Does Passive Cooling Work?

Introduction When it comes to overheating homes there seem to be two schools of thought. The first is that we should use passive cooling — preventing heat from getting in.…

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What uses more Electricity heating or Cooling?

It is often assumed that running an air-to-air unit in cooling mode uses more electricity than running it in heating mode. Here in the UK, most air-to-air heat pumps are…

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ProCook Professional Ice Cream Maker Review + 15% Discount

In short Verdict: Yes, I’d recommend the ProCook Professional Ice Cream Maker, with a few caveats. It makes very good ice cream, is much more convenient than a freezer-bowl machine,…

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It’s Time to Ban AirCon!

Every year, when it gets hot, I think the same thing: it is time to ban single-hose portable air conditioners. (Yes, I'm boring like that.) This isn't some crusade against…

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Should You Get a Ceiling Fan (in the UK)

Are ceiling fans actually worth it in the UK? Logically they make sense, but should more people install them? Here are my early thoughts on the Philips Olas: what works,…

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Hydrogen Boilers: The NOx Problem Nobody Mentions

There's a push in the UK, by some industries, to replace methane in the gas grid with hydrogen. Proponents claim it is clean, easy to produce, and CO₂ free, with…

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Is Balcony Solar Worth It?

The UK government has announced balcony solar will be legal and available in shops soon, so I thought: is it actually worth it? The only way to really answer that…

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Three Dimensional Pressure Enthalpy graphs

Understanding refrigerants is difficult enough without having to look at charts like these It's not that these charts are inherently bad, they are extremely useful once you know what you…

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Making Animations with Manim – My First Try

Like many people, I have long been a fan of 3blue1brown's videos, so when he put out a 'how to' for the Manim animation library he built in mid 2024,…

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Heat Loss Calculations: A Practical Approach

Heat loss calculations are a bit of a faff. They involve lots of measuring and lots of assumptions. The most notable of which are the U-values of walls and windows.…

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The Joy and Challenges of Insulation

Insulating a Roof Space: Lessons Learned Recently, I have been involved in a project where I've been picking up the pieces of something done in the wrong order. Essentially, a…

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Art in the AI Era: The Nature of Artistic Value

A belief is an idea with an emotion attached - John Ewbank 2017 Last year, I gave a keynote speech at Art-house-life https://www.art-house-life.com/ewbank-2024 on the Isle of Wight about the…

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Monetary Financing: The Solution to Government Spending Pressures

Introduction Governments today face immense pressures to fund essential infrastructure and public services. Traditional financing methods like taxation and borrowing have proven inadequate, leading to escalating public debt and fiscal…

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Checklists: Are All You Need

Introduction The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has sparked extensive experimentation with prompt engineering techniques. While traditional methods like declaring expertise or implementing reflection prompts have shown some efficacy,…

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A Tool for Analysing Home Heating Systems

I've recently developed a Heating System Analysis Tool to help homeowners make informed decisions about their heating systems. This tool compares different heating options based on cost, energy efficiency, and…

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Heat Pump Impact on UK Electricity Grid

Introduction and Project Objective As the UK attempts to decarbonise heating, load will shift from the gas grid to the electricity grid. Since the efficiency of heat pumps is dependent…

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Heat Pump Electricity Usage Prediction Model – 10 year

Introduction and Project Objective The primary aim of my project was to create a comprehensive heat pump electricity usage dataset for grid modellers. This work is crucial for understanding and…

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Contracts for Difference Cost Comparison

A quick and dirty CfD comparison. The following graphs show the CfD price & payments for the all the UK's generating capacity that has a Contract for Difference with the…

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The Truth Behind UK’s High Inflation

The Illusion of Inflation: A Critical Look at Economic PolicyIn the UK, everyone prays at the "temple of inflation," but few truly understand what inflation actually is. The number that…

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The Evolution of Inventions and the Time Consumption Paradox

The primary objective of historical inventions was to alleviate human effort and save time. But with the advent of digital technology, this dynamic seems to be reversing. Many contemporary inventions…

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The Intriguing Hypothesis of Simulation Theory

There is an intriguing discourse suggesting that we might be living in a simulation. The crux of this theory is that if a highly advanced civilization were to exist, it…

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Why the Rich are getting Richer

How Central Banks and Bureaucrats Destroyed the Global Financial System Why are the rich getting richer?If you are reading this, I'm sure you have your opinions on why the rich…

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What public transport should look like.

British public transportation faces significant challenges. High-cost trains and slow buses often make cars the preferred mode of transport, offering door-to-door convenience, flexible schedules, and ample luggage space. Rather than…

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Why weather forecasts suck.

“Nothing is independent, the entire world is connected which every event influencing each other. The world is a giant chaotic non-linear system.” I wrote this a few years ago the…

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The Divisiveness of Language.

Language is often perceived as definitive, with a word's definition being its sole meaning. However, this is not always the case. People can interpret the same word differently, just as…

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Musing on the future of mass transit.

Transporation in the 21st century. Size The major problem with adding any new transportation system is cost. Cost is typically driven by size. Therefore, the first step in creating a…

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Who Killed the Hydrogen Car?

I wrote this last year. I maintain the opinion that a car using hydrogen fuel cells won't be mass-produced. However, owing to solid oxide fuel cells and an abundance of…

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