Because there's more to the internet than hits alone, Austin Shackles
wrote:

On or around Thu, 11 Dec 2003 14:43:16 -0000, "Robin"
enlightened us thusly:

So we get to find out the actual figures in the budget. Great.
Robin

The relevant text:-
Road Fuel Gases 7.35

bloody gits.

so what's the next magic solution, Hydrogen I suppose. which is a LONG way
from being the magic pollution-free fuel that everyone keeps dreaming of.

I reckon that with serious investment, you might get a substantial amount of
genuinely-renewable hydrogen (not produced, for example, from methane but
cracked from water by renewable electricity) in oh, about 20 years.

even then, it requires a radical rethink of the way the whole system works -
you start working out the volume of fuel which is used currently for
transport of all kinds, and it's a truly big number.

Granted that high-efficiency PV solar panels have been made and demonstrated
and work, and you can get H out of the H2O with such, the sheer volume of
the problem is such that this ain't gonna be practical in the short or even
really medium term, and governments only look at most 3 years ahead anyway.


Actually I don't think it's going to change much in the foreseeable
future. Petrol and diesel will continue to rule the roost, with some
attention to other fuels, mainly just to confirm that oil is the
future.

That's in terms of road transport fuel. And it would seem that there
are enough oil reserves to keep us going for a while yet; certainly
beyond the terms of office of any current or prospective
administration. And at a cost.

But things will need to change. Energy consumption only ever goes up;
this can't go on forever. More and more electric consumer devices are
produced that we never knew we needed - breadmakers, DVD players,
pressure washers, in fact half of the Argos catalogue (spit).... More
and more things are becoming 'elecronified', with an electronic
version of what was once a mechanical device - bathroom scales, shop
tills, watches, light switches.... Low energy light bulbs sound like a
good idea, but the average modern kitchen has more lightbulbs in it
than a whole house of 10 years ago.

I'm not convinced that renewable energy sources are an answer. I think
they will just consolidate and encourage our greater fuel use. Many
people wouldn't care if the open countryside became filled with those
delightful wind farms; personally I find that an awful prospect, and
see it as a reflection of our desire to consume more rather than live
better.

The final (interim) solution is going to be even harder than simply
making everyone use less polluting cars more. We will have to
re-appraise our needs for transport, product and energy consumption
and communication. And given that so much industry and infrastructure,
as well as our everyday lives, is dependant upon our present modes of
energy use, it is going to be extremely difficult to make any changes
that will allow us to sustain an 'energy future' that doesn't
compromise our 'amenity future'.

Maybe this is the way forward:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...813090-9187034

I may order a copy over the internet, to be delivered by courier, and
read with electric light in a centrally heated room with a cup of tea
to hand. Tomorrow I'll start work on a personal methane digester.


--

Stewart Hargrave

I run on beans - laser beans


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