it’s like nobody was paying attention when the world went into lockdown 14-16months ago and the pollution levels around the world ground to a halt.
it truly makes me sick. We keep building more roads for more cars, instead of investing in mass transit infrastructure that enables movement of people and good over short and long distances here.
On a more positive note:
have two of my cousins who moved away from Vancouver to work in the energy field. one of them is a maintenance tech for AP Plus and works on one of the largest wind farms in Canada, near Tumbler Ridge, BC. my other cousin helped build the highest wind farms in Europe in the Swiss Alps about 8 years ago. Some incredible pictures have been sent to me, a lot of work goes into building those.
Just 2 MW!!! Think tidal energy is the best option for Bangladesh since we don’t have enough sunshine for a considerable part of the year.
Say wot you facking want abart the royals and that, but you can’t knock the queen. She’s a facking diamond and a credit to the cantry. GOD BLESS YA, MAAM.
The move appears at odds with the royal family’s public commitment to tackling the climate crisis, with Prince William recently joining his father, Charles, in campaigning to cut emissions and protect the planet.
Clearly a case of “do as I say”, not “do as I do”. Regal hypocrisy at it’s very finest.
I dont know I completely buy the Gladwell interpretation of tipping points, but they exist. And to that point, the stuff Ford are doing with Electric trucks is absolutely incredible. It is such a macho fueled part of the industry that Ford have met head on to say, what are the most macho requirements of a truck…let us blow those out of the water with our electric version.
Their F150 is a model that by itself produces more US revenue than the whole of McDonalds or Apple as entire corporations. They have just launched a 100% electric version of it that has a towing capacity as standard over 10 times the regular petrol version and they’ve added fake engine noises to it so it appeals to gear heads. They’ve even had demonstrations of how with after market add ons it can tow 1,000,000 lbs
Performance of electric is now far superior to petrol counterparts. It’s just too expensive and too inconvenient still. I dont think we’re far from one or both of those things tipping over though leaving very few reasons left to continue buying ones with a combustion engine
refer to the picture I posted earlier. “rush hour” at a charging station at the base of a mountain range 150km from a major city. 2.5hr wait to charge their cars before they can climb the mountains.
Yes, we’re not there yet, and more remote places like that will almost certainly be slower to get develop the required infrastructure.
crazy thing is, there’s 8 charging stations there. but that’s a huge influx of Tesla’s all at the same time to follow that route. I would have thought they should have installed a bunch of them at the top of the mountain to enable a direct jump from Vancouver to that point. it’s about 250km
That’s great news. The fake engine noise sounds a bit too ‘Man City’ for my tastes though.
Ha, yeah I thought it was a bit penis extension like, but there are a ton of Teslas around my place and they scare the shit out of me the way they can soundlessly creep up on you when you’re walking. We’ve had a couple of close escapes when out walking the dog of him or I just walking out in front of one, so I do think there is safety value in adding artificial noise to them, even if not mustang type roars designed only to make your penis hard and the sound of an engine.
It also contributes to an oft-overlooked problem: noise pollution.
Yeah EV’s have a habit of doing that. Just something like a roo whistle like we use in Aus but that actually works. Maybe making a ding when it identifies a pedestrian close by. Doesn’t need to be a permanent noise.
It is a good thing that electric cars are now becoming mainstream. As long as the electricity used to charge them is produced by environmentally friendly means. If the electricity at the charging point is derived from a coal / gas power station then it is a bit of a fallacy by the car manufacturers to suggest the car is using “green” fuel. Emissions are just transferred back to the power station.
When solar panels become more effective then hopefully we will see cars fueled by and maybe even contributing power to the grid. The technology is certainly there now to make major steps forward.
But still far less than the emissions that are required to fuel a combustion engine.
Here, our electric cars are obligatorily equipped with a sound system, for safety reasons, not as loud as conventional engines, but still loud enough to be heard. However, with time going by, that sound system should be removed or at least lessened, as combustion engines will tend to disappear. The general noise level will then be lesser, and you’ll hear the cars approaching through the noise of the wheels on the road.
On the other hand, allowing fake roaring sounds on electrical vehicles seems incredibly stupid to me… finally we have a technology allowing us to reduce general traffic noise levels, only to be ruined by twats being allowed to drive cars with artificial roaring noises… 
(…) Sir James Bevan, the head of the Environment Agency, said there are more than five million homes at risk of flooding in England - and “that risk is rising as the climate changes”. (…)
Floods in London this last week after a long period of really hot, dry weather.
Up here in Wales we’ve had the hottest, driest month I can remember to be honest. More forecast too.
I have certainly noticed that our weather has a more dry season, wet season feel to it over the last couple of years.
Yeah, I was really shocked to see some of the photos. Those are very common scenes for us/Dhaka, specially considering the abysmal state of our drainage system. But didn’t expect to see these in London. Something is very wrong.
