>The Ecowho Blog

You into being really Green?

Fed up of all the green wash & PR?...
Want to make a difference?...
Want to make the world a better place for us all to live?...
 If so, join up... Follow ecowho on Twitter
Add to Google
Our blog about things eco, green and environmental. Commenting on the good (and the bad) as it happens; and yes, we do not believe in carbon trading as the solution to the world's environmental issues, we think it will make things worse.
  • Are Lithium Ion Batteries Safe? Thu, 30 Mar 17, 9:25pm
    30032017We ask if Lithium Ion Batteries are actually safe for use in home power storage systems or not? Lithium Ion batteries, like all batteries, store their power using a chemical process. Different processes have different energy densities and characteristics, like sensitivity to heat and longer term usable storage capacity (most batteries degrade over time). 
    The particular question with Lithium Ion and their safety, in part, relates to their incredibly high energy density; a high energy density means... Read more »
  • 16032017The new solar batteries Comparison Table is now live. After much hard work, the Solar Batteries Comparison Table is now live.
    This lists the most common batteries for use with solar panels (or time shifting) with the ability to sort, them got into a detailed page on each battery, so you can easily select which batteries are of interest to you.
    These battery pages are fully incorporated into the site, so you will find references to them all over the site where appropriate.
    We will also be adding more... Read more »
  • 16032016The AGW alarmists seem to think the Feb 2016 sudden uptick in temperature is caused by Co2, this is not the case, its a strong El Niño - as it matches what has happened before. Given the current screaming and shouting going on in the media with respect to the February 2016 temperature increase in the GISS Land-Ocean Temperature Index, you would be forgiven for thinking the end is nigh - well it isn't. This has happened before and we survived without issue - its called a strong El Niño.



    ... Read more »
  • 10122015This video exposes the gross hypocrisy of the Green movement and the damage their policies are causing to the environment and peoples standard of living - their are effectively anti-people and dangerous.

    BLUE (Blue Beats Green) Full Movie HD from JD King on Vimeo.

    The above video was funded by a crowd funded campaign, it talks to many people negatively effected by the Green movement and provides evidence of the environmental damage caused. Anybody who has an interest in a better future for themselves, their offspring and the planet... Read more »

  • The Australian Carbon tax is no more Fri, 18 Jul 14, 10:04am
    18072014Yesterday in the Senate the Carbon Tax was removed. This was a great victory for common sense as concerns realistic environmental policy. The Carbon Tax in Australia is gone - hurrah!
    Now, you may think this is somewhat a strange statement to find on an environmental website, but this is actually good news. The Carbon Tax, in its construction and operation, was actually more about money moving around for political gain than actually about doing anything to 'save' the environment.
    Australia, in terms of 'carbon footprint' is a minor... Read more »
  • Dueling Climate Reports Mon, 21 Apr 14, 9:13am
    21042014In the interests of free speech I'm reposting this article so it gets better exposure. Guest essay by Dr. Craig D. Idso

    The release of a United Nations (UN) climate change report last week energized various politicians and environmental activists, who issued a new round of calls to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the most fiery language in this regard came from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who called upon Congress to “wake up and do everything in its power to reduce dangerous carbon pollution,” while Secretary of State John... Read more »

  • Second hand building materials Fri, 24 Jan 14, 10:53pm
    24012014Second hand building materials offer an excellent way to reduce environmental impact, we show you how. Houses and buildings are constantly being demolished and rebuilt all the time. This creates a large amount of second hand building materials, that with a bit of careful planning and thinking can be used to not only reduce environmental impact but reduce the costs of a build as well. 1. Know what can reuse and what you cannot Some materials from old building are not suitable for reuse, either due to legislation or known health effects. Asbestos is... Read more »
  • Climate Council, represents who? Mon, 23 Sep 13, 9:03pm
    23092013The Climate Commission is being reformed as the Climate Council, we ask who do they represent and what is their funding model? According to this article Tim Flannery is reforming the Climate Commission as the Climate Council. The new Climate Council will consist of Commissioners from the old Climate Commission.
    They need to be very careful in setting this up, as it could just been seen as an attempt to reuse the 'authority' of the old Climate Commission to continue the same messaging as they did before; which... Read more »
  • Rise of the Eco Warriors Screening Fri, 13 Sep 13, 6:30am
    13092013Rise of the Eco Warriors is a film about spending 100 days in the Borneo jungle and saving wildlife If you are in Sydney and looking for something to do come the 9th of October 2013 - you couldn't go far wrong by going to see an advance screening of 'Rise of the Eco Warriors' - a film about a group of people spending 100 days in the Borneo jungle and saving wildlife effected by the all habit destruction occurring in that country.

    See here for more details and on how to book.
  • 17072013The changes proposed by Labor to the fringe benefits car tax will be bad for the environment actually. Changes in the fringe benefits tax proposed by Labor will remove the statutory rate; this means for abut 320,000 people they will have to keep log books and loose the ability to salary sacrifice against the benefit of having a company car - essentially making it uneconomical to 'share' the use of one car between a company and private usage.

    So why is this bad for the environment? Well, cars these days for most families are essential to getting... Read more »
  • 03032013When looking for a solar power installer, it pays to do your homework and double check that you are getting the best. Given the money to be made from doing solar system installation, both for the installer and the final client. There are a lot of businesses doing solar power system installation. This, of course, means that some are better than others and some are rather worse than others.

    So, given you want to have a system which will last for at least 20 years ideally, we provide some straight forward advice on how to find the best at a price... Read more »
  • Choosing a water tank Tue, 5 Feb 13, 9:38am
    05022013Water tanks, they come in so many different sizes and forms, it is often hard to work out what to choose and why, we can help.. A few years back we were having a reno done, and given we wanted to have a 'lush' garden without the water bill to match; we did some extensive research into what sort of water tanks would work for us and how to maximize the rainwater harvesting our roof would offer.

    Well I have good news for you, all the research has been written up in an article - The Facts about Water Tanks . I hope you find it a useful read that... Read more »
  • Free Green Business Listings Tue, 5 Feb 13, 12:33am
    05022013If you are running a Green or Eco Business, you can list it for free. If you are running a business which is green or eco related, you can list it for free in our Company Listings Directory . This is great if you are a small business looking for additional online exposure.

    Also if you provide a link back to ecowho.com, we will upgrade your listing for free.

    So, you have nothing to lose, give it a try!
  • 25012013Potentially massive amounts of shale oil exist in South Australia, is this a good thing or a bad thing? According to this article it looks like up to 233 billion barrels of oil might be sitting in shale deposits under South Australia...

    Now if that is so, and it looks like it could indeed be, it amounts to a heck of a lot of oil, something to rival the oil rich Middle East. Which in turn equates to billions upon trillions of money to be made from extracting this.

    So given the many zeroes sums of money to be made from this - I doubt... Read more »
  • 13012013The ABC is currently saying that properties on the Australian coast are at risk for a 1 meter rise by the end of the century - where is the proof??? The ABC are currently promoting a blatant lie as concerns proven sea level rises.

    The problem with this is that what they say will impact on the property market close to the sea, in the same way that a Greenie fraudulently issued a press release, they are in serious danger of making those who issue or present such false statements legally liable.

    As regards the 'threat'... Read more »
  • 12012013The Tasmania Bushfires are more a result of a lack of hazard reduction burns and not due to Climate Change. Miranda Devine has just published an article concerning the fires in Tasmania and how the lack of back burning and hazard reduction burns have in fact contributed massively to the intensity of the fires and that it is NOT caused by climate change.

    She has also done a radio interview on the matter.

    To be honest, what she says make a lot of sense. If gum leaves, bark, etc are left to accumulate you quickly have a 'fuel load'... Read more »
  • 08012013Maths bug, the app to help teach and improve mental maths skills has been updated. Maths Bug has been updated as follows:
    Several annoying bug fixes Support for latest version of Android OS Localized into Chinese and Spanish.

    This is a significant update to help users across the globe get more enjoyment from the app.

    Its available for free from the Google Play Market here . If you would like to learn more please visit the apps' website .

    Enjoy!
  • Updated Green Directory Thu, 3 Jan 13, 10:21am
    03012013Our Green Dictionary App has undergone an upgrade. We have just finished doing some upgrade work to the Green Dictionary App as follows:
    Well over 800 definitions and terms covering the green, eco, environment and climate space; Better support for tablets and latest edition Android (including Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean). 'Live' fetching of related blog posts for each definition, so for instance look up 'solar power' and see the latest blog posts that relate from leading eco, climate and science blogs.

    If you have not... Read more »

  • Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Thu, 29 Nov 12, 10:00pm
    29112012We look at reports regarding the rate of Greenland ice sheet melt.

    According to recent reports (see CNN & The Australian) it appears that the speed of the Greenland ice melt has been increasing at an 'alarming' rate...

    The trouble with this is that this is only a problem if:

    The measurements are indeed accurate enough to allow this analysis to stand, and, The melt water remains as melt water and is not taken up by other parts of the climatic system (i.e. it gets converted back to ice somewhere else)... Read more »
  • 27112012The conversation has just published a rather incorrect article claiming that none of the human produced Co2 is absorbed by the natural Co2 cycle, we blow it out the water. See the offending article here , to quote:

    "We produce a modest percentage of all CO2 emissions. But the extra emissions aren’t absorbed by the carbon cycle, so CO2 builds up in the air. A small rise each year has resulted in a 40% increase of CO2."

    Wrong, yes Co2 has gone up, but it has been going up for the last 50m years, see here. Although, as... Read more »
  • 27112012We look at whether methane from waste food is a real problem in our environment. ABC Radio just ran a feature talking about the impact of methane on the environment from waste food rotting.

    Agreed, wasting food is a problem, but the levels of methane produced by this is dwarfed by other sources. For instance:
    Natural plant material rotting after it dies; The poo from animals breaking down.. Animals breaking down after they die...

    Methane is a natural by product of normal environmental processes. The fact that food rots... Read more »

  • 27112012BOM have just announced that due to a three day 'heat wave' we are due a hot Summer... BOM have just announced on the ABC News radio that they think the upcoming Summer will be very hot with lots of heat waves.

    Now, the trouble with all this is that we may indeed have a heat wave on the way; but it is somewhat disingenuous of BOM to mix what are predicted heat waves with what has actually occurred. It's rather like calling the results of a race before it has finished.

    There is also the problem of 'which temperature' is being measured... Read more »
  • 22112012Caring about the environment is one thing, deliberately setting out to scare young children with climate change propaganda in an art gallery is something completely different... Ballarat Museum is scaring children!!!

    Probably not the headline Ballarat Museum wanted, but it fits the bill perfectly in this case.

    As Australian Climate Madness and Quadrant Online have found, climate change zealots will stop at nothing to influence children. In some cases taking paintings done many many years ago and spinning the context to make... Read more »

  • What does Free Range Eggs mean? Fri, 16 Nov 12, 9:07pm
    16112012What do you think Free Range Eggs means in Australia? Well, apparently there is no standard definition of what Free Range is...
    Free Range Eggs, no standard definition!!!
    Yes, that is right, there is no standard definition as to what Free Range means in Australia. Apparently in practice Free Range is applied to anything from 750 to 20,000 chickens per hectare.. Not exactly what you thought it meant is it?

    Now given people pay up to $5 more per dozen eggs for it being Free Range, this is recipe for paying over the odds for... Read more »
  • Dirty weather is dirty PR Mon, 29 Oct 12, 9:08pm
    29102012Al Gore is at it again with his '24 hours of Climate Reality', we call it what it is - BS. Al Gore has found a new catch phrase 'Dirty Weather' - i.e. weather produced by human pollution; and he is going to inflict on us all 24 hours of video editing tricks and misdirection on us in an attempt to convince us that we are the ones responsible for the 'dirty weather' and not just natural climate variability.

    This is basically a last gasp attempt to try sell the snake oil that is man made climate change onto an unsuspecting public. Unfortunately... Read more »
  • Fixing a water pump cheaply Mon, 1 Oct 12, 10:53am
    01102012Our pool cleaner pump just died and I was able to fix it for $14... Seems to be the week for things electrical to break.
    We have a pool with a Polaris pool cleaner, which does a very effective job. Unfortunately I noticed the other day that the 'overload' fuse on the board powering the pump for the pool cleaner was out. I reset it and turned on the pump, was greeted with a loud hum and then the overload fuse reset..  Okay, the pump was not happy.
    Now, being okay with fixing basic electrical items, I took the pump out of the system... Read more »
  • 01102012Fixing a broken solar hot water controller need not be that expensive We have had a Hills Solar evacuated tube solar hot water heater for a number of years now that provided cheap hot water year round. Recently we noticed that our hot water was not as hot as we were used to it. We put it down to a cold and cloudy winter. Although once we noticed that even on sunny days there was not much hot water available it was clear something was wrong.
    So under the house I go, we have a system where the hot water tank is fitted in the crawl space under... Read more »
  • 15082012A recent paper by Miller et al 2012 in the AMS Journal indicates that the climate models could be out by a factor of 19 with respect to actual cloud feedback. For those of us who have been wanting to see more analysis done on the exact role clouds play in the climate and how they relate to the Co2 and feedback, this paper (abstract) and (pdf) will certainly be of interest you.

    This is also covered in detail both on Jo Nova and The Hockey Schtick.

    Given how much emphasis models place on positive feedback in relation to Co2, without... Read more »
  • Droughts in the USA, not Sun, 12 Aug 12, 10:51pm
    12082012It appears that NASA's James Hansen has been caught out spreading unproven conclusions about droughts in the USA, when in actually it is not the case. James Hansen has been famous over the years for making pronouncements that are shown later on to be false, from deaths of Polar Bears (more than ever now) to Manhattan being under meters of water within a few years.. He is famous for turning off the air conditioning at a Senate hearing to make the Senators feel a heat that wasn't really there.
    His latest erroneous pronouncement is that the odds... Read more »
  • Food - the other inconvenient truth Mon, 14 May 12, 11:30am
    14052012Informative talk by Jonathan Foley on how our drive to produce yet more and more food is affecting our planet. Watch the video below and learn how we are affecting the planet and what we can do to improve the situation.




    See the original TED page here.
  • Maths Bug on Android updated Wed, 9 May 12, 10:34pm
    09052012The Maths Bug app on Android has undergone major updates.. We have just released v1.13 of Maths Bug for Android.

    Now has the following new features:
    A test for Angles and Trigonometry, complete with graphics for angles and triangles. Support for comparing high scores across countries. More extensive help text and hints. Built in widget. Reminders to play.

    See the entry on Google Play for more details. It's free to download. If you want to use the advanced levels, you will need to pay a small one off fee to access all,... Read more »

  • If you want a democracy to fail... Wed, 25 Apr 12, 11:54am
    25042012A video well worth watching that underlines what this is all about. If you only watch one video today, watch the video below. This tells literally what is at stake - the REAL future for our children which mindless environmentalism rolled up in government and business interests is bringing about...



    We all care about the environment, but it should not be a reason to abandon rational thinking and the scientific method - rather these are tools we can all use together to find solutions that actually do work. Real knowledge is real power.... Read more »
  • The Denial Escalator Tue, 24 Apr 12, 6:47am
    24042012Commentary on the supposed Denial Escalator and who really is in denial? According to Skeptical Science - when either an alarmist or denier looks at the temperature of the last 40 years they see different things:
    the alarmist sees a straight line from 1979 up to 2012 showing roughly a 1 degree (on average) rise over the period. The denier sees a series shorter average periods each showing a decline, then a jump, then yet another decline, etc

    To be honest - BOTH plots are wrong. I shall explain:

    Why just a graph of... Read more »
  • 30032012We look at the question of whether renewable power is able to provide 100% coverage for base load and therefore remove the need for it. A recent article in neweconomy claims that it is possible to remove the dependence on none renewable base load power based on a study from the UNSW (“Simulations of scenarios with 100% renewable electricity in the Australian National Electricity Market”  Solar 12011, 49th AuSES Annual Conference,  30 Nov – 2 Dec., By Ben Elliston, Mark Diesendorf and Iain Macgill, UNSW.)

    Now on... Read more »
  • 30032012In a rather surprising report from the IPCC they play down the link between extreme weather and Climate Change... Yes, you read correctly in its new Special Report on Extremes (SREX), published on the 29th March 2012, it says:

    "There is medium evidence and high agreement that long-term trends in normalized losses have not been attributed to natural or anthropogenic climate change,"

    Page 268 bottom right of the full report - does not appear on the brief report for policy makers. Appears the thought police at the IPCC dropped... Read more »
  • 28032012Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has ordered Anna Bligh’s husband to begin dismantling green energy programs he helped create, we examine what this will do. According to The Australian Peter Campbell has ordered Anna Bligh's husband to dismantle all the green energy programs he created since 2007. To quote Peter Campbell:

    "We want him to unravel those programs ‘cause he’s the bloke who set them up"

    Now on the face of it this sounds like a horror story for green development; but I think its exactly what is needed,... Read more »
  • Labor loose big time in Queensland Sun, 25 Mar 12, 8:50am
    25032012Labor have just lost Queensland in spectacular fashion, what does this mean for the Environment? Labor in Queensland are essentially no more, even Anna Bligh has resigned her seat given there is not a party worth leading left in Queensland.

    So what does this mean for the Environment as a whole?

    Myself, I think this is a good thing - too much Labor policy around the environment has been concerned with ill conceived down right environmentally dangerous policies:
    desalination plants that end up never being used; ill managed... Read more »
  • 21032012The cost of electricity in Australia is now amongst some of the highest in the world. We look at why and what you can do about it. It's a fact, Australia now has some of the highest prices of electricity in the world, we are now paying 130% MORE than the Canadians for their electricity...

    Although the really sad fact for the long suffering public, is that this is only the start. We have the full effect of the ill conceived Carbon Tax to deal with next, which could push the prices even higher.

    Strange thing is I seem to remember... Read more »
  • 07022012Breaking News - new book published in Germany today called "The Cold Sun: Why the Climate Disaster Won't Happen". Also extensive anti-AGW newspaper coverage, amazing! Today is quite an amazing day in Germany for those of us trying to undo the AGW Co2 agenda.

    First off a book by Fritz Vahrenholt has been published called 'The Cold Sun: Why the Climate Disaster Won't Happen'. Fritz a former chemistry professor and leftist state politician with Sebastian Luening, who both work at the renewable energy division of RWE, Germany's second-biggest... Read more »
  • Maths Bug Mental Maths app updated Thu, 19 Jan 12, 8:37am
    19012012Maths Bug, our mental maths training Android application, has been updated! Maths Bug has undergone quite a few enhancements, namely:
    3 Strikes play mode, keep playing until you loose your 3 lives; One Mad Maths Minute mode, play for one minute and try to get as many right as you can as quickly as you can; Extensive hints, tips and tricks; Updated high scores that show who is new and who is about leave; Tells you what your high score is and what the world high score is for the game you are about to play; Improved layout for tablets and... Read more »