The Political Thread

[Richmond Clements]

Thanks for the link, Richmond, very interesting but I've got a gas pipe coming into my house from the road, into my recently purchased expensive gas boiler which then warms the pipes to my radiators.  How is all that lot replaced by a wind turbine?  How much is it going to cost me?  I need to know, I'm on a budget!  I was talking about heating not lighting, most of us have got gas boilers, who's going to pay to replace them all with something that lets all that wind in?

You seem to be mistaking me for your heating engineer. Perhaps you should ask them?

[Stan]

Frack away, I say!!  Until someone can explain to me how a wind farm can replace the gas that goes into my boiler and radiators that keep me toasty warm, I'm quite happy to stay with coal, nuclear and any other system that works.  Come on you clever lot, how does a wind farm supply heating to 60 million people?  I really want to know.

With proper investment hydro-power and wind farms could be more than viable, and a lot less destructive.

If 'keeping warm' is your main concern you should try wearing a coat - this would be cheaper, and again; a lot less destructive to the environment.

Cheers

This sounds like something Prince Charles might say.

[Old Tankie]

Damn, Richmond, I thought you were going to give me the answer.  No more time wasters, please.  Surely there's an earth-hugger out there who can give me the answer!

[Jim_Campbell]

Damn, Richmond, I thought you were going to give me the answer.  No more time wasters, please.  Surely there's an earth-hugger out there who can give me the answer!

You really are a colossal fuckwit, aren't you?

[Old Tankie]

..........and you really don't have a sense of humour, do you!  All hail to the great Jim_Campbell!!  Another web-site warrior!  Hopefully, Richmond on the other hand, realises that I'm having a laugh with him and takes it in the manner in which it was meant.

[Frank]

I'm quite happy to stay with coal, nuclear and any other system that works.  Come on you clever lot, how does a wind farm supply heating to 60 million people? 

You might as well ask how an electricity generating power station is supposed to pipe gas into your home. Energy generation in the UK is already the result of a mix of all the sources you describe, plus oil, hydroelectric, imported energy, and renewables other than wind. Renewables already account for the same percentage of UK energy production as nuclear currently does:

https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/national-renewables-statistics/

[Stan]

...

[Stan]

That worked well.

[Recrewt]

Old Tankie does kind of raise a good point - wind farms, hydro-electric plants and even nuclear all generate electricity whereas in this country the majority of homes are still heated by gas.  Of late, the North Sea reserves of Gas have really dropped which is probably why they now want to frack for it.  Short-term this leaves us importing the majority of our gas.

The answer to Tankie's question is to change from a gas boiler to an electric one and then you don't need to change anything else in your system.  The future is electric, whether that be generated by burning coal, wind-farms or nuclear power plants.

[Old Tankie]

Thank you, Sir.  It was a genuine question about the practicalities of a country that currently uses gas boilers as its main heating system and how it can be changed without costing us a bloody fortune.

[Frank]

Thank you, Sir.  It was a genuine question about the practicalities of a country that currently uses gas boilers as its main heating system and how it can be changed without costing us a bloody fortune.

Most boilers last between 7-15 years. As gas becomes scarce enough to be prohibitively expensive, folk will just change over to a different system when they'd be upgrading their old boiler anyway.

[JamesC]

Apparently tidal power could potentially provide 20% of our energy needs which sounds quite amazing. I guess the technology is not as exportable as some though which may go some way to explaining why we're not surging ahead with it.

I'd like to think that in the future our energy needs will lessen anyway. Led lighting (and other lower energy devices) better insulation and less wasteful infrastructures at home ( grey water tanks, solar panels, ground source heat pumps) will hopefully offset rising costs per unit.

[Tombo]

One of the reasons I read National Geographic magazine is to learn about the multitude of schemes and ideas for renewable and sustainable energy that are been developed.  Things like turbines in even slow moving rivers which aren't a danger to fish but which can generate as much as a wind turbine 24/7, and solar panels that are flexible and so can be wrapped around structures easily.

I often see older houses fitted with solar panels which look bulky and ugly and possibly in danger of been ripped off by a strong wind (not to mention adding extra weight to roofing joists).  A company in California has designed a miniature panel the size and shape of a roof tile so you can cover the entire of a building's roof with solar panels and not have them stand out like something from the Sov-Tastic architecture thread.

[Tiplodocus]

Thank you, Sir.  It was a genuine question about the practicalities of a country that currently uses gas boilers as its main heating system and how it can be changed without costing us a bloody fortune.

Most boilers last between 7-15 years. As gas becomes scarce enough to be prohibitively expensive, folk will just change over to a different system when they'd be upgrading their old boiler anyway.

Our boiler is knocking on for thirty years old. I just have to replace the thermocouple every 4 years but it keeps on ticking. Every plumber that comes to the house looks at it and says "That one will never break down. Hang on to it. You'll never save enough on bills from a new boiler to recoup the cost." This doesn't seem right to me - but is a refreshing variation on "oooh, I'll have to replace the entire energy infrastructure of your house" that you often get..


I do like Prof Bear's description of Cameron: "He is not on your side. He is not one of us. Nothing he does is for your benefit". I might use that.

[Ancient Otter]

I know some environmentalists are against solar panels because of the toxic chemicals involved in their manufacture and I have heard with the older ones (not sure about the new ones) that by the time they had money invested in them paid for, it was time to replace them. We'll see what impact the Chinese will have on their manufacture and the market, now that E.U. are resolving their tariff issue against them.

In related news: Light from plastic bottles