Heat Wave -

[Observer II]

The "hysteria" is coming from the ECO nerds, plus celebs like Pr Harry, virtue signalling the end of the world, having left a carbon trail from LA to NY; all magnified by the MSM.   The large majority don't give a toss, as they travel from one hot zone to the next.  The penny hasn't really dropped with most of the great unwashed that zero carbon means an end to current life styles.    

[Bill]

So, do we all give up taking foreign holidays and endure the lousy British weather and ban international travel especially for people with too much money? I don’t think it works quite that way and the situation isn’t as black and white as you seem to make it.

The “great unwashed” are aware of the environmental issues and I’m sure many if not most have made some slight changes to their lifestyles, but just without going to extremes. Take me for example; I’ll be driving into Europe for a family holiday later this year. We did the same four years ago but this time we’ve decided to all squeeze into one vehicle. Mainly to save petrol but our decision to do this may well have been subconsciously influenced by the constant pressure to be environmentally aware.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

It's not that the great unwashed want to make changes to their lifestyles Bill;  they will be gradually forced to.   Thankfully I won't see it as my times just about up - so hasta la vista baby !     😉

[Bill]

That depends how you look at it. Nobodies forcing me to swap my car for an electric one but like a lot of people, I’m thinking about it and with time it’ll become the norm anyway. I can’t remember how it worked back in the sixties when the country went smokeless, were we suddenly forced to move to gas or was it optional? Either way, few would want to go back to burning coal with all the smell and mess.

I’m the eternal optimist believing that the future won’t be all doom and gloom. Science and technology will eventually find solutions to most of our problems because problems only exist to be solved.

 

Bill 😊

[Confused52]

3 hours ago, Bill said:

That depends how you look at it. Nobodies forcing me to swap my car for an electric one but like a lot of people, I’m thinking about it and with time it’ll become the norm anyway. I can’t remember how it worked back in the sixties when the country went smokeless, were we suddenly forced to move to gas or was it optional? Either way, few would want to go back to burning coal with all the smell and mess.

I’m the eternal optimist believing that the future won’t be all doom and gloom. Science and technology will eventually find solutions to most of our problems because problems only exist to be solved.

 

Bill 😊

When we went smoke-less it was just a matter of buying coke instead. The price of coke went up I seem to recall as we changed from Town Gas to Natural gas, and as I remember it we chose to change to a gas fire.

[Observer II]

The change to natural gas was mandatory, as I recall; and price wasn't an issue, as we had discovered lots of it in the North Sea;  and there's plenty of it still there.  But we're being told we can't use it and will have to transfer to more expensive and unreliable green sources.   We've had a love affair with the car, but will be told to get EVs (if we can afford them); the great unwashed will be expected to use public transport whether they like it or not.  Most will be told to scrap their gas central heating and transfer to greener options that are less efficient.  What bet zero will do, is take society backwards in time, unless Gov provides safe and secure energy alternatives before 2050, such as tidal or fusion, but it doesn't seem to have a plan.   

[Bill]

As I said, we need to have a little more faith that technology will solve many of today’s problems, but we need to see more businesses focussing on how they can improve life for everyone rather than simply making money for themselves. We have a huge pool of skills that’s being completely wasted developing mass market gadgets that we don’t really need. So, while we run from the burning wildfires, we can take comfort in knowing our Fitbit will accurately record the number of steps we’ve taken; see my point.

Fusion will eventually come, but because it’s so expensive and taking so long to develop, other cheaper technologies could quite easily evolve to such an extent as to make fusion into a bit of a white elephant. We’re always going to need some form of secure power, but like fusion, with other technologies evolving, nuclear plants could just as well become unnecessary and also be a long term liability.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Well, I've been watching some pods from eco-experts, and it appears wind and solar are not safe, are inefficient and actually destroy the environment they are built on.  The overall winner seems to be nuclear, which is why France is in a good position and Germany is is the s**t.     

[Bill]

Well Obs, there are experts, then there are experts with differing views. Who’s right? just take your pick. 😊

From what I’ve heard, Germany’s problems are in part down to an over reliance on Russian gas and to a lesser extent its oil but overall, they have a reasonable mix. France on the other hand as you say has lots of nuclear but even that could be argued as being not 100% secure unless the Frenchie’s have their own big secret source of Uranium. Any country that relies wholly on imports of a single commodity put’s itself into a risky eggs and basket situation.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Wind and solar are inefficient, only supply about 30% of the time, take up large amounts of space, kill birds and bats, and waste solar panels are toxic.   

[Bill]

30% annually isn’t bad; it’s nearly double what we get from nuclear plus it’s free and clean We still have plenty of open spaces in the UK and surrounding waters and the projections are that wind capacity will double in the next eight years.

As for windmills killing birds and bats, well that’s the biggest load of anti-wind bunkum ever. In the UK, domestic cats alone kill a thousand times more birds not to mention the huge numbers killed by cars and pesticides.

Solar panels do contain microscopic amounts of dodgy materials but so do many of the other common electrical items we use day to day, but would anyone ban fridges or batteries etc because of this. It’s all a matter of keeping things in perspective and ensuring that the correct procedures are in place when such items reach their end of life.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

One nuclear unit can produce a never ending supply in excess of any wind farm, taking up a hundred or more times the space, so lots more efficient.   Believe it or not Bill, many nature lovers value that "open space" and it's wild life,   and the type of birds killed by windblades tends to be the rare endangered species.  The correct procedures in place at the moment for toxic material removal, is to pay some third world country to dump it.    Germany has gone full on wind and solar, having got rid of nuclear; finished up depending on Russian oil and gas, which is being turned off, leaving them in deep s**t this Winter.    

[Bill]

When windfarms started sprouting up, I’ve got to admit I was a bit anti but these days they’ve become just a normal part of the scenery. It’s a bit like telephone poles and wires, they’re everywhere and right in our faces but we don’t even notice them.

There’s pros and cons with every solution but we just have to be pragmatic and deal with the problem here and now because we just don’t know what the future has in store for us. Whichever side of the debate you sit on, you can rest assured that the internet will have no end of sites with experts critical of every decision, it’s what the internet is good at.

 

Bill 😊

[ninearches]

Well WBC are happy to be paying £63 million for a solar  farm in Doncaster. The councillors must think it is a good investment.

[Observer II]

The Councillors may find it too hard to get off the green bandwagon and start thinking for a change.