Patio Heaters Extraordinaire

Last year, in a city not a million miles from here, legislators voted for the eventual ban of patio heaters. A waste of precious energy. In a country where nearly everyone seems to smoke, there's a ban on doing so inside pubs and cafes and there are bitterly cold winters, smokers now face the prospect of dying of exposure rather than lung cancer. Or they could give up - going to the pub that is.
Meanwhile, enough gas to warm every patio in Holland is instead warming the corn fields and cattle of rural Drenthe. We passed these flares at Geesbrug on the canal from Hoogeveen to Coevorden. They are a couple of kilometres from the canal but we could hear the roar before we could see the flames. This area is apparently the largest oil and gas field in western Europe.

Now, how many energy efficient light bulbs will it take to make up for this.......?
Answers, by e mail please, (saves paper) to the legislators in your country.

And this is what it sounds like.......