New Diesel and petrol cars banned from 2030.

[Colnago 586]

1 minute ago, Chalky said:

power station will more than likely be biomass, waste, wind and solar by then

Hopefully they will be , I was in California last year and was amazed at the lack of solar energy being used on houses, my friends out there was saying one of their biggest expenses is powering the air con, another issue I know but contributes to global warming big time I suspect. 

[Colnago 586]

A few year ago Steve Berry was on the radio pointing out that he had a 35 year old merc that was thirsty but as he pointed out that car has not been replaced ( by him ) for another car that maybe didn’t drink as much and thus the carbon footprint to rid his and build a new one etc etc ..... I sort of agreed with him but the big picture is they were talking about commuting up and down the motorway everyday, but as he pointed out that most people are only doing short journeys, he was peeved because of the road tax he was having to pay lol . Personally I reckon we should also ( maybe they are )do a concerted focus  on green public transport too and shove hs2 over a cliff . 

[Julianb 1,127]

Don't forget nuclear. If they get fusion sorted it will to an end to all the world's energy requirements, that's if they don't manage to blow us all up developing it!

[Chalky 15,651]

4 hours ago, Colnago said:

Hopefully they will be , I was in California last year and was amazed at the lack of solar energy being used on houses, my friends out there was saying one of their biggest expenses is powering the air con, another issue I know but contributes to global warming big time I suspect. 

more and more sites that burn waste and biomass are coming online every year.  We are a long way behind Europe for waste for energy and we ship most of it to Germany, Scandinavia but we are beginning to catch up.  I used to drive for a company that transported it.

[Winsford Soul 15,588]

7 hours ago, Colnago said:

Hopefully they will be , I was in California last year and was amazed at the lack of solar energy being used on houses, my friends out there was saying one of their biggest expenses is powering the air con, another issue I know but contributes to global warming big time I suspect. 

I've worked on biomass recycling maintenance and its dirty,  dangerous and expensive at the moment because we in the UK don't recycle properly at home. To many different products go into any one particular bin which causes all sorts of problems further down  in the recycling system.   Whereas in Germany for instance everything is separated at home and particular waste can go to a particular biomass plant that runs totally on for instance food waste, or wood etc. 

I worked for Viridor recycling on the maintenance at 2 different plants for a few years here in Manchester and up to a restructuring policy 2 years ago i would probably still be there but in the meantime they are decommissioning there biomass / methane plants for the above reasons and they have recently opened a rather large incinerator facility at Runcorn thats called waste to energy where they burn 100,s of tonnes daily to produce electricity 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Winsford Soul

[Chalky 15,651]

7 hours ago, Winsford Soul said:

I've worked on biomass recycling maintenance and its dirty,  dangerous and expensive at the moment because we in the UK don't recycle properly at home. To many different products go into any one particular bin which causes all sorts of problems further down  in the recycling system.   Whereas in Germany for instance everything is separated at home and particular waste can go to a particular biomass plant that runs totally on for instance food waste, or wood etc. 

I worked for Viridor recycling on the maintenance at 2 different plants for a few years here in Manchester and up to a restructuring policy 2 years ago i would probably still be there but in the meantime they are decommissioning there biomass / methane plants for the above reasons and they have recently opened a rather large incinerator facility at Runcorn thats called waste to energy where they burn 100,s of tonnes daily to produce electricity 

I sent 5 years gong into waste sites to transport baled waste to the docks.  there are dozens all over the place that prepare and bale the waste now.  Much of it is shipped to Germany, Sweden etc because we didn't want incinerators in our back yard.  But they are now all over the place and we are burning more and more.  

Drax has a massive biomass plant (biomass isn't waste by the way, usually sustainable wood pellets).  Ferrybridge has two new plants for biomass, Eggborough has now been decommissioned.  Many others round the country now.  Hull dock has a permanent berth for importing biomass with a ship in there all the time 24/7.

Not that much goes to landfill these days.  One company who process the waste told me they where/are charged £2000 per load, that was 5 years ago.  They began baling and shipping the waste for fuel.  The 10 wagons a day equalled 2 wagons of baled waste and they were paid for the waste, its a very good earner too.

We are catching up.

[Winsford Soul 15,588]

5 hours ago, Chalky said:

 

Drax has a massive biomass plant (biomass isn't waste by the way, usually sustainable wood pellets).  Ferrybridge has two new plants for biomass, Eggborough has now been decommissioned.  Many others round the country now.  Hull dock has a permanent berth for importing biomass with a ship in there all the time 24/7.

Not that much goes to landfill these days.  One company who process the waste told me they where/are charged £2000 per load, that was 5 years ago.  They began baling and shipping the waste for fuel.  The 10 wagons a day equalled 2 wagons of baled waste and they were paid for the waste, its a very good earner 

Karl.  Biomass by definition is waste of any form be it human,  ie dirty nappies.  The liquid is separated from the nappies via a machine similar to a centrifuge then the liquid is pumped to massive settling tanks that contain microscope bugs that eat the waste giving off methane that is then used to power the plant  then the solids go to the furnaces.  Matter of any type, dirty animal straw is another example   copiced wood is another that is burnt to create energy either as a gas ie methane or electricity. Its not a very clean form of energy because of the particulates that need filtering before the emissions can be sent up the chimney.  They use expensive hepa filters or sometimes water scrubbing systems. 

Thats the simplest way I can describe how it actually works.  

PS. Liquid that leaches from nappies is the most foul smelling disgusting thing ever especially when it drips on you along with maggots as your underneath the machine or conveyor trying to repair it and rats with Weils disease scurrying around even jumping over your shoulder or sitting on your boots.  Trust me its not nice. Then there's the chance of hyperdermic needles with the chance of hepatitis,  HIV, and God knows what else. I've worked in and with some really dangerous,  explosive chemical plants amoung other places but never ever, ever would i go back to the recycling facilities as good as the money is.  

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Winsford Soul

[Fish Fingers 198]

On 21/11/2020 at 16:48, Colnago said:

One issue is the carbon footprint to produce the electric cars to be offset with the existing fossil fuel cars  ,the demand of the electric car and the surplus of good roadworthy cars and the dismantling of these fossil fuel cars will have an effect, also a lot of these cars will probably end up in poorer countries, so still spewing out carbon,I’m all for the electric route but until they are not using solar or wind power for recharging there is a power station running on fossil fuel somewhere . 

Interesting article on the press today... 

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/27/electric-cars-need-50000-miles-before-theyre-greener-than-petrols-13665953/

[Soulacola 39]

its not really a plan set in stone yet. just a wish list. hydrogen may make batteries old hat and there may be solid state batteries requiring a few minutes to charge.

the only thing for sure is internal combustion engines will be around in significant numbers for thirty years. oil is used in everything and there's not alternative for this anywhere on the horizon in third world or developing economies. spent some time in Thailand in 2018/2019 and they have no idea electric cars exist let alone are coming to take their hard earned progress away from them.

i would guess we go back to the 1930's. poor people buy second hand cars like 15 year old diesel golfs, rich people buy new golf hybrids. battery life, cost and recycling means there will be no cheap to run old smokers in the sub 5000 range once technology is super advanced, therefore rich middle class suburbs will be able to commute and go on touring holidays. inner city urban renters and working class oiks will be forced onto whatever trolley buses the government deems to provide. same as it was before cars democratised the masses.

[Fish Fingers 198]

I have taken the plunge and ordered an electric car a couple of months back. 

Estimated June build and July delivery. 

Having taken one out for a test drive, I am really looking forward to it now. 

Outlay is high, but running costs are cheap. So I am spending more on buying the thing rather than the 'nil return' running costs of the current car (petrol/warranty/tax/servicing). 

It feels a bit like buying a house rather than renting, in that sense. 

Edited Monday at 13:28 by Fish Fingers