Boris's environment bungle

[Hectors House]

Seems Boris is all out for a greener economy but is it all bungled?

Well.yes!

Air Sourced Heat Pumps - Great if you can get one to fit in your house, the main unit looks like an air con unit (but actually works in reverse) that sits in your garden, but all the other gubbins (which is noisy and beeps and whirs at night) to go in the house actually needs a lot of space (you can multiply that of a gas boiler by several times) so you are not going to be able to retrofit this gear in a small three bed house (todays build standard) unless your prepared to lose the box room or an average two bed house. Never going to work with flats! Environmental damage? Yes, believe it or not air sourced heat pumps blow out vast amounts of very cold air and garden birds don't like it, so expect a crash in the population of garden birds if these things become common place. Don't expect this to get your house much hotter than 20 degrees C and you house tempreture will feel tepid not warm.

Ground source heat pumps, great if you live in an old coal mining area, if yoy live on chalk downland like the Chilterns, North/South/Wesex Downs then more problematic, if you live ina na area where the gritstone is near the surface then forget it!

Electric Cars - this is really is driving into the cul-de-sac of environmental dogma, yes there needs to be a replacement but is electric really it? There is no other research into any other alternatives like hydrogen (it sounds dangerous but needs to be made in a inert gas. One thing about the batteries in electic cars if they are involved in an accident and the battery is punctured it will catch fire and by that I mean flare under pressure!

[spacedin]

 

 

Electric Cars - this is really is driving into the cul-de-sac of environmental dogma, yes there needs to be a replacement but is electric really it? There is no other research into any other alternatives like hydrogen (it sounds dangerous but needs to be made in a inert gas. One thing about the batteries in electic cars if they are involved in an accident and the battery is punctured it will catch fire and by that I mean flare under pressure!

It takes a lot of energy to produce hydrogen fuel which makes electric cars more environmentally friendly, not to mention the fact that the hydrogen is powering an electric motor. And what about the oxygen they use?

The only real benefit is ease of use but the range of electric vehicles has steadily improved, as have the charging times. The question is, what will be the next big technological breakthrough? Will it be battery technology or hydrogen production? My money is on battery tech. 

But of course if we want to make transport more environmentally friendly we need to reduce our reliance on cars. Even electric vehicles cause particulate pollution because of the tyres and brakes. This is a lot more substantial than people realise. 

Do you really need to jump in a car if doing a journey under three miles in a city for example?

Edited November 18, 2020 by spacedin

[Hectors House]

 

It takes a lot of energy to produce hydrogen fuel which makes electric cars more environmentally friendly, not to mention the fact that the hydrogen is powering an electric motor. And what about the oxygen they use?

The only real benefit is ease of use but the range of electric vehicles has steadily improved, as have the charging times. The question is, what will be the next big technological breakthrough? Will it be battery technology or hydrogen production? My money is on battery tech. 

But of course if we want to make transport more environmentally friendly we need to reduce our reliance on cars. Even electric vehicles cause particulate pollution because of the tyres and brakes. This is a lot more substantial than people realise. 

Do you really need to jump in a car if doing a journey under three miles in a city for example?

I don't live in a city, nearest towns are 7, 9 and 10 miles away, yes there is a bus but it doesn't always go where we want to go, using a bike isn't really an option especially if work is over 20 miles away. The trouble with this is it is all dreamed up by people who live in London, they need to get a dose of reality, and accept the majority of people live outside London. The Conservatives have already bodged up HS2, which isn't a surprise, anything that require a bit of thought and planning is beyond the capability of a monkey see, monkey do government!

[spacedin]

 

I don't live in a city, nearest towns are 7, 9 and 10 miles away, yes there is a bus but it doesn't always go where we want to go, using a bike isn't really an option especially if work is over 20 miles away. The trouble with this is it is all dreamed up by people who live in London, they need to get a dose of reality, and accept the majority of people live outside London. The Conservatives have already bodged up HS2, which isn't a surprise, anything that require a bit of thought and planning is beyond the capability of a monkey see, monkey do government!

I grew up in a very hilly rural environment but live in a medium sized city so can see things from both perspectives. 

I will say however that even in that rural hilly location, commuting by bicycle was still possible, even without an electric bike. The main problem was the poor cycling infrastructure, people having to ride bikes on A roads. There were however disused railway lines which made commuting a thousand times easier. 

As for the medium sized city, the vast majority of journeys can be done on bicycles, be them regular or electric bikes/cargobikes etc. 

I even know people who commute to the next city which is 13 miles away. It takes them about 50 minutes. There's also another city that is 45-60minutes on the train yet takes an hour for a fit cyclist to reach. 

It may not be the most convenient mode of transport but it certainly saves people a few bob and keeps them active. 

Edited November 19, 2020 by spacedin

[dougless]

Heat Pumps are a great way to heat buildings BUT as Hector pointed out they require a fair bit of internal infrastructure (storage tanks and complex control/pump systems).  They don’t have to be noisy but are best placed some distance away from the house.  The up side is they do work well; my sister’s house has them and it is never cold and their energy bills are really low.

Our rather odious building companies are really going to have to up their game to accommodate this technology in the crap they currently call houses.  On the other hand stuffing a shoddy gas boiler the size of a suitcase in a cupboard in the kitchen is a thing of the past, thank goodness.

[Hectors House]

The other thing how many of these are going to be in an average sized town, the outsside unit may seem quiet on its own but what happenes when you have several thousand on the go in the middle of the night, will there be an effect like the "hum"?

Another thing if used on mass in towns they will cause the area to have its own climate,, what effect is that going to have? cause more localised storms and flooding? Somewhere like London is notoriously hot in the summer months due to the number of people and buildings, could mean London will be a lot wetter in the future!