On the topic of employment...

You seem to be assuming that a ban on new petrol/diesel cars being sold means that nobody will be able to drive anymore? Electric cars are getting cheaper and cheaper. I’d be very surprised if they weren’t at the same pricing as current ICE cars in 15 years time.

Electric car technology is improving constantly. That means longer battery life and shorter charge time. I would put money on the fact that in 15 years you will be able to charge an electric car at the same speed as filling up with petrol and get the same range out of it. Then it’s just a case of adding charge stations to petrol stations and there’s no issues.

 

You may well be right and I am no scientist but I suspect the law of physics may well be a showstopper. Besides, simply stating all you need are charging points at filling stations is a huge oversimplification. Where will all this power be generated? People rely too much on science to provide solutions to everything.

 

Polar ice caps shrink-ice melts, sea levels rise, temperatures rise more humidity more storms clouds and rain lowering temperatures causing ice caps to expand. Over simplistic but the point,as you say, is, nature has the final say.

 

i work for a company that has developed innovative smart grid technology, micro grids, HVDC switching etc. In addition we have introduced technology and deployed it in many cities that enable EV charging for the entire public transport infrastructure and also personal EV charging networks. The target is possible but what i see when i compare UK with many other countries is that we have a lack of investment in public transport that means we are already way behind our counterparts. Look as the Swiss train network for example. We also spent a long time debating what the EV infrastructure should look like while countries were already installing national EV charger networks. We have partnered with Volvo to electrify the city bus network where charging is done as the bus loads and offloads passengers. We have home chargers that provide a 1-3 hr charge. Managing the loads, energy storage and availability is critical but the government have had no clear PG strategy pulling the rug on Solar investment several years ago. We also make solar inverters and the technology is there to support wider networks. Innovation and timeframe isn't the real issue, its whether the government is prepared to invest, attract FDI and create a platform to make this happen.

 

Well, we import thousands of GWh from France each year, to make up for what we can’t generate ourselves (assuming this will continue in a post Brexit world) We are moving in the right direction, to not using any fossil fuels.

The world has coped with generation of power to match demand when it comes to the evolution of televisions, computers etc. This is not going to be an insane amount of power needed.

A researcher in this article estimates that if car charging is done intelligently, only a single odd-shore wind farm extra would be needed to charge all cars in the UK. (Intelligently meaning not everybody charging at once) https://www.wired.co.uk/article/electric-vehicle-car-infrastructure-charging-point

It’s a problem that will need a solution, for sure, but it’s not all doom and gloom. You’ll still be able to use ICE cars, just not buy new ones.

 

Excellent thread, it belies the popular image of Barnsley folk in the media.

 

Hopefully from renewable sources with nuclear picking up any slack

 

Al drink t that.

 

The "benefits" of renewable energy have been more than taken by the extra power used for generating bitcoins.

 

You're not wrong. It's become very much not worth it right now, though, so that's less of an issue.

 

they said this in the 70's,ie in 20 years time it'll all be robots

 

yep,agreed,this is what johnsons announcement boiled down to

 

The thing is now you can see it. You see it in every day life.

Shop Assistants - Fcukk that, zap your own food and bag your own food.

Deliveries by drone - Already happening

Buy and Sell stuff on the internet - no need for a salesman now.

All jobs done by the working classes now disappearing and big businesses getting g richer. You mark my words and come back in 20 years time.

 

Built a highway in Turkey with electric power points at every fuel station roughly 7 years ago .we need to speed up roll out of charging points