And the woodburning stoves as well. I think there is an established culture of misplaced hand wringing and dodgy facts being banded around by politicians and environmental pressure groups from both sides. Its clear that man is a major polluter... by the sheer fact there are billions of us all consuming various fuels and materials. Any chance of a sensible discussion about causes and solutions is always distracted by the nutters in woolly hats who want the wheel banned as well as the cash counting major industrialists. The average Joe just sits in the middle trying to live a life of some kind. Throw into this the like of India and China who all want their share of the fun and its not looking good. Make a Nissan Leaf £15k and I'd buy one tomorrow if the range was at least doubled or make a Tesla 90D, which at least has a practical range, for £30k instead of £140k and I'd have a think about that. But someone has to "pay" or justify the huge environmental price of scrapping all those old cars, and the same for manufacturing the battery cars and the ongoing generating requirements to keep them charged. Or you are removing one type of pollution and replacing it with another.
I'd love a long term strategy without it punishing people for just doing what they were encouraged to do, buy a diesel. But who's going to convince the Indians and Chinese. Although to be fair with cars they are trying but its a drop in the ocean as China and India burn billions of tons of coal every year. Damning diesel cars without a viable alternative is just as reckless as the environmentalists have us believe owning one is
Update: Just chatting to my Spanish colleague right next to me, yes over here stealing our jobs and women, he was saying that in Spain solar energy is punitively taxed to the point where people aren't installing it. Reason ? Political pressure from, in Spain, the all powerful energy companies who saw their revenues decreasing in a country where there is, effectively, nearly 365 days a year of sun. It's a hugely controversial government policy of course and crazy. My sister live's near Alicante and it would cost her 25% more to have solar panels installed and run than using mains electric in the long run. And electricity is not cheap in Spain anyway. Its far more expensive than here.
I'd love a long term strategy without it punishing people for just doing what they were encouraged to do, buy a diesel. But who's going to convince the Indians and Chinese. Although to be fair with cars they are trying but its a drop in the ocean as China and India burn billions of tons of coal every year. Damning diesel cars without a viable alternative is just as reckless as the environmentalists have us believe owning one is
Update: Just chatting to my Spanish colleague right next to me, yes over here stealing our jobs and women, he was saying that in Spain solar energy is punitively taxed to the point where people aren't installing it. Reason ? Political pressure from, in Spain, the all powerful energy companies who saw their revenues decreasing in a country where there is, effectively, nearly 365 days a year of sun. It's a hugely controversial government policy of course and crazy. My sister live's near Alicante and it would cost her 25% more to have solar panels installed and run than using mains electric in the long run. And electricity is not cheap in Spain anyway. Its far more expensive than here.
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