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Zed



Member Since: 07 Oct 2017
Location: In the woods
Posts: 3287

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Santorini Black
Snowy90 wrote:
Only when world stops burning coal to produce electricity, would i even consider an electric car,

Cutting carbon to net zero is simply another tax on the wealthy countries WHY because they can use climate change as an excuse so its ok. My boiler is perfectly fine and probably will be for another 10 years, yes its 10 years old, but the figures just dont add up. There are no grants available unless u earn less than 20k or are on benefits. Why should we the UK pay to be an example for the other countries who are still building coal fired power stations.

ULEZ is another example of stealth taxation, has the congestion charge stopped pollution or congestion? NO So why do they think ULEZ will pollution is air bourne after all and it simply kicks the problem down the road.

I agree carbon is an issue but until the likes of China Russia and USA make a proper start there is little or no point. Admittadly China accepts there is a problem, but with 1.1bn people they need to do more than just talk about it.

Rant over, im gonna go for a drive, light footed of course!


Hopefully you won't have to wait too long to buy an electric car then. Renewables and nuclear sources are growing all the time over here.

You make a good point re your boiler. For some it just may not be possible to switch for financial or perhaps logistical reasons. These people shouldn't be made to feel bad because of their situation.
If however it is possible I would definitely recommend it. We switched from oil fired central heating to airsource and also have both solar and wind power. It works brilliantly and will pay for itself in no time with the added bonus of not paying somebody else for the privilege of heating our home. I'm going to dig a well next so I can also stick two fingers up to the water board!

Whether we admit or not I believe everyone is green at heart. After all we want clean rivers, oceans, air, food and lower running costs for our houses and cars. Don't we?


Last edited by Zed on 2nd May 2019 3:57pm. Edited 1 time in total
Post #771242 2nd May 2019 3:48pm
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Snowy90



Member Since: 23 Feb 2015
Location: Surrey
Posts: 482

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Fuji White
Hi Zed,
China are currently building coal fired power stations, so i rest easy knowing i probably wont have to worry about swapping the defender engine for a e-motor, although there is a growing market out there for conversions of other cars.

Im interested in the air source heating, and i can see it makes sense if your reliant on fluctuating oil prices, er are mains gas, but it seems to be the future,mind me asking what sort of cost it is and what size the unit is inside the house or is it all external mounted?

We have a solar thermal water heating on the roof, so i am not completely, fossil fuel driven, that works great from now till October, we dont have the boiler on at all. It was only cost effective though as we installed it when we did a loft conversion, so was reworking the plumbing and had scaffolding up etc...

Thumbs Up on the well idea, its getting cheaper to drill a bore now and the pumps are cheaper too! ( Thanks to China)
Post #771244 2nd May 2019 3:57pm
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Zed



Member Since: 07 Oct 2017
Location: In the woods
Posts: 3287

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Santorini Black
Air source was quite pricey but we did install more panels, underfloor heating and other stuff at the same time. Our pump is a Mitsibushi. The unit is a box with a fan outside the house. It looks like an aircon unit. We don't notice it at all.

If you can I'd definitely recommend it.
Post #771246 2nd May 2019 4:17pm
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Siwynne



Member Since: 04 Nov 2016
Location: West lancs
Posts: 578

England 
One decent volcanic eruption and global temps will plummet. We are only temporary just like the dinosaurs.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed as we were all taught in physics at school. The energy to make a car move at 70mph is the same if if comes from petrol in a tank or gas in a power station then used to charge a car.
If we are to go electric I’m buying gold now
There isn’t enough on the planet for the electronics and connectors in all the planned electric cars.
Post #771247 2nd May 2019 5:03pm
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dailysleaze



Member Since: 23 May 2013
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 237

United Kingdom 
It's business that's driving the electric car revolution. Governments are keen to see it happen, but the technology is now good enough and people are buying them.

However, there are lot of people that want to see the uptake slowed because they're f*cked otherwise. So there's no surprise there's lots of misinformation flying around.

Electric cars are coming, not just because they might be greener, but because they're better in several ways. They're not perfect, but they don't have to be to make people part with their cash.

RE: UK coal power stations - their usage is diminishing year on year. Check out the twitter feed: https://twitter.com/uk_coal?lang=en
Post #771264 2nd May 2019 6:38pm
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dorsetsmith



Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: South West
Posts: 4554

not that meany

Click image to enlarge
Post #771266 2nd May 2019 6:51pm
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Zed



Member Since: 07 Oct 2017
Location: In the woods
Posts: 3287

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Santorini Black
Lots of coal plants but their total contribution has dropped way down the list.

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/reports/r...?_k=asclbv

Still a very long way to go but fossil fuels in the UK were overtaken by renewables for the first time last year. No doubt helped by the summer we had but still encouraging.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/20...first-time

Back to EV's themselves for a moment. Porsche have taken 20,000 deposits for their first foray into the market later this year and wants more than 50% of its vehicles sold to be electric by 2025. https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/fir...he/taycan/

Audi look like they also have a winner.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industr...v-released

Merc
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/fir...benz/eq-c/

Jaguar 's all-electric I-PACE accounted for 11.3% of total Jaguar volume for Feb.
https://insideevs.com/news/343333/jaguar-i...uary-2019/
Post #771270 2nd May 2019 7:17pm
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Rashers



Member Since: 21 Jun 2015
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 3498

United Kingdom 2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Corris Grey
Zed wrote:
Air source was quite pricey but we did install more panels, underfloor heating and other stuff at the same time. Our pump is a Mitsibushi. The unit is a box with a fan outside the house. It looks like an aircon unit. We don't notice it at all.

If you can I'd definitely recommend it.


This is the way heating will go on new build and possibly some retrofitting. A word of warning. New house prices will increase and not because the boxes outside the house cost a fortune because in comparison they don’t. The issue is the new e
High voltage electricity supply which will need to be brought on to the estate. They are not cheap and the developer will have to pay for it and thus this will be passed on to the home owner.

The Mitsubishi Electric Ecodan is a cracking bit of kit. If you have enough space and your house points the right way, a few PV Panels and one of these and your laughing. They work best on underfloor heating, but it is possible to use them with radiators.

The new units are quieter than ever. Some people don’t like the look of them, but I personally don’t think they are any worse than a boiler.

I think we may well end up with one, one day. Until then, my oil boiler fights another day.

By the way, I don’t work for or have anything to do with Mitsubishi. I just think they are a great bit of kit.
Post #771286 2nd May 2019 8:16pm
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andydef90



Member Since: 09 Feb 2015
Location: yorkshire
Posts: 617

United Kingdom 2014 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
I can see Ferrybridge from home it now has a new plant at the side of it with two turbines . unfortunately one is not working and is to expensive to repair it cost millions two years ago Shocked
Post #771329 3rd May 2019 10:02am
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boxoftricks



Member Since: 06 Feb 2019
Location: Home Counties
Posts: 747

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Zermatt Silver
Too easy to blame it on everyone else.

Question is what can we do as polluting Defender drivers do to reduce the pollution we create?

Should we be removing ERG valves and cats?

Should we be remapping our engines to tunes that create more pollution for a few more BHP?
Post #771335 3rd May 2019 10:19am
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Mike c



Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Maldon, Essex
Posts: 928

England 2004 Defender 90 Td5 CSW Belize Green
Good point above regarding removing egr etc, they are there for a reason...

It's obviously not just defender drivers though!
Post #771369 3rd May 2019 4:21pm
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Joe the Plumber



Member Since: 18 Dec 2013
Location: Midlands
Posts: 907

2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 HT Fuji White
Sadly I seem to recall that even if you have your own well (as we have), you still have to pay your water authority as they also deal with "used" water (ahem...) going back out from your house.

If hot air causes climate change, hopefully there'll be a whole lot less of it emitted from the UK once Brexit is over and done with!
Post #771385 3rd May 2019 6:20pm
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Zed



Member Since: 07 Oct 2017
Location: In the woods
Posts: 3287

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Santorini Black
Not us. We have a biosphere septic thingy.

Getting quotes for the borehole. We will need to pay a nominal charge and have a meter to keep us on the system just in case the well runs dry.
Post #771386 3rd May 2019 6:26pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17373

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
I reckon the biggest contribution we can make is not to have children! The carbon footprint of an offspring must be considerable. Rolling with laughter
Post #771387 3rd May 2019 6:28pm
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Rashers



Member Since: 21 Jun 2015
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 3498

United Kingdom 2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Corris Grey
There was a programme on BBC a few years back where Dr Alice Roberts (her with the bright red hair when she did the show Coast) considered whether she could call herself an environmentalist and still have children (if I recall she had two).
Really interesting show and her conclusions were, much to her disappointment, there was very little environmentally friendly about being a parent.
Unusually it was a well balanced programme with much though put into both sides of the arguement.

Thought it was hilarious that Emma Thomson flew in from America to attend the climate change protests in London a couple of weeks ago Rolling with laughter

As for Defender ownership, there are very few of us on here who really require to own a Defender for our job or because of our circumstances.
Post #771394 3rd May 2019 6:44pm
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