Welcome
to my web site. Here you will find some
information on my work and leisure interests.
My career has had four phases :
- Automobile engineering from 1961 to 1975,
including 15 years with Ford Motor Company
- Writing and consulting on energy from 1975 to 1984, including one and
a half
years with Granges Metallverken
- Writing on and marketing computers from 1984 to 1996, including six
years with Computer
Concepts
- Writing and consulting on energy in buildings and transport from 1996
to date.
In addition to earning my formal qualifications,
I have gained substantial experience during
my employed phases. I have also taken myself on several study tours - mostly overseas. I have written a
number of professional
papers. Then, during my freelance phases, I have written several
reports for clients, and published a large
number of articles - on energy and on
computing.
I have long been interested in energy conservation in
buildings and appliances, and in the use of solar energy for space
and water heating in buildings. This dates from before my first
degree, for which the thesis was entitled "The Use of the Heat
Pump for Domestic Heating". Energy conservation and solar energy
have also featured in many of my study tours.
Since buying my own home in 1974, I have applied a large number of
energy-saving measures. In 1998, I started
making measurements on my heating system, and the results have helped
when designing heating systems for myself and others. The
measurements continue, along with analysis to determine the thermal
performance and efficiency. With my current condensing gas boiler,
the annual average thermal efficiency is about 96 percent.
I have also long been interested in cars, and have learnt a lot from
working on them, including those I have owned. In
December 2000, I bought a Toyota Prius, the
world's first hybrid-electric car to be produced in quantity. This is
consuming petrol (gasoline) at about 51 miles per UK gallon, or 5.5
l/100 km. Having done extensive research on it, mostly on the web, I
created and gave a presentation
on the Prius to a car club. I have also done some translation
from German on various automotive topics, including aerodynamics.
More recently, I have extended my research in vehicles and
technologies for low emissions and fuel consumption. This was in
response to a UK Government discussion document on Powering Future
Vehicles.
In February
2002, the Performance and Innovation Unit of the Cabinet Office of the
UK Government published an Energy
Review. I greatly extended my previous work on vehicles to
include all four sectors - Domestic, Services, Industry, and
Transport. This lead to working more than full time right up to the
deadline of 13th September 2002 (and beyond). As well as submitting
my study 'Energy Solutions for 60% Carbon
Reduction' as a response to the PIU, I sent copies to a number of
individuals and organizations interested in energy policy.
Having used computers since 1961, I have seen a lot
of what is now history. I bought my first
computer in 1977, and in 1982 acquired the first of eight
different Acorn computers, which were
designed and made in the U.K. I still have an Acorn Risc PC - now
fitted with RISC OS 4. However, I also have
several PCs, sharing a 10/100 Ethernet network. One runs Windows 98
SE, and is dedicated to logging data from my heating system. Another
runs Windows 98 SE, and is used for tabulating and plotting the data
from the heating system, and for most of my research and writing. I
first connected to the Internet in March 1996, and use it extensively
for email and web access -especially for research. In November 2002,
I suffered a virus infestation, which necessitated saving my data
files, and reformatting all the hard discs. As a result, my third PC,
which runs SuSELinux 9.1 Professional, is now
set up with a firewall, and is used for all email and some web
browsing, and as a gateway to the Internet connection, which is via
an ADSL broadband router.
Many of my leisure interests reflect my work activities :
For example, I have since extended my interest in
cars to the history of transport - canals, railways, road vehicles,
and aircraft- through books, and visits to various
museums. I have also taken up cycling again, and become
interested in the history and technology of bicycles. I am
particularly impressed with the Moulton SpaceFrame bicycles, which
are designed and made in Britain - especially since owning
a Moulton APB-14, and using it regularly. I have also studied the
history of computing through books and visits to museums
.
For relaxation, I watch certain movies
(on television and from video), and some television
drama. My all-time favourite is the BBC's 1995 production of Jane
Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Having read little
non-fiction since my schooldays, this encouraged me to buy and read
almost all her novels.
Here are some tours that you can make through my pages
:
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You can email me at : gordon@energypolicy.co.uk
Last updated on 2005-09-29.