Croydon's Tram system is clean in Croydon - power generation is elsewhere where by products are emitted.

Logic means that small scale generation - only generating what is needed where it will be used (hybrid vehicles) - is a good way to go. Pure electric requires charging points and infrastructure elsewhere. What happens when the battery goes flat halfway across Dartmoor. I think the future may be town cars and distance cars with charging points at intervals - liker the old coaching inns where horses were changed if people wishes to go more than twelve miles. Something possibly best left to the young people who attend their first Palace game this season.

Centralised power generation is always going to be cleaner and more efficient than personal power generation; i.e. an engine under the bonnett. Much oif this is being done by natural gas now which still produces CO2 but is otherwise much cleaner and cheaper than other fossil fuels. As more people put solar panels on their homes, there will be less need for base-load power plants.

As for long-distance travel with electric cars, Tesla has solved this with their SuperCharger stations. You can get 150 miles of charge in about 20 minutes (for free) from one of these, and they're spaced so that you can charger-hop your way across the country.

The less techie option is a plug-in hybrid that only runs the engine when the battery needs recharging, so can traverse long distances recharging on the go from your petrol generator. As it's only generating electricity, the petrol engine used here is quite small and is running at a constant speed so it's very efficient. During normal usage, the petrol engine never engages because the car's propulsion is 100% electric, running off the batteries that get charged from the mains overnight.

Ironically, electric cars were around before the internal combustion engine; dating back to the early 1800s. The range and power of ICEs killed them but, nearly 200 years later, we're actually solving those problems. Tesla will be producing an all-electric "18-wheeler" tractor unit at some point. [Link]

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

The future.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

Obama's administration was pro-renewables but Trump's is most definitely not - he wants to resurrect coal FFS! However, technology has its own momentum and will overcome any artificial resistance.

Commercial wind and solar is already viable and working; electric cars are getting really good and cost-efficient; domestic solar is getting really good and cost-efficient; batteries for all the aforementioned are getting really good and cost-efficient.

We're far from, say, mandating installation of solar panels on new build houses (something that would be an incredible boon, IMHO, as it will lower long-term housing costs and reduce centralised infrastructure spending), but people will make that choice based on economics. For example, Tesla (again) makes a solar roof shingle that's nigh-on indestructible and, through both power generation and longevity, will deliver significant long-term savings. It's a high front-end investment now (especially if you add the whole-house battery), but adoption rates will go up as the initial cost inevitably comes down.

Right now, the cost of a shingle roof in Houston, for a 4-bed family home is about $20,000, and has a life-expectancy (hurricanes notwithstanding) of 20 years at best. Tesla's solar shingles on that same house will cost about $50,000. But, the Tesla shingles will save you about $1,750 in electricity bills a year (Tesla's estimate, sans battery), and also come with a lifetime guarantee. So, it'll take 11+ years to break even on the Tesla roof but after that it's all gravy. With the standard shingles, you're paying electricity bills forever and spending another $20,000 or more to replace that roof after Year 20.

The economics on this are closing really fast, and already a no-brainer for anyone who can swing the up-front outlay.

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

Yeah, the SuperChargers are only for Tesla's, but at least he's proving the technology while stealing a march on the competition. I presume that motorway service stations will have EV plug-in ports for everyone else.

I also read that they're working on induction (wireless) charging for electric cars. Who knows, at some point, we'll be able to drive forever picking up juice from the road like a Scalextric!

The Tesla S kicks all kinds of arse when it comes to performance. The new "3" will beat comparative model BMWs and Audis etc. And they can upgrade their cars by wifi download. Tesla owners can wake up to a new capability, like 2.9 second 0-60!

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

The ,000 Powerwall battery? And what about the tax-payers who will be subsidising this (yet another Musk) product?
I'm all for clean-energy (and roofs are an ideal way to harvest sunlight) but it appears this may not be quite as economical as it appears, yet....

[Link]

It could well be a crock, but this looks interesting.......
[Link]

Edited by .TUX. (26 Jul 2017 7.36am)

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