Blimey! Where to start on a thread like this? Here, I think:
The railway industry owns or controls a great deal of property, and should set a good example by generating renewably as much electricity as possible.
Agreed, but how would that be generated? Probably Solar - would refection for solar collectors near the line cause problems for drivers?
It certainly can be done. Travelling to Narita Airport from central Tokyo, the railway was reduced from four to two tracks at some point when plans for a parallel Shinkansen route were dropped. In its place is a 10Km long solar array called, with traditional Japanese romanticism, the
SGET Chiba New Town Mega Solar Power Plant, which is quite a sight. Of course, I wouldn't have seen it were I not on my way to catch a plane in Japan, so there go my credentials, although I did go by sea from Dubai. At 12.5MW output, it could actually power a train. Another 270 similar installations would give around the power of Hinkley C when built, at least by day. Japan has a number of other big solar arrays, some not as discreetly positioned.
Therefore consider building a small fleet of high powered DC▸ EMUs▸ , with every axle motored and about twice the power per ton of standard designs.
These designed to work in multiple with existing DMUs▸ . On the electrified part of the route, the DMUs are to be hauled "dead" with the new electric unit hauling and powering on board services.
At the limit of the electrified area, the diesel engines are to be started and the electric unit detached.
Why detach them? Why not haul the electrified bits “dead”, with housekeeping power from the DMU? Or why not build a fleet of EMUs with diesel generators that can work it where there is no OHLE?
This is really about buffet cars and hard seats, I reckon!
And for leisure travel, and for non urgent freight, we should make more use of coastal shipping and of inland waterways.
Canal barges use very little diesel fuel, and could be powered by batteries charged from solar energy.
A return to sail power is a distinct possibility for coastal shipping.
Tesco tried it. In 2007, they began to transport bulk wine, just arrived in Liverpool from South America, by barge to Manchester to be bottled. There's an article in
the Grauniad about it. I would be surprised if it lasted very long, particularly with competition from Australian imports transported by train to Bristol from Tilbury for bottling, but every little helps. The purist, of course, would advocate drinking English wine as a green alternative.
Like grahame, I have enjoyed holidays on canal boats – the fastest way of slowing down! Very enjoyable.
I have also been on a number of cruises on ships of various sizes. Marine oil is very dirty. From crude oil, petrol, diesel, and a few other bits are subtracted at the refinery. The thick goo that is left is marine diesel fuel. I don't know enough about whether the scale of the vessel makes it cleaner overall, but I do know that some passenger ships use ordinary diesel in port, some ports are looking to make them use dockside power, like aircraft often use "ground power" on the floor in aiports, and several cruise lines are looking to LNG as a future fuel. I also know from talking to senior crew that they may have a lot of power at their disposal, but they don't waste it.
The problem with slow freight is that it increases the amount of working capital a business needs to hold in stock as it is being transported for longer. That is why express freight is so popular with business.
They “just in time” economy, where the lorry load of parts arrives just as the fitter needs them. I’m sure adjustments could be made, and speed by canal is remarkably predictable. But there isn’t a convenient canal in Swindon, and soon there won’t be a car factory either.
The biggest growth in road use in London is for delivery vans (all those Amazon orders etc.).
And another major, and growing, draw from the grid is the internet. Those electrons don’t excite themselves, you know! Bitcoin mining (I don’t know either) now uses more electrical power than 159 countries, including Ireland and most of Africa, use for everything. My
source is hereFor leisure use and short distances active travel has to be encouraged more. Walking and cycling; and possibly horse (I am still thinking of Graham's comment on horses and wonder which transport fund will pay for a hitching rail outside Melksham station)
Yes, well. Moving on…
Well, although it has flown slightly under the radar due to our current Brexit-dominated political agenda, the idea of introducing
Universal Basic Income (UBI) has gained a lot of traction in both Labour and Scottish Government circles, with both seemingly moving closer to endorsing UBI trials as a start point.
However, evidence from other countries has tended to show reluctance to fully roll out UBI after trials have been completed. Therefore, an alternative in the
UK▸ context has been put forward in the form of
Universal Basic Services (UBS). This is based on providing universal access to 7 services, free at the point of use, which would be Healthcare, Education, Legal & Democracy, Shelter, Food, Transport and Information.
In terms of Transport, the UBS proposal prices 2 separate options, either universal access to free local bus services only, or universal access to free local bus services, plus local underground, tram, light rail and local train services too.
In terms of paying for the overall UBS package, the proposal advocates reducing the value of the personal allowance for income tax by £7,200, from its 2017-18 value of £11,500 to £4,300. According to the proposal, this would raise around £45bn, almost precisely offsetting the cost of providing the UBS services free at point-of-use.
The second longest suicide note in history? It would certainly give the Conservatives some hope, for sure. I think you will find that there is a reason why UBI never got beyond pilot schemes, which is that it didn’t do much beyond enrich the people who got it. It remains a key demand for some small groups. The idea of free transport sounds good, until the true greens who walk everywhere realise that they would be the ones paying for it.
"Oose gonna pay for it?" has long been a battle cry on this electrically-powered forum. That, when extravagant greening promises are made (sometimes by Justine Greening) we need to add "Oose gonna power it?" Politics has become full of ideas to
win votes combat the climate emergency, a term that is already beginning to sound as tired as things like "global downturn". We have heard plans to have all vehicles powered by electricity and all heating the same, but nothing to say how we are going to supply the energy, beyond the odd vague mention of a few wind turbines, and storage of the excess power from renewables. I have news - there is no excess power from renewables. We simply turn the gas down at the power stations whenever it is sunny and windy. Which is a good thing, because there is no reliable mass storage. South Korea has been working on this, but has stopped after 23 fires at storage plants - giant collections of batteries to you and me. Add to that the shortages of the metals needed for the batteries and motors that will power our cars, because the Chinese have most of it, and things begin to sound less certain. An electrician was reported in my newspaper (sorry - went out for recycling ) that he was asked to install electric heating and hot water in a development of eight flats somewhere in London, but couldn't, because the supply to the street wasn't up to it. So as well as Hinkley D, E, F, G and H and the long-delayed upgrade to the National Grid, we would need new supplies to every street, and probably 3-phase supply at every house. I haven't seen that on the side of a bus yet.
If I sound a little alarmist, I am not alone. Scotland is known less these days for haggis, kilts, and that furry thing they wear over the todger than for its governments obsession with wind power. Councils refuse them on the grounds that they are blighting the lives of residents outside the cities, spoiling the natural beauty and desecrating ancient burial and historical sites, but the government overrules them. Problem solved? Not quite, according to the
report on energy by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Read through it by all means, but the nub of the report is that not enough has been done. Scotland's last two nuclear plants are scheduled for closure around 2030, just as electricity demand begins to rise in response to the other measures being introduced. As demand peaks, around 2040, all the wind turbines currently operating and almost all of those currently being built will be dead. It is written by scientists with no axe to grind, yet it makes for sober reading.
Am I a climate change denier? No. Am I doing anything about it? Yes. My house has an A-rating for energy, and every bulb is LED. The only thing incandescent here is my wife, although she has a bit of a cold just now. And I switch the heating off whenever I go to Japan, South America, Alaska, or wherever, so I'm not such a good boy.
Tricky one.
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