bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,809
|
Post by bpg on Jun 24, 2021 14:05:51 GMT
I'm just challenging how people think. While electrification reduces local city pollution, 70% of UK generated electricity is still carbon based to a greater or lesser extent. To my mind that is just can kicking. Of course no political body is going to withdraw use of the car, they generate too much revenue. It all feels a bit artificial, a bit forced.
On the other hand if cars really are the work of the devil we are meant to believe then a total ban can be the only answer.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 24, 2021 14:07:31 GMT
I think quite a lot of other people's cars should be banned.
🤔
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,778 
|
Post by Rob on Jun 24, 2021 15:34:07 GMT
The UK does not use use carbon based fuel for 70% of the electric generated. For example as I type this, gas and coal account for about 43% with coal making up 2% of that. Wind is currently 11% and solar 10%.
|
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Jun 24, 2021 15:50:43 GMT
And we may have to face the fact that despite the cost, nuclear is the most reliable non-carbon option available.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,809
|
Post by bpg on Jun 24, 2021 17:13:18 GMT
I said carbon, I meant fossil and low carbon of which 51% today is fossil fuel and 24.7% is low carbon, renewables is 24.3% www.energydashboard.co.uk/live |
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,778
|
Post by Rob on Jun 24, 2021 17:34:47 GMT
I based my figures earlier on this website: gridwatch.co.uk/?oldgw=And I did only look at gas and goal as carbon based fuels and did not include biomass. |
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 24, 2021 17:50:58 GMT
Biomass is very different, as the CO2 it releases is recent, not ancient. It’s also CO2 that would have been released anyway, just by decomposition and without its energy being captured. It seems fair to exclude it here.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 24, 2021 19:17:05 GMT
All very well of course, but what happens when you want to take a mattress and a broken down old wardrobe to the tip early in the morning and then go to IKEA to buy some flat pack somethings, and then, on the way back, swing into north Wales for a spot of mountain biking with the bikes that are on the roof, come back, chuck the IKEA stuff in the garage, put the bikes away, load the car up with work kit, grab a sarnie, pop for a swim and then drive to London that evening for a meeting early the next morning? Not going to do that very easily with a series of temporarily rented EVs are you?
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 24, 2021 21:24:58 GMT
You’ll be familiar with the word ‘unsustainable’. We’ve come to treat as our entitlement a standard of personal mobility and convenience that relied on consuming resources faster than they can be replenished. We’ve had more than our share of the good times, mostly at the expense of future generations. No good whining now that the party’s over.
But Ikea delivers. Councils collect. Pools are within walking distance and most people's ‘work kit’ is a laptop bag. Where’s the problem?
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jun 24, 2021 21:39:08 GMT
Aptly put WdB. We all need to change our habits, as difficult as it may be for many people. The planet has to accommodate 7 billion of us now, which is probably approximately double the number it was when - ahem - people in their 60s were studying human geography in high school.
Alas the “golden age” of travel is over Esp. But with hindsight maybe we’ll view ourselves as the lucky ones who experienced 20-30 years of cheap package holidays in the sun, budget airline weekend breaks, and affordable long-haul carriers.
My wife has said for a couple of years now that for many journeys all she needs is a golf cart or one of those weird electric microcars that postmen are starting to use. So why not ban ICE vehicles from cities, as bpg says, and use a fleet of EV rental microcars?
Somewhere in Christchurch top secret development is underway to commercialise large unpiloted drones that can ferry 4 passengers up to 30km..!
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,778
|
Post by Rob on Jun 24, 2021 22:36:36 GMT
>> But Ikea delivers. When we bought this house we had to get quite a bit of furniture because we'd got rid of a lot from the old house (not only because we put furntinute into storage for 6 months). No way could I get what we bought into any car.... a long wheelbase transit. So we got it delivered next day for not a lot. But I did bring the small kitchen table and chairs in the Mazda6 to have something to be getting on with on the Saturday afternoon  |
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jun 24, 2021 23:16:39 GMT
Every business delivers these days, for free or for cheap. It’s part of online commerce. The NZ economy runs on a fleet of vans and trucks delivering anything country-wide overnight!
|
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Jun 25, 2021 11:38:45 GMT
>>>Alas the “golden age” of travel is over Esp. But with hindsight maybe we’ll view ourselves as the lucky ones who experienced 20-30 years of cheap package holidays in the sun, budget airline weekend breaks, and affordable long-haul carriers.<<<
I regret you are probably right. The days of popping over the Israel four or five times a year will come back, but only at high cost and will not last that long. Certainly I can see that I may be needing to emigrate if I want the sort of retirement lifestyle I have been expecting.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jun 25, 2021 11:46:17 GMT
You’ll be familiar with the word ‘unsustainable’. We’ve come to treat as our entitlement a standard of personal mobility and convenience that relied on consuming resources faster than they can be replenished. We’ve had more than our share of the good times, mostly at the expense of future generations. No good whining now that the party’s over. But Ikea delivers. Councils collect. Pools are within walking distance and most people's ‘work kit’ is a laptop bag. Where’s the problem? The "problem" is that not everyone's life fits neatly on a spreadsheet, or is so predictable as to allow for advance planning of needs or desires to move people or stuff. |
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jun 25, 2021 11:59:46 GMT
Yes. Or to put it another way, some people assume that what was acceptable in the 1990s can still work 30 years later. 🤓
|
|
