Holsterman, not sure what point you are discussing.
Mine is fuel is not going to run out soon enough to worry and i believe that electric cars are not a good option.
We would be better off running and maintaining our cars as long as possible.
Might be in its infancy but your examples illustrate the very slow progress being made.
Most cars contain technology from 150+ years ago and Li-ion hasn't been bettered for most purposes for 25+ years. Think we'll go to our graves w/o seeing vast changes and no way will anything very different be ready before internal combustion engines are outlawed.
Holsterman, not sure what point you are discussing.
Mine is fuel is not going to run out soon enough to worry and i believe that electric cars are not a good option.
We would be better off running and maintaining our cars as long as possible.
Pollution and waste for me are the biggest issues that have a clear and direct affect on our world so, yes cutting needless emissions is important.
I know people think there is little we can do but i believe that starting with well thought out lessons at school from an early age will help. Preferably with as little politicaly motivated intervention as possible!
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Consumer ticking bombs 💣 and let’s not forget Africa too.
Demand for energy in these regions will be huge as more and more people get to benefit from the goods and technology we now take for granted.
Fossil fuels won’t be running out anytime soon nor our demand for power.
Seriously? China? You mean the place the West offshored all of its manufacturing to - precipitating desperate measures to produce enough power from any old source? The place we now hypocritically condemn for its pollution levels? The only place in the World to at least try to limit its own population? The already very wealthy nation that's mopping-up all the fugly Rolexes everyone's always whining about? The country with the fastest rate of development of hybrid and electric vehicles in the World - cos they saw all this coming 20 years ago? The country that gave us the multi-record-breaking Nio EP9 electric car? The country that's turning Volvo into an electric car manufacturer? That China?
Shall we do India? Own space program India? Owns Jaguar-Land-Rover India? The only nation in the World committed to planting nearly 1.5 *billion* native trees? Blah-blah...
I mean, sure, it's a giant clusterf*ck of a place (I worked there for a while, it's an eye-opener...), but it's getting richer by the second, and with wealth will come first a spike and then a reduction in per-capita pollution (already substantially lower than the West BTW!) as they are able to afford to improve environmental standards. Trust me, they know they have problems - and they are working hard to resolve them, while we in the West have moronic glove-puppets like Johnson and Trump pretending that facts are negotiable and climate change doesn't exist...
In both nations, wealth = improved life expectancy = declining populations = the ability to manage energy needs better - exactly as happened in the West.
Sure, it's Big and Clever to scapegoat the laggers-behind, but the truth is we *suck* hard at this stuff - we are extremely change-resistant (this thread proves that all on its own!), and could do more, quicker if it wasn't for the mix of corruption and incompetence that we laughingly call "government".
Whether or not you should worry depends on your age I suppose. Current estimates, that those predicted by the Oil and Gas industry, is that we have about 50 years of oil left. I hope to be around in 50 years, and hope my kids will be too.
Maintaining cars, and trying to use less oil may sound like a good idea. But why focus our efforts on use less of something that's running out, rather than develop technologies that harvest energy from renewable sources.
Neanderthals burned natural resources for heat and we're still doing the same, yet we have many alternatives available to us, thanks to people doing exactly the opposite of what you propose.
I'm with you on that one. It is so inifficient for transport as the car just sits idle for 95% of the time. Now with combination of Mobile App Tech; AI - predictive transport loads; Robotics / Machine Learning; Driverless vehicles - there will not be the need to own a car - just get a taxi style service - but bring it to an affordable alternative and applicable not just to regular journeys but trips when you use the cars currently - or just get out and walk / cycle and get some exercise...
Martyn
Mx-5!
My posts are crystal-clear, I can't help you with your comprehension. You've shifted your stance on the inexhaustibility of fossil fuels, I see. Well done.
Electric cars will be great if the electricity to charge them is generated using a combination of renewable energy (solar, wind etc.) and nuclear power stations.
May I suggest you fit solar panels to your roof?
Watched a programme a few weeks ago.
1 years worldwide oil consumption takes 3 million years for the planet to regenerate!.
But you are are going to have to pay for it in someway. As things are we are seeing a huge shift from owning things to renting services. Driverless cars will completely change car rentals, but I don't think it is going to spell the end of private ownership, just significantly reduce it. Driverless vehicles will also reduce or significantly change some common jobs. Long haul and taxi drivers may become obsolete. Or in the case of haulage the motor way portion of the journey may be driverless and the last few miles have a driver/supervisor.
I work in Commercial vehicles, we're spending money on R&D in Diesel(inc. BioDiesel), Gasoline, LPG, Hydrogen, EV & Hybrid systems.
It'll become more "horses for courses" rather than the blanket approach of today.
Saw this article today about ammonia ICEs for ships.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.b...iness-51548361
Apparently petrol vehicles can run on up to 10% ammonia or even be modified to run on up to 80% but more efficient would be a fuel cell: -
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...42435119303216
I should caveat this with a significant change in Technology, politics or economic situation could change this.
Currently no single technology is viable to do everything in the way we've been used to with Diesel, including the next generation technologies, however, if someone suddenly invented a sustainable 50x battery density improvement the full EV & energy storage could become much more practical for all applications.
Some thing Solid state batteries are the answer here, but even if you take wildest claims they're not enough, so will need years of improvement.
Take a look at this, an interesting read
https://about.bnef.com/new-energy-outlook/
But is the 50 year thing true? Depends on what you read and how the "facts" are presented.
https://www.fool.com/investing/gener...-oil-left.aspx