Michael de Podesta
@protons4b.bsky.social
Experimental physicist, professionally retired since April 2020, but still experimenting. I've been writing about science since 2008 at http://protonsforbreakfast.org Very concerned about the Climate and sustainable living.
protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2026/01/06/v... In my home, "room temperature" varies considerably with height. It might be so in your home too. In which case, take care where you place your thermostat. Best wishes Michael
Variation in Room Temperature with Height
Friends, I have recently been going on (and on …) about different modes of temperature control for heat pumps. And I have emphasised the utility of a thermostat – the most basic tempera…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/w... Getting a heat pump often requires users to get to grips with so-called weather compensation. In this article I explain why Weather Compensation is possibly the worst temperature control system imaginable.
Weather Compensation and its alternatives
Friends, when switching from a gas boiler to heating with a heat pump, householders are commonly obliged to get used to the idea of weather compensation (WC). Instead of the familiar act of setting…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/s... I've been singing about Climate Change at my local folk club. If it's your sort of thing, please do share the songs and enjoy!
Singing about Climate Change
Friends, last Sunday I had the chance to sing three songs in a ‘floor spot’ at the local folk club (TwickFolk). And inevitably, I sang some songs about Climate Change. A floor spot at a…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/s... I have just a few days pointing my spectrometer at various lights sources around my home: The Sky; the Moon; a Candle; ... and many more and recording their spectra. Enjoy!
Spectra
Friends, this week I been mainly pointing the spectrometer I bought at various sources of light and taking a look at their spectra. Please join me on a romp through my results. Warning. I love this…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/i... Friends, I made spectrophotometer that sort of works.
youtu.be/TysTr-G1k1A Kevin Walmsley talks about the growth of Arctic Sea Routes. The "Arctic Economy" appears to be a new geopolitical reality.
Ice Silk Road opens up vast Arctic to China and Russia. Western companies aren't interested.
YouTube video by Inside China Business
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youtu.be/7ka5OFDvO7w First container ship arrives in UK via Arctic Route, a faster and cheaper China-Europe alternative. I don't feel like celebrating.
First container ship arrives in UK via Arctic Route, a faster and cheaper China-Europe alternative
YouTube video by ShanghaiEye魔都眼
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youtu.be/PCUnlPJRGY4 I cannot recommend Kevin Walmsley's INSIDE CHINA BUSINESS strongly enough. I have learned more about modern China from these videos than any other source.
Top Venture Capitalists tour China, declare Western energy firms "uninvestable"
YouTube video by Inside China Business
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youtu.be/F8vI5_gN90g Interesting slow-paced documentary from @AJEnglish . Good consideration of risks of high-impact scenarios. "All the small countries that think that their contribution I insignificant add up to a third of global emissions"
Inside the planet’s most urgent climate warning | Global Warning E1 | Featured Documentary
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/w... Why you should care about Net Zero. My attempt to sum it up in 450 words for the good people of Maidenhead.
Why you should care about Net Zero.
Friends, in an unprecedented media blitz, this article is being co-published with newspaper publishing giant, The Maidenhead Advertiser. =============================== Who am I to talk about Net Z…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/t... I made some measurements on the efficiency of my condenser tumble dryer. I found it was surprisingly efficient, with the most powerful energy saving feature being the "wetness: sensor that prevents "over drying".
Tumble Dryer Efficiency
Friends, recently I have been continuing to avoid thinking about EPCs. I have instead been thinking about washing my dirty laundry in public. Or more precisely, drying my laundry in public. Unless …
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/b... Have you ever wondered how those automatic egg boilers work? I carried out some eggsperiments, recording: the mass of water remaining versus time; the time to switch off; and the internal temperature of an egg versus time. Enjoy!
“Boiling” an egg
Friends, when my now wife and I first moved in together, we bought a cook book as a symbol of our domestic focus. It was a book by Delia Smith and we were attracted by the fact that the cover showe…
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youtu.be/IgSN8mM6IJM Can you imagine if renewable technologies generated earthquakes or toxic wastewater? How does oil and gas get away with it?
The Looming Disaster Under America’s Biggest Oil Field
YouTube video by Bloomberg Originals
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/09/19/e... Elmhurst Energy trained the assessor and approved an #EPC on my home which was in error by 21 points (73C vs 94D). Errors like this are probably rare, but smaller errors of ~10 points are probably common. Here's 4 suggestions to improve matters.
EPCs: An Open Letter to Stuart Fairlie
Friends, at one point on my recent EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) adventure, I was a speaker on Radio 4’s You and Yours along with Stuart Fairlie, the Group CEO of Elmhurst Energy. Elmh…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/08/31/o... When discussing domestic energy matters such as heating or lighting, we think of a kilowatt hour as a small amount of energy. But in human terms, one kilowatt hour is a *massive* amount of energy.
One kilowatt hour (kWh)
Friends, the unit of energy used for most domestic energy purposes is the kilowatt hour (kWh): it’s the unit in which we are billed for energy use, and in terms of domestic energy consumption…
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youtu.be/EqupcBoH3hQ The future of Green Shipping is still very unclear. In this video Rosie Barnes (the Rosie in 'Engineering with Rosie) goes through the possibilities with her usual acumen. It's a tough one...
The Green Shipping Fuel Everyone’s Betting On (But Might Regret)
YouTube video by Engineering with Rosie
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/e... Energy Performance Certificates are nonsense! My energy efficient house just got got downgraded from from am 85B to a 73C despite the fact that it only costs around £160 per year to run and has a heating requirement of 48 kWh/m^2/year.
EPC fun
Friends, as you may know, my house has very low running costs. In 2024, total costs amounted to just £161 including standing charges and this year the cumulative charges up to the end of July are n…
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/08/07/w...
When is a heat pump not a heat pump?
Friends, a regular reader wrote to me the other day to enquire about progress in solid-state heat pumps. I explained that solid-state heat pumps weren’t very efficient, mentioned the last inn…
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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.
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. …
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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.
youtu.be/E0YjXrfKgpU In this video Rosie Barnes (aka Engineering with Rosie) shows how a real company is producing green steel NOW.
Steel Reinvented: Inside the World’s First Plant to Burn No Fossil Fuels [Tour]
YouTube video by Engineering with Rosie
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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.
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…
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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.
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...
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…
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@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.
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.
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…
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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...
protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/m... Looking for something lighter? I've just spent several days measuring the frequencies with which different styles of wine glass vibrate as they are filled. The results are honestly fascinating...
protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/t... This is a gullible idiot's perspective on the @Climeworks scam. I am learning...
youtu.be/4qND0yDo7jA In these grim times, small 'good news' stories such as this one really lift my spirits.
Senegal's award-winning all-electric bus system #dwafrica #senegal
YouTube video by DW Africa
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