THE WAR ON PATIO HEATERS...
Did you see that the patio heaters warming drinkers and diners on the pavements of northern Europe are also warming the planet's climate and should be banned, according to a European Parliament report that could be adopted on Thursday. Environmentalists argue that heaters not only pump heat directly into the atmosphere but also climate-damaging CO2, while owners of pubs and bars say they need them to help retain customers driven outside by smoking bans.
"Patio heaters are scandalous because they are burning fossil fuels in the open sky, so producing vast quantities of CO2 with very little heat benefit," said European parliamentarian Fiona Hall, who wrote the report criticizing the pace of energy reforms in Europe. "We urge the Commission to set a timetable for completely taking off the market some appliances that are intrinsically inefficient, such as patio heaters," she added.
Chip, chip, chip - the environmentalists erode our liberties and all in the name of saving Gaia. Better we freeze outside than offend the earth mother?
David Vance
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"Chip, chip, chip - the environmentalists erode our liberties"
By banning these ugly eyesore heaters. Erosion of liberties? You're having us on?
Oh i love them. They are all over London to help ease the smoking ban b'llocks. I read some thing about this the other day - so they aren't proposing banning the heaters already installed - just any new ones. "The market" will find a way around it David rest assured :)
Not a bit. Sod the European Union telling us what we can use round the house. I don't have one of these thanks to the balmy climate here in Donacloney but now I think I must go and buy a few of the biggest ones I can find.
"balmy climate here in Donacloney "
Wait until Friday when the snow hits.
I agree with Typhoo. I couldn;t give a damn about the envinronmental issues , but I hate those silly haters.
"Better we freeze outside than offend the earth mother?"
Eh! If you wanna be nice and warm, go inside.
"Eh! If you wanna be nice and warm, go inside. "
As Alison says, they are often being used by smokers who can't go indoors.
Ross
Yes they can, when they have finished their fag.
lol Colm. I don't give a toss about smokers, let them freeze. I hate fags, they stink. Keep smokers out where they belong, infact ban them from smoking on the street and ALL public places. Show them no mercy.
Pubs stink of urine since smokers were forced outside. I love smokers. Vive la resistance
If they ban these heaters, we'll just have to leave our car engines running the whole of the time we're in the pub, so we can pop into our cars, turn the heaters on and enjoy a fag there.
Pubs stink of urine since smokers were forced outside. I love smokers. Vive la resistance
Alison
What pubs are you drinking in ?
Its not just about smokers - many London pubs use these to heat their outdoor areas in winter to accomodate punters they couldn't otherwise fit in
What is posterity going to make of all this? Outdoor heaters to keep smokers warm! They'll crack up.
I can just see a future stand-up doing a routine not unlike Bob Newhart's take on Sir Walter Ralegh introducing tobacco to England:
Just do like they do down on the Italian Market in South Philly - light up a fire in a huge trash barrel.
Have you not noticed??! A good many of 'em! We all talk about that it's so funny. They STINK. You can really smell the loos. The buildings are old in London Colm..
Still - thank God for London because quite a few are busily nose thumbing the smoking ban. Just like they nose thumb drugs bans. I really don't care what people do.
I don't smoke btw. But I love smokers.
Fiona Hall says: "some appliances are intrinsically inefficient". What a blinding glimpse of the obvious!
ALL artificial heating, whether in a factory, home, car, shop or pub, is close to 100% inefficient.
In almost all cases it is the air that is heated, and as a human body occupies a tiny square footage of that air, the rest of the heat is wasted. The human body does'nt absorb any heat; it only allows the body to maintain it's own heat that it already generates at 98.4 degrees F.
It's been long understood among 'proper' scientists that heating & cooking are the real culprits in this Carbon Footprint saga, but because cars, factories, etc produce VISIBLE smoke & fumes it is assumed by these EU arts graduates that these are the bogeymen to be targeted.