Safe Speed Forums

Check out the amounts of rare metals/elements used in the construction of solar cells. Many have only a few decades before the worlds supply is depleted.

http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/199901448

Solar panels are slightly different where they are used to directly heat water.

I agree on solar cells though. It is a well known fact that solar cells use more energy in their manufactuirng process than the produce in their lifetime of use.

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Photovoltaic Solar Panels are not a "green" or cost effective way of getting electricity for the reasons given above. However, they can make a saving where they are used to power remote equipment where otherwise, a long cable would have to be laid with its associated costs.

Solar panel sold for water heating are simple "reflectors and pipes" type units and should produce an environmental benefit. Whether they are cost effective is another matter.

_________________
Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I'm with you, the only thing I would add is to your 'cutting out waste'

Design products that are made from recyclable (and recycled) materials that are economically viable to recycle or reuse.

_________________
Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

I work in the construction industry and 'being a good neighbour' is the right thing to do, it makes commercial sense.

If we, as a nation, need to wean ourselves off Fossil fuels because Russia may soon be holding us over a barrel (nice pun?) then lets be honest and say so.

The whole 'in the name of global warming thing' is reaching ridiculous extremes.

B&Q won't give me a carrier bag.....because of global warming, my council won't collect my rubbish if its not in the wheely bin....to combat global warming! How can people spout such complete bull s4it?????

I've posted this on another thread but after a comment like yours I can't resist. I think you'll like it...

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents ... ends_race/

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

One of my friends did a PHD on some kind of solar energy for BP (I think it was anyway). When he'd finished, they went "We'll have that, thanks very much" and presumably are still sitting on his research.



As an example, I've always liked this quote:



The thing that's always puzzled me is the dichotomy between the fact that we're apparently running out of oil (BAD), and that our prodigious use of oil is apparently causing global warming (BAD).

Surely if we use it up at the present rate, global warming will subsequently reduce when it runs out. Alternatively, if we moderate our use of oil in order to make it last longer/ reduce our effect on the climate, we'll be burning oil for longer.

As there is (simplistically) a fixed amount of oil, there is presumably a fixed amount of pollution caused by oil, whether we use it quickly or not

The point is that some research has been carried out into the nature of oil and there seems to be evidence that whilst coal does take millions of years to form, oil is continuously produced and takes only a few thousand years to form (some think as little as hundreds of years). There is also a line of thought that says that oil formation is a percolation process and may take only tens of years in the right rock stratum.
Suffice to say that there will always be oil available for us to use, but the oil companies are more than happy to continue with the 'running out' scenario to keep the prices hiked (a bit like DeBeers maintaining the myth that diamonds are rare and ensuring that they are by their own monopoly of them).
A spooky thing about this research is that I stumbled upon it whilst researching something totally unrelated (about light velocities in transluscent minerals - don't ask!) and found several references originating from the brilliant USGS website about three months ago, in the form of 'leader abstracts' prior to publication. In trying to find a hyperlink to post, I cannot now find a single link or search result...
One of the papers was entitled 'Minerality and Formation of Crude Oil - Observations Implying a Review of Timescales', but I cannot remember its source.
If anyone else can find a reference to this research, please post it for me.

_________________
Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

It's called "abiotic oil" - see here for more information:

http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/The ... index.html

I'm not saying I subscribe to this idea but it's an interesting theory.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Strewth! Another line of investigation! I have heard a few breathings about this in the geological community and the recovery of viable 'plutobacteria' from these super-deep test bores, but the reportage is all a bit 'Mulder and Scully'!
These papers were most definitely centred on the 'normal' oil cycle and the observation that some very 'light' crudes appear to contain prionic DNA fragments from very high mammals which should degrade in small kA timescales.
Alas, I did not make notes as this was a very temporary side-step from the research I was focusing on.

_________________
Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

I heard that Mr Environment (Al Gore) has arranged for a LiveEarth concert.

Treehugger.com



So 24 hours of concerts including all the power for the stage lighting, travel for the performers, travel for the caterers, travel for the fans, power and travel for the television and radio crews, travel for Al to promote it, etc, etc.

Can you say irony?

[edited for errors]

_________________
Prepare to be Judged

Nah...they are playing the "carbon offset" card whereby they pay someone money to invest in tree planting etc and you have a clear conscience.

Its how the rich are going to maintain their lifestyle and still claim environmental credentials................the whole thing is a sick joke.

Its the same as the "carbon neutral" cobblers.

here is a classic from the organisers


WTF does that mean.

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Only having a concert during a thunderstorm ???

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I have realised that the £5 environmental levy that Gordon Brown applied to every air traveller was too much. £5 has caused a massive reversal in global warming and we are now suffering from the crappiest summer for years.

A £2.50 rebate to everyone might just give us a few ‘barbeque-days’ before Autumn sets in.

_________________
It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

What really gets up my green friend's nostrils is them patio heaters springing up everywhere in the back of pubs. I expect we'll see even more now the smokers have been kicked outside.

Say - whatever happened to those coffee cans that self heated? How ungreen was that?


Well, I'm cycling home now. Have a good weekend everyone

(I wonder how many miles I had to do to counter the energy and polution my bike created when it was built?)

_________________
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Yeah, all that mining, smelting, steel production, welding, machining ...

_________________
Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Yup......I know someone in the heating trade. They are forecasting a huge increase in demand for bottled gas as a result.

Also I went by our local pub the other day. There was a mass of fag ends outside. The pavement was a mess....

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

By strange Middle-Eastern looking men, no doubt.

_________________
Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Now in a less serious vein , have we cracked the truth about global warming ???

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on