Off Topic The Environmental & Pollution Thread

[ChilcoSaint]

Thing with UK electricity is that we can go net zero and lower the costs. We are an Island surrounded by water (for hydro electricity generation) and Wind. We also have a fair bit of sun surprisingly. There is no excuse to not use renewable energy. Be that batteries and solar at home or using electricity from wind farms.

I am currently looking at batteries for the home. Solar to follow. The reason I will do it in that order is that i can buy for about £7k batteries that will power my house for about 24 hours. With the tariff I am on with Octopus, I can charge them at 7p/Kwh and then flip over to them when the costs rise. I wouldn't then pay more than 7p for my electricity. If I added solar, I could then either charge them for free or export my electricity back to the grid.

I did that for a couple of years at my last house. The feed-in tariff (before the Tories scrapped it) meant that over the whole period I effectively got my electricity for free.

And before the usual suspects start, the panels work even on a cloudy day. If I had the money I would do the same on my current place. The government should make it a requirement under the new planning laws that every new build should have solar panels and an air source heat pump. Communal ground source pumps would be another option.

There really is no need to use fossil fuels for domestic purposes nowadays.

 

[Osvaldorama]

Thing with UK electricity is that we can go net zero and lower the costs. We are an Island surrounded by water (for hydro electricity generation) and Wind. We also have a fair bit of sun surprisingly. There is no excuse to not use renewable energy. Be that batteries and solar at home or using electricity from wind farms.

I am currently looking at batteries for the home. Solar to follow. The reason I will do it in that order is that i can buy for about £7k batteries that will power my house for about 24 hours. With the tariff I am on with Octopus, I can charge them at 7p/Kwh and then flip over to them when the costs rise. I wouldn't then pay more than 7p for my electricity. If I added solar, I could then either charge them for free or export my electricity back to the grid.

It’s a really good idea. I think for families and individuals that want to take these steps, I would actively encourage it

However on the industrial scale we need to switch to nuclear to have any hope of the UK economy being competitive on a global stage

 

[thereisonlyoneno7]

It's a good idea to buy a smart controller that allows for expansion and comes with long term update planning.

I am Mr Smart Home lol. Everything is automated - not just by voice, but circumstances. I have a backend AI that is local (so no cloud) and some of the things I do are awesome. Local facial recognition to unlock doors, auto house alarm arm/disarm and general things that happen by being in a room or leaving one. The batteries/solar will be one of my easier automations lol.

 

[......loading......]

I am Mr Smart Home lol. Everything is automated - not just by voice, but circumstances. I have a backend AI that is local (so no cloud) and some of the things I do are awesome. Local facial recognition to unlock doors, auto house alarm arm/disarm and general things that happen by being in a room or leaving one. The batteries/solar will be one of my easier automations lol.

I want to come over for tea!

 

[......loading......]

It’s a really good idea. I think for families and individuals that want to take these steps, I would actively encourage it

However on the industrial scale we need to switch to nuclear to have any hope of the UK economy being competitive on a global stage

I actually agree. Nuclear was the perfect stopgap for going green. I don’t understand why we haven’t done it.

 

[StJabbo1]

I am Mr Smart Home lol. Everything is automated - not just by voice, but circumstances. I have a backend AI that is local (so no cloud) and some of the things I do are awesome. Local facial recognition to unlock doors, auto house alarm arm/disarm and general things that happen by being in a room or leaving one. The batteries/solar will be one of my easier automations lol.

I want to come over for tea!

Me too I'll have a long island iced please automated of course.

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[StJabbo1]

I actually agree. Nuclear was the perfect stopgap for going green. I don’t understand why we haven’t done it.

Have a look at the costs, Hinkley Point C is an engineering and financial disaster.
"The latest data from the CFD register as of September 1, 2023 shows that the current minimum remuneration price (current strike price) has already risen to £128.09 /MWh (14.8 ct/kWh). This is a cost jump of over 43 percent, but there is currently no end in sight to the dynamic cost spiral for British nuclear power."
The time and cost going from proposal, planning, design, construction and commissioning for nuclear compared with renewables is considerably higher. Not to say that nuclear doesn't have a part to play but not on the scale of HP2 or the proposed Sizewell plant which, the then, UK government had agreed to allow construction costs for a new plant at Sizewell in Suffolk to be added to customers' bills gradually over the decade which it will take to build.
More info here at this credible source:-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianne...hich-energy-source-wins-the-zero-carbon-race/

 

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Have a look at the costs, Hinkley Point C is an engineering and financial disaster.
"The latest data from the CFD register as of September 1, 2023 shows that the current minimum remuneration price (current strike price) has already risen to £128.09 /MWh (14.8 ct/kWh). This is a cost jump of over 43 percent, but there is currently no end in sight to the dynamic cost spiral for British nuclear power."
The time and cost going from proposal, planning, design, construction and commissioning for nuclear compared with renewables is considerably higher. Not to say that nuclear doesn't have a part to play but not on the scale of HP2 or the proposed Sizewell plant which, the then, UK government had agreed to allow construction costs for a new plant at Sizewell in Suffolk to be added to customers' bills gradually over the decade which it will take to build.
More info here at this credible source:-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianne...hich-energy-source-wins-the-zero-carbon-race/

Ok, I guess that is why!

 

[StJabbo1]

Ok, I guess that is why!

Add to that the dangerously aging, creaking processing facility at Sellafield and the abundance of renewables in the UK together with leaps forward in energy transmission and storage then large scale nuclear plant isn't an option.

 

[thereisonlyoneno7]

I want to come over for tea!

Talking of tea, my local LLM is trained that if I say "i'm thirsty" it turns on the kettle

Now if I knew you were coming, I could use AI to recognise you when you ring the doorbell, say welcome loading, well done on the 25 undefeated and then boil the kettle

 

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Talking of tea, my local LLM is trained that if I say "i'm thirsty" it turns on the kettle

Now if I knew you were coming, I could use AI to recognise you when you ring the doorbell, say welcome loading, well done on the 25 undefeated and then boil the kettle

Ffs are you Doctor Who?

 

[thereisonlyoneno7]

Ffs are you Doctor Who?

lol no, just uber geek.

 

[Osvaldorama]

Have a look at the costs, Hinkley Point C is an engineering and financial disaster.
"The latest data from the CFD register as of September 1, 2023 shows that the current minimum remuneration price (current strike price) has already risen to £128.09 /MWh (14.8 ct/kWh). This is a cost jump of over 43 percent, but there is currently no end in sight to the dynamic cost spiral for British nuclear power."
The time and cost going from proposal, planning, design, construction and commissioning for nuclear compared with renewables is considerably higher. Not to say that nuclear doesn't have a part to play but not on the scale of HP2 or the proposed Sizewell plant which, the then, UK government had agreed to allow construction costs for a new plant at Sizewell in Suffolk to be added to customers' bills gradually over the decade which it will take to build.
More info here at this credible source:-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianne...hich-energy-source-wins-the-zero-carbon-race/

Only because of the government bureaucracy and general incompetence that I talked about on the politics thread

Other countries seem to build nuclear power plants with relative ease. We are just a failing nation run by buffoons.

 

[......loading......]

Haha I just saw a video of an enormous wind turbine being driven on a truck through China and some MAGA idiot replies: Do china even do wind power with their dirty coal?

And a chinese guy replied: Yes, we build a quarter million of these while you argue about Covid Masks and Abortion.

Brilliant. The world’s leading economy is leading on green energy.

 

[StJabbo1]

Haha I just saw a video of an enormous wind turbine being driven on a truck through China and some MAGA idiot replies: Do china even do wind power with their dirty coal?

And a chinese guy replied: Yes, we build a quarter million of these while you argue about Covid Masks and Abortion.

Brilliant. The world’s leading economy is leading on green energy.

MAGA man gone MADA

 

[Osvaldorama]

Haha I just saw a video of an enormous wind turbine being driven on a truck through China and some MAGA idiot replies: Do china even do wind power with their dirty coal?

And a chinese guy replied: Yes, we build a quarter million of these while you argue about Covid Masks and Abortion.

Brilliant. The world’s leading economy is leading on green energy.

That’s not true. They also produce an incredible anoubt of emissions due to coal etc

 

[ChilcoSaint]

That’s not true. They also produce an incredible anoubt of emissions due to coal etc

Two things can be true at the same time, but that’s a lot to take in I know. China produces 34% of the world’s CO2 emissions, by far the most of any country. That they are also far ahead of any other country in producing renewable energy is to be applauded, not sneered at.

 

[Osvaldorama]

Two things can be true at the same time, but that’s a lot to take in I know. China produces 34% of the world’s CO2 emissions, by far the most of any country. That they are also far ahead of any other country in producing renewable energy is to be applauded, not sneered at.

That’s like saying “this guy is a murderer, but he also donated some money to charity so it’s fine”

(If you believe the climate crisis hysteria that is)

 

[ChilcoSaint]

That’s like saying “this guy is a murderer, but he also donated some money to charity so it’s fine”

(If you believe the climate crisis hysteria that is)

Every industrialised country is equally guilty of the murder if you want to put it in those terms, and I hold no brief for China. You’re part of the chorus which chants the refrain “why should we bother, because China”, but contrary to popular belief, China are at least working towards reducing their emissions and increasing renewable energy production.

2023 figures for China’s world share of renewable energy production:
Hydroelectricity 29%
Wind 19%
Solar 35%
Biomass 29%

Overall 32%

China produces about 31% of its energy from renewable sources, which is about par for the world’s output. And their CO2 emissions in 2024 were lower than in 2023, the first time they have ever dropped.

This isn’t to big up China in any way, just to prove that working towards net zero is possible, as well as being essential, and far from futile.

But then you are a climate change denying flat-earther, so it’s probably my effort to educate you which is futile.

No apology necessary by the way.

 

[......loading......]

The point is that economies with an eye in the future are investing heavily in renewables. Countries with no long tern plan are not.

China’s economic plan runs to 2049! Had any other nation got such planning? And yes, autocratic regimes help with this.