Follow the allotment series here.
Eight weeks now since the carrots were planted, we’ve weeded and thinned them today. Some of the thinnings were certainly substantial enough to eat in a salad.
26th September 2010
26th September 2010
And here’s the allotment as it’s looking today. There are six beds, each 2.5 x 1.25 m (~8’ by 4’) with a half metre paths between. So far only the carrots has been planted.
The other five beds are a bit of an experiment. We started of with a meadow full of thistles (see first Allotment Update) and need to work out the best way to create the beds. One has some skipped black plastic, two have a mulch of grass/thistle/nettle cuttings and two are left bare. Each visit we weed the bare beds, and pluck out anything that’s found a way through the mulch. We’re also cutting the grass paths short.
26th September 2010
Follow the allotment series here.
Five weeks since the carrots were planted, here they are!
4th September 2010
Day One
Leaving Bristol
The stowaway! Turns out he did pay his way... yum!
Good reading, hmm complicated.
Awesome! Sew me a cape!
Day Two
Breakfast time, yum yum for Ratty's tum.
That looks like a very long way for a short legged Rat...
Wow what a view, and so much wind!
Rats don't 'shower'!
The week's accomodation, meh.
That's more like it, Ratty food!
Day Three
He left his toothbrush and toothpaste back in Edinburgh, gnaw gnaw!
Day Five
Tasty!
Fatty Ratty!
So the University of Southhampton have a new Supercomputer. The BBC made a little video here:
According to the university’s page it consists of:
- 1008 Intel Nehalem compute nodes with two 4-core processors;
- 8064 processor-cores providing over 72 TFlops;
- Standard compute nodes have 22 GB of RAM per node;
- 32 high-memory nodes with 45 GB of RAM per node;
- All nodes are connected to a high speed disk system with 110 TB of storage;
In the video Dr Oz Parchment suggests that in the world supercomputer ranking this new system would place around 83rd, interestingly he also notes that 5-6 years ago it could have been number 1. That’s the pace of computer improvement. Let’s compare with the basic office PC I’m writing this on, it cost around £600. It’s based around Intel’s Core i5-750 CPU, running at 2.66GHz. The Intel specification sheet give this CPU a floating point performance of 42.56 GFlops (billion floating point operations per second). This sounds reasonable when we consider the supercomputer with its 2016 CPUs is reported to have 72 TFlops suggesting 36 GFlops per processor. After all, Supercomputers are just large numbers of regular processors (and memory) connected together with a fast bus.
We can run Parchment’s rough calculation for my computer. How far back in time do we have to go for my standard desktop PC to be considered a supercomputer?
Since 1993 a list of the world’s fastest supercomputers has been maintained, Top 500. Going back to the beginning, we see that in 1993 a CM-5/1024 developed by Thinking Machines Corporation and owned by Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US held the top spot. This was also the computer used in the control room in the Jurassic Park film. Here’s what just a few nodes looked like, the Los Alamos system was far larger:
Thinking Machines' CM-5 Supercomputer
Being the fastest computer of it’s day it would have cost millions, been staffed by a team of engineers and scientists and been employed on the most computationally taxing investigations being carried out anywhere in the world. I expect it spent most of its time working on nuclear weapons. According to this the CM-5 cost $46k per node in 1993, which would price the Los Alamos National Laboratory system at $47 million, or around $70 million in today’s money. It’s performance? A theoretical peak of 131 GFlops, with a benchmark achieved performance of 59.7 GFlops. The same ball park as my run of the mill office computer today. It was also twice as fast as number two and ten times the power of the 20th ranked system.
What this means is that the computational resources available at the cutting edge just 17 years ago, now sit on everyone’s desk running Office 2010.
In 1997 I was lucky enough to visit the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (EMCWF). They had recently taken delivery of a new Fujitsu VPP700/116 and had claimed the 8th spot in the Top 500 ranking with a theoretical peak of 255.2 GFlops. The system was used for 10-day weather forecasts. This image shows a 56 node VPP700 system, the EMCWF system was ~twice the size:
Fujitsu VPP700 Supercomputer
Using off the shelf components, a similarly powerful desktop computer could be built for a few thousand pounds using four Intel Xeon processors.
State of the art computer performance from a little over a decade ago, is now available to everyone able to afford a modern PC. We’re all using supercomputers. Could we be doing more with our computers than playing games and Microsoft Office 2010?
Back in December, after the Copenhagen climate conference I wrote a quick post about China’s awkwardness. I suggested a ‘coalition of the willing’ comprising of those governments that were willing to make emission reductions should just get on with it, without the rogue states.
Today I’ve come across Coalition of the Willing, a fantastic little film about addressing climate change without the illusive unanimous agreement between governments.
Coalition Of The Willing from coalitionfilm on Vimeo.
‘Coalition of the Willing’ is a collaborative animated film and web-based event about an online war against global warming in a ‘post Copenhagen’ world.
‘Coalition of the Willing’ has been Directed and produced by Knife Party, written by Tim Rayner and crafted by a network of 24 artists from around the world using varied and eclectic film making techniques. Collaborators include some of the world’s top moving image talent, such as Decoy, World Leaders and Parasol Island.
The film offers a response to the major problem of our time: how to galvanize and enlist the global publics in the fight against global warming. This optimistic and principled film explores how we could use new Internet technologies to leverage the powers of activists, experts, and ordinary citizens in collaborative ventures to combat climate change. Through analyses of swarm activity and social revolution, ‘Coalition of the Willing’ makes a compelling case for the new online activism and explains how to hand the fight against global warming to the people.
To find out all about the project and to join our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, or get the iPhone App visit:
http://coalitionofthewilling.org.uk/
Follow the allotment series here.
Erica’s brother came to visit this weekend. That’s him in the photo, having hacked down a lot of the remaining meadow, thanks Mark!
1st Aug 2010
We’ve finally planted something too. In these rows are planted carrot seeds we recently bought from The Real Seed Catalogue. They have a really nice philosophy, well worth checking out.
Carrots - 1st Aug 2010
Follow the allotment series here.
At the weekend we marked out two beds with old guy ropes, tent pegs and a little help from Pythagoras. The plot is approximately 8 m wide, so we’ve gone for two 2.5 x 1.25 m (~8’ by 4’) with a half metre path between and around 1 m wide paths at either end.
All we did was dig the turf ~4” deep and flip it back over, green side down. Fairly hard work after a 10 mile run a couple of hours earlier! So it looks like this:
First bed.
Somewhat concerned about the grass just growing skyward again, we put the previously chopped down long grass, thistles and nettles on top before leaving. Will the grass just grow back through?
Leek and Goats' Cheese Quiche.
The Pastry
- 110 g plain flour
- 50 g butter
- 25 g goats’ cheese
- pinch of salt
The Filling
- 350 g leeks
- 175 g goats’ cheese
- 3 eggs
- 200 ml crème fraîche (or double cream)
- 4 spring onions
- Salt and pepper
1. Make the pastry: sift the flour and salt into a bowl, mix in the butter with fingertips, grate in the goats’ cheese, sprinkle on a tbs or so of cold water and bring the dough together with a knife. Put it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for half an hour.
2. Heat oven to 190ºC, fan-assisted 170ºC. Grease a 20cm quiche tin maybe add baking parchment.
3. Chop the leeks and gently fry in butter for 10-15 minutes, add a bit of salt.
4. Whisk the eggs in a jug.
5. Roll out the pastry and line the tin. I had a little left over so I made two small tarts as well.
6. Prick the pastry to let any air out when cooking, brush with a little egg and pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes.
7. With the leeks off the heat in a bowl, having drained any excess liquid, crumble in the goats’ cheese.
8. Add the crème fraîche to the eggs, add lots of freshly ground black pepper.
9. Add the leek and cheese mixture to the pastry, sprinkle chopped spring onion on top.
10. Gently and slowly pour the egg mixture over the leeks.
11. Back into the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top.
12. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Leek and Goats' Cheese Quiche.
Erica and I received the key to our new allotment this week. It’s new not only to us but also to allotmenting in general by the looks of it, with no evidence of previous cultivation. It’s around 8m by 30m and currently just grass with a smattering of thistles and nettles. It runs east-west on a slightly south sloping site.
Initial condition - 16th July 2010.
8 meter square cleared, ready to be dug.
This year's blackberries.
This post was first published on The Oil Drum. Read there for comments.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published their quarterly Energy Trends document last week. It covers up to the first quarter 2010. The key points:
- Total energy production in Q1 2010 was 6.5% lower than in the first quarter of 2009.
- Oil production fell by 6% compared to the first quarter of 2009.
- Natural gas production was 9% lower compared with the first quarter of 2009. The UK was a net importer of gas in the first quarter of 2010 by 155 TWh compared with 106 TWh in the first quarter of 2009.
- Coal production was 12.5% lower than a year earlier.
- Nuclear’s supply increased by 1% on the first quarter of 2009.
- Wind, hydro and other renewables supplied 6.5% less electricity than in the same period last year, with hydro down 44% as a result of less rainfall.
- Final energy consumption rose by 4% between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, with rises in all sectors except transport which fell mainly due to the adverse weather conditions.
- Gas demand was 13% higher than a year earlier.
- Electricity consumption was 2.5% higher in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year.
It’s a familiar story: every year the UK’s primary energy production declines significantly. Today, primary energy production is almost half what it was at the peak just a decade ago. Has any other country, let alone major economy experienced such a speed and magnitude shift in its energy system outside wartime?
The rises in the demand data above are largely due to the colder winter and a degree of recovery from the recession. One could argue the decline in indigenous production played a role in the recession. If it did, I suggest it was a small role.
Data from DUKES 1.1-1.3.
The annual energy deficit in 2008 was 57.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). That’s a lot of energy to import. The breakdown of this deficit in 2008 was 42% coal, 36% gas and 19% oil. Let’s just make a quick estimation on how much this is costing:
| Fuel | Percentage | Deficit (mtoe) | 2008 Cost/toe (£) | Total Cost (£bn) |
| Coal | 42% | 24.15 | 115 | 2.77 |
| Gas | 36% | 20.70 | 191 | 3.95 |
| Oil | 19% | 10.92 | 287 | 3.14 |
| Total | 9.86 | |||
UK Energy Deficit 2008. Energy data from DUKES 1.1-1.3. Prices from QEP 3.2.1.
In 2008 the gap cost the UK approximately £10 bn. Fuel prices were a little lower in 2009 (especially coal and gas at -17% and -15% respectively) and the recession closed the gap from 57.5 to 53 mtoe. A few years ago the energy sector was a net source of income for the UK. No longer. The government deficit and the growing debt is receiving the media attention, this energy deficit, now it its fifth year remains largely ignored.
Following the May election, the UK now has a new Energy Minister:
Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
On the 24 June 2010, Huhne gave a speech to the Economist UK Energy Summit, it can be watched here: VIDEO
Did he address the chart above, our energy deficit in the same way chancellor George Osborne had addressed the fiscal deficit in his emergency budget earlier in the week? Well no, not directly. Economic recovery, energy security and climate stabilisation were identified as the key challenges. He isn’t a politician to question growth but did address the type of growth. “…dependence on fossil fuel would be folly. It would make us vulnerable to oil price spikes and volatility.” He called for a decarbonised economy stimulating growth and delivering on climate change and energy security. Sounds good but surely it is having one’s cake and eating it?
After stressing the urgency and seriousness of climate change Huhne addressed energy security. “It is vital we make the most of our domestic oil and gas assets…” indicating at least 20 billion barrels oil equivalent remain in UK waters and that we must continue to invest in exploration. His first mutually exclusive objective of delivering growth through decarbonising is now joined by his second of addressing climate change whist continuing to explore for new fossil fuel resources.
£200 bn of energy investment was said to be needed over the next decade, largely to replace existing assets. On new nuclear, Huhne stressed it will go ahead, but only if it can do so with no public subsidy. In my opinion this all but rules out nuclear as there is little precedent for wholly privately funded nuclear, but we shall have to wait and see. Whatever happens, it will be late with respect to the decommissioning schedule of the existing fleet of nuclear power stations.
Efficiency was described as the fourth energy resource (relegating nuclear and renewables to 5th and 6th?)–the cheapest way of closing the energy gap between demand and supply – “the Cinderella of the energy ball”. Smart meters and grids received a nod but he focused mainly on the existing aged housing stock. “Most of the homes in use in 2050 have already been built … we used more energy heating our homes than Sweden, where average January temperatures are 7 degrees Celsius lower than ours.” Addressing existing homes will be Huhne’s flagship programme. He’s talking about insulating millions of homes. It seems the improvements will be funded at least in part through the energy savings and recovered directly from household utility bills.
“The era of cheap energy is over. …tomorrow’s energy bills will undoubtedly be higher”
When asked about the lights going out, he ruled out wind and nuclear coming to the rescue due to the timeframe, but he stated gas fired power stations can be built in 18 months and assured us the lights wouldn’t go out on his watch. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) was described as vital to meeting climate objectives whilst keeping the lights on.
So in summary, Huhne didn’t address the fundamental peaking of energy supplies which surely should be the key driver for national energy policy today. The inconsistencies of shooting for growth whilst reducing energy use along with addressing climate change (by which I can only assume he means reducing carbon emissions) while encouraging future exploration for oil and gas are glaring. Meinshausen et. al. showed in their Nature paper last year the world has more than enough proved fossil fuel reserves already from a climate change point of view without having to discover more. His enthusiasm for CCS is also worrisome and I would see as largely incompatible with energy peaking scenarios. His focus on energy efficiency and especially domestic energy use is positive though. However there was no mention of transport at all.
New government, new minister but we still seem little closer to recognising the challenges ahead.