Michael de Podesta

How much of my body is made of fossil carbon? Friends, while listening to an online discussion I heard humanity described as The People of Oil. The phrase resonated within me. We use oils in our lives in two fundamentally different ways: as fu…

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2024/11/10/h...

Also by my estimate around 20% of the carbon atoms in your body came from fossil fuels.

We are "the people of the oil".

"The career I’ve had..."

Allow me to add "... so far".

I think it is not over yet!

The problem is that the nature of most central heating circuits is unknown to a heat pump installer.

Installing a low-loss header ensures that a heat pump will be compatible with just about any circuit.

It allows installers to install with confidence in a wider range of older properties.

ICAX: A new UK heat pump manufacturer Friends, as you may be aware, I love heat pumps. And so a few weeks ago, I was delighted and surprised to be invited to visit the offices of a UK company developing a new domestic heat pump: ICAX. …

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/i...

I got a chance to visit a new UK manufacturer of domestic heat pumps, ICAX. And it is possible to do things differently.

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/07/20/t...

A couple of reflections on the "State of the UK Climate Report 2024".

Most essentially, I am so sad that the Climate in which I grew up is already gone.

YouTube video by Engineering with Rosie Steel Reinvented: Inside the World’s First Plant to Burn No Fossil Fuels [Tour]

youtu.be/E0YjXrfKgpU

In this video Rosie Barnes (aka Engineering with Rosie) shows how a real company is producing green steel NOW.

YouTube video by Patrick Boyle The Mirage of Megaprojects: Why the West Keeps Getting Infrastructure Wrong

See also Patrick Boyle on this topic

youtu.be/UtApa3PA0J4?...

Is it too much to hope that they might have learned something by building Hinkley Point?

Data from London.

20 m2 of panels
10 m2 facing 20° E of S
10 m2 facing 20° S of W

~185 kWh/year

Added an additional 15 m2
9.4 m2 facing 20° N of E
5.6 m2 flat

~133 kWh/year

These are kWh of exported electricity.

So a figure of 100 to 180 kWh/year seems reasonable for the south of the UK.

When a tree falls in a garden… Friends, my wife and I have just returned from a few days holiday in Kent. Here a few photographs: On returning home we were shocked and saddened to find that in our absence, our apple tree had fal…

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/w...

When a tree falls in a garden... all the carbon dioxide it absorbed over its lifetime is re-emitted into the atmosphere.

Yes! It's practically impossible to be sure which tariff will be optimal. The simplicity of Intelligent Go means that one can develop regular habits - and get on with busy lives - without having to monitor day-ahead prices.

I upgraded the radiators last November 2024 and it seemed to distinctly improve the COP. But over the winter the improvement in SCOP was only about 6%, not really justifying the £cough thousand pounds I spent.

But they do look nice.

Capital costs were high.
House value ~£ 1 million - normal in Teddington

Triple Glazing: ~£10k
External Wall Insulation: ~£26k
Solar Panels: ~£10k
Battery: ~£10k
-
Total: ~£60k
- a little bit more than a high-end kitchen re-fit in London

Annual Savings: ~£3k?

Significant CO2 savings.

Minimum was 21.9 °C according the weather station in my back garden in Teddington.

In the example US bills I saw, there was a specific exemption for people with medical equipment at home.

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/m...

Going off-grid in summer never gets old.

Here's a summary of the first 6 months of 2025 - heat pump and solar pV systems are working well.

Regarding equity, the key is to have a standing charge with a lower tariff for the first (say) 10 kWh/day of usage. Above that the price per kWh should increase.

This is - I understand - standard in California for both electricity and water billing.

Just to be clear, I pay the standing charges - happily. To me they make a lot of sense. I just get a rebate from solar exports. I don't know how Octopus can afford to pay me 15p/kWh - I can't believe that will last much longer.

Towards the first one million heat pumps… Friends, I ventured north last week to the beautiful city of Birmingham. What drew me away from my home & garden was the possibility to attend the third annual unconference: Towards the first o…

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/06/28/t...

Reflections on the third un-conference on the topic of "Towards the first one million heat pumps" - in the UK.

Lots of progress, lots of innovation, lots to do...

Teddington

@edhawkins.org #showyourstripes.

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/c...

I posted my climate stripes on the poster board in the front garden - together with a challenge.

If you're in the UK you can see current temperatures in context here:

istheukhotrightnow.com

Hot? Or Not? Friends, our meteorological measurements show unequivocally that the Earth is warming at rate of slightly more than 0.2 °C per decade. This estimate is arrived at by collating data from thousands o…

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/h... Assessing whether a particular temperature measurement is "hot" is really a question about context: regional, seasonal, and time of day.

@edhawkins.org has a new web site that presents current temperature measurements in a meaningful context.

Thank you. Very informative as ever!

May 2025 Temperature Update - Berkeley Earth May 2025 was the 2nd warmest May on record behind 2024. The chance of record warmth in 2025 has declined to 5%. An ENSO neutral condition continues.

berkeleyearth.org/may-2025-tem...

I took the graphs from Berkeley Earth who have monthly news conference where they present the latest data and discuss its significance. It's all very low key, but the team's "reality focus" is reassuring.

DT is logarithmic for very large DT, but is highly linear for small DT.

In my opinion, this is a case where the mathematics - i.e. the use of a logarithm - masks the simplicity of the physics.

How does the heat transfer from a radiator vary with flow rate?

If you have ever puzzled over this question, then this article may conceivably be of interest.
protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/06/15/t...

berkeleyearth.org/may-2025-tem...

"The trend lines show definite upward curvature, but it could just be the influence of the last couple of extra hot years"

It could be just fluctuations, but given all that's going on, I fear not.

Brilliant: Thank you.

I am relieved to see that the era of big budget science is not quite over - that is a very large glass of Glenlivet! But I guess the main effect is at the fuller end of the glass!

More seriously, that's a big difference given that whisky and water differ in density by only ~ 6%. Curious...