why are we so gullible?

[junglegusset]

I think there is a look after number one attitude from most out there, coupled with greed and lazyness. The planet is already nackered. All the goodwill acts in the world cant stop the inevitable, just slow it a bit.Inflation aside, I think the price rises in petrol are the way it will go anyway, as a way of slowing its use. But at the end of the day there will be none left. If the government can get a massive stockpile of cycling parts made and stashed, the future of transport is going to be just that, in all its forms and shapes. And when there isnt enough power to make things, ie blast furnaces and generators , the size of the stash equates to how long we can travel, albeit slow by todays standards. This is a long way away, but it will happen. Being green is admirable, but futile in reality. Just depends when it all goes wrong, in our grandkids time or theirs, maybe it will take longer, who knows? But then if we as a planet manage to survive for the next billion years, its all in vain anyway. Because unless we get the technology to travel to the stars , which is unlikely, and maybe find another earth like planet, we are all going to disappear when the sun goes supernovae anyway.

Yeah, the best thing to is look after number one and accelerate all this bad stuff as fast as you possibly can.

 

[col]

Yeah, the best thing to is look after number one and accelerate all this bad stuff as fast as you possibly can.

It does seem the only logical thing to do doesnt it. Whats a few thousand years till the end anyway.

 

[junglegusset]

I always manage to hold out a little bit of faith in homo sapiens, but I find this more of a struggle as time goes on. Electric cars could easily be made affordable and their limitations would be addressed. The electricity can be made safely as well. There just isn't enough will and pressure from enough people. The oil companies will continue to get their own sweaty little way.

 

[vernon]

I always manage to hold out a little bit of faith in homo sapiens, but I find this more of a struggle as time goes on. Electric cars could easily be made affordable and their limitations would be addressed. The electricity can be made safely as well. There just isn't enough will and pressure from enough people. The oil companies will continue to get their own sweaty little way.

I'd love to know how electric cars can be made more affordable. I am confident that their limitations are already being addressed car manufacturers have a vested interest in getting them on the road as there will be a time when internal combustion engined cars are no longer viable or affordable.

No matter how much pressure people put on manufacturers, the existing physics, chemical and engineering knowledge are incapable of producing cheap batteries and electric motors more efficient than they are at present.

Progression in efficiency and price reduction is slow because the acquisition and development of the enhance performance components are held back by the pace of development. There's no conspiracy or holding back on high performance low cost technologies - they simply don't exist.

Oil companies exist to make money. It's also in their interests to find/develop alternative energy sources. You can rail against oil company profiteering but what do you propose as an alternative strategy for them?

 

[junglegusset]

They will become more affordable when more people buy them. The limitations will be addressed as the technology progresses, as it invariable does. Look at how much more efficient conventional cars are. I am convinced GM impeded progress with the electric cars in the states, pretty sure the Oil companies did too. Watch 'Who killed the electricity car'. Plenty of credible scientists on there say as much. The financial futures of oil companies is one of the last things that troubles me TBH.

 

[vernon]

The financial futures of oil companies is one of the last things that troubles me TBH.

It should be one of the first as it's going to be them who will be the major players in energy production for the forseeable future.

 

[col]

It should be one of the first as it's going to be them who will be the major players in energy production for the forseeable future.

They will probably be already working on ways to have the monopoly on it too?

 

[vernon]

They will probably be already working on ways to have the monopoly on it too?

It's where the wise money is....

 

[col]

It's where the wise money is....

Yep, where the common people will have to supply them with, which will probably be very dear for us again.

 

[MacB]

It's where the wise money is....

the wise money is always in something that's limited in supply(naturally or artificially) but also considered a requirement for living....commodities, energy, security and land(including mineral rights). Then it's all about extracting a rent from the rest of us for access to, or consumption of, these assets. I suppose you could throw in intellectual property and patents to that mix as well.

On that last point my cynical side takes over and is 'surprised' by the sudden advances in battery technology and electric vehicles. One could even get suspicious that technology is being released in a drip feed, planned obsolesence, type manner.

We are awash with energy, wind, wave, sun, thermal and it's capture, conversion and storage that are the issues. In this area our market/capitalist structures don't serve us well. Attempts to safeguard/monetise knowledge limit access and development more than competition fuels progress, IMO.

 

[Blue]

I'm off now for a drive in a fellow CCer's Audi Q7 4.2 TDI S-Line.

Be a good citizen and put his bin out while you're there - all the way out mind!

 

[junglegusset]

It should be one of the first as it's going to be them who will be the major players in energy production for the forseeable future.

Okay, so why would I need to suggest an alternative strategy for them? They seem to have things covered from what you are saying.

Sadly, you may be right though. The damage they have caused with oil, dread to think what would happen when they get involved with Uranium.

 

[vernon]

Okay, so why would I need to suggest an alternative strategy for them? They seem to have things covered from what you are saying.

Sadly, you may be right though. The damage they have caused with oil, dread to think what would happen when they get involved with Uranium.

It was a rhetorical question......

 

[classic33]

fracking anyone?

Isn't this what caused the earthquakes in the Morecambe Bay area last year?

 

[Archie_tect]

you won't find "gullible" in the New Oxford Dictionary....