Thread: VW caught by the Yanks for breaking emission laws

Originally Posted by TerryO

Not quite right old mate, there are roughly half a dozen tidal power stations around the world in operation with another ten or so proposed to be built soon.

Most were previously built to see how efficient and cost effective they are and apparently they are. ...

WA wave energy project turned on to power naval base at Garden Island - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Originally Posted by PAT303

So if we want to be environmentally friendly we need to buy two cars ,for city driving why not use public transport or ride a bike?. Pat

Yes, until electric cars outperform fossil monsters in every way, the best way is to have a choice that minimizes operating cost AND pollution while allowing you to have a practical work horse available as well. That dinosaur doesn't need to be new you know, recycling an old one for limited use is just fine (hello Australian Land Rover Owners forum!!). Or of course you could have just the one electric car and hire what you need on a few days of the year, if that works out the best for you.

Many families have one car per licensed driver in the household already, so trading the short and frequent trip one up to full electric makes sense. Even some single people own more than one vehicle. As a student I had a V8 car and ran a tiny 4 cylinder car completely on the savings from not commuting to tech school in the V8. The commute was 1/2 hour by car or 2 hours by bus, so car commuting was the only practical option. I would have loved to have an electric car for the commute. But that wasn't possible 30 odd years ago, and 30 years into the future will be just as different.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

It can be tricked with water.

Legend, thanks for this Ian!

Originally Posted by rick130

WA wave energy project turned on to power naval base at Garden Island - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

And thats just waves? I would have expected that there would be a heap of opportunity for hydro / tidal along the coast too.

Bee utey,I've had a choice and that has been driving the same Tdi defender for 18 years,how much have I saved in both cost and pollution over driving a new battery powered vehicle that would have had it's batteries replaced at least twice as well as all the coal burned doing almost 500K?.For all of you who think electric is enviro friendly can you tell me why the batteries are manufactured in countries like China and recycled in countries like India?,for those of you who think wave power,wind power,solar are the way to go you should do some research on base power requirements,and then ask yourself if YOU want to rely on it when YOU really need it most. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Bee utey,I've had a choice and that has been driving the same Tdi defender for 18 years,how much have I saved in both cost and pollution over driving a new battery powered vehicle that would have had it's batteries replaced at least twice as well as all the coal burned doing almost 500K?.For all of you who think electric is enviro friendly can you tell me why the batteries are manufactured in countries like China and recycled in countries like India?,for those of you who think wave power,wind power,solar are the way to go you should do some research on base power requirements,and then ask yourself if YOU want to rely on it when YOU really need it most. Pat

So Pat, what do think is the pinnacle of evolution of the motor vehicle? Is it the Model T Ford? Is it the 300TDi Defender? Is this year's cutting edge vehicle the last ever vehicle to be improved? Do you really think that there is no room for battery tech to evolve to a point where it out competes fossil fuels? You know, there's what industry insiders call the Kodak moment, where a company sneers at new tech and ties its fortunes to old tech continuing forever. Guess what, Kodak is dead. Film has almost completely died under the digital onslaught. Battery tech still has a long way to go but has made huge strides in the last few years alone. It is what is called a disruptive technology. One day it will be bigger than fossil fuel. And that is an opinion of not just me but qualified people who have access to huge amounts of data on energy industries.

Oh and "base load" is a myth invented by manufacturers of inflexible coal and nuclear plants, and to maintain the myth they have to sell it off cheap as domestic water heating after 11pm. New energy sources have new challenges that don't involve millions of dumb time clocks switching on resistive heating elements all over the country. With a solar boosted heat pump HWS I have virtually zero "base load" after 11pm, so do other solar powered houses.

Originally Posted by bee utey

Oh and "base load" is a myth invented by manufacturers of inflexible coal and nuclear plants, and to maintain the myth they have to sell it off cheap as domestic water heating after 11pm. New energy sources have new challenges that don't involve millions of dumb time clocks switching on resistive heating elements all over the country. With a solar boosted heat pump HWS I have virtually zero "base load" after 11pm, so do other solar powered houses.

Oh, I was waiting for this. You clearly have no understanding what base load is.
So, it's all peak load then, is it?

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Oh, I was waiting for this. You clearly have no understanding what base load is.
So, it's all peak load then, is it?

Haha, what a comedian. I know what "base load" is, it's a dinosaur.

It's all just load, capable of being provided in various ways. Hey, you could try googling "base load myth", and read some of the analysis out there. For starters:

Busting the baseload power myth ? Analysis and Opinion (ABC Science)