Diversions Manifold

Now that I’ve completed my first full week back at work, I can confirm the suspicion I raised in my New Year’s post marking my return to blogging that the freedom and energy to write and blog that I discovered over the Christmas vacation have been severely reduced: Alongside the where ... it’s pertinent to ask, when would I write? Maybe blogging is principally something for the holidays, when I'm rested and have time to reflect and to write. On the plus side, I am writing about it here! The brain drain Why is work - the non-physical work that I do- so draining? What am I doing all day that consumes so much energy, despite mostly sitting about, typing and clicking? I’m involved in product development and launches, in technical support, in documentation and report writing, with many context and application switches throughout the day. The energy that I burn in these activities can’t be all that much by themselves. It’s the brain itself, I feel, that becomes tired and lethargic - mot

My stance on energy is an open one: I am for a mix of available technologies. Oil will remain a key component of transportation energy for years to come Coal should be wound down (very slowly) Gas and shale gas are interesting agents for energy balancing Nuclear should be the key base energy driver Renewables should be part of the mix but should nor cannot become dominant sources Local energy (on houses or in communities) are interesting distractions from the energy requirements of whole countries Efficiency drives are necessary (and result in fascinating technological challenges in themselves) but should not return us to the dark ages I will come back to each of these as I develop my own knowledge base. My key sources of information are the now classic Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air by Prof David MacKay and Prof Barry Brook's Brave New Climate blog, which was a key resource for me in becalming the media panic that surrounded the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis.