Nathan Briggs

China Visit

2006-06-13T12:03:00.000Z

Visiting China is a great experience, but for me it is made doubly so by my hosts FIL.

As well as developing a product for our company that is world beating, and doing so in a matter of 4 months, they also know how to make me welcome.

The banquet shows a team of electrical, software and electronic engineers second to none in my opinion, Thanks Guys

http://www.bananaguard.com/

2006-01-18T04:53:00.000Z

I've been too busy at the coal face recently, but I have a whole load of new info for this blog.

Just to lighten your day have a look at http://www.bananaguard.com/

It made me smile, and reminded me that for every wacky inventor there is at least one crazy investor.

Clear Skies Successor announced

2005-11-14T12:49:00.000Z

The Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) has been announced as the £30 million successor to clear skies.

It should be £300 million, there are 23 million homes in the UK so this equates to £1.30 each of funding but still its a start. The real test will be how much of that money is spent on renewables and how much on "administration" ie bureaucracy

Solar Power

2005-11-10T12:33:00.000Z

A lot of people have asked my opinion on solar power, so here it is.

For the UK at domestic level PV cells (electricity from solar) is a non-starter on payback grounds, the best system I've seen has a capital payback of over 22 years and unless you are very lucky you will need to start replacing cells after 15-20.

Aside from the payback solar cell production is on very shaky environmental grounds, these are excerpts from a recent article in Renewable Energy World:
"the environmental risks associated with PV depend on the specific type of cell being made
Cell type - Potential Hazards
x-Si - HF acid burns, SiH4 fires/explosions, Lead solder
a-Si - SiH4 fires/explosions
CdTe - Cadmium toxicity, Carcinogenicity
CIS,CGS - H2Se toxicity
GaAs - AsH3 toxicity, As carcingenicity, H2 flammability"
additionally all cells have a problem with end of life disposal, no recycling technology currently exists.

Solar Water heating on the other hand either by rooftop panels/ vacuum tubes or underground pipes is a MUST for every green thinking citizen. typical paybacks are 3-5 years and installation is regularly equivalent to installing a new radiator (just on the roof!).

Windsave website down

2005-10-31T13:44:00.000Z

Hello all the windsave website is down to to hurricane Wilma (the server is in florida) it will be back up soon.

Meanwhile Windsave has announced its floatation plans

Should I be insulted

2005-10-26T16:32:00.000Z

Somebody sent me this today
http://www.septemberfilms.com/Eugenius.htm

Should I be insulted? It's a little bit of a back handed complimented wouldn't you say?

British Wind Energy Calls for Active Policy for Microgeneration

2005-10-06T09:12:00.000Z

British Wind Energy Calls for Active Policy for Microgeneration. Whats been needed for some time the government needs to step up with a firm policy.
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/news/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=976

devolution

2005-09-23T12:00:00.000Z

I'm not the biggest fan of devolution, it seems to me that the country needs less bureaucrats not more. But ever since Scotland went its own way they seem to have had a succession of good ideas, and much to my surprise acted on them!
The latest comes from the Greens always the best of political parties (can you guess which way I vote)
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1970732005

and a funny picture just for fun

www.getfirefox.com

2005-09-06T11:47:00.000Z

My good friend Robin over at Riello just sent me this.

Some great statistics on lightning strikes. While I disagree with the concept that every strike means one destroyed computer of course some strikes might wipe out every computer in the office, if anything the damage estimation seems low.

When compared to America we still have a low incidence of strikes but it's definately on the rise and so finding the right solution is ever more important

David Taylor's Stag Night

2005-08-05T15:23:00.000Z

While most of the photos can't be posted (they are not rude just a pretty ugly bunch of guys) I thought I'd get one up from David's Stag Do.

I'm going to his wedding in finland in a couple of weeks should be fun

Sheffield Green Fair

2005-07-12T14:38:00.000Z

For those of you who want a taste of all things green, the Sheffield Green Fair is on this saturday
http://www.sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/greenfair/fair.html

I will be there to defend wind power as the future for nuclear becomes ever shakier
"Building of new nuclear power stations in the UK is not economically competitive for electricity generation and it is not therefore expected that new nuclear plant will be developed."

Big brother is watching you

2005-07-01T15:16:00.000Z

Channel 4 says microgeneration better and cheaper than Nuclear

2005-06-20T16:32:00.000Z

A good report from Channel 4 News has some must read info in it.

Nobody wants a Nuclear power station within 50 miles of their home anyway right?

Windsave everywhere

2005-06-02T17:21:00.000Z

With the recent announcement of a deal with British Gas, Windsave is doing the job of getting it's public presence known see
Blog
Scotsman
Changing world

Truly the world is changing and we at Advance are on frontline

2005-06-01T16:52:00.000Z

My nephew will break some hearts in a few years, lucky blighter is going to turn out good looking like his mother rather than funny looking like his uncle!

What personality type are you?

2005-05-27T13:48:00.000Z

I love these things even when there is no science in them, and its a pretty cool site all over

I was:
You have a strong personality that likes to take risks if the rewards are worth it. You don't like being told what to do and prefer to take matters into your own hands.

Preferring a more casual appearance, you are more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt than in a suit. You don't like over dressing for any occasion, although you never look scruffy.

Variety is the spice of life! You are comfortable in any crowd or situation, and always come away with new friends.

In your mind, the image your friends have of you is very important. You like to have the latest brands and are prepared to invest a lot of your money in quality and expensive possessions.

You are very sociable! You are the center of attention and have great stories to tell. But this often prevents from establishing deep relationships.

You are very strong-willed, even bordering on stubborn. You like to take care of yourself before helping others, although you will never let people down.

Open university course on renewables

2005-05-24T16:03:00.000Z

The Open university course on renewables is part of a new drive to make a more environmentally based course.

There are so many great resources out there that it's difficult to list them all

Hop Swing and a very high jump

2005-05-03T15:10:00.000Z

Wow what a weekend. I have been at "Jumping at The Woodside" organised by our friends at www.jazzjiveswing.com. The standard of dancing was excellent to amazing, the venue was good the only problem being the heatwave made for some unbearably sweaty nights.

My thanks to Rob and Diane of www.yeahman.com for a truly fantastic insight and personal attention, they are probably some of the Best Lindy Hop teachers in the world.

New to me but apparently famous all over were Nathalie and Yuval. Their energetic style and death defying aerials literally took our breath away.

One of the biggest surprises of the weekend was the arrival of the crowd from Strictly Dance Fever the BBC's current reality dance show. Of course Paul and Natasha are Lindy weekend stalwarts. But almost all the contestants arrived and joined in a class with Frankie Manning. It was a pleasure to see how down-to-earth they all were and genuinely happy to dance with anyone.

Unfortunately Dan and Christi couldn't make it, but they have done much to promote both Lindy Hop and Charleston throughout the show.
.

whoyoushouldvotefor.com

2005-04-27T13:36:00.000Z

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Green

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 55
Conservative -33
	Liberal Democrat 59
UK Independence Party -12
	Green 45

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

G83 type test PASSED

2005-04-15T14:20:00.000Z

The Windsave inverter has passed its G83/1 Type test with flying colours. This has been a lot of work for everyone at Advance and Windsave and shows the benefits of companies pooling expertise.

The unit should be in volume production in the next couple of months, can't wait to start seeing them dotted about the countryside.

Funny pic to liven up the text!

Security against false alarms

2005-04-13T11:59:00.000Z

Its always good for industry experts to revisit the problems of power conditioning.

While this article focuses on the cause of false alarms in security systems and the power problems that cause them the appeal is universal. Wouldn't we all like to get a nights rest without the local burglar alarms going off?

Of course the best solution to protect your alarm system is to fit a CVT, we have one here at the Advance site and our provider now fits them to every new installlation

Lindy Hop Tonight

2005-04-12T17:55:00.000Z

Tonight we are Lindy Hopping at the Bakery again.

Great fun and it keeps me fit, can't wait to go to Jumping at the Woodside at the end of this Month

G83/1 recommendations for connection....

2005-04-07T17:32:00.000Z

Sometimes I worry about the world. The mains electricity in this country is some of the best power in the world, with arguably some of the best power quality.

It can be shown that most (over 90%) of the truly damaging things in terms of power interruption and corruption are local: ie generated by you or your neighbours, or environmental: ie caused by weather or local magnetic fields etc. In other words you import power problems whenever you buy power from the grid.

However it can also be shown that unless something drastically changes we will not have enough production to cover our demand, not in decades but in years maybe even months.

Nobody wants to build nuclear power stations or have even green alternatives like large scale wind near their house, so one of the saviours of our national grid is set to be small scale generation.

In other words each homeowner can have their personal choice of solar panels, hydro electric, wind power or domestic combined heat and power to reduce their electricity bill and thus the load on big power stations.

The standard or "engineering recommendation" that covers small scale generation is called G83/1, and its written by a committee of interested parties. What this means in practise is that instead of your DIY windmill or watermill being easily available at B&Q for a minor investment, the current minimum investment is around £5000 for DCHP or £10000 for a windmill.

But don't worry Windsave is here to "Save the Day", with Advance's help of course. On monday 11th we will be testing a low cost inverter to the G83/1 standard, look out world here we come.

Talking about birthdays

2005-04-05T16:31:00.000Z

It was my nephew Joss' birthday in January and I just found the digital camera and got the photos. He is a fantastically cheerful child and very photogenic.

I won - I think they knew it was my birthday

2005-04-01T13:46:00.000Z

We keep a track of the money in our poker night, it averages out pretty well over a long enough time span.

Talking about Poker have you seen someone selling a poker hand on ebay, I mean the actual 5 cards they were dealt nothing else? People will sell anything on Ebay, but lets by honest more shocking is that suckers will BUY anything on Ebay.

Still Ebay is helping me to recycle some unwanted IT gear

Poker Night tonight

2005-03-31T12:11:00.000Z

It was a fantastic Easter and I had a lovely 34th Birthday, receiving many more gifts and cards than anybody should expect, Thanks to everyone.

Poker Night tonight, a crowd from work plays every fortnight or so, the stakes are small but the thrills are high, and every time we improve as players.

The best part is that it helps to build comraderie and goodwill between the players, often people who have to work together would think of playing together as anathema, here at Advance we have a terrific team and we try to have fun.

Wind again

2005-03-24T12:55:00.000Z

The Net is a truly wonderful thing capable of finding a community suitable for even the most unusual of people, a technophillic hippy that I am I have found a site that talks my language
www.downsizer.net
and in particular small scale wind energy

Rolling Blackouts as predicted by Nathan

2005-03-23T11:59:00.000Z

Yet another country was hit by a major rolling blackout last week
Australia was the latest "first world" country to be struck by gremlins in the power supply.

As I predicted here there is an ever growing need for investment in the overstressed infrastructure and in personal protection.

This is one of case where I don't like to be proved right

A good day for a green world

2005-03-22T11:24:00.000Z

Today has been spent getting the Windsave unit through G83 testing.
Windsave is a great concept, put a windmill on the side of your property and start saving money on your electricity bills, it might do very well indeed.

Either way it's nice to know I helped get it done.

For more info www.windsave.com

Funny pictures

2005-03-16T17:54:00.000Z

I love those funny pictures you find on the internet, so to liven up the blog I will include the occasional pic

Joining the world of Blog

2005-03-16T17:20:00.000Z

Hello World and in particular world of blog.

Today has been a good day, working hard at AEL.

I have decided to start a blog to publish the many articles and knowledgebase that I add to and link to them