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About this Site
Fig 1. At my desk 2007
About Me
Here's a short biography of Peter:
- Born in 1943 in Surrey, England
- Junior School in Englefield Green and Hounslow
- Isleworth Grammar School in Middlesex - now called Isleworth and Syon Boys School
- Studied Chemistry at University College Cardiff, South Wales
- Graduated with a first class degree
- Reasearch in Organic Chemistry at Cardiff and qualified with Ph.D
- Married to Caryn Hughes in 1967, still married 39 years later and counting.
- Joined Unilever under their Unilever Companies Management Development Scheme and worked at Walls Ice Cream in Barnwood, Gloucester
- Became interested in Sailing and eventually decided that we wanted to see the world.
- Spent 4 years building a 44 foot yacht - "Petryn"
- 1980 - 4 months sailing in France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and Azores before returning to the UK.
- Started up a small company with a friend involved in Microprocessor controlled yacht instrumentation but left after 3 years.
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Fig 2. Antigua Race Week 1984 on "Formidable"
- Left to go sailing again. Left Canary Islands to cross Atlantic in December 1983 arriving in Barbados in January 1984 - 20 days and 2700 miles
- Cruised through the West Indies including Antigua Race Week (pictured) before leaving St. Martins bound for Newport, Rhode Island, USA
- Sailed as far northeast as Cutler, Maine and then south to Fort Lauderdale, Florida via, New York, Chesapeake Bay, Charleston and the Intracoastal Waterway.
- Several visits to Bahamas and one summer-long trip on a 72foot Motor Yacht north to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. We loved it but the owners hated it!
- Returned to the UK in 1988 and our son James born in June. We sold Petryn in Florida and decided that we had to return to a more settled land-bound life. (For now)
- As we were eminently un-employable by now, we bought a small business - manufacturing and selling blinds and awnings to both domestic and commercial customers.
- This business was sold and we started working from home, juggling family responsibilities with a home-based network marketing business (Kleeneze) which is now well established.
- Our other interests include reading, walking, poker and (still) sailing.
Why this site?
Although I have not been in an academic life since university I have always taken a keen interest in technology and scientific progress. During our time sailing and living on boats we became fascinated by the weather and meteorology. With much background reading and observation it became clear to me that the potential problems which were the consequence of climate change were something that were not being taken seriously by neither governments nor individuals. To me it appeared that there was nothing that a single person could do about these problems however concerned they might be, short of becoming a placard waving demonstrator outside of parliament and I was not convinced that was what I wanted to become.
During 2006 the price of crude oil rocketed and the price of fuel for the motorist followed suit. In addition the price of natural gas for home heating and cooking also rose considerably. Despite almost universal agreement between governments that "Something must be done" several countries either went into denial or for purely selfish reasons ignored the needs of the rest of the world.
In particular as far as I was concerned the UK government appeared to be incapable of "joined up government" and to have no policy about future energy needs or how those needs were to be met. The UK were fortunate to be beneficiaries of the North Sea oil bonanza found on their doorstep but wasted the proceeds such that we will soon be a net importer of oil and gas. The proceeds from taxation disappeared into the black hole of general government finance without a care for the future when North Sea deposits inevitably ran out.
Additionally a worry for me was that the utility and oil companies performed inadequately by increasing prices to the consumer with immediate effect as crude oil prices rose but were slower to reduce them as prices fell. The global oil companies also leave something to be desired as they climbed on the alternative fuel band wagon but only as far as finding alternative ways to market their products, for example the development towards the "Hydogen Economy" as supported by the oil companies depends on fossil fuel as the source of hydrogen.
In fact to my mind there has been a total lack of common sense shown by governments, green campaigners, NIMBYs and commercial interests. This is a serious, complicated problem and it's not helped by parochialism.
Which brings me back to why set up this website because it would be unreal to even contemplate changing government policy or company business plans. There are however some simple things which anybody can do which will both save fuel and save money. I wanted to make as many people as possible aware of some simple tips and techniques which, when applied by car drivers, would reduce their fuel bills.
However as I become more involved in the site development, researching both online and offline, finding those tips and content to make the site interesting and useful, the more I realised that the site was a "work in progress" Hence over the next month or so I will be adding sections on domestic fuel savings, vehicle reviews, contributions from articles from other writers and micro-energy generation so bookmark this site and check out the content as it evolves.