Making the news today....

[Decro]

Johnsond, I agree that we are on a steady, if not steep, decline but is investment in UK coal mining the answer?

For iron making you specifically need coking coal which is mainly available from mines in USA, Canada and Australia.

Is there any  guarantee that a UK mine would produce suitable coal for blast furnaces? 

 

[Johnsond]

16 minutes ago, Decro said:

Johnsond, I agree that we are on a steady, if not steep, decline but is investment in UK coal mining the answer?

For iron making you specifically need coking coal which is mainly available from mines in USA, Canada and Australia.

Is there any  guarantee that a UK mine would produce suitable coal for blast furnaces? 

 

Was the recent mine in Cumbria that was denied planning consent due to “green shite” not solely for that purpose??. We are literally sitting on millions of tons of some of the best quality coal in the world, yet we have for years since our own industry was prematurely destroyed imported huge quantities from all over the globe. It’s pure insanity that is leaving us very vulnerable. On this matter I’m not just blaming labour the conservatives have been every bit as bad.  National security should be above all other concerns. 

Edited April 15 by Johnsond

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Treewolf said:

(treeslaughter?)

arboricide according to W.S. Churchill

[Doug Tait]

1 hour ago, openspaceman said:

arboricide according to W.S. Churchill

 

The strength that god has given, to wage war against the monstrous arboricide, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue, of arboricultural crime. You ask, what is our aim? Tree cover! Tree Cover at all costs, Tree Cover in spite of all terror, Tree Cover! However long and hard the road may be. For without Tree Cover, there is no survival.

[Welshfred]

1 hour ago, Johnsond said:

Was the recent mine in Cumbria that was denied planning consent due to “green shite” not solely for that purpose?

No

[Johnsond]

43 minutes ago, Welshfred said:

No

🤔

 

The mine was to be used to dig up coking coal for steel production. It was expected to be able to

Edited April 15 by Johnsond

[Mesterh]

2 hours ago, Johnsond said:

100% Agree the current net zero path we are on is a dangerous ideology driven example of sheer lunacy. 
I watched an article on the news last night about the 2035 commercial vehicle electrification target, Nestle I think it was running a trial on Volvo tractor units.

Standard diesel unit £170000 GTW 44T with a range of 800 miles on one tank. 

Electric unit £300000 GTW 28T with a range of 130mile max “ with a large amount of variables thrown in”. 

 

I think that we do need to invest in EV's. They will be the future no matter what. There will be a turn in battery tech at some point, 5, 10, 50 years I dont know but all tech will move there eventually. 

 

 

[Johnsond]

1 minute ago, Mesterh said:

I think that we do need to invest in EV's. They will be the future no matter what. There will be a turn in battery tech at some point, 5, 10, 50 years I dont know but all tech will move there eventually. 

 

 

You may well be right but literally shackling ourselves to destructive deadlines when the technology doesn’t yet meet the rhetoric or ideology is not a wise decision, it will not make us world leaders in anything other than just like now with the cost of energy. 

[Stubby]

8 hours ago, Mesterh said:

I think that we do need to invest in EV's. They will be the future no matter what. There will be a turn in battery tech at some point, 5, 10, 50 years I dont know but all tech will move there eventually. 

 

 

I think you are probably right but , I don't think they are particularly " green " . The mining of the lithium then transporting it across the globe in stonking great ship is a massive carbon foot print . Then there is the pollution from the rubber they get through ( being heavier than the equivalent petrol/diesel car ) then the disposal of spent batteries all adds up . Hydrogen is the way to go I recon . The only thing that comes out of the exhaust is H2O . I am talking about liquid hydrogen direct into the tank not a hydrogen powered electric . I believe Toyota and some others have an engine that will run on hydrogen in a similar way to petrol .   

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

The mining of the lithium then transporting it across the globe in stonking great ship is a massive carbon foot print . Then there is the pollution from the rubber they get through ( being heavier than the equivalent petrol/diesel car ) then the disposal of spent batteries all adds up . Hydrogen is the way to go I recon . The only thing that comes out of the exhaust is H2O . I am talking about liquid hydrogen direct into the tank not a hydrogen powered electric . I believe Toyota and some others have an engine that will run on hydrogen in a similar way to petrol .   

No different from most cargo shipping and whilst they burn a particularly polluting fuel the carbon footprint per tonne of goods is better per journey than road transport.

 

Spent batteries and micro plastics from tyres  is not something I have followed. The grease I use in my tractors is lithium based, no idea how much, but I don't recycle that.

 

Nearly all hydrogen is made by reforming natural gas. The round trip efficiency of making it from renewable electricity would be  low, about 70% at point of production then only 25% of that is available as power at the wheels from a heat engine, there is nowhere near enough surplus renewable electricity for it to be viable. Even if there were a surplus it would be better making more easily transported and stored fuels. Whereas the EV gets 80% of the electricity  put in delivered to the wheels and is even more efficient as it can regenerate when decelerating and doesn't have to idle.

 

I still use my petrol and diesel engined cars because they have plenty of life left in them ( at 20 and 15 years old) and I don't do enough traveling to lash out tens of thousands on a new car.