I'm not trying to bring anyone down but doesn't the issues in London currently feel far too great at the moment?

Ulez zone
Boris' parties
Covid rising
Not enough hospital staff.
Crippling energy prices
Limited jobs
Women being stalked and harassed

I'm sure this isn't just exclusive to the uk...
But these are the current topics on the news this evening...

*sigh*

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Heartlander · 80-89, M

Much the same issues as in the US. These shouldn't be crippling issues. Unfortunately, government leadership are all focused on politicians claiming it's all the other party's fault and the news media focusing on the political warfare rather than the issues. It's like watching a football game where the game turns into a physical brawl and it's no longer a football game but a brawl.

Duhhhh .... like watching leftist insist that no one should dare question their scientist. Uhhhh, I thought science was at least partly about questioning what someone else insists is irrefutable :)

Is there anyone who is against snatching FREE energy from the sun and/or wind? Or from any other gift from mother nature? I'd love to replace my electric and gas bills with big solar panels on my roof. And instead of paying $150+ a month to the utility companies, I'd get a ZERO bill from them. And maybe, I could also plug my electric car into my household socket and the same sun would power my automobile, FREE.

So why are politicians squabbling over the so called science of global warming rather than focusing on the promise of FREE energy from the sun, wind and sea? Anyone who has ever watched the sea tide roll in and out can visualize how energy can be captured there, and once the engineers can work out the details, the ongoing equivalent in $$/barrel of oil will drop to zero. As much as an impact that FREE energy can have on us 1st world countries, imagine what an impact that FREE energy could have on third world countries that can bypass the need to buy oil and gas to power their economic growth.

Mellowgirl · 31-35, F

@Heartlander but they won't! Because of the very reasons above. But equally they'd tell us it can't be free because they have to build the mechanisms that allow us to get this free energy, and maintain them.

4meAndyou · F

@Heartlander My parents installed two very large solar panels on their roof. They had to be steeply slanted, because we get snow up here.

Apparently they have to face in a certain direction to get the maximum benefit from the sun. They were so big there was only room for two of them on the roof, on that side of the house, and the only thing the panels were able to power was the hot water heater.

Expectations from solar power are sometimes unrealistic. If you lived in a place that was always sunny and if you had an enormous roof, and if it never snowed, it might be different.

My grandparents had a small windmill when I was very little, which operated the water pump, and provided water for them intermittently. Eventually they got rid of the windmill and just used electricity to power the pump so that they could always have water, even if the wind wasn't blowing.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@4meAndyou The technology for snatching free and sustainable energy from sun, wind and sea isn't a one time project but an evolving technology. Much like the Wright brothers didn't invent a 747 or an Air Bus. The leap from Kitty Hawk to todays's airliners took 100+ years. Same with Henry Ford's Model A Vs today's automobiles. Every iteration brough better, more efficient, etc.

It's the promise of free and sustainable energy, not that it's here yet, except maybe for a very few with very little need. For the rest of us it will probably come, one step at a time. And it's the promise that will keep us crossing our fingers and anxiously waiting and making the transitions. No need for the government to try to force us along. A government program to start shooting horses in 1910 would not have accelerated the switch by people from buggy to automobiles.

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@Heartlander there is energy in the air that can be harnessed too

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@cherokeepatti

Energy everywhere. One thing that stands out for me as a hybrid fan is the value of recaptured energy when stepping on the brake pedal or just slowing down. It's the old "what goes up will later come down" thing. Step on brake or take the foot off the accelerator and that energy recharges the battery, to be used the next time you accelerate. It's called regenerative braking. After 10 plus years of electric auto vehicles, regenerative braking is now so sophisticated that it goes unnoticed.

The same idea will one day find its way in practically all vehicles of transportation. Like an airliner will consume a disproportionate amount of fuel to take-off and climb to altitude; and later the plane will descend and land, possibly even dragging speed brakes to slow the airplane down; all without recapturing any of the energy as it descends and lands. The same loss of potential energy exists for e-Bikes. E-bikes rolling downhill do so without capturing the energy as it freely rolls downhill, energy that can later be used to help get it back uphill later. Engineers will advance the technology and one day find the ways to recapture the energy with airplanes, bikes, trains, etc ... extending the range and getting us closer and closer to zero-cost energy.