www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19830232
So much for my lovely Toyota Pious. Right, back to the 4 litre Lexus it is.
|
|
My first new car was Forest Green. If it had fallen over and nobody had been there to hear it, would it have made a sound?
|
Of course they are green, they use the power specifically generated by wind power...or would that be hot air power.
Whoevers argument is pushed or belittled, there is always a hidden agenda, usually involving money.
|
|
I do get angry when I see electric cars being touted as 'Zero Emissions' vehicles.
|
If charged overnight they are automatically non-polluting as they use surplus electricity. Until the point when there are so many of them that electricity has to be specifically generated for them.
They're certainly less polluting for city centres than oil-fired cars as the pollution is put out in the countryside.
But they use far, far more power than oil-fired cars to get you around on account of the losses in generation, conversion to electricity, transmission, battery charging and discharging.
And as marginal power is generated in gas-fired stations, they're inevitably NOT using eco electricity (whatever that is. Remember all the solar panels ever made have generated less electricity than they have taken to make.)
|
>> If charged overnight they are automatically non-polluting as they use surplus electricity.
>>
It is not "surplus" energy though, is it?
AFAIK, the reason for incentives such as economy7 to use electricity at periods of low demand overnight was that it was cheaper to keep base-load generators running at full load than to reduce or shut down their output.
That was particularly true for nuclear generators but was true for the mega Drax type coal stations.
With the huge shift to Gas-fired plant,
blogs.ft.com/energy-source/files/2009/12/eia_uk-generation.gif
those economics have changed and I recall reading about the demand for economy7 to have gone over the point where it made sense to discourage further sales of the tariff.
The last economic analysis of UK power costs that I can find is this:
www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/statistics/projections/71-uk-electricity-generation-costs-update-.pdf
Last edited by: John H on Fri 5 Oct 12 at 14:26
|
If you charge it up by pedalling a generator all night, eating home-grown zero food miles organic potatoes, then it is green.
If you charge it with mains electricity generated by burning 'Orrible Emulsion and sub-prime imported Polish coal in an obsolete power station, then it is not green.
|
Aaah, but Cliff, that isn't important! what IS important is that you can be a right smug supercilious git and preen about in your 'green' car.
I'm convinced that the Prius/Insight/C200h/CRZ all look 'different' so that the drivers can show off that they are 'green'.
Or, as a racing-driver friend of mine put it, after driving a certain vehicle:
,i.And it is a ‘hybrid’ in the true sense of the word – you get to thinking ‘what the *** is it actually supposed to be?’
I’m not sold on hybrids yet, It seem the majority of people buying them are buying them for the feel-good factor. Or Hollywood film stars making themselves look good.
Or wealthy ‘greenies’ – who’ll drive it Monday to Friday, then take the Harley Fatboy out for weekend. And have five kids!
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 6 Oct 12 at 16:54
|
Electric cars less green than others? - L'escargot
