Port Dundas, Carntyne, Dennistoun, Royston, Firhill, Possilpark and Springburn. Flooding caused by the incident has closed Crown Street and Florence Street along with the city’s Albert Bridge. Glasgow Nautical College closed for the day after floodwater blocked the main entrance.

Scottish Water said it hoped to have restored supplies by the afternoon.

Although they had engineers out to deal with the burst, their efforts were hampered as the resultant flood had engulfed the control gear they needed access to. Strathclyde Police had to put traffic diversion in place, and Scottish Water had to liaise with police and travel operators.

I was lucky, and noticed that the usual torrent that falls from my tap was reduced to little more than a trickle at breakfast, and was able to fill a kettle and some other containers lest it die altogether. God forbid I should be cut off from essential supplies such as tea and coffee!

It’s a pity the BBC didn’t drop the contractor’s name, they deserve some free publicity since such incompetent work (you’re allowed the odd accident, but a 24 inch water main is hard to miss – as they proved) has little excuse nowadays, and hopefully someone will carry the can, or bucket, for this mess, and not the water rate payers that were inconvenienced.

I suspect there will be a well-paid psychologist sitting in a little room somewhere, advising that those involved will need months of therapy if someone makes any negative comments about the quality of the the work, or maybe a lawyer threatening to sue anyone that dares to say they were responsible, and that what happened wasn’t an “Act of god”, as exemplified by Billy Connolly.

Maybe it was Bart “I didn’t do it” Simpson – or as the kids here say: “A big boy did it and ran away”.

Scottish Water come in for a lot of stick, usually unjustified, and it’s worth noting that their soggy staff were as good as their word, and as I finished my lunch, the water pressure was back to normal… and it was safe to go and have quick flush.

Google map images rationalised

After moving the server, I thought it might be time to revisit the Google map API group. Re-organising the server structure had messed with the code, necessitating some minor re-writes, and I reckoned they might be something new to be had. I did fiddle with about 6 months ago when some new features were introduced, but everything fell apart and I didn’t have time to play with it then. Working and plain is still better than fancy and broken.

One of the downsides is that there’s a layer of coding that interfaces the Google map to our pages, and while it may be hard to believe that I had a tiny, hand in its birth, when the chap that created it improved it with a rewrite, he also made it almost unintelligible, as the language used is not one I’m deeply literate in, and there are a lot of optimisations in it now. While they make the code slicker, they also make it like gobbledegook if you haven’t come across all the coding fiddles used. Maybe a project for the long winter nights if it’s to get anywhere. Unfortunately, he seems to have evaporated now, so there’s no oracle to consult.

I don’t know if there are any significant or relevant toys in the latest version of the map, I ahven’t been keeping track in the past months, the main thing we need here is the ability to get lat/lon/NGR for a desired point of interest, and the current page still does that reasonably well for now.

The most interesting thing I noted was the coincidental announcement today, the day I happened to look for anything interesting, that the views and imagery displayed on maps created using the Google map API (in other words, the maps seen on any SeSco page) will now show exactly the same presentation as a Google map pulled up from maps.google.com – previously different data sets were used, leading to various gripes and moans apparently.

There will be some losers and some winners where there is a change of view, as some areas were better served than others in each set.

All I’ll say is that there are some damned cloudy views over Scotland – maybe one day they’ll go away.

Doorstep sellers must offer cancellation rights

Knock knock...

Consumers will be allowed to cancel contracts signed with door-to-door salesmen even when they have requested the visit to their home or office, under new Regulations that come into force in October. Consumers were previously only given the right to cancel door-to-door salesmen’s contracts in a seven day ‘cooling off’ period if the salesman visits were unsolicited. The new Regulations will extend those protections to recipients of all visits, even if they are solicited.

The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regs 2008 will come into force on 1st October.

Read more on The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regs 2008.

There might have been a place for door-to-door sales in the past, when there was some honesty and trust to be had, and drugs didn’t mean that smackheads are likely to do anything to get a few pounds to fund their next hit, but societal changes – and possibly event the internet – have really rendered them obsolete, and you’re more likely to find some sort of low-life at your door if there’s an unexpected knock, than anyone bringing something that may be to your advantage.

I know someone who is down on their luck an unable to look after their house etc. The outward signs now mean they are subject to a constant barrage of property developers want to “help” them by taking their house of their hands, and scrap dealers wanting to “help” them by clearing their driveway of cars.

Wee Eck may not be too firm in the bodily sense, but he’s as sharp as they come upstairs, and while he can’t afford motorised gates to keep them out physically he’s added security cameras to record all unwanted visitors, catch details of their vehicles, and informs them that under Scot’s law, he can have them arrested for Breach of the Peace if they cause him to feel personal fear or alarm. Having been at his house when some of car scrappers have turned up, I don’t think the wee fella would have a problem if he called the police, as the ones I’ve seen call always seem to look like 15 stone skinheads – I’m worried and I’m sitting indoors out of sight!

Only the other day I woke up one morning to find the neighbours chasing someone of Asian appearance away from my door – he could hardly understand them, and was dragging a wheeled case behind him and had a some sort of backpack on. Worryingly, he wandered along the street (half a mile) and disappeared without bothering with another house.

Previously, I’ve opened the door to “Medallion Man” who hammered endlessly and wasn’t going away. I was under the weather that day, trying to shake of a migraine headache, and was confronted by a forest of gray chest hair and gold, and found myself arguing with some nut who was threatening me because I’d upset his 14 year old son. I had no idea what he was raving about until he became coherent and told me that I’d shouted at his “wee boy” earlier that day and reduced him to tears. At this stage I was still dopey from the migraine, but it turns out the truth of the matter was that I’d been woken up earlier by someone marching around my house, and having been unable to get an answer from the front door, had proceeded to the rear of the house and hammered on the back door, and having failed to get an answer there, carried on to hammer on all the windows as well. When he made his second trip to hammer on the back door I caught him there, and when he offered me a leaflet about driveway paving I gave this door-to-door salesman a verbal tongue lashing and ran him off my property.

Quite what would have happened if I had followed my instinct and phoned the local police to record the incident I don’t know, but I decided that was overkill, and probably driven by the pain in my head, which was making an unwelcome return after the disturbance.

“Medallion Man” threatened to call the police because I had upset his 14 year old – I just wanted to go and lie down again – so suggested he might want to have a word with the boy and his over-enthusiastic sales methods. I’m guessing he didn’t tell “Medallion Man” how he attracted attention as this seemed to calm things down a bit, and he left – after cheekily handing me one of this driveway paving leaflets.

If it hadn’t, I was closer to the phone than him, and would have been having a word with the police about his use of a 14 year old to carry out his business during school hours on a week day. I haven’t seen them since, or the leaflets they used to leave – but I still have the photograph of the Vo… er.. the car they drove away in, compete with registration.

There are more, but the best example might be the builder I used a few years ago, who might just be rejoining society about now. Although I had no problems with him, and discovered we had similar tastes in cars – only he bought his new while I had to wait for them to be about 10 years old before I could afford them – it seems he was none too nice, especially with little old ladies and their saving once he’d got a deposit and started some work, then vanished, and ended with his face all over the local papers when he was put away for at least 4 years, if not more.

Ever wondered about wind power dollars?

Looking slightly further than Scotland’s wind farms for a change, and the nation’s successful efforts in ensuring it doesn’t cash in on the industry by seeing off the Vestas wind turbine plant at Machrihanish near Campbeltown, after only five years or so after handing it a few million in grants to have it open there, and letting some sort of argument over ownership at Nigg near Aberdeen see off any likelihood of a turbine factory being established on the old platform production facility site. I don’t even know the details of the latter, having just spotted some online pics of the area, with no real detail as to why some sort of dispute means there is little chance of a turbine plant even being started there in the next few years.

You might laugh if you were reading it in a comic, and not the real news.

Reading some overseas news, the CEO of General Electric dropped some numbers while discussing his company’s deal with Google which will see the pair promote the more efficient use of energy through the development of a smart distribution network.

Mr Immelt spoke of his decision to buy Enron’s wind business out of bankruptcy in 2003 for $300m and revealed that it now makes between $7-$8bn in revenues.

“I have done some bad business deals in my day, but this isn’t one of them,” joked Mr Immelt.

He also said that GE is now one of the biggest players in the wind power industry and is involved in developing hybrid locomotives, water reuse solutions and photovoltaic cells. The move into this business has paid off as sales of products and services in sector have grown from $4-$5bn (£2.2-2.7bn) at its launch to $18bn a year.

It’s an interesting combination, and I’ve no doubt there will be some nuts lurking in the background, ready to launch into Google conspiracy stories about this. Maybe Google will use our power lines and home wiring to log all our power use, work out what we really need, and engineer shortages to push the price up – no dafter than some stories you can read on the web.

There are already smart networks and control systems in the distribution network, but in general terms they’re relatively coarse, not precise, and possibly just not able to cope with the amount of data that improving the detail and number of each parameter that could be reported from sensors and analysers that could be located along the line. It could be that by dividing power distribution networks and control systems, where each smaller cell could be more accurately monitored and controlled to suit local demand, this could be managed more effectively and with greater efficiency than at present, where only large areas can be managed.

While I suspect there are new and as yet uncosidered advantages to be gained here, I also suspect that there may be some delay before these are seen, and again, that’s nothing to do with conspiracy (as I’m sure some will claim), but simply the sheer volume of work involved in incorporating these new developments. It’s a bit like the water supply network – it may be ancient and leaking, but it works, but it could work even better of only it could be updated overnight. Unfortunately, the overnight fix insn’t possible or practical in either case, and both will forever be “works in progress” (but getting better as time goes on).