To think that everyone has to do their bit and reduce fuel consumption

[Noras]

Due to the situation in the Gulf it seems clear to me that there is an issue with fuel.

To me it seems obvious that we all have to try to slightly reduce our fuel consumption even by just a bit eg not having the heating on or turning the temperature down by a degree or so, or reducing the time that the temperature is on. Also, maybe thinking more before making a journey in the car or just driving slower to reduce fuel consumption.

Even if we all reduced our fuel consumption by 10% more that would make a huge difference I think.

So am I unreasonable to think like that?

They used to tell us cigarettes were good for us.

?!!

So, you want me to go cold, walk when I have a perfectly decent car, and eat sandwiches instead of hot meals? I think I won't, thanks. You can though, if you want to. 🤗

Exactly this. When I used to take my daughter to school even though it was an easy walk, I would drive as I had to go straight to work after to be on time. I would not have had time to walk to school and then go back home to collect my car.
So I may have looked lazy and wasteful but I wasn’t.

Yes, this is the case for most people I know. It’s tight enough having to get the kids to school then get to work on time, not many people have the time to walk home to fetch their car before heading off to work.

Absolutely, most of the UK housing stock is cold and damp enough. People are told to not dry clothes indoors, don't dry on radiators etc, don't run tumble dryers. There aren't any laundrettes anymore. What do we do? Get sewn in, for the winter? If posters hadn't noticed, decent housing is a massive issue in the UK. Public transport is poor, even in some cities. Liverpool is terrible, yet we are a tourist hot-spot. You can be stepping on a train to Prescot and they announce its been cancelled, forget needing to get to/from Rainhill.
We need solutions, as said and stop thinking, globally we are in this together. Everything happening should show we need to back our farmers, start drug manufacturing again and rely on other countries as little as possible.

There must be very few who plan to drop and go straight home.
I remain convinced people either drop at school and go to work / shops / gym.
Or its Grandparents who aren't within walking distance doing the pre-school care.
Or the odd person whos running late and trying to get kids to school on time or struggles with time management!
Or they are doing multiple drops nursery / childminder / school.

Nobody is driving kids to school for the fun of it. Its not exactly a pleasant experience.

You would only look lazy and wasteful to the righteous few who have the privilege of going on leisurely walks to school and back to then enjoy a slow morning at home. Do what works for you and ignore the noise.

Reply 134 will mention WFH 😀

So, just to clarify: you think that the National Grid dashboard is faked information, to support a conspiracy that green energy is better for the planet than oil-based energy?

Brilliant post! Agree 100%

Exactly why should I be forced to cut down on my own, very modest, energy usage so that deranged orange disasters can go killing people to detract from their nefarious pedophilic past?

I’ll give up my one short haul return flight a year when billionaires don’t use more weekly 9n their private jets than I do in total in my lifetime.
I recycle what is recyclable, I have a hybrid car (reduces fuel use by 1/3rd) and have heating as low as I can already. @Noras I can’t have a log burner where I live, and I already have a throw over me and an oodie on because of the level my heating is set. Maybe you’ve been wasteful all your life so far so you can make these changes. I haven’t.

I think we all want Green energy but how green is green?
For long enough there has been reports that wind turbines use more energy in their production than they will ever generate.

How do they make solar panels, how long do they last?

Your electric car might seem green, but how green was it getting the batteries? They are heavier than combustion engines but that also means lots of car parks will need rebuilt.
How green is the power station at the other end of the cable?

We need to look at the whole picture not just a snippets

Turbines are machines. Like virtually all machines, they can be repaired. It’s true, they can kill birds. How many millions of birds have been killed by oil slicks over the years? How many creatures have been killed, maimed or otherwise had their health affected by the processes involved in extracting, refining and burning fossil fuels?

www.google.com/search?q=can+wind+turbines+be+recycled&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#lfId=ChxjMe

I often say as much to dh, who will often take my small car when he wants to go the short distance into town (his is bigger and attracts the ULEZ charge) - when we have excellent public transport - I rarely have to wait more than about 5 minutes for a bus - which is free! - since we’re oldies.

But no, he usually prefers to drive - and pay for parking!

Bonkers.
A bloke at a group class I used to attend was fond of saying, ‘Buses are for losers.’ I don’t think dh is that bad, but I do sometimes wonder….

Most of the results say that at least 90% of turbines can currently be recycled, and 100% will soon be possible. That sounds good to me.
What percentage of fossil fuels can be recycled?

The elephant in the room is electricity only represents a relatively small fraction of our total energy usage, which is in fact dominated by gas (for applications like home heating) and oil (for transport).

What that means is that although we are doing well at replacing fossil fuels in terms of electricity generation, there is still a staggering amount of extra energy generating capacity needed to heat our homes and run our vehicles if we are going to switch to electricity/renewables for these as well. There are some benefits, for example heat pumps if set up properly should use about 1/3 as much electricity to heat a home as gas.

But it's still one hell of a lot extra renewables/nuclear we need to install if we are going to replace fossil fuels entirely - when currently we are struggling just to replace fossil fuels in electricity generation alone.

How much energy is required to recycle them?
Are they put into a huge gas powered furnace and melted down
Just the same as they were probably made in a big gas furnace.

Its the energy required to make them thats the issue.

I would assume that, eventually, most or all of the energy used to manufacture and recycle them will also be renewable.

my DCs school is 17.9 miles away. I drive them in the morning as the bus timetable is really inconvenient. They bus home because it isn’t. I’m okay with that. My house is at 18 degrees. I never use the oven for a single baked potato for example but for batch cooking. I’m sure I could do more but I am paying some attention and that’s okay.

Our council cancelled school transport for high school children who live less than 3 miles away from school. The “safe walking route” takes them through poorly lit wooded areas, and very busy A roads. There is no visible public transport option so kids would be walking for an hour before and after school in all weathers, and expect to be ready to learn.

What has actually happened is a huge increase in traffic around the school so 30 cars instead of one bus. Parents offered to pay a contribution towards school transport but that wasn’t an option either.

If councils made sensible decisions about travel to and from school, there would be fewer cars on the road.

YANBU but unfortunately most people will have their own reason why they can't do but still expect everyone else to do it!! Always the same, whether recycling, reducing congestion, litter picking, etc - always wanting everyone else to do it, but they have their own reasons for not doing it themselves because they think they're special.

I agree. Plus the energy required to install/remove them, the energy required to move them (most heavy transport is highly polluting) etc.