UK’s CO2 emissions at lowest level since 1888 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2019, 01:10:27 pm
content: https://www.energyvoice.com/other-news/193939/uk-carbon-emissions-down-six-years-in-a-rowThe economy isn't far off 1888 either, there really are food banks all over the place.We even have to have asuicide prevention minister.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45804225Everything is falling to bits.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2019, 01:19:49 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on March 04, 2019, 01:10:27 pmThis rather ignores the fact that the UK has exported much of its CO2 emission to the factories in China and elsewhere that make all the stuff the UK consumes.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2019, 01:26:29 pm
content: Isn't this a bit too political for this forum?It's also untrue. The UK has just off-shored its CO2emissions, so it looks good. Our government have enacted strict environmental regulations and taxes so companies have moved all their polluting factories abroad. Why shit in your own backyard when you can go in someone else's?The UK needs to impose carbon tariffs on imports with high CO2emissions. That would result in more being made locally and in countries with lower CO2emissions.

author: Buriedcode
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 07:39:52 pm
content: Also, burning biofuels isn't counted as emissions. Granted they do take CO2 from the atmosphere when growing, but we still emit them when burning, and they tend to be less efficient (read: we have to burn more than fossil fuels for the same energy output). There's a quite a bit of "book fiddling" to meet targets that ultimately do more harm than good.I'm not sure what this has to do with suicide prevention, but I imagine having a minister specifically for this is because suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales. Why is it a bad thing that the government is at least trying to do something about it? (albeit, like many things governments do, in a rather half arsed way).I don't think "everything is falling to bits". Sounds like another "old man yells at cloud" thread.

author: Pluscrafter
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 11:21:34 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on March 04, 2019, 01:10:27 pmCould it be the case, because there aren't much heavy Industries these days in The UK while back then. In this case the problem is shifted to another place. There was a case in germany, that some politicians ban disel cars out of some steets in the city because of the VW scandal. They had to take detour and exausted more CO2. But the CO2 measuring indicates a improvement, because there were measuring stations on the banned streetsGesendet von meinem G8341 mit Tapatalk

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 11:09:14 am
content: Biofuels aren't good, unless you're talking about energy from waste biomass. Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar cells and crops require lots of energy to sow, irrigate, harvest and process, so there's little point. The only advantage over solar cells is the energy is stored for later use, but even batteries are probably be more effective, in terms of cost. Energy from waste biomass is very good. Biomass should never be left to decompose, without extracting and burning the methane (a potent greenhouse gas) for energy. Dry waste should be gasified and used to produce electricity. Damp waste should be decomposed in biogas reactors and used to generate power.The diesel car scandal was about corrosive gases and particulate pollution, just as much as CO2. The problem is diesel cars emit less CO2than petrol cars, so were promoted for years as a cleaner alternative. The government thought the emissions tests would mitigate corrosive and particulate pollution, but didn't anticipate the manufacturers circumventing them. I think the government are just as much to blame as the manufacturers. They should have sought the appropriate advice from engineers, who would have told them that designing a diesel car with low CO2and corrosive/particulate emissions is impractical.A lot of the urban pollution now seems to come from public transport and haulage, rather than private cars. I would advocate reducing the number of motor vehicles in cities and town centres. Even if we move to electric vehicles, parking is still a huge problem in the UK, people would be much more healthy if they had to walk the first and last km of their journey and it would be much safer, since most road accidents occur in urban centres. People might not like this, but it would be good for their health and well-being.

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 05:34:00 pm
content: Main reason for the reduction is that the EU has banned us from using coal for electrical generation. Gas has just over half the carbon content.Of course the Greens will try to conflate this as a wind turbine success story.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 05:44:24 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on March 06, 2019, 11:09:14 amThe diesel car issue shows just how much people just pay lip services to the issue de jour. The dirt from diesels and coal fired power stations helps global dimming, and its only that global dimming which has kept global temperatures as low as they are. If you cut the sulphates, nitrogen oxides and particulates before doing something serious about the CO2 level in the atmosphere, the resulting temperature rise will make our current civilisation unsustainable much more quickly than its current course.

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 06:11:11 pm
content: The diesel car scandal was more about chasing moving goalposts than any real pollution issue. The EU has progressively reduced exhaust emission limits to the point where it became silly. If you check the actual air quality data you will see that city air has improved more in the diesel car era than in previous decades. Like most of these scares it is a 'manufactured' problem, the objective being to push Green ideologies.https://iwrconsultancy.co.uk/blog/diesel.htm

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 06:54:33 pm
content: Oh yeah, what about fine particles?https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/how-polluted-your-area-worst-11438083?service=responsivehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fine-particulate-matter-pm2-5-in-the-uk

author: Buriedcode
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 07:44:14 pm
content: Quote from: IanMacdonald on March 06, 2019, 06:11:11 pmIs that an IT consultancy blog? Sounds like someone has just found a blog that agrees with them. Maybe this is a better source of info?https://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/nowcast.aspx(this is specifically London, but thats because it is often the worst area for air quality).Also, "air quality" has several metrics. Nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, various sizes of particulates and is dependent on the weather, the temperature and time of day. It's not an easy thing to measure, and I'm sure there are many standards that aren't always compatible. I'll agree that a lot of so-called green initiatives are often warped into just being "seen" to be doing something, when in reality it is just exchanging one form of pollution for another. But to claim its some kind of "green agenda" and conspiracy makes it seem like you think our current levels of emissions (of all kinds) is acceptable. We're all biased, but some here at least try to be objective.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 11:59:43 pm
content: Quote from: IanMacdonald on March 06, 2019, 05:34:00 pmWell, something has had to replace coal, and it looks like it hasn't been just gas:Fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_Kingdom(No, it doesn't break out the different categories of renewables, but it was the most up-to-date chart I could find.)

author: IconicPCB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 11:06:36 am
content: TGhe industrial revolution era is a poor base line.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 03:18:47 pm
content: All that being said, I don't think the OP's concern here was environmental. I think it was more about the UK's industrial decline, a trend that has been affecting most european countries except maybe Germany (but deprive them of the automotive industry and they will only be marginally better off), and the overall decline of economy.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/nov/16/why-britain-doesnt-make-things-manufacturinghttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11562374/Britain-is-experiencing-same-decline-as-Rome-in-100BC.htmlhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12106829/The-tragic-decline-and-fall-of-the-UKs-steel-industry.html

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 05:31:17 pm
content: Fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_KingdomYou might as well ask the Pope if Christianity is a good idea. It is well established that certain Wikipedia editors enforce heavy censorship on such pages. Any criticism of renewable energy is strictly verboten. Plus as you have rightly identified, data massage is a common practice, for example to include the likes of biomass and claim the total figure as a success for wind turbines. Another is to conflate electricity with total energy usage.I would prefer to trust the figures on OurWorldInData.org which indicate that after more than a decade of deployment, so far only 1% or so of world energy has been transitioned, and at a cost of more than $2 trillion.

author: Cnoob
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 05:55:08 pm
content: "The second stage of Industrial Revolution (1870-1914) – New technologies of electricity, development of petrol engine, oil, and greater use of cheap steel."I don't think Britain has any cause to brag about it.Quoted from webhttps://www.biographyonline.net/facts-about-the-industrial-revolution/