I don't think we're miles apart Vin, and as a (retired) scientist I'm open to rational argument. I agree entirely we are miles away from powering Britain via renewables but a lot can be done to reduce the amount of energy we waste. The other issue, as you said earlier, is storage. The lithium/iron batteries which I have are amazing, with a guaranteed life of 12 years, within which something even better will have been developed. One thing I would like you to clarify: you say that shale gas is "low carbon". Presumably it's mostly methane, and thus identical to North Sea gas, so how is it low carbon?
Because if it's cheaper than coal or oil it'll be used to replace them (capitalism again). If we produce more, the price will drop and coal won't be as attractive. The CO2 per unit of energy produced in a power station is significantly lower from natural gas then from coal or oil. Ref storage - there is such an astounding amount of money going into battery research that there will be a breakthrough soon. I was reading about giant capacitors made of graphene sheets the other week. If they scale, you'd end up with something that could power a car for a long way (can't quite remember how far- hundred miles pops to mind) and recharge in four minutes. Vin
OK, I see what you mean. Low carbon as in the total footprint of the industrial process. Fair enough.
Bear with me on this, but this is Beyonce and Ed Sheeran (?!) singing Stevie, in front of Stevie.....and....gotta say, it's absolutely brilliant....
Definitely!! Stevie's the man (and a BIG man - I saw him a few years ago and was amazed by his size and his ability to stay on stage for over 3 hours and keep the audience completely mesmerised!) ..........
You couldn't have planned that better... confirmation of retirement comes in the post on one of the most beautiful days of the year. All you need now is call from Ronald to say Toby is staying, Stevie Wonder to call you just to say he loves you and it's a perfect day!
In other news - I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY!!!! It's only 3 days, but I'm off to Nice on the 13th. Joy, joy, joy...
On Saturday, a federal judge in Tierra del Fuego ordered the seizure of $156 million in bank accounts, boats and other property of six European and U.S. oil companies operating in the islands. Argentina claims sovereignty over the South Atlantic islands which it calls the Malvinas, located about 435 miles (700 km) off the coast of Tierra del Fuego and occupied by around 3,000 people who mostly say they wish them to remain a British overseas territory. Britain and Argentina fought a short war in 1982, after the then Argentine military dictatorship briefly seized the islands, and tensions have escalated again in recent years with the discovery of oil deposits. http://reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0P810M20150628?irpc=932 Not this bullshit again....
Heather Watson beats the seed Garcia. Like so many British sportsmen she did her best to lose, but luckily so did her opponent. Great result for her.
Speaking of Majorca/Mallorca - such sad news regarding John Noakes. I hope they find him safe and well somehow. His poor wife.... http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/john-noakes-missing-wife-vicky-5975047#ICID