iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/i... Friends, I made spectrophotometer that sort of works.

Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

soundcloud.com/dylanesque19... You are right. Here's a song I imagined singing in a few years time, but it already makes sense now. "I long for the long rainy summers I used to know in my youth Long cold rainy summers I wish you could know them too."

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Here's my month by month costs for the last 4 years and the annual carbon dioxide emissions. The yellow shows the avoided emissions from exported electricity.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

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.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Data from London. 20 m2 of panels 10 m2 facing 20° E of S 10 m2 facing 20° S of W ~185 kWh/year Added an additional 15 m2 9.4 m2 facing 20° N of E 5.6 m2 flat ~133 kWh/year These are kWh of exported electricity. So a figure of 100 to 180 kWh/year seems reasonable for the south of the UK.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

I upgraded the radiators last November 2024 and it seemed to distinctly improve the COP. But over the winter the improvement in SCOP was only about 6%, not really justifying the £cough thousand pounds I spent. But they do look nice.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Capital costs were high. House value ~£ 1 million - normal in Teddington Triple Glazing: ~£10k External Wall Insulation: ~£26k Solar Panels: ~£10k Battery: ~£10k - Total: ~£60k - a little bit more than a high-end kitchen re-fit in London Annual Savings: ~£3k? Significant CO2 savings.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Minimum was 21.9 °C according the weather station in my back garden in Teddington.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

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.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Just to be clear, I pay the standing charges - happily. To me they make a lot of sense. I just get a rebate from solar exports. I don't know how Octopus can afford to pay me 15p/kWh - I can't believe that will last much longer.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

@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.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

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...

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

berkeleyearth.org/may-2025-tem... "The trend lines show definite upward curvature, but it could just be the influence of the last couple of extra hot years" It could be just fluctuations, but given all that's going on, I fear not.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

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...

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Last year I asked "Is it a scam?" protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2024/09/02/s...

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/t... This is a gullible idiot's perspective on the @Climeworks scam. I am learning...

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I spent £60,000 on my home: EWI, Triple-glazing, Solar & Battery, ASHP. But even to me this seems pretty extreme.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

I went through the data for Teddington UK and recorded monthly generation from 2005 to 2020 and recorded the mean and the (max-min)/2. I was just looking at one place. I would expect this to be locally correlated over (say) 100 km, but more weakly correlated over longer distances.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

tinyurl.com/3ev86bd3 Sorry about the link: does this one work? And thanks for the information about Tomato energy. I'll check that out. Thanks M

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

I went along for a tea-tasting session at the Chinese Tea Company. the-chinese-tea-company.com It was absolutely fascinating - I learnt so much while chatting over tea. Strongly recommended.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Going out last night I noticed the sound of my neighbour's noisy gas boiler.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/01/24/i... I measured the effectiveness of some insulating blinds. They are surprisingly good, with a U-value of about 1.6 W/°C/m^2. The article contains more details than most people want to know.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/01/23/a... A detailed look at 12 days operation of a heat pump in winter. It's a long boring article that will only be of interest - marginally - to heat pump aficionados.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Secondly, Mark, thought there was a reference to this in John's Obituary arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph... I followed that up and found a reference to this paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... Does that sound about right?

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Me, 162 sq m semi detached from 1927 - extended and covered in 100 mm Kingspan EWI. Heat Pump - no gas. Internal temperature 20 °C 24/7 Used 6,196 kWh PV Generation 5,204 kWh Grid Import 3,910 kWh Grid Export 2,522 kWh Happy New Year - hopefully a sunnier one than 2024!

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2024/12/18/t... How effective are curtains at reducing heat loss from glazing? Here's how to work it out.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com When the air temperature is just above zero, heat pumps need to periodically de-ice their heat exchangers. In this article I take a look at the effect of de-icing during a recent cold-snap.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I did do a preliminary look to see if I could see the effect of cycling. My 5 kW Vaillant Arotherm plus unit cycles at loads below about 2 kW which corresponds to about 6 °C. I could see the effect of de-frost cycles, but not the compressor cycling.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Dear @theguardian.com thanks for writing to me to let me know you are renewing your commitment to planet. Here's an idea to make a small difference: Every time you publish a travel article, include the associated carbon emissions per person. It doesn't have to be exact, but don't just ignore it.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Amazing berries spotted today in a neighbour's garden.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

Here's Heathrow's version of the same thing. Glossy advert. Utterly meaningless

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 13/10/2024

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2024/10/13/o... Friends, my heat pump has been pumping heat for the last 3 years, with a SCOP of around 3.5. This week I upgraded the radiators so they output about 33% more heat at the same flow temperature. I am hoping for a detectable improvement in the SCOP.

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Michael de Podesta @protons4b.bsky.social · 08/10/2024

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2024/10/08/d... In this article I look at the idea of installing a deliberately under-sized heat pump and using direct electrical heating as a back-up. The installation may not be optimally efficient, but it can minimise installation complexity and cost.

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