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Topic: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread (Read 141818 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #630 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Germany have closed their last nuclear reactor and essentially have gone back to coal to fill the energy gap.
Wonder if Greta will pay them a visit...?


Germany made the mistake of ambitious 'green' energy (solar) when the place doesn't have enough sunlight to capture and store energy. Solar is only achievable in countries like ours, parts of the US, Africa, S America and so on from what I've read by experts in the field.
Only our ruthless best, from Board to bootstudders will get us no. 17

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #631 –
Quote from: Baggers – on
Germany made the mistake of ambitious 'green' energy (solar) when the place doesn't have enough sunlight to capture and store energy. Solar is only achievable in countries like ours, parts of the US, Africa, S America and so on from what I've read by experts in the field.
Correct, as a grid replacement for base load energy production it's only viable in dry areas close to the equator.

There is also a crunch coming for these big large scale installations, it turns out the panels are aging much faster than predicted, who could have known that the corporates and executives would have oversold the performance and longevity, or undermined the manufacturing process with lower quality resources! :o While they will keep working for many years, it will be at reduced capacity, profits will be lower.

So what do the corporates do? Of course they slash the staffing levels, repairs and maintenance get it in the neck, which means the panels degrade in performance even faster!

btw., the very same is happening in wind as well, watch the big super-funds start to bail out as they realise that future liabilities are going to smash returns.

That's the tough thing about reality, it doesn't give a rats-ar5e about human opinions or politics.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #632 –
Saw this on he news the other night. A pity the fool who I catch deflating the tyres on my vehicle.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/on-the-road/radical-climate-activists-pushing-to-inconvenience-suv-owners-by-deflating-4x4-tyres-in-major-cities/news-story/e35346a24a6b6254e9420949c61a52cd
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton can win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #633 –
Quote from: Gointocarlton – on
Saw this on he news the other night. A pity the fool who I catch deflating the tyres on my vehicle.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/on-the-road/radical-climate-activists-pushing-to-inconvenience-suv-owners-by-deflating-4x4-tyres-in-major-cities/news-story/e35346a24a6b6254e9420949c61a52cd
The Ute craze in out of control in Australia, those RAM trucks are monsters and when they start turning them out as EVs with massive batteries onboard they will stuff up and damage the roads given the weight they carry.
Our roads are not designed to carry so many vehicles of this size/weight and its only going to cost all of us more money.
And all these clowns with massive Bullbars on the front of their vehicles as well driving around in the city covered with incorrectly wired driving lights that are not connected to high beam circuits that blind you at night when driving.
What do you need a bullbar and an array of driving lights for in the city anyway?

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #634 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
What do you need a bullbar and an array of driving lights for in the city anyway?
I have no problem with tradies using these for work, they are every bit as useful as the more traditional tradie vans and twin cabs.

But now I see mum's dropping kids off at private school with RAM, Ford F and Silverado, they are going up a level from Prado / Landcruiser, Range Rover or Pajero to American trucks!

I was talking to a school volunteer who does crossing duty, she complained that because these Yank tanks can't fit standard carparks they pull up wherever they like, apparently one stopped blocking the exit for everybody and when she was ask the move she replied "Make me", which says more about the driver than just about anything else! :o
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #635 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
The Ute craze in out of control in Australia, those RAM trucks are monsters and when they start turning them out as EVs with massive batteries onboard they will stuff up and damage the roads given the weight they carry.
Our roads are not designed to carry so many vehicles of this size/weight and its only going to cost all of us more money.
And all these clowns with massive Bullbars on the front of their vehicles as well driving around in the city covered with incorrectly wired driving lights that are not connected to high beam circuits that blind you at night when driving.
What do you need a bullbar and an array of driving lights for in the city anyway?
Apart from all the above, I also have the shotgun rack mounted on the cargo barrier which I need to shoot up stop signs , water tanks, protected fauna and scare off pesky tyre deflators.
Its a big country, plenty of room for everyone, protest all you like, just don't touch my big, fat, fuel swilling 4WD!
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton can win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #636 –
Quote from: LP – on
I have no problem with tradies using these for work, they are every bit as useful as the more traditional tradie vans and twin cabs.

But now I see mum's dropping kids off at private school with RAM, Ford F and Silverado, they are going up a level from Prado / Landcruiser, Range Rover or Pajero to American trucks!

I was talking to a school volunteer who does crossing duty, she complained that because these Yank tanks can't fit standard carparks they pull up wherever they like, apparently one stopped blocking the exit for everybody and when she was ask the move she replied "Make me", which says more about the driver than just about anything else! :o
Owning said vehicle type and driving legally and responsibly are two seperate issues, one doesn't imply the other.
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton can win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #637 –
I suspect around some of the Vic timber towns the Bullbars might be relabelled in coming weeks, Brandtbars, Greenbars!

Green can be a horribly introspective culture, banning "old growth" logging, but really much of the alleged "old growth" has been logged at least once or twice over the last 120 years. So technically what is "old growth" to someone in 2023?

I thought it made sense to work towards the sustainable management of "old growth" versus softwoods and plantation renewables. All that was needed was a total quota that restricted old growth felling regions to once every 50 or 80 years and it would have been all OK, that by definition is a restriction to 1.25% to 2% per year!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"
 

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #638 –
This is the product of getting rid of decent cars.  I drive a Mondeo.  It's 15 years old, and is starting to show signs of the end.  My options to replace it are sfa and I can honestly state that my car is more capable of shifting stuff than the mrs nissan x trail. 

Mid sized sedan hatchback.  Not much available there anymore. 
"everything you know is wrong"

Paul Hewson

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #639 –
Get yourself a Ford Transit van. Very environmentally friendly, they often sit on the side of the road not working at all. Saves on the emissions.

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #640 –
Quote from: spf – on
Get yourself a Ford Transit van. Very environmentally friendly, they often sit on the side of the road not working at all. Saves on the emissions.
Very popular with the Van life movement are Ford Transits...

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #641 –
Why stop at the Ford, might as well go all the way to a Combi!

I notice there is a maker movement converting these old vans to electric, sort of misses the point, the whole idea was they run on the smell and can go to anywhere you could buy a jerry of diesel off a farmer and at dirt cheap overheads. Once converted to electric will they take a genie and a 44 of diesel with them to recharge?

Electric vans sort of become the motoring version of coins in the electricity meter!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #642 –
Very very interesting developments surfacing in the hydrogen economy this week, Caltech has developed a new type of solar panel, but instead of generating electricity it generates hydrogen and other useful chemicals or compounds directly from the air. Technically it's a form of synthetic photosynthesis. Basically it takes CO2 and other gases from the air, and breaks reduces them to then form more desirable compounds in SolarSynthesis

The Moonshot for Caltech is to produce Aviation Fuel directly from the air, a completely circular process.

At the moment, the lab scale tests have the efficiency at nearly 20%, that is pretty much the same as SolarPV. The SolarSynthesis technology is based on silicon, so the expectation is that it will scale according to SolarPV.

If this is true no wonder Twiggy Forrest got out of Cannon-Brookes sun cable scheme! You can just make hydrogen and ship it via conventional pre-existing means to wherever you need the energy.

Who'd have thunk mimicking nature was a good idea? :o
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #643 –
Quote from: LP – on
Very very interesting developments surfacing in the hydrogen economy this week, Caltech has developed a new type of solar panel, but instead of generating electricity it generates hydrogen and other useful chemicals or compounds directly from the air. Technically it's a form of synthetic photosynthesis. Basically it takes CO2 and other gases from the air, and breaks reduces them to then form more desirable compounds in SolarSynthesis

The Moonshot for Caltech is to produce Aviation Fuel directly from the air, a completely circular process.

At the moment, the lab scale tests have the efficiency at nearly 20%, that is pretty much the same as SolarPV. The SolarSynthesis technology is based on silicon, so the expectation is that it will scale according to SolarPV.

If this is true no wonder Twiggy Forrest got out of Cannon-Brookes sun cable scheme! You can just make hydrogen and ship it via conventional pre-existing means to wherever you need the energy.

Who'd have thunk mimicking nature was a good idea? :o

Isn't solar more around 30-35% efficiency?

If what you say is true though, THAT is the type of green energy we should work towards.

Kills 2 birds with 1 stone, eliminating CO2, while providing oxygen and essentially power.

Of course.....we could just plant trees.....or better yet, algae. It produces more O2 than trees, and takes up less space in doing so. Has other benefits as well. Not sure how well it scales globally, but it doesn't have to be a standalone fix in itself....just part of a combination of fixes.

Re: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

Reply #644 –
Quote from: kruddler – on
Isn't solar more around 30-35% efficiency?
In the lab they are in the Mid to high 20s for short term solutions, but commercially and residential long life installations is low 20s.

There may be some thin film collapsible SolarPV systems that are above 20%, but they are not based on 24x7 operation, there are some R&D Solar EVs that are at or above 30% but the longevity is again low, less than 12 months.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"