Royal Mail Zero Carbon - more trains?

[Michael Hodgson]

9 minutes ago, PeterStiles said:

So some people *do* order from Amazon and then "go somewhere" to pick their goods up....

If you live in a block of flats with nowhere secure to leave goods while you're out at work all day, you have to do that if you want to accept a delivery that is likely to be when you're not there.  Or maybe even if you are there, given the tendency of some delivery drivers to leave a parcel anywhere and play childish games of press a doorbell and run awway. 

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, ruggedpeak said:

Last mile isn't necessarily that simple and current delivery networks have no link to rail in many cases. It would be part of a mix, and forward looking authorities are moving to "active travel" options within towns and cities to reduce and remove short car journeys. So the journey to a station may be incorporated into other journeys or made in other 'active' ways. A key plank of current thinking is to remove car journeys, and a Red Star type service does not preclude that.

 

Perhaps you'd care to expand on 'active travel'?

 

It sounds like one of the as-yet to be invented energy sources!

 

If, as I suspect, it involves walking and / or cycling, it'll be pie-in-the-sky for the majority of on-line purchasers.

 

Perhaps, as an example, you could describe an 'active travel' means of a resident of, say, Girton, collecting a Red Star package from Cambridge station; (Google Maps will assist you there).

 

CJI.

[KingEdwardII]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

A key plank of current thinking is to remove car journeys

Surely the simplest way to do that is what is already done - doorstep deliveries! Voila - no car journey required. Lots of people seem to have opted for this approach. Even me.

 

Forcing people out of their cars will likely have similar effects. While walking & cycling may look great on a sunny summer Saturday, they ain't so appealing on a wet winter Wednesday. Make it hard for me to get to the shops? OK, I'll buy online then.

 

Yours,  Mike.

[black and decker boy]

9 hours ago, ruggedpeak said:

Still doesn't overcome the problem of how you generate enough electricity to power all the electrical things that were once petrol/diesel etc. Nor the massive environmental damage caused by mining the materials needed for these systems and the neo-colonialism across the world (conveniently ignored by focusing on colonial issues from hundreds of years ago) as the race for resources continues apace.

Big industrial buildings will get solar. For example the new RM hub at DIRFT. New build housing is already getting solar included.

 

R&D is reducing the rate earth elements in current batteries and the new market is opening up new sources (eg Cornish tin mine lithium - if it gets off the ground)

 

I have faith that the current huge R&D will bear fruit. Look at what existed 18 years ago to what we have today and then think what might exist in 2040.

 

electricity supply will track demand as there is ££ to be made provided HMG don’t get in the way, prevaricate or get distracted by deadend promises. OK, I admit, we are doomed.

[jjb1970]

I got into trouble many years ago when I burst out laughing after our environmental head honcho proudly cited fitting solar panels to to the office block of a 2.6GW coal fired power station as an example of how green the company was and had nominated themselves for an environmental award. The absurdity of it all just made me laugh.

[PeterStiles]

16 hours ago, black and decker boy said:

Big industrial buildings will get solar.

 

Ours isn't a big industrial building, to be sure, just a modern built, 2-storey 100 person office, but a few years back we covered all the roofs with Solar panels.

 

They have paid for themselves; they cut the electricity bill down.

 

But they definitely don't generate enough electricity for the whole office to be in and working. Its possible in covid times we came close to covering the bill, but we've a fair number of non-cloud computers that were being used by people at home.

 

Conclusion: need more roofs if you're going to use solar.

[black and decker boy]

17 minutes ago, PeterStiles said:

 

Ours isn't a big industrial building, to be sure, just a modern built, 2-storey 100 person office, but a few years back we covered all the roofs with Solar panels.

 

They have paid for themselves; they cut the electricity bill down.

 

But they definitely don't generate enough electricity for the whole office to be in and working. Its possible in covid times we came close to covering the bill, but we've a fair number of non-cloud computers that were being used by people at home.

 

Conclusion: need more roofs if you're going to use solar.

Solar is just part of the mix though and your example is perfect, by fitting solar, your company has reduced demand on the grid and thus there is now extra capacity for other users.

 

As more solar comes in (especially if combined with battery storage), so grid demand will fall. Add in possible new technology such as the Rolls-Royce mini nuclear, new big nuclear, more hydro or tidal barrage (should any get government backing) and we will survive. We are pretty much weaned off coal now so only has to solve / remove over next few decades.

 

Big business is focused on all this, 1) because they can make money 2) because they can save energy = save money and 3) because institutional investors are moving their money into low carbon / sustainable businesses (current oil based share value peak aside)