Let's have the facts scientifically '“ not all that carbon jargon

IN 21st-century Britain, it seems that the basic principles of chemistry and physics are passé, replaced by the new contradictory terms of eco-towns, zero-carbon, carbon footprint, sustainable development and so on.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Apr 2008, 19:16 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:50 BST

Carbon in a chemical sense used to refer to the element that is present in all organic compounds, for example, all living things.

Maybe my mind is too simplistic to understand the 21st-century science of Ruth Kelly and her peers.

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Yes, I have read the "Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development" statement by Mrs Kelly and in my old-fashioned book most of it isn't so much science as perception and conjecture and that is why I would like to see something that somebody with an O-level in science at least, could understand in even a vaguely scientific way.

Mrs Kelly's paper at its best outlines a scheme to force builders to do what Scandinavian and US builders have been doing for 30 years and put in some half decent insulation and double glazing, and lag the water pipes (and oh yes, keep them in the building) whilst persuading occupiers to purchase A+ rated appliances.

I imagine a true zero-carbon community to be a bit like the Flintstones, with everything made of inorganic (i.e., zero-carbon) products with no hydrocarbon fuels used and the occupants an alien race of inorganic beings clumping around in their stone boots.

I would like to challenge Rod Hague (Gazette, April 10) to explain in standard chemical, physical and mathematical terms what he means by the statement "a zero-carbon community".

Bernard Cronyn

Brookside Park

Lyminster Road

Lyminster

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