14-10-2019, 11:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 14-10-2019, 11:42 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(14-10-2019, 12:40 AM)Tony Press Wrote: Not to mention the battery disposal costs and problems
I suspect India and China will use Coal fired power for a long time to come.
The Indians and the Chinese are, literally, laughing at the West, for without cheap energy industry cannot function and jobs are exported. China plans to build 300 to 500 new coal-powered plants by 2030 (that's two per month for the next twelve years) and are engaged in building hundreds of coal-fired plants and the associated energy infrastructure overseas; India's coal-fired power generation capacity is expected to rise by 22.4% in the next three years. India's energy needs continue to build rapidly as millions move out of poverty, just as in China - who are building upwards of 500 new regional airports. People in developing nations have no intention of giving up flying, or driving and are looking forward in many cases to having, for the first time, holidays and fridges, freezes and air conditioning in their homes. However, to save the world, some bright spark in the EU had a good idea. Chop down trees in the USA; turn them into pellets; ship them across the Atlantic and then truck them from Immingham to the Drax power station. Why? Because the Government had to introduced an EU carbon tax on coal and then pay a subsidy to Drax that amounted to two-and-a-half times more for the electricity it produced from wood than coal. And who's paying for this? One guess. We do.
(14-10-2019, 08:20 AM)Reckless Rat Wrote: All well and good, Derek but a lot depends on what you have to use your car for. A zoe or similar is fine if all you want to do with it is a bit of local commuting. In my instance I have family in Germany who I visit several times a year. Due to our rural location travelling there by train is nigh on impossible, and there are no flights from anywhere near here to Stuttgart. That means I have to drive. Its a 900km journey each way.
I also undertake several long continental journeys each year, usually around 800 miles, which my diesel car can cover, just, on one tank. One day I'll stay in the truck lane and see if it will make 1000!