Norway to 'completely ban petrol powered cars by 2025'

[Californiaman]

I recently had a tour of the 'Energy Reclamation Facility' at Ardley - very impressive indeed. It was initially not well received by the locals but it has proven to be quite a big hit. They're doing a lot for the local community and all the initial fears have proven to be unfounded. They do occasionally get the odd driver that is a bit too fast going through the village but by all accounts they only get to do it once.

I recommend a visit if anyone gets a chance: https://viridor.co.uk/our-operations/energy/energy-recovery-facilities/ardley-erf/

 

[hirsty]

Meanwhile a lot of very exciting development going on in battery technology, both for vehicles themselves and for home energy storage which will smooth grid demand... and indeed for grid storage at some point, possibly. so looking at the comparative green economics of today's EVs isn't necessarily valid for the near future.

Quite. As batteries themselves & solar charging gets progressively more efficient the next change needed is in the grid to smooth out the differences between production & consumption.

I'm well up for a Powerwall - early adopters always pay through the nose ahead of mass adoption (as it was for the first Benz before Ford subsequently got onto it). Without the Prius we wouldn't now have Tesla, and so on and so on ...

https://www.teslamotors.com/en_GB/powerwall?redirect=no

 

[Velma's Dad]

Ardley site looks great, a bit like a crash landed space shuttle (in a nice way). Try that next door here in Bucks and see how you get on. The county has been trying for a couple of years now to get even a small waste transfer station approved, on an existing waste site, but my neighbours are all out manning the barricades. I understand no-one wants anything with 'waste' in the name on their doorstep, but we all generate waste (approaching a couple of tonnes per family every year), where do we think it ought to go?

 

[hirsty]

There are hardly any coal power stations and as electricity has to be used as produced- it cannot be stored - even Blair accepted the requirement for nuclear power. Solar and wind are at the mercy of nature. Do we have the capability of supplying our needs or do we go and accept nuclear or as yet to be discovered saviour. That is the problem or we revert back to being candle powered.. Rose tinted glasses are evident but the truth is we need to be realistic and either reduce consumption dramatically or accept nuclear.
I know the truth regarding wind power no matter what the statistics for government or companies show and when they say it generates x amount the truth is that that is for about 20 percent of the time - much less for the remaining 80 percent. ( from wind farm data and study at Uni).
Obviously there is scope for tidal but remember 70 million people use a hell of a lot of energy.
That said I would love a hybrid Ocean

Not much in it currently. UK Govt are committed to raising Renewables to 30% by 2020 - a blend of sources will be required until newer technologies develop sufficiently to slowly wean us off rapidly depleting fossil fuels:

UK electricity generation 2015:
Natural Gas - 30%
Renewables - 25% (inc. wind, wave, marine, hydro, biomass, solar)
Coal - 23%
Nuclear - 22%

Source: http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-generation.html

 

[Amarillo]

Was just googling the word "landfill" i see it used a lot here....had not heard of it
Do you have in UK no burning of wast using the heat for making new power...or is everything actualy put in the ground?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/87e278cc-bb59-11e4-a31f-00144feab7de.html#axzz4B18jhNSe

 

[briwy]

There are actually quite a lot of incinerator plants around. Some of these just burn the waste but the more efficient ones are "combined heat and power". Does exactly what it says on the tin. Produces electricity to feed into the grid and heat for local housing.
Until a few years ago local councils and private companies such as Veolia were queing up to get planning permission to build these plants as there were fairly generous government subsidies available. For whatever reason these stopped and the growth of new plants dropped to a fraction of what it was previously.

 

[GrannyJen]

. I understand no-one wants anything with 'waste' in the name on their doorstep, but we all generate waste (approaching a couple of tonnes per family every year), where do we think it ought to go?

Next door

 

[GrannyJen]

My local authority are planning to ban all cars completely by 2025.

Anyone trying to drive up the A259 or A27 are already losing the will to live, let alone protest

 

[MattBW]

There's one issue they should solve , the earth's population is waaaayyyy to high.

Sadly we seem to be a species who tends to solve the problems after theyve done damage rather than before.

Truth is that if we don't kerb the population growth, nature will step in and do it for us, the hard way...

Look at how humans fought over oil (its good to see its value waning in the world), imagine how we would fight over food...

 

[Amarillo]

Truth is that if we don't kerb the population growth, nature will step in and do it for us, the hard way...

The best way to "kerb population growth" is to help underdeveloped countries develop. It seems that Humans are unique in the animal kingdom as the better they are fed, the lower the fertility rate. Fertility rates are falling across the developed and developing world, and populations are already falling in a few developed countries. Japan's population fell by about 1 million between 2010 and 2015, and in Italy deaths outnumbered births by about 165,000 in 2015, though the population rose slightly thanks to immigration. The UK's fertility rate is 1.82, well below the estimated replacement level of 2.1.

 

[motacyclist]

electricity has to be used as produced- it cannot be stored

It can, see here

 

[Digger]

It can, see here

That is not storing electricty. It uses off peak power to move water for later use in generating through hydro. Battery technology is years away from being capable and the capacity to meet our needs cannot be achieved. Be realistic and recognise the requirements then multiply it 100 fold when you include China and US. i still want a hybrid Ocean

 

[Geezso]

Any chance the title can be amended as everytime I log in it annoys me
Maybe Norway to sell only ev as new from 2025?

 

[fred]

electricity has to be used as produced- it cannot be stored

There are many ways in which electricity can be stored
http://www.highview-power.com

 

[Geezso]

There are many ways in which electricity can be stored
http://www.highview-power.com

Electricity at grid level is used as produced 400kv etc. However there are increasing ways to store electricity, generally in dc like batteries. Like a tesla power wall. Still dc however.

 

[bxl_lad]

One of the least environmentally friendly vehicles , based on a whole life environmental impact is the Prius.
One of the most environmentally friendly vehicles is the Land Rover Defender as over 70% of those ever made since 1947 are still running.

Reason the exotic materials used in the Prius batteries etc: have to be made and disposed of. The Defender just rusts away.

...well the chassis will

 

[Geezso]

The carbon footprint created in the creation of the Prius out strips say a focus or similar car

 

[WelshGas]

...well the chassis will

The Aluminium alloy panels do as well. Just takes a bit longer.

 

[Digger]

There are many ways in which electricity can be stored
http://www.highview-power.com

Yet again electricity has to be used as produced. This method again uses excess electricty in another process for later use to produce electricity. That was the meaning of my original post. Some people seem detrrmined to look for reasons to crit but fail to understand. Please don't tell me my 4 years studying physics was wasted.

 

[Geezso]

I got it, lol

 

[WelshGas]

Nuclear Fusion is the way forward, if only it could be got to work commercially.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2016/03/23/nuclear-fusion-reactor-research/#.V1wv9JB4WK0

 

[Geezso]

Certainly beats wind and wave power, waste of time.

 

[T6 CFO]

Not my subject but I have high hopes for renewables based on the improvement in batteries. Could it be a game changer?


Mike

 

[Digger]

Not my subject but I have high hopes for renewables based on the improvement in batteries. Could it be a game changer?

If only. I don't think in next 20 years as the technology and appliances are not geared for low power use. When Blair was PM he had the research which told him nuclear would be essential and regretfully it seems to be fact. Others will disagreeBut if you look at the power consumption and demands by users I cannot see an alternative yet.
Mike

 

[Geezso]

Really needs to be AC (alternating current) mike