Saturday 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Christmas day is already here!! Happy Christmas!!
I am still in the UK, spending Christmas day with friends, but will be in Cyprus soon!

I just logged in before my meal, to post some tips for Christmas holidays, even though it might be too late!

So over the holiday period, if you are leaving your home, remember to switch off all lighting, TV sets, printers, chargers, and everything else that doesnt need to be on (do no switch off your freezer or fridge).

Do you need the hot water to be on? What about central heating? No one is there, so why heat the house?

If you are not at home, you dont need to have any fairy lights on do you?

You can follow the same principles for your work environment as well; leave on things that are vital, things that need to be on, and switch off everything else.

That is the principle the retailer i work for tries to follow as well.

Companies and families can save hundreds and thousands of pounds of gas and electricity bills if they just switch off things when not in use.

I know the snow is still present in most parts of the UK (its absent in Cyprus), so keep yourself safe today, remember your limits when drinking, dont drive if you have been drinking!  and for all my Cypriot friends, remember your limits when eating!! You know what I mean!


Have fun and keep safe

The Physicist


P.S. I will be back with Christmas pictures :)

Monday 13 December 2010

Another one of Mr Theopemptou's work

http://www.airquality.dli.mlsi.gov.cy/

The quality of air in Cyprus

PhDs are hard work!

And I am actually working for something even more complicated, an EngD!

I have started on this course two months and 13 days ago, I knew I was accepted two months and 16 days ago, I have had 3 deadlines already, and have another one this week, and a mere 8000 word literature review to complete by the 21st of January. Aham! Who said that doing a PhD was easy?
You are probably forgetting that within my degree I have to work 9-5 in an office. I work in a retailer's energy group!
This week, I say this week and its only Monday, i've done that much work already. We are working on making sure the energy budgets for the stores for next year are correct. And that's not an easy task considering the number of stores the retailer I work for has.
I ve been working through various excel sheets today, checking how much the old stores are consuming, how much we predict they will consume next year, and how much the new stores will consume next year!
I mean, how can you predict how much a new store will consume next year? HOW?
Any ideas guys?
That is one of my tasks as a research engineer..!


I will leave it up to you to tell me when I have finally turned into an engineer..

Because I am still

The Phycisist

Saturday 11 December 2010

Χαράλαμπος Θεοπέμπτου - Επίτροπος Περιβάλλοντος: Περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα

A very true post on the situation in Cyprus..:

Χαράλαμπος Θεοπέμπτου - Επίτροπος Περιβάλλοντος: Περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα

I totally forgot I had put this link up;

As you probably figured out by now, I am a Cypriot, and I am really concerned with the environmental problems of Cyprus... That is one of the reasons I am actually undertaking this research work.. Some day I want to be able to give back to my country.

Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean sea, as you can see from here.

From the map you can even tell how close to Africa and Asia this island is. The sun shines for like 360 out of the 365 days of the year... its a shame that people are not using solar panels as much as they can..

I mean, I did convince my family to install 'a few' (36) of them on our roof, but they only did it because I kept telling them too, and because it meant lower electricity bills for the future..

I know solar panels are not the most efficient equipment out there.. but we do have to work with what we have.. and the combustion of fossil fuels is not the most environmental thing in the world either.

There is one wind power farm in Cyprus, which is a pretty good development, and Mr Theopemptou is working hard to get any environmental equipment in the country.

Finally the public transport is being improved.. and I do hope the people responsible for it make that bus system work better.. I mean, the poor people had the buses running for a whole summer before they decided to publish some sort of schedule for them.. How on earth would I, or anyone, know when and where to wait for the bus, and for which bus?
OK ok they did put something on their webpage, but it was all in street names..
I know Cyprus is a small country, but how do I know where each address is in every city?? Even in my own area I dont know where each address is...
And they called it the 'evaluation period'... but how are you going to evaluate a system which people are expected to use to commute to their jobs, when nobody really knows when and where each bus is going to..

and dont let me start on the blue and white buses.. the stupid village system..

if you want to go from the centre of a village (and I dont mean a village on the mountains, I am talking about a village that is 20 minutes away from the Nicosia town centre when there is no traffic) you have to take the small white bus, which i dont know how often it runs, to go to the main station of your area, to take the big blue bus, to actually go where you want to go..
hmmm
Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd??




Till the next time

The Physicist

Wednesday 8 December 2010

why do we write blogs?

A friend of mine is doing some research on bloggers, im not sure i can call myself a blogger, but here you go. Her hypothesis is that people use blogs as a mean of expression, of having their voice heard, mainly because they cant publish anywhere else.

I dont think that this is always the case. I do not want to publish my thoughts anywhere else..
I would just like people to know what I am doing, be aware of my research, help me and help them.

Am I looking for publicity? I might have had, if I had done something that deserved to be published :p
I dont even know why people would read my posts!

I suppose I have to find something more interesting to write about, or a more interesting way to write what I want to write for that matter!

That's why I am a Physicist  and not a writer though..


Till next time

The Physicist

Thursday 2 December 2010

Sorry for the long absence

I ve been really busy, firstly with my presentation, and after that trying to sort things out for my literature review!
I need to start exploring my resources..  There is not a lot out there on how retailers budget for their energy consumption, so I will need to 'dive in' the old fashioned way... good old interviews!
I have never conducted one, so i will need loads of help on that one!!
Any ideas?? you know I am only a Physicist :/

On a more positive note, I am going to london again tomorrow to check up a few of the retailer's store!!
That should be fun isn't it? :)
Checking up on how people in stores consume energy, how they take in the headquarters' advice on using less electricity!
 
I cant wait really!!

Have a nice Friday people!!

The Physicist