Though if you are generating your own electricity then you could be selling the surplus anyway. It could mean almost free motoring if you ignore the cost of the car. Also you are unlikely to be completely off grid. Many who generate their own electricity sell the excess back to the grid and so it offsets their normal usage. The range might also be a problem, okay if you have daily commutes that are within the range of the car. Not so good if it is further than that.

The problem with that is if we convert our power generation infrastructure to renewables, the value of electricity reduces massively, because the only cost is building and maintaining the power station.


And the turbine. Which, as I pointed out, can actually cost more than the car (although to be fair you can't get a electric car you'd actually want to drive for £11k). TCO for the plan you're suggesting probably is lower than an efficient 'normal' car but the initial outlay is a bigger chunk of that.


IIRC the Tesla S with a 85kWh battery has a quoted range of 300 miles. I haven't seen any range quotes for the forthcoming Tesla X, which is probably abetter match to the general requirement for electrics. 300 miles is the vast journey of journeys within the UK covered. But that battery takes roughly 50% longer to recharge than the one I was doing the maths on before. I suspect it would be better if we worked in terms of 'miles per day' than actual flat range. A car with a range of 150 miles that takes 2 hours to recharge can probably do 400-500 miles in a day all told, whereas a car with a range of 300 miles but a 12 hour recharge time can really only do 300 miles...

I think that renewables would need to be part of the solution. To be completely renewable you need to have a considerable surplus power generation to cover windless days. Though with the latest research solar panels offering 60% efficiency then you could trickle charge with a solar panel on the roof, without a need for any other power source, though those could be a decade away.

That's why i think we'd be better off using tidal generation. The wind may not blow, but unless someone takes the moon away the tides are always going to happen exactly when we think they are.

I have nothing against tidal but there are not many great sources, blocking off the Severn Estuary creates other problems. Wave power could also be useful. We should be researching thorium reactors, renewables insulation and low consumption technologies, high efficiency manufacturing techniques.

Sadly, most individuals don't seem to give a sh!t about our children and the world they'll live in. They happily rape them for their own petty convenience.

Witness people who drive big inefficient cars (mums in 4x4s), people who CBA to recycle despite it taking precisely zero effort thanks to government funded facilities kerb-side, people using inefficient halogen and tungsten bulbs just because they "give a nicer light", people throwing toxic batteries into general rubbish thus polluting the water with carcinogens, people buying unhealthy packaging-intensive "ready meals" because they CBA to cook. The list goes on...

I am very green. I only have a couple of halogens in my flat and only because I cannot get the old bulb out to replace with a R7s 118mm Led, so I try not to use that lamp. Every other light is now led. While I still have a couple of daylight low energy bulbs in boxes for specific purposes, all the lamps that I use are Led. in fact my energy use is so low that even with two computers on most of the day, my energy use is lower than a friends who is at work all day. I recycle 90% and my food cupboards have very little in the way of ready meals, which is a complete turnaround over the last three years, when I lived off microwaveable ready meals for years, because of the amnesia. I still do not cook with a hob or oven, but slow cook and microwave everything from proper ingredients. It has been hard finding solutions that an amnesiac can do, but I don't do too badly, it also supports local butchers etc. Big shops I can do online without the cost of petrol, and can getaway with a big shop four times a year.

I rarely put on my Eco tv because streaming tv to an iPad saves 60 watts an hour, which is equivalent to about 70% of all my lighting being on. When people say they cannot cut they are not being imaginative enough. Modern Led bulbs do not have the slow warm up of low energy bulbs and now come in two colour forms, cool white and warm white. Each suiting different tasks. Okay there is a big upfront cost but even if you rent you can take them with you, and the prices are falling every year and they last for as much as twenty years, so the payback is huge, plus you help save the planet. So when they say energy prices will rise 10% this year that only adds up to £30 for electricity for me.

As for kids being taken to school in a 4x4. Why not try and get them into a local school? It might not be the best you could buy them an iPad or computer for studying with purely from the petrol saved. I suspect that the differences between schools is narrower than league tables suggest and does not take into account the level of the kids to start with. Plus walking the kids to school will stop them getting fat and lazy, walk with them and that stops the parents getting fat as well. You also get to talk to you kids at the same time. So can't be arsed is not a valid excuse, unless they will admit they are lazy



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You're probably the "greenest" person I know of. Of course a lot of people do care a great deal. Unfortunately, the majority of people are far more selfish and think only of immediate self-gratification. They're ruining the planet for everyone.

Often being "green" actually saves you money, in addition to reducing your negative impact on our children's future. However, even many of those in the west that claim to be poor are actually amongst the richest in the world and act like spoiled princesses with no regard to anyone else. Especially people they don't see or think about.

Few of us want to live in the forest eating berries and fungus, and even those that want to are not allowed to. What gets my goat is when people actually choose to cause harm to others by making needlessly evil decisions for little or no gain.

An ex described me as green before it was cool to be green. As you said it can save you money as well, particularly over the longer term, so even the higher upfront costs of Led bulbs will mean you get payback within two or three years especially if you have made no changes, and still have incandescents and halogens. I used to be sent free low energy bulbs because I am disabled but now give them to friends and family to help them save energy and money, easy now that I have led bulbs everywhere. In addition it saves money over the longer term. Though it is getting harder to find cheaper deals on Uswitch. I like to think like the native Americans and aborigines I that we do not own the land, but are merely tenants for the next generation. We could all learn a little from them. I think many have the attitude "I can afford to use halogens so why suffer with low energy bulbs?"


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Want one? Only $2 million.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/61470



But the Aliens figures are cool

http://www.firebox.com/product/5854/Any ... w&NL_pos=4

Hmmm...

I'm not liking the 'adhesive' part, honestly..

I've actually found quite a lot of gloves will work if you lick the tip of the finger first. An odd thing to do, but needs must...

You can buy conductive gloves for less than that.

Just use a Nokia Lumia, they work with any gloves.