Frances Drake

Assessment of solar and wind energy resources in Ethiopia. I. Solar energy

This paper describes how data from a variety of sources are merged to present new countrywide maps of the solar energy distribution over Ethiopia. The spatial coverage of stations with radiation data was found to be unsatisfactory for the purpose of a countrywide solar energy assessment exercise. Therefore, radiation had to be predicted from sunshine hours by employing empirical models. Using data from seven stations in Ethiopia, linear and quadratic correlation relationships between monthly mean daily solar radiation and sunshine hours per day have been developed. These regional models show a distinct improvement over previously employed countrywide models. To produce a national solar-energy distribution profile, a spatial extension of the radiation/sunshine relationships had to be carried out. To do this, the intercepts (a) and slopes (b) of each of the seven linear regression equations and another six from previous studies, completed in neighbouring Sudan, Kenya and Yemen, were used to interpolate the corresponding values to areas between them. Subsequent to these procedures, 142 stations providing only sunshine data were assigned their “appropriate” a and b values to estimate the amount of solar radiation received, which was then used to produce annual and monthly solar radiation distribution maps for Ethiopia. The results show that in all regions solar energy is an abundant resource.

Mobile Phone Masts: Protesting the Scientific Evidence

In the UK mobile phone ownership is high, however, there are conspicuous local protests against mobile phone masts. Protesters’ concerns often focus on the claimed ill health effects of mobile phone technology, which are frequently dismissed by industry and scientific experts. This paper provides an in-depth study into the attitudes and beliefs of one local protest. It considers to what extent health issues dominate the group’s concerns and how the campaigners have engaged with scientific knowledge to form their opinion. Surprisingly, mobile phone ownership was high within the protest group. This apparent paradox could be rationalized, however, by considering the location of the group and the ways in which the protesters used their mobile phone. Few believed that the precautionary approach had been fully applied to mobile phones. The campaign can be interpreted as one that questions the presumption that science and technology lead to increased economic performance and quality of life.

Protesting Mobile Phone Masts: Risk, Neoliberalism, and Governmentality

Studies of protests against mobile phone masts typically concentrate on the potential health risks associated with mobile phones and their masts. Beck’s Risk Society has been particularly influential in informing this debate. This focus on health, however, has merely served to limit the discussion to those concerns legitimated by science conveniently ignoring other disputed issues. In contrast, this article contends that it is necessary to use a wider notion of risk to understand fully how the current political emphasis on active citizenship may have contributed to the protests. It examines how neoliberal governmentality and the move to empower people are in contention with one another. The study draws upon case material from a small village protest group in United Kingdom and argues that much of the tension arises from the encouragement of the public on one hand to become active citizens but on the other to be passive consumers.

Total and low cloud amounts over France and southern Britain in the summer of 1983: comparison of surface-observed and satellite-retrieved values

Abstract Cloud observations from 124 surface stations for 12.00 hours G.M.T. for the 20 day period 22 July to 10 August 1983 have been compared with retrievals made using the cluster technique of Desbois et al. from METEOSAT radiances measured at 11.30hours G.M.T. The location, France and southern Britain, and time period, summer 1983, were selected to coincide with one of the regions designated for special study in the validation phase of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). Total and low cloud amounts were compared. For total cloud amount 29 percent of the retrievals were fully in agreement with the surface observations and 64 per cent of differences were within ± 1 okta. In the case of low cloud, 33 per cent agreed fully and 64 per cent of the differences were within ± 1 okta. It must be noted that many of these successes (55 per cent in the total cloud amount and 71 per cent in the low cloud amount) were for cases of totally clear or totally cloudy skies and often when only o...

Global atmospheric change and the UK refrigeration industry: redefining problems and contesting solutions

Abstract The paper relates the ‘global’ to the ‘local’ through examination of the impacts of recent concerns regarding global atmospheric change (stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change) upon thinking and practices within sections of the British refrigeration industry. Complementing political studies of the effects of international agreements to curb the production and emission of gases implicated in atmospheric change, attention is paid to the attitudes and understandings of individual managers and owners responsible for decision-making within the industry. Information derived from the trade press and interviews with managers reveals important areas of uncertainty and dispute. This has implications for the ecological modernisation thesis, which views commercial innovation as a means to secure effective technical solutions to environmental problems. Currently, within refrigeration, no single technology unambiguously satisfies the full range of performance and environmental criteria. Not only are the attributes of particular technologies debated, but the environmental criteria on which performance is judged are also disputed, reflecting different constructions of the relative importance of ozone depletion, direct global warming impact, energy efficiency and indirect warming impact. Yet individual businesses do not, and cannot, have a rational and environmentally informed basis on which to judge the trade-offs which they are forced to make.

Stratospheric ozone depletion : an overview of the scientific debate

For almost half a century it was widely believed that the photochemistry of the stratosphere and hence ozone distribution were well understoood. As observations revealed a gap between observed and predicted values it was recognized that a number of substances acted as catalysts thereby increasing the destruction of ozone and that humanity could augment those catalysts and affect the ozone layer. Initial concern focused on nitrogen oxides from the exhausts of supersonic transport, but attention switched in the mid-1970s to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Although the theory of anthropogenic ozone depletion by CFCs found widespread scientific support the perceived threat was minimized in particular by successive model predictions downgrading the amount of depletion. The appearance of the ozone hole over Antarctica in the mid-1980s reopened the debate as to whether such depletion was anthropogenic or natural in origin. It also highlighted the models inadequate treatment of the processes occurring in the stratosphere and the importance of dynamics and radiative transfer in stratospheric ozone destruction. Scientific consensus again favours the anthropogenic depletion of the ozone layer. In conclusion it is considered that the degree of consensus outweighs the image of scientific uncertainty that is often portrayed in relation to the issue of stratospheric ozone depletion.

An Agent-Based Modelling Application of Shifting Cultivation

This paper outlines an agent-based modeling application of shifting cultivation for an upland village in Vietnam, which was developed to improve the management of shifting cultivation and aid forest protection. The model consists of household and land agents situated in a dynamic social, economic and political environment. Adaptation of the agents to changes in policy is incorporated through a trade-off between economic gains and social responsibility, which affect the subsequent decision-making process. The basics of the model are described including the validation process and the results in a business as usual scenario.

Mitigating climate change at sub-national scales: the Yorkshire & Humber experience

In the 1990s, regionalisation in England held out the promise that regions could forge their own unique policies to address climate change. This paper considers the Yorkshire & Humber regions climate change action plan. The study uses critical discourse to analyse the plan and a series of interviews with those who helped develop the initiative. It shows that in the case of Yorkshire & Humber, the Regional Development Agency was a key player in shaping the policies. This resulted in a focus on un-proven large-scale technological projects to mitigate climate change and create significant economic development for the region. Little came of this. The need to maintain economic growth seriously undermined the drive to reduce carbon emissions. The findings suggest that the proposed new sub-national governance arrangements will face similar problems in which short-term economic drivers outweigh efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The Effect of Supersonic Transports on the Global Environment: A Debate Revisited

Initial moves to develop a new generation of commercial supersonic transports (SSTs) to succeed Concorde are already under way. Aircraft manufacturers promise a plane that will withstand both economic and environmental scrutiny. Yet, the crash of an Air France Concorde at Paris in July 2000 has caused further doubts about the viability of SSTs. This study revisits the previous debate surrounding Concorde to explore the potential for current initiatives to overcome the public’s anxiety of further environmental degradation. This article seeks, therefore, to examine the role that environmental issues and campaign groups played in the development of the first generation of SSTs, concentrating on the influence of global environmental arguments on political decision making. Debate surrounding the global environmental impact of SSTs foreshadows later attention to human impact at the planetary scale. It provides the first illustration of the often complex links between attempted protection of the global environment and political and public perceptions of national vested interests.

Fragmenting uncertainties: Some British business responses to stratospheric ozone depletion

Abstract Businesses face growing environmental pressures for modification of processes and practice. In some cases environmental uncertainties thus compound more traditional commercial concerns regarding the financial viability of business. This paper examines such various interconnected and fragmenting uncertainties through a study of firms related to debate about chemicals implicated in stratospheric ozone depletion. The analysis draws upon Interviews with key personnel In selected companies to consider perceptions of uncertainty (environmental, commercial and regulatory) faced by particular businesses, and their responses to such circumstances. Some businesses claimed difficulties in developing a strategic response to uncertain science. There were also indications of the manner in which attempted regulatory and technical resolution of environmental problems may create new difficulties for business.