[08.05.2008 first posted on silicon republic]
From sustainable energy to putting all this talk of recession in perspective, we check out the best the blogosphere has to offer this week.

Sustainable energy etc http://wood-pellet-ireland.blogspot.com/”>http://wood-pellet-ireland.blogspot.com We are all aware that oil and petrol prices are slowly rising and there is a little panicky voice in the back of your head telling you to go green but you don’t know where to start.
Kerry man Tony McGinley began this blog because he was “disgusted by the number of rip-offs encountered in the renewable energy business and scandalised by the madness of having Ireland’s energy some 85pc dependent on imported fuels.”
In one post, McGinley attempts to demystify the recent green grant scheme and wonders if it is aimed at the majority of us or only accessible to die-hards because of its complexity.
He suggests fixing the price of insulation material and running ads on the benefits of CFL bulbs. Listen to him Minister Ryan!
… Email matters! www.newsweaver.co.uk/emailnewsletters
Irish businesswoman, award-winning blogger and email evangelist Denise Cox uses this corner of the web to talk to companies about the importance of email marketing.
She has quite a challenge because everyone is talking about the wonderful world of YouTube and Facebook and what this new media can do for a business, while email seems to be the dowdy but reliable cousin.
Tackling practical aspects that we deal with on a daily basis, Cox had me squirming with embarassment when she reported that most consumers click on the ‘report as spam’ option to unsubscribe from a newsletter.
If you are a business that sends out permission-based email newsletters, heed Cox’s advice and have a highly visible unsubscribe button because modern consumers have little tolerance and even less time.
Stuff yer bake www.stuffyerbake.co.uk
Do not read this blog on an empty stomach! Northern Ireland foodie Sarah Bell has taken the most mouth-watering pictures of her culinary creations and her writing is so down-to-earth that she makes good cooking seem almost, well, do-able.
Her sense of humour and generosity is also apparent in her writing.
She was asked to bake a cake for someone in work who liked gardening and she admits that usually when it comes to fancy baking, she reads the instructions and then ditches them in favour of her own creations.
This time she threw herself into the task, read a book cover-to-cover and baked a quirky terracotta pot-shaped cake which resulted in a flood of requests from others wanting a customised cake.
It’s the Recession, Stupid!