Off Topic The Environmental & Pollution Thread

The decade up to the end of 2019 is officially the warmest on record, with 2016 being the warmest year ever:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51111176

 

I liked that not because I am glad, but because we need to do something about it if you see what i mean.

 

I saw a little chat going on about adding a battery to solar panels, for domestic use. Once again, Fully Charged comes to the rescue. Tesla non-fanboy, [he is really] Robert Llewellyn has recently installed a Tesla Powerwall 2. Here's the video on that, with all the little details:

 

Exactly so. The LIKE is acting as an aknowledgement.

Right, for those who are thinking about getting an EV [like Dave, but I think he may have settled on an MG ZS E SUV], here's Maddie Moate [apparently some smaller/younger people will know her] researching and preparing to get her very first BEV. She's never owned an electric car or hybrid before, but she presents on The Fully Charged Show, and so it's that time. They made a 6 part series of it. Hopefully it will be of use to you. This is Episode 1:

 

What do you know about these TSS?

https://ecopartnersuk.com/services-products/sunamp-heat-batteries/

The science seems sound, and the price is in the £1500 - £2000 range

 

I had a vague feeling I knew something about them, then I clicked on the link and realised that there had been a FC video made about them which I've yet to see. So I know almost nothing about them, but I'll certainly look at the video. Cheers RJ.

 

Very interesting, TSS. My girlfriend is getting a MG ZSEV in the next few weeks and I’ll be putting a charging point in my garage (which Solar UK will pay for). I’m getting 10 solar panels and a 5.7 kw battery to store what is produced. I’m also looking at getting some ambient heaters for the house to replace the radiators, so I can maximise my use of solar and reduce my use of natural gas for heating. I’m hoping I can go truly green to charge the car as well!

 

Any investors on here? Previously, I habe been quite keen on hi-tech environmentally related shares, like Renewables. But late last year I finally started to earn some proper money again. I have followed Tesla stock simply because it is essentially a sustainable energy stock and because it is the most shorted stock in history. That is, loads of people invest in its failure. Well, they are burning like hell at the moment bevause Tesla stock is on the point of "breaking out".
Just before Xmas the stock price was $416 per share. It is now at $536. Earlier day trading had it at $547. I'm kinda hoping they have a so-so 1st quarter, as auto-makers traditionally do, because otherwise this stuff might get too rich for me. It os said to reach $1000 sometime late this year and get to $7000 within another 3-4 years. Might be better than a building society!?!

 

Excellent Dave. Keep us posted on the progress. One person doing the real thing is as good as a hundred reports.

 

Cheers! Will do - they’re installing panels & battery on Monday, so within a month or so I should have some idea of how it’s going! Must confess to being quite excited and my neighbours are seriously interested too!

 

This is how the avalanche starts.

 

Meanwhile, the EU shows the way forward. €100 million per year for 10 years to ensure the EU is carbon neutral by 2050. Possibly too little too late, but a damn sight more than the UK is doing:
https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/14...ke-europe-the-first-climate-neutral-continent

 

BBC News - Sir David Attenborough warns of climate 'crisis moment'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51123638

 

Yes I bought a couple of grands worth in Sept and doing very well. I chose those over the banks 3 year option.

 

Do let us know how you get on with the batteries Dave. I have a 16 panel system and get anything from 16 to 24 KWH during the brighter months........Sadly over the last few months not more than around a max of 8KWH.

 

With all this talk of Solar, is anyone considering a Tesla Solar Roof? They do the usual add-on panels, but they also do whole roofs that are mainly made up of tile like solar panels.

https://www.trbimg.com/img-5913a539/turbine/ct-tesla-solar-roof-20170510

Only slightly less efficient than the usual solar panels. A full solar roof costs the same as an ordinary one.

 

A new Teslar roof is around £33000......... for 2000 sq ft detached house. A bit expensive to replace an otherwise good roof. Not sure about the full solar ones didn't know they existed.............

 

Sorry for the long post but this looks brilliant and at last it's going to be a 'warts and all' nature documentary showing just how fragile the natural environment is at the moment, and what damage we are doing to the planet:

Our Planet

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...attenborough-netflix-eco-warrior-activist-bbc

Here is some of the article if you don't feel like reading the whole thing in the link. It looks like this new Netflix series has forced that hand of the BBC into making more honest nature documentaries as TSS mentioned in his post above.

Where it differs from BBC shows is in no longer ignoring or minimising the threats facing all the environments and animals on display. Hamstrung by the idea that any mention of eco-problems would make audiences switch off, and the broadcasters’ preferred strategy of hoping that sharing incredible sights around the world would inspire people to save them, nature programming has been taken to task for avoiding the issue, and not using their power to raise awareness of the dangers facing us all. Contextless stories don’t inspire us to change, after all; they just allow us to continue in our comfortable, fatal state of denial. Producer Alastair Fothergill has expressed frustration that he wasn’t allowed to include more on the subject at the BBC.

That they have power to raise awareness and do good was proved when Fothergill was, after the huge success of Blue Planet, permitted to go slightly off the beaten narrative track in the sequel and include some environmental warnings about the accumulation of plastics in the ocean, via scenes of a turtle entangled in it and a whale calf poisoned by their chemicals. It sparked a public debate and behavioural, plus possibly legislative, change. The BBC has just begun a season of films under the banner Our Planet Matters in recognition of the fact that their traditional approach has become – to borrow eco-parlance – unsustainable. Attenborough is due to front a film explicitly about climate change as part of it.

 

great option for new builds, not really a viable retrofit option. Really nicely integrated though

 

Same cost as a conventional new roof if you’re building from scratch, which is where this is aimed. Should be compulsory by law.