Page 1 of 1
Those dirty electric cars! Pah!
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:49 am
by Dominic
This made me smile wryly to myself....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19830232
Altogether now... "how green we are, how green we are...."
Re: Those dirty electric cars! Pah!
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:13 am
by Alec
Hello Dominic,
nothing is as simple or easy as it seems.
However it seems that while the government is actively encouraging electric vehicles on the one hand, there is another aspect which is that we are facing a serious shortfall of generating capacity in the very near future, (which these silly windmills do little to help).
Alec
Re: Those dirty electric cars! Pah!
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:58 am
by ASL642
Simple answer is to just buy older cars and keep them longer. People don't need to have a new car every years.
My "modern"drive is a 15 year old Volvo. Just walked it's MOT. If everybody did this we wouldn't need so much power to make all these new cars.
Re: Those dirty electric cars! Pah!
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:11 pm
by smithskids
Electric power generated by coal and steam turbines is about 33% thermal efficiency at best. Diesel power with a waste heat recovery boiler can be 90% efficient. They use this system abroad quite a lot, the steam generated is used to heat housing or used on industrial estates etc.Better than wind turbines, go on the internet and see some of the blowups when the gearbox siezes up!!!
Re: Those dirty electric cars! Pah!
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:56 pm
by Roni
It might be a good thing in a country where the bulk of electricity is derived from hydroelectric generation. You still have the problem of the increased capacity needed.
Another angle, I remember seeing a breakdown of the environmental cost for the manufacture and 5 year use of a new vehicle. Surprising results, you were kinder to the planet by buying and using a Hummer compared to a hybrid (of the type that Clarkson "loves"). The killer for the hybrid was the battery production and the rare earth motor magnets.