Comments on: Phillip Pullman

By: TDK

TDK — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:20:19 +0000

everyone had the same rations and you couldn’t buy and sell someone else’s rations.

Methinks Private Walker and his real life counterparts might disagree.

By: So Much For Subtlety

So Much For Subtlety — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:05:43 +0000

To reply to Phillip Thomas’ comment at the top. The Australian Labor Party figure Kim Beazley Senior once said that when he joined the Party it was full of the cream of the working class, when he retired it was full of the scum of the middle class.

The problem with socialism in a nut shell.

Pullman clearly belongs in the second category.

Still, wasn’t it Michael Foot who said the best period in British history was 1940-41?

By: MikeinAppalachia

MikeinAppalachia — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:41:27 +0000

Good question, and the answer is-as one of my profs always said-”it all depends”.
What alternative types of heat/cool systems are being compared? What is your interest rate? What is your average cost of a kwh? a cct of natural gas? What will they be after Nov 08(for the USA)? Where are you located? Do you have sufficient lot area to install it horizontally or will you need a vertical installation? Just as an example, an 1800 ft2, 2-story, well insulated home in the Ohio river valley area, with an average electricity cost of USD 0.072/kwh, with nat gas at USD1.09/ccf , and an interest rate of 6.05 %: the payback for a geo heat pump vs a 94% eff gas furnace + 3.5 ton AC with a SEER of 12.75 was 16 years. Current average life of compressor for the brand considered is 12-13 years. I’m very happy with my gas furnace.

By: JimM

JimM — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:25:28 +0000

OTOH, the “cost a fortune” statement needs to be considered. Under many/most conditions, geothermal heat pumps save money immediately.

The question is: What is the monthly interest cost on the differential price of the system; and how much is the energy savings?

Note also that the system also provides air conditioning and hot water (“free” when the system is in air conditioning mode).

Tim adds: “The question is: What is the monthly interest cost on the differential price of the system; and how much is the energy savings”

Indeed. And the reason banks are not lending us all the money to install these is that the pay back period is……well, what?

By: Will Rhodes

Will Rhodes — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:57:37 +0000

I’m a socialist of the working-class kind – if I want my electricity bill to go down, I turn things off. This also helps the environment.

Amazing how little things cost when you don’t use them.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:39:44 +0000

I think there’s a case to be made for having CO2 rationing as long as the rations are tradeable.

By: dearieme

dearieme — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:50:44 +0000

“the war on global warming” – aha, on a par with The War on Drugs, The War on Cancer, The War on Terrorism and suchlike piffle.

By: JuliaM

JuliaM — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:51:35 +0000

Stick to the talking polar bears, Pullman….

By: Sellotape

Sellotape — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:09:09 +0000

He actually thinks food rationing after the war worked? No wonder he’s labelled a fantasy writer.

By: TimT

TimT — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:01:23 +0000

Well yeah. If Pullman thinks it’s so important that these heat pumps are installed, why doesn’t he give away money to the community to install heat pumps in *their* houses?

This is not about Pullman saving the world by making a personal example of himself, it’s about him shelling out his money to make himself look more virtuous.

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:42:24 +0000

I take it Mr Pullman will voluntarily redistribute his very large income in order to build ground source heat pumps for as many of his less well-off neighbours as he can afford.

By: Philip Thomas

Philip Thomas — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:58:38 +0000

Years ago, my dad told me there were broadly two types of socialists: the working class and the academic. The working class was just the ordinary guy who worked hard for a meagre wage and wanted the government to share things more evenly. The academic wanted the government to do a thousand things from their “magic pot of money”.

I might disagree with them both but I can only respect the former.

I guess that Pullman writes such good and imaginative books because his thoughts aren’t constrained by reality.