Green money making racket.

[Observer II]

Seems Councils are to increase parking fees for cars based on CO2 emmissions; so older cars will be priced off the road - they won't stop until we're all on Shanksies Pony, then they'll tax the pony.    😠

[Bill]

I can’t see that ever working but even if they could do that, it’d be a complete waste of technology and time, but it won’t stop people using their cars. We don’t need councils to try and hurry up people’s move to greener cars, that’s already happening, and the manufactures can’t produce them any faster. The only thing they would achieve by such measures would be to increase the amount of on street parking.

When I was a kid, there used to be cobbler’s shops all over the place but these days they’re like rocking horse manure and it might go some way into explaining how councils come up with such a load of old cobblers. 😄

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Some Councils already place a diesel surcharge on parking fees, and of course you've got ULEZ in London which will probably fail the democracy test.   While we continue to commit economic suicide with net-zero, I believe the Chinese and Japanese are pulling out of EV production.    

[Bill]

I didn’t know that. It doesn’t surprise me though if we’re talking about London because they’re all a bit crazy down that way. I think up this neck of the woods, we don’t mind a bit of a whiff of diesel quite so much, and in any case it covers up the smell from our whippets and ferrets.

From what I understand, Japan and China have no plans to pull out of the EV market and why should they when it’s far and away the fastest growing sector in their car market. Where the “cuts” are happening is with the literally hundreds of minor manufactures who came into a market full of business incentives and grants, but now without them, these tiny companies with their ultra-low sales find that they just can’t compete with the big boys so it's these that are falling like flies.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

i can't see it being economically viable to test every vehicle going into or out of a parking area would need a dedicated team of trained people who can spend their time shoving bits of tube up the exhaust and shouting "rev it a bit". those sort do not come cheap and the hold ups getting in out out depending where the testing takes place would cause a lot of trouble for them as well as making the councillors extremely unpopular with joe public.

add to that the number of people who will claim that the test equipment is faulty and refusing to pay any extra or demanding that the test equipment be tested by a Ministry of transport official. 

if they go off what the vehicle emissions are quoted as when they were first introduced into the country then i for one will not pay a penny extra as mine was never tested for emissions. which is one of the reasons that it is classed as a private light goods vehicle and road taxed as such.

[Confused52]

There is a database of registration marks and vehicle types. They have your number as you enter, look it up and charge you the signed rate. If you think the signed rate was wrong you can appeal. Bear in mind that the company that independently does private parking appeals is owned by all the London councils against which the majority of appeals will be made and you can see that the idea of an appeal is not worth the price of a stamp. It is not meant to be fair just another council earner from an approved victim.

[Bill]

My son was telling me yesterday about the parking scheme at Crosby beach where the council have changed the pay machines from cash to an app-based system. The trouble is that it’s a bit isolated with almost no mobile service so the vast majority of people can’t download the app and consequently can’t pay.

I’m not so sure about these app-based payment systems where you have to download a specific company app before it’s usable. The parking company (or council) get their money whether it’s done via an app or tap and pay. The only reason I can think of for doing it that way is that the company then has the ability to make more money by selling on your information.   

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Afraid that's all Chinese to me Bill, so I've got no chance.  😢

[Confused52]

The council down have to pay someone to empty the cash boxes and it can't get stolen thus avoiding damage to the meters and repair cost. Not for nothing were new designs of payphones tested for theft resilience in Merseyside.

[Bill]

I get that, but if crime at the root of the problem then ideally it’s that that should be addressed rather than force the general public to change its ways. Doing it this way it ensures that criminal activity continues; it just gets moved to other areas.

It wouldn’t be to bad if they were all just tap and pay but having to download an app before you can use it is a bind.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Seems the net-zero zealots aren't stopping at cars,  seems our homes will have to be ULEZ compliant, and non-compliance will be fined.   These eco loons are determined to take us, and our living standards, back to a pre-industrialised age.    😠

[Evil Sid]

so what is the criteria for compliance. is it measured on a single day or averaged out over a year.

Is it based on fuel use for example the amount of gas your boiler uses to heat the home. because if that is the case then when they test will be important.

during the winter the fuel use will be higher than during the summer. will it take into account the age of the house as a new build house should be more energy efficient than a hundred year old house that has to have cavity wall insulation and loft insulation retro fitted.

will it take into account the number of residents as a single occupancy house should use less than a house with two parents and three kids not to mention the age of the occupier. most houses with families have mum and dad working all day and the kids at school or college so would use no or very little energy during the day where an old person who doesn't or can't get out at all will be using energy all day.

all factors that will have to be addressed to ensure a fair assessment i would have thought.

but knowing the gov it will be just a generic post code guesstimate. measure one house and apply results to that area.

[Bill]

Is there an ULEZ for houses? I don’t think so.

The only change at the moment is that is that since 2022, any new build houses have to be built to better standards with more insulation and efficient heating systems and that makes absolute sense to me. I doubt it would cost a great deal more to install energy saving measures while the house is being built and it’s certainly cheaper to do than bring workmen in to rip it all out and replace it further down the line.

As for existing homes, I doubt there’s ever going to be anyone coming round to check on your green credentials. There’s some kind of plan to phase out gas boilers but like solar, the uptake has been so slow that any cutoff date will probably have to be pushed back.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

According to Jeff Taylor, that's the plan. I'm already getting phone calls about getting solar fitted, needless to say, I just tell them I'm not interested.  Gas will be phased out in time.    

[Evil Sid]

I have been getting those calls for years obs if i thought the roof would stand it i might be interested but the house is over a hundred years old and the slates tend to flex a lot when anybody has to go up to fix an ariel even with those ladder things.

if solar is so good why don't supermarket car parks have banks of them, provide energy and cover for cars and why don't new builds have them fitted as standard.

[Observer II]

New build and demolition apparently release more particulates into the air, so why don't they pre-fab all new housing and assemble on site, all insulated to the hilt ?   No, what we're seeing here isn't a solid plan based on rational science, but an hysteria driven panic led by the eco-loons, without thought to the impact on the peasants.     😠

[Bill]

You’re worried about particulates? Watch out, you’re treading on eco loon territory there. 😊

Most people who install solar panels do so in an attempt to save money rather than to save the planet and for me I suppose it a bit of both. It gives me lots of free electricity for a relatively small outlay. So I’m happy and if it reduced the amount of gas being burnt then I’ve made someone else happy as well. What’s not to like?

On the new builds, it’s a fact that even the best heat pumps are only as good as normal gas boiler. They cost about the same but to change existing gas to a heat pump is extremely disruptive and prohibitively expensive, so it makes absolute sense to do this when the house is being built rather than later.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Well. It's now a steady stream of cold calls, of people selling Gov green schemes for homeowners.  The latest one said I could get £1,500 off green modifications to the house, but no mention of total costs that I would be saddled with.   Well, if this is what we have to look forward to,  I'll be glad to depart this mortal coil, and just hope they have enough gas at the crem.  

[Evil Sid]

well i won't have that problem for much longer.

no i am  not going to kick the bucket, but i will be getting rid of the landline which will mean that i will only have a mobile and save a few bob on on my bill to boot.

my loft insulation is such that any more and it will be spilling out under the eaves the cavity wall insulation was completed years ago  and all my lighting is led. 

my boiler is less than two years old and only runs the hot water direct from the mains and one radiator which heats a room and is currently only used once a month for about an hour to test the pump and system is ok and leak free.

[Observer II]

You forgot the triple glazing Sid !   😉

[Evil Sid]

i only have double glazing but it was fitted in the last ten years and is the widest gap between the glass that is available in double glazing.

mind you i may have to replace some of the window seals at the back as the sun has dried out the rubber and there is a small gap where the join was.

the wind doesn't half whistle through it when it gets up....

[Bill]

Blimey, Sid’s gone all green on us. 😊 I’ve only got two small exterior walls that don’t have cavity insulation but it’s a bungalow and mostly windows and doors so it’s hardly worth bothering with. The boiler’s gas and relatively new and of course the lights are all led.

I’m not sure where we’ll end up when we can’t have gas for heating. A heat pump might work but I don’t relish the fact that I’d have to replace all the radiators with bigger ones to deal with the lower water temperatures, maybe that’ll be my next DIY project. I’ve already had a bit of a play with solar thermal on a micro scale and it was amazingly efficient, so maybe a combination of the two would be a viable solution.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Perhaps solid fuel (albeit illegal soon) is the best bet - when folk are priced out of gas or none is available, you can scavenge the local parks for wood, like the Germans last Winter and this Winter !     😉

[Evil Sid]

i only have two exterior walls in total being in a mid terraced house.

the kitchen and bathroom extension don't get much use so are not cavity insulated and the bathroom does get rather chilly in winter which makes for hot showers and a quick dry off before dashing back to a warmer room. (mind you a warm dressing gown helps keep the body warm).

i do wonder how those folks who turned to wood burning stoves will get on if they do make solid fuel illegal. they were not cheap to have installed.

[Bill]

Burning solid fuel might have been an option in the past Obs, but most houses these days don’t have a fireplace and if you’re going to have to pay to put one in or get a stove burner then you may as well just save yourself the bother and put the money toward your heating bills.

We have some good friends who claim they’re as concerned as anyone for the environment and yet have a wood burning stove/fire and a huge log store in their garden. Throughout the year they’re driving round collecting and chopping logs which I suppose makes it a bit of a retirement hobby for them. They’re not short of a bob or two, so I guess they do it more for the aesthetics of a real fire than anything else and I think that’s the case with most fossil fuel users these days.

The husband there saw how cheap and easy it was for me to self-install my solar and decided he’d do the same on his shed. But having ordered the kit, he ended up sending it all back because his wife (who wears the pants in the household) objected saying she didn’t want to see anything like that in her nice garden.

Concerned for the environment but just not that concerned. 🧐

 

Bill 😊