CO2 Crisis how did it happen?

Panicked victuallers are rushing to Tesco supermarket to stock up on cider and beer cans in the wake of the recent CO2 (carbon dioxide) shortage at a crucial time for bars as summer and the televised world cup bring in much-needed punters and a higher demand for soft drinks and alcohol. The question on most people's lips: why has this happened?

The manufacturing process involves farmers releasing ammonia from fertilizer and intern capturing CO2 gas, a by-product, which will be sold commercially to the food and drinks industry. Natural gas is a key raw material in the production of ammonia and is at a high price at the moment limiting production in Europe.

Farmers in summer use less fertilizer so plants closed down for either routine planned maintenance or critical repairs and upgrades. This year in the UK and across Europe too many plants have closed down at the same time causing this current crisis.

The UK suffered the most closures leaving only one plant operating. CO2 gas is difficult and expensive to transport so food and drink producers would rather buy off local distributors. Pubs were told by suppliers next week's orders will be short and it's not clear how long this will go on for but contingency plans are being put in place to keep up production using less carbon dioxide.

Equally, packaged foods are effected by the shortage of CO2; they will be given a shorter shelf life affecting the length of time they'll be left on shelves before being consumed. Producers will utilise replacement gases which are used in the vacuum-packing process for meat, poultry, cheese, salads, ready meals etc., to preserve them.

One of the UK's largest plants, now shut down, is expected to run again next week.

Five Star Review Zorro's Last Stand

I appreciate feedback but it's special when you get a five-star review from one of your favourite authors
Karl Wiggins
5.0 out of 5 stars

If you only buy one book this year, make it this one
May, 2018
What a book! Mark Shearman has the ex-pat community in the Costa Blanca down to a T. I lived four years in the Algarve and it’s very true that you find yourself mixing with people you would never look twice at back home.
For my own part I recall The Munchkins (he went to jail for poisoning her), Timeshare Joe, Kevin the Murderer, and a whole host of the most unusual characters you could hope to meet. And Mark Shearman picks up on this theme with ease. They’re not so much real characters, just bizarre, offbeat people, yet surprisingly unnoteworthy.
The riff-raff and the hoi polio mix with ease. They meet in the same bar and sit on the same stools they’ve been sitting on for years. And without exception they are all liars. They all have their stories to tell, yet they never share the real one. Their clothes are now the same, their histories are different and, like all ex-pats the world over, they’re a melting pot of offbeat coarse comedy.
In Shearman’s book we meet the protagonist, Danny, who to put it bluntly, just ain’t right. And yet as the story progresses we soon get to realise that a) he fits in perfectly and despite the fact that he runs around debt-collecting in Zorro outfits, no one thinks him strange, and b) compared to everyone else he’s as sane as the Speaker in the House of Lords.
The characters just keep coming at you, and it’s a measure of Shearman’s genius and wit that they’re as divergent as it’s possible to be. We have the beautiful Charlotte with the sumptuous breasts and perennial suntan, who once represented her country at martial arts in the Olympics, and the English prostitute, Gena, playing Russian roulette with her body. Danny recalls better days for Gena when he spent time with her and her husband, Jack, bar-b-queuing, laughing and drinking.
I don’t want to throw any more spoilers in here, but I must say that if you only buy one book this year, make it this one. It’s well-written with a host of sub-plots and a cast of characters that are so true to the ex-pat community.

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Zorro's Last Stand

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