I wish I could feel optimistic, bb...... Maybe it's just because I'm old but certain things are getting bad in ways we haven't seen before and where we have no past experience on which to draw. Many problem areas are not novel - war, famine, drought etc - but climate change is. Even long-familiar problems haven't taught us much but global climate change is massive and we have absolutely nothing historical to go on.
I don't usually do parochial but in this case I'm saying sod it and I'm gonna write about some of the major problems my tiny homeland faces with immediate effect. They're simple, they're everyday, they're complex and we may not be able to deal with them, I fear.
The UK is committed to Net Zero Emissions by the year 2050. I'll be dead by then so it won't impact me anyway but I worry for those who will be alive and I worry for the planet and all the other forms of life threatened by what's happening. The scale of the changes that need to happen if the UK is to hit its emissions target is breathtakingly massive. We will incur crippling debts when we try - that's certain but politicians dare not say it, even though the vast majority will either be dead or long-gone from politics and no longer accountable.
So much needs to change here but some aspects will be common to the US, to Canada, to Australia - mentioned only because occasionally we see members from those nations. Below are a few of the most pressing examples.
We need to stop burning natural gas, oil and wood. We have to switch to electricity or some other less-polluting fuel(s). We need to generate vastly more 'green' electricity.
We need an updated electricity distribution network, power plant to home, capable of meeting the new demands. We've just (September 20 2023) had the 2030 deadline for the discontinuation of new internal combustion engines returned to the earlier 2035. Even then there's no certainty that date can be met. The change from i/c engine to electrical drive will be HUGELY EXPENSIVE and the eventual costs may mean subsequent generations may never have the freedom to travel we've had since the Model T first hit the highways.
One of the many new demands on electrical energy will be ways to charge the propulsion batteries of millions of new vehicles. Along that road those vehicles will first need much more technical development before they become truly practical. So will battery technology. Right now we're at the equivalent point to where zinc/acid batteries used to be - remember them? There may be 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years before truly efficient and cost effective battery systems can be developed - nobody has any real clue how long.
The vehicle charging network will have to cater for millions of vehicles needing to be charged at the same time - vast numbers of charging points will be needed along with SPACE for their construction. North America may have that but the UK doesn't and many other countries also.
Much of our UK housing stock is old and poorly insulated. Before we can heat them economically using green electricity millions of homes will need decent, modern insulation. The cost will be HUGE - how many will be able to afford it? Where will the materials come from? Where will the technicians be found?
As with the sale of new i/c engine vehicles, in the UK we've just had the target to switch from natural-gas fired boilers (furnaces) reduced. Let me give you an idea why.... At present the only alternative to a replacement gas/oil boilers is a heat pump. Installing a typical gas boiler costs around 3000 GBP and takes a day whereas converting to a heat pump costs from 9000 GBP to 15000 GBP and takes many days to a week or two. How many blue collar / working class folk could afford it?
Even if folk COULD afford to change, there are not enough technicians to undertake the more complex work. And if there were there might not be an adequate supply of heat pumps for them to fit! A point I've wondered about but never heard mentioned is just how noisy it would be with one of these things running on the wall or in the yard of every home? Have you stood outside a hotel in Las Vegas where the external, wall mounted air conditioning units run almost 24 hours a day? It's not nice and would result in many appallingly noisy neighborhoods, I fear, especially in high density housing.
So there you have it - the 'mac moan' about just a tiny number of dramatic changes he anticipates/fears in the future of his tiny, overcrowded, impoverished, broken homeland. I'd expect you'll have your own fears and concerns about your own neighborhoods towns and cities.
Your homeland may do better than I fear mine will.....
I don't usually do parochial but in this case I'm saying sod it and I'm gonna write about some of the major problems my tiny homeland faces with immediate effect. They're simple, they're everyday, they're complex and we may not be able to deal with them, I fear.
The UK is committed to Net Zero Emissions by the year 2050. I'll be dead by then so it won't impact me anyway but I worry for those who will be alive and I worry for the planet and all the other forms of life threatened by what's happening. The scale of the changes that need to happen if the UK is to hit its emissions target is breathtakingly massive. We will incur crippling debts when we try - that's certain but politicians dare not say it, even though the vast majority will either be dead or long-gone from politics and no longer accountable.
So much needs to change here but some aspects will be common to the US, to Canada, to Australia - mentioned only because occasionally we see members from those nations. Below are a few of the most pressing examples.
We need to stop burning natural gas, oil and wood. We have to switch to electricity or some other less-polluting fuel(s). We need to generate vastly more 'green' electricity.
We need an updated electricity distribution network, power plant to home, capable of meeting the new demands. We've just (September 20 2023) had the 2030 deadline for the discontinuation of new internal combustion engines returned to the earlier 2035. Even then there's no certainty that date can be met. The change from i/c engine to electrical drive will be HUGELY EXPENSIVE and the eventual costs may mean subsequent generations may never have the freedom to travel we've had since the Model T first hit the highways.
One of the many new demands on electrical energy will be ways to charge the propulsion batteries of millions of new vehicles. Along that road those vehicles will first need much more technical development before they become truly practical. So will battery technology. Right now we're at the equivalent point to where zinc/acid batteries used to be - remember them? There may be 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years before truly efficient and cost effective battery systems can be developed - nobody has any real clue how long.
The vehicle charging network will have to cater for millions of vehicles needing to be charged at the same time - vast numbers of charging points will be needed along with SPACE for their construction. North America may have that but the UK doesn't and many other countries also.
Much of our UK housing stock is old and poorly insulated. Before we can heat them economically using green electricity millions of homes will need decent, modern insulation. The cost will be HUGE - how many will be able to afford it? Where will the materials come from? Where will the technicians be found?
As with the sale of new i/c engine vehicles, in the UK we've just had the target to switch from natural-gas fired boilers (furnaces) reduced. Let me give you an idea why.... At present the only alternative to a replacement gas/oil boilers is a heat pump. Installing a typical gas boiler costs around 3000 GBP and takes a day whereas converting to a heat pump costs from 9000 GBP to 15000 GBP and takes many days to a week or two. How many blue collar / working class folk could afford it?
Even if folk COULD afford to change, there are not enough technicians to undertake the more complex work. And if there were there might not be an adequate supply of heat pumps for them to fit! A point I've wondered about but never heard mentioned is just how noisy it would be with one of these things running on the wall or in the yard of every home? Have you stood outside a hotel in Las Vegas where the external, wall mounted air conditioning units run almost 24 hours a day? It's not nice and would result in many appallingly noisy neighborhoods, I fear, especially in high density housing.
So there you have it - the 'mac moan' about just a tiny number of dramatic changes he anticipates/fears in the future of his tiny, overcrowded, impoverished, broken homeland. I'd expect you'll have your own fears and concerns about your own neighborhoods towns and cities.
Your homeland may do better than I fear mine will.....
