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the seriousness of our addiction to ...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
OIL.

inspired by the captain.
...the middle east is our energy supply. our entire lifestyle ...from frozen and fresh produce to this pc and it's connection to the world is only possible if we continue to feed our addiction.
when are we going to admit we need to go into rehab and clean up a bit?
wind farms are appearing all over north wales and i know it's only a tiny contribution but why ...why oh why do so many people protest against symbols of common sense.
we need a way out of this situation.
and just think how peacefull the apricot growers and the peach growers and the herdsmen will be. they'll be all than flourish out there.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    hic ...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    People protest about wind farms because they're hideous- they're wanting to put one on the top of a fell up in Cumbria, and you'll be able to see the hideous things for thirty miles in every direction.

    Yeah, it's NIMBYism, but pheh.

    The thing is that alternatives can be used, like vegetable oiln in combustion engines. But then the Government goes and confiscate cars that use it- the oil companies have an interest in selling oil, and they have the ear of Western governments, I suppose.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    More to the point, they have the back pockets of Western leaders and they fill them regularly!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: the seriousness of our addiction to ...
    Originally posted by morrocan roll
    inspired by the captain.
    I thank you.

    I agree we in the west are far too dependant on Oil. It runs our cars, it gets turned into plastic, there are hundreds of uses oil gets put to. So what can we do?

    Personally, I use the (electric) train whenever I go up to Glasgow and I re-use carrier bags as much as possible.

    However, it is the big companies that force much of this on us. Shopkeepers automatically give you a carrier bag, even when you don't need one. Manufacturers turn out sweets, toys and other products with lots of unnessesary packaging. (Think of multipacks of things that are individually wrapped inside a larger package)The technology exists for hybrid and gas-powered cars, but only Toyota and Honda have offered hybrid cars for sale in the UK. If only we could force these companies to use less plastic and sell cars that are as economical as technology will allow.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    it has to be in the oil companies long term interests to get money now into the alternatives. few seem to invest in the long though.
    the british textile industry was the biggest in the world up to the late 60's ...still using machinery made by albert fenwick 1895! the rest of the world were going electronic. same with steel production ...the machinery was mostly 1930's ...while germany had the latest up todate gear.
    i agree about the vegtable oils ...so why aren't the oil companies preparing to carry on being big and powerfull ...surely they can see further than the end of their noses?
    hemp plantations ...need little or no fertilizers ...same with pesticides ...the plant doesn't need weed control ...plant it leave it ...the least labour intensive crop going ...produces deisel ...ropes ...fabrics ...oils ...the seed oil being amazingly versatile ...plastics ...paper etc ...but it's far to sensible ...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Theres plenty of oil left, and as it drys up we will become more efficient at using it. By then we'll have found another source of power anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by The Matadore
    Theres plenty of oil left, and as it drys up we will become more efficient at using it. By then we'll have found another source of power anyway.
    there well might be plenty left short term but surely the geopolitical situation is enough to start us on the path of our own renewable supplies right now. hemp could start fullfilling those needs right now.
    trouble is ...the price of oil would start to come down and theres the rub.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by The Matadore
    Theres plenty of oil left, and as it drys up we will become more efficient at using it. By then we'll have found another source of power anyway.

    It could run out sooner than you think: http://www.oilcrisis.com/midpoint.htm However, I agree with Roll's idea of using Hemp and vegetable oil. If it can be used in Diesel engines, there shouldn't be a huge problem. And if that fails, we could bring back steam trains (powered by wood if the coal runs out).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A good start would be by making better use of the oil we have left. And that involves using more efficient vehicles. There is absolutely no justification for most of the people who own SUVs to own them.

    If governments everywhere were to slap on a really massive tax on SUVs (farmers and others who genuinely might need such a vehicle excluded) perhaps we could get rid of those gas-guzzling, dangerous polluting ugly monsters. But it would difficult enough to impose such a law here, let alone in the country that is the source of most of the world’s polluting and gas guzzling. Any such move would be deemed "an attack on the American Way" by the usual suspects, and so things remain as they are and millions of people continue to drive highly unnecessary and inefficient vehicles.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    People protest about wind farms because they're hideous- they're wanting to put one on the top of a fell up in Cumbria, and you'll be able to see the hideous things for thirty miles in every direction.

    Who cares what they look like they're functional, economic and pollution free. I don't see why people get all funny with the idea of wind power because it apparently is an eye sore. Eventually we're going to have to move on to renewable energy anyway and they don't look that bad...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I personally hate people who own big American style pickup trucks, as well as country folk who own Range Rovers/Land Rovers.

    WHY!?!?!?

    This country has no dead zones, there are NO areas that youl would need a big American style pickup truck you bastards.

    As for oil, yes we do need to sort out alternatives, however I believe, like I said in an earlier post that the oil companies will catch on that if they don't get a slice of the new market they will soon be bankrupt.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think people are underestimating the power of the corporations self-interest in greed in moving away from oil.

    Do you think the oil companies do not know that the oil is running out, will they watch as there companies steadily collapse?

    No

    Although it hasn't been that impressive yet the oil reliant comapnies will not let themselves be destroyed and will work to maintain profits be finding other sources of energy etc.

    Govt should play an active role but they will nto do it alone, the corporations greed can save us all!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Whowhere
    I personally hate people who own big American style pickup trucks, as well as country folk who own Range Rovers/Land Rovers.

    WHY!?!?!?

    This country has no dead zones, there are NO areas that youl would need a big American style pickup truck you bastards.
    Except farms and building sites.
    But I agree that people who don't go off-road shouldn't buy "SUVs" because they just don't use them off the tarmac. A common problem with second hand Land Rovers is that the transfer lever has seized up due to lack of use. No risk of that on our Fourtrak of course!:D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Whowhere


    This country has no dead zones, there are NO areas that youl would need a big American style pickup truck you bastards.

    have you ever seen that green thing called the countryside?
    you ever tried to live in north wales and work in north wales? it's all sheep and chainsaws. lumber and generators. pumps and pulleys. drainage pipes and girders. its big fuck off craggy landscapes and mile and miles of forrestry roads ...even our 'A roads get washed away ...our powerlines go down.
    we have tanks out here but call them jcb's.
    we flush the loo and it all goes into a big tank in the next field ...
    your centraly heated bedsit life listening to leonhard cohen is showing!
    the ammount of dogs and other animal life we LIVE ...yes actualy live with is phenomenal. you just see bits of animal in a plastic wrapper and pressume no one needs big fuck off equipment to get around in and with!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No justification for city people though. All those wankers and their Chelsea tractors (aka Range Rovers)... 95% of all 4x4s never get off the road... etc etc
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Aladdin
    No justification for city people though. All those wankers and their Chelsea tractors (aka Range Rovers)... 95% of all 4x4s never get off the road... etc etc
    agreed but i worry about whowheres knowledge of the uk ...the place is full of very rugged but populated areas. where i am 4by 4's are normal and neccessary ...yes the kids are taken to school in them but later in the day that same vehicle is likely to be towing a trailer.
    it's not to do with off roading it's to do with the environment we live in. forrest tracks lead also to houses and livestock. like i said ...even our 'A roads are often tricky.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wind is an intermittent source of power and the only form of energy generation which we cannot control. If there is no wind, there is no generation; if there is too much wind the turbines must be shut down or they will be blown over. At the moment UK turbines generate only an insignificant trickle - less than 100 MW on average from nearly 50 wind "farms", towards an average demand of about 43,000 MW, so that their intermittent supply causes no problems for consumers - indeed those who manage supply simply ignore their existence.

    If ever the wind industry gets its way, however, and builds the 22,700 turbines necessary to produce 10% of our supply, there would be major implications. For example, on January 7th 1997 demand in the UK peaked at 53,000 MW. The British Isles were covered by an area of high pressure and there was no wind. Had we been relying on wind to provide 5,300 MW at that point, there would have been widespread power cuts and 10% of the population would have been without electricity on a cold winter evening.

    Of course, that kind of disaster would never be permitted in a modern industrial state, and so enough fossil fuel generating capacity would always be kept on stand-by ("spinning reserve") to supply the shortfall if the wind dropped: any emissions savings will thus be reduced and of course no power station could ever close because of the major development of wind energy. Wind "farms" constitute an increase in energy supply, not a replacement - an extra environmental cost to add to that of nuclear and fossil fuel.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    new wind farm buit 6miles out to sea off the coast of prestatyn north wales.
    supplies 150,000 homes. the tides create enogh air flow to keep them turning almost constantly.
    of course it isn't going to replace but it does compliment. that much clean electricity has to be a bonus. a step in the right direction.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by morrocan roll
    that much clean electricity has to be a bonus. a step in the right direction.

    Of course, I just still wait to be convinced that it's worth ruining some of the most beautiful countryside in the country for little more than a "bonus". Prestatyn is a hole so doesn't count:p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kermit
    Of course, I just still wait to be convinced that it's worth ruining some of the most beautiful countryside in the country for little more than a "bonus". Prestatyn is a hole so doesn't count:p
    prestatyn is a hole indeed!
    the good thing is you have to realy strain your eyes and conentrate to see them on the grey horrizon. when it's sunny you can see them ...just.
    yes they need to be more sensetive as to the sighting of these things but then ...we already live with pylons and mcdonalds and highways etc dotted about our green and pleasant land.
    man will always make his mark ...a sensible one makes a pleasant change.
    if we decided to remove all the blots on our landscape ...birmingham would have to go ...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by morrocan roll
    we already live with pylons and mcdonalds and highways etc dotted about our green and pleasant land.

    Yeah, but they're as big as a ten-stoey office block and you don't see many of them on a fell in the ten-mile gap between the Lake District National Park and the Yorkshire Dales National Park...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kermit
    Yeah, but they're as big as a ten-stoey office block and you don't see many of them on a fell in the ten-mile gap between the Lake District National Park and the Yorkshire Dales National Park...
    yet ...
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