Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Not slow in bragging about how much money they've saved by not buying petrol, but ask them for the 46% of that that the government would have  got in order to spend on the roads they are driving on etc and they have a sook.

Here registration for EVs is much higher than for internal combustion engines to account for (at least some of) the lost gas/petrol taxes that go to road maintenance.

[jjb1970]

51 minutes ago, zarniwhoop said:

And don't get me started on the needs for new HV cabling, or for charging points. In the californian gold rush the main winners were those who supplied the picks and shovels. For EVs, those who can provide the HV cables will probably be the ones who make money out of it.

 

When I worked for E.ON one of my colleagues had the job of modelling alternative scenarios in the automotive sector and his analysis showed that the optimal solution in terms of profit for electricity companies would be a shift to green hydrogen. Not sure how the analysis would look today though, that was around 2010.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

But what does "More likely" mean?

How about 8x more frequent then on a per vehicle category basis? No cause was attributed in what I read.

 

The way it was presented suggested a percentage of vehicles in the category, not a percentage of all vehicles on the road. The latter would dramatically deprecate EV numbers.

 

I presume (unless they studied global data) it was under Australian conditions.

[jjb1970]

On EVs and safety, if the argument is about risk then it might be appropriate to include calculations for morbidities and mortality from degraded local air quality. People tend to forget the emissions argument is not just about climate change. People will say 'yeah, well electricity power plants make pollution too' but in developed countries at least they have a whole suite of abatement systems, operate at higher efficiency than car engines and tend to be less central to populous areas. And that segment is transitioning to green alternatives too.

[Ozexpatriate]

18 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Behind a veneer of saying the right thing in public the Obama administration wasn't a green one.

Without being specifically political there are limits on what US executive branch can actually accomplish viz-a-vis the legislative branch and the legal system. The art of successful leadership in US politics is to be able to work with the majority in Congress. This requires willing cooperation on the hill.

 

The current president promised that he would not approve any more leases for oil drilling in Alaska. Along came an application ("Willow, Conoco-Phillips) for new drilling and he signed it. Why? Not because he was intentionally reneging on his promise, but because his legal advisors told him that not signing it would result in a legal challenge that he would lose in federal* court.

 

* Not even the Supreme court.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, zarniwhoop said:

severely p155ed off by the musk fan bois (he was described re his destruction of another company as Xitler, with X pronounced as 'sh')

Plenty of other manufacturers - like every single major automobile manufacturer in the world. There are an astonishing number of them in China. Recent Kia EVs look really sharp.

 

1 hour ago, zarniwhoop said:

... those who think that one size fits all, or who want to limit everyone's mobility

Who thinks that way? Plenty of options with hybrid / plug-in hybrid / EV.

 

Ferrari makes a PHEV.

 

I guarantee you that in the US no one is trying to limit mobility. Perhaps Britain is different in that regard.

 

[jamie92208]

On 16/12/2023 at 23:29, Barry O said:

Yep... France has a lot of nuclear power stations  and is not afraid of them....

Baz

The French have a large fleet of old Nuclear stations which have problems.  They have yet to bring a next generation site online.  A lot of the stations were shut down for age related inspections.  I believe that there has been some sort of deal that got a lot of those back on line.  Things are not as rosy as they first look.  Renewable are being pushed heavily.  Wind turnines are proliferating including in our village. Every farm seems to have a new large barn with an asymmetric south facing roof full of solar panels. There are schemes for domestic solar but also scammers in that market. 

 

Jamie

Edited December 18, 2023 by jamie92208

[jjb1970]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Plenty of other manufacturers - like every single major automobile manufacturer in the world. There are an astonishing number of them in China. Recent Kia EVs look really sharp.

 

 

 

Hyundai and KIA make some of the best EVs and have been leaders in the field. Chinese EV maker BYD is on a big sales drive here (we had lunch in a BYD themed restaurant a couple of weeks ago) and some of their cars seem very impressive. A lot of people in Britaain still deride MG because they're now Chinese but I had a weekend test of one of their EVs (5? the estate car) and was impressed, especially for the price. Even in Vietnam, there's a company there called Vinfast making some very impressive looking EVs.

[jjb1970]

The Finnish experience at Oikiluoto 3 hasn't helped the image of French nuclear technology, it has been a bit of a debacle though I believe it's now operational.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Lord Armstrong used a water turbine to light up Cragside ..his then home. It was the first big electrical installation in the North East.. the turbine still works today BUT try to do anything like tidal generators or river generators.. forget it. Lobbyist (particularly fishing groups) are very vociferous about it "damaging the fish stocks" ie their pastimes.. so fish ladders have to be included.. then they still slow the planning process..

 

Today will include... notalot. Could bevthat I finish some wiring or I might go and help youngest Herbert to finish the house painting (building work finally completed, Carpets due Wednesday this week). Decisions,  decisions...

 

Watched some cricket last night. Harry Brook got his mojo back.. it was see ball, smash ball. Well done Harry!

 

Have a great day! Thoughts are with those in our ranks who are less than well!

 

Baz

[polybear]

Bear's F. Stupid "Law" of the Year goes to.......

 

"exporting the vehicles to Ukraine would "not meet the legal threshold of the benefit to Londoners from an economic, social, or environmental perspective" as set out within the act"

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67737663

 

I can't see many people giving their cars away and lose out on £2K as a result.

 

[Barry O]

7 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Hyundai and KIA make some of the best EVs and have been leaders in the field. Chinese EV maker BYD is on a big sales drive here (we had lunch in a BYD themed restaurant a couple of weeks ago) and some of their cars seem very impressive. A lot of people in Britaain still deride MG because they're now Chinese but I had a weekend test of one of their EVs (5? the estate car) and was impressed, especially for the price. Even in Vietnam, there's a company there called Vinfast making some very impressive looking EVs.

They had 10 BYD buses in Bradford,   unfortunately they now have only 9. The new EV buses for Leeds are not BYD.

 

There are a wide variety of EVs on the market. A friend has a mini and reckons it's very good ( he lives in the countryside and has a small wind turbine and solar panels plus a storage battery so uses that to charge his car up).

 

I will stick with my PHEV aka the Beast for now.

 

Baz

[BachelorBoy]

16 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Just one of many links on the net:

 

https://www.mining.com/us-government-includes-li-ion-batteries-in-list-of-goods-produced-by-child-labor/

 

- admittedly for Cobalt ore - but used in Li-ion Batteries.

 

So your first claim was a lie.  Children do not mine for lithium. You are spreading misinformation. 

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

The biggest problem the world faces is overpopulation (8.1 Billion and counting), from which all other problems - environmental, social, economic, political - stem. Raising countries out of abject poverty will have environmental, social and economic impact, do we (i.e. the “First World”) prevent that to safeguard the environment? Even if such a thing would be morally acceptable, I don’t think we could do so.

 

All animal species, bar humans, have their populations constrained by one (or more) of the following: starvation, predation, disease. In humans, starvation - although devastating in some areas of some countries - has no real lasting impact on human population; predation? Man has no effective predators (the occasional bear indulging in a tasty tourist treat doesn’t even register in the grand scheme of things), which only leaves disease. In the past, outbreaks of disease may have decimated populations, but only at the local level; the exception being the Black Death plague (approx. 1346 - 1353) which killed an estimated 40%-60% of the population of Western Eurasia and North Africa. Had they had the same ease of transportation that we have, it would have been an estimated 40%-60% of the world’s population that would have died.

 

The Black Death forever altered the world, you could even say that without it Western Eurasia would’ve remained a feudal society, dominated by the church, and a few land owning aristocrats. The Americas would’ve remained undiscovered/unexplored, as well as much of sub Saharan Africa.

 

With ease of transportation and densely populated megacities, humanity has put itself in to an ideal position to be significantly impacted by future plagues. COVID-19 was a dress rehearsal (undoubtably there are a number of very nasty viruses out there - viruses that make COVID-19 look like a mild case of the sniffles - currently happily cohabitating with small mammals in a bit of the rainforest that will soon be destroyed by deforestation thus unloosing those viruses on an unsuspecting world). TBH, we were lucky with COVID-19!

 

Unfortunately, what the COVID-19 “dress rehearsal” has shown is that neither politicians or populace are, for the most part, intellectually or emotionally equipped to deal with complex medical situations – as would be the case with a major Black Death type plague. Modern medicine would likely find a cure or a vaccine for such a plague, but with a modern plague as fast and as lethal as the Black Death (most people died within 2 to 7 days after infection) it wouldn’t be fast enough for the majority of humanity. 
 

There are, I would argue, a couple of “upsides” to such a scenario: the ant-science, anti-vax, “freedum” nutters* would be amongst the first to go; the strains and stresses on… well everything… caused by overpopulation would cease and the surviving humans would inherit a modern infrastructure which - after repair and restoration- would provide an incredibly high standard of living (and politics would never be the same).

 

* I reckon such nutters would still be spouting conspiracy b*****ks even with live news feeds of operatives in Level A Hazmat suits bulldozing bodies into mass graves.

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by iL Dottore
Forgotten word.

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, Barry O said:

They had 10 BYD buses in Bradford,   unfortunately they now have only 9. The new EV buses for Leeds are not BYD.

 

There are a wide variety of EVs on the market. A friend has a mini and reckons it's very good ( he lives in the countryside and has a small wind turbine and solar panels plus a storage battery so uses that to charge his car up).

 

I will stick with my PHEV aka the Beast for now.

 

Baz

 

If the range is Leccy and No. 10 caught fire then no doubt someone will come along and use it as an excuse to claim that "10% of EV Buses catch fire - will yours be next?"

 

18 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

So your first claim was a lie.  Children do not mine for lithium. You are spreading misinformation.

 

🤣

[iL Dottore]

26 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

So your first claim was a lie.  Children do not mine for lithium. You are spreading misinformation. 

Well, yes and no.

 

The specifics may have been incorrect, but child labour is used in the so-called “third world” in many dirty and often dangerous jobs - the end result of which are materials and/or products that contribute to the developed world’s insatiable need for “cheap” stuff.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Bear's F. Stupid "Law" of the Year goes to.......

 

"exporting the vehicles to Ukraine would "not meet the legal threshold of the benefit to Londoners from an economic, social, or environmental perspective" as set out within the act"

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67737663

 

I can't see many people giving their cars away and lose out on £2K as a result.

 

I am sure that IF there was the political will, there’d be a workaround (there generally always is).

 

One has to wonder why there isn’t the political will in this case…

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by iL Dottore
Clarification

[RobAllen]

441 photos taken yesterday. May take a while to sort out… Going to see my parents for lunch instead.

[DaveF]

A very red sky first thing this morning, doesn't look too good yet the forecast isn't too bad....

 

I'm up, had breakfast, started on the usual e milas, first phone call in a few minutes, then church.  Today a bishop is taking the service.

 

Later on perhaps some modellimng or a walk after lunch, it depends how I feel.  I have sticking plasters on two fingers, I get very dry skin at times round my nails, it is some sort of allergy to detergents/soaps/cleaning materials, but it only affects me some of the time.  I suspect as well that I cut some of my fingernails a bit shorter than usual last week - and that does make it worse.  I wonbder why?

 

David

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente. Grey and cool outsidbut the market becks.

 

Jamie 

[Erichill16]

Morning All,

Been back from my holiday at  the bottom of the world a couple of days and just about got my body clock in sinc with the world outside.

Looks like I’ve missed about 70 pages of postings so I’m not going to have time to catch up. Therefore I hope all are well and no one has had a catastrophe.

Had a good time and did plenty of touristy things, even went on a steam train ride!

Stack of work to do now and the sale of Mums house and old business premises are due by the end of the month.(Didn’t have a buyer when I  left).

A visit to Newark on the cards for today as it will be eldest niece’s 21st birthday at the end of the week so we’re having a bit of a bash.

Have a good day.

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry start with a cloudy grey sky which has a pinkish tinge to it.   It should be a dry and mild day and there may be a few sunny spells.  8°C rising to 11°C.

Overdosed on rugby yesterday and managed to watch 4 matches.  There's more available today but these will have to be recorded for later as we're off out at lunchtime for a pre Christmas family get together and meal.  Joe and Gemma are home from Uni so we're looking forward to this as we haven't seen them for a few weeks.  Abbie & James are going to Malta for Christmas so it's the only way we can get all offspring and grandkids together to celebrate.  

First task today will be to surround some bacon and eggs which will be followed by a lazy morning  doing nottalot until our cab arrives.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 17, 2023 by grandadbob

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Well, yes and no.

 

The specifics may have been incorrect, but child labour is used in the so-called “third world” in many dirty and often dangerous jobs - the end result of which are materials and/or products that contribute to the developed world’s insatiable need for “cheap” stuff.

 

Bear's post may well be technically incorrect (it should be Cobalt, not Lithium - but both are used in the manufacture of Li-ion Batteries) - I did point this out in a subsequent post though.

Stating it's a "Lie" knocks it into a different league though - and one which a Certain Bear could very easily take offence to.

 

1 hour ago, RobAllen said:

441 photos taken yesterday. May take a while to sort out…

 

The hidden curse of digital cameras

[pgcroc]

@Ozexpatriate

I was afraid of that.

 

YouTube to the rescue. (This is the link to part 1. I see part 2 on the side bar. There are three parts.)

 

Not available on my UK computer.

However, I went to the US, (VPN),  and it is available to watch on PBS.

 

 

[BachelorBoy]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Well, yes and no.

 

The specifics may have been incorrect, but child labour is used in the so-called “third world” in many dirty and often dangerous jobs - the end result of which are materials and/or products that contribute to the developed world’s insatiable need for “cheap” stuff.

 

It is. But not for mining lithium. By spreading lies about lithium, it makes it difficult to have proper conversations about the issues.