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15 Jun 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rust and dust
It does seem that Government and Local Authorities first action is to charge or fine motorists for driving the 'wrong vehicles' in city centers.
They fail or are very slow in introducing charging points for electrical vehicles.
I live west of London and I did a quick search for electric charging points within 5 miles of me, there are less than 20. This includes much of Heathrow airport, which has vast car parks, but very few charging points.
The others are either at petrol stations or in car parks at large supermarket, very few are on the street or operated by the local council.
London does have more charging points, but no way enough for even the existing electric vehicles.
So either they very rapidly install these or there will be a lot of electric vehicles with flat batteries.
And what happens in 5-10 years time, when all vehicles are electric? Will the chargers be cheap to use or will they gradually become more expensive as the demand for them increases?
And where will this electricity come from? Solar and wind power are fine, but you will still need the back up of gas, coal and nuclear power plants for those days when it is overcast, cloudy and no wind.
Solar power plans and wind farms take up vast areas and don't always produce enough electricity. No one wants a gas, coal or nuclear power plant near to them, so looks like the lights will go out and batteries will go flat, unless someone has a cunning plan.....
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Your comment and your questions implicate that we will have the same traffic senario as now but through using electrified verhicles.
That won`t work because sustainable traffic needs differents characteristics to function. Sustainable traffic has to be sustainable by ecological sense and it has to be socially fair and economical successful. Otherwise it will miss the power of assertiveness.
The traffic of future must be less space intense and it must include much more collective/public transport opportunities. This should be the base care for traffic in urban zones which will be complemented for the last individual miles by Sharing-Mobility and by electric vehicles.
We will never solute the climate problem and the problem of exhaustible raw materials if don`t change our behavior in the way how we do traffic in the future. To electrify all kind of vehicles and to use them in the same way as we do it now with fossile fuel powered verhicles will not work as solution for existing problems.
I know this is something which you maybe don`t want to hear in forum where people who mostly avoid public transport systems in their travels and use highly self-sufficient vehicles to explore everything everywhere. 
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Difficult Roads Always Lead To Beautiful Destinations
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15 Jun 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rapax
I know this is something which you maybe don`t want to hear in forum where people who mostly avoid public transport systems in their travels and use highly self-sufficient vehicles to explore everything everywhere. |
On the other hand I do like to go to places that aren’t just another desert that used to be a very nice place to visit / live so perhaps changing our behaviours may be a good thing. Not that there is anything wrong with deserts, it is just that I think there are about the right number now without creating anymore.
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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.
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16 Jun 2022
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I do agree that there are many areas which would be ideal for tidal power, yes the Menai Straits. But on plan or proposal is for the Bristol Channel, somewhere near the Seven Bridge. That whole streach of river is mudflats, tidal estuaries, reed beds. It simply wouldn't function if the tide was slowed down or stopped.
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16 Jun 2022
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Ever slightly off topic.
Recently I saw a TV advert for an electric SUV, 4x4, I think it might have been a Volvo.
Anyway the advert showed shots of the SUV driving into the wilderness, splashing though streams, fording rivers, negotiating boulders and dirt tracks ( without it seems getting very dirty).
The final shot was of the SUV parked in a clearing, on top of a mountain, miles from anywhere, no signs of civilization or even a electricity pilon, yet there in the middle of nowhere was a electric vehicle charging point!!!!
So it seems you can go to the ends of the earth and still find a charging point to take you home.
It made me chuckle.....
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16 Jun 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rust and dust
I do agree that there are many areas which would be ideal for tidal power, yes the Menai Straits. But on plan or proposal is for the Bristol Channel, somewhere near the Seven Bridge. That whole streach of river is mudflats, tidal estuaries, reed beds. It simply wouldn't function if the tide was slowed down or stopped.
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The mud flats would also cease to function under an additional couple of meteres of water. The point about the barrier affecting ecosystems is all very well except that the argument falls flat when the effects of doing nothing are taken into account - I wonder sometimes about the effects that rising sea levels will have on places like Florida - I suspect that there will be a significantly smaller state in a few decades time.
The tidal power statiion requires water flow so there will still be the tides, so the mud flats will still be covered and exposed on the same timescales, just that the water will flow sets of turbines generating electricity.
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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.
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16 Jun 2022
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Well I look forward to technology solving the worlds problems, even if much of the technology is far from ready, hasn't been installed or doesn't even exist.
We will just have to hope it all arrives in time.
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17 Jun 2022
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I think all this worry and fretting about emission stickers on tourist vehicles is not necessary.
The countries that are bringing in emissions regulations for cities are aiming to have those regulations influence what kind of vehicles their RESIDENTS and DAILY COMMUTERS use. That's where 99% of the potential emissions reduction will come from.
I suspect that once enforcement begins and we begin to see how and when local authorities enforce these rules, we will see that their focus is on local vehicles (e.g. going through parking lots, looking at the stickers on vehicles parked along the streets), and they will most likely not be very interested in harassing a tourist, simply because:
1) There's nothing to be gained from it, they won't be solving a long-term problem, and;
2) No doubt local authorities (town councils, tourist boards, etc.) will recommend that the enforcement team tread lightly on tourists, because they might quite innocently not be aware of the rules.
So, let's not get stressed about a potential problem until it actually does turn into a problem... which I doubt it will.
Michael
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27 Jun 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rust and dust
Well I look forward to technology solving the worlds problems, even if much of the technology is far from ready, hasn't been installed or doesn't even exist.
We will just have to hope it all arrives in time.
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the only world problem is stupid people. 
good thing is some countries are waking up and coming back to old energy source and that trend is growing.
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27 Jun 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tremens
the only world problem is stupid people.
good thing is some countries are waking up and coming back to old energy source and that trend is growing. |
Which ones; coal mines or windmills? 
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13 Jul 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tremens
the only world problem is stupid people.
good thing is some countries are waking up and coming back to old energy source and that trend is growing. |
In what way is going backwards to coal good? It puts out far more CO2 than other fuels, it puts out far more sulphur dioxide than other fuel, it puts out more particulates than other fuels - none of these are beneficial which ever way you look at them. In short, coal is the dirtiest fuel going and the sooner the world stops using it altogether the better.
It would be better if Germany restarted their nuclear power stations that they closed in the wake of the Fukushima flood following the tsunami - not that any of the German power plants were near to a fault in the tectonic plates
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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.
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