Earth Notes: Diarycast - End of Year Roundup (2021-12-28)

Updated 2024-04-11.
Omicron, a rant about bad people, and more shy Eurasian footwear... #podcast #lockdown
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Diarycast

Hi, I'm Damon Hart-Davis, and welcome to Earth Notes podcast on all things eco and green and efficient @Home!

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The last month at 16WW HQ, a tiny retrospective for another covid year, and a rant...
[00:28]

It has been yet another year of personal and business pains for virtually everyone in 2021.

And yet, for covid, climate change and many other things...

The relentless campaign of disinformation by some (outlets and individuals) for short term gain and self-publicity is dire, and should really carry criminal penalties.

It is said that sociopathic traits are over-represented in senior management, for example C-suite execs. It is surely also true of too many politicians, and of owners and contributors to large swathes of the media. Those traits are visible in social media trolls too, and in those who refuse as adults to actually behave as adults. We are all imperfect, but being wilfully ignorant and nasty, and reckless as to the effects of your behaviour on others, is the pits.

There, I've ranted my unpopular opinion...

[01:22]

In other news...

I'm fairly sure that the 400Wh/day idle draw of my expanded Enphase battery fleet makes it decidedly non-optimal for this time of year, since that can be even a majority of the day's PV generation. The 1kW peak load shaving remains good, when there is something in the tank.

A faster per-pack charge or discharge, and lower vampire power would help. Maybe better firmware in the batteries, or Envoy, allowing deeper sleep for at least some of the packs when they can't all be needed at short notice on days like during this very gloomy December.

[01:58]

Not that this is astonishing: I still think that two packs is probably the sweet spot for 16WW, but maybe the summer will suggest otherwise?

The carbon intensities of each fuel used in the GB Grid Intensity page are now due to roll automatically on 1st January to the static values used by National Grid ESO's Carbon Intensity Forecast. I now have a tidy-ish way of representing how such intensities change over time.

Annoyingly, my headset used rather intensively for lockdown, broke. But I got to test the replacement with my favourite phonetic pangram.

[recorded on the new EPOS | Sennheisser SC 165 USB, 48ksps mono]

Testing: 1, 2, 3. Are those shy Eurasian footwear, cowboy chaps, or jolly earthmoving headgear?
[02:32]

On the corona front: Omicron appeared and boosters were available and taken quickly, with our old local health centre (re)opened to administer them. And our children will likely be getting their next shots in January.

Along with most of the planet I am hoping for a more normal 2022, though it has been pointed out that that sounds just like "2020, II"! [or "too"]

There's more on my "Earth Notes" Web site at Earth.Org.UK.

Show Notes

Full diary notes: