Climate Change Demonstrations

15% of electricity generating capacity in the UK is wind based. On a good day, with other renewable resources (solar panels, biomass, hydro, this can meet half of our energy demand, on a 'bad' day, like last Thursday, it cannot even provide 10% of our needs.

If we are going for an all electric economy; electric heating in commercial and industrial premises as well as domestic, electric cars for runabouts. Another fuel, possibly hydrogen will be needed for commercial and freight traffic and cars making long journeys or towing caravans any distance. then we are going to need to produce at least twice as much power as we do now. How do we do that?

The answer, of course, is nuclear. Probably abut 20 nuclear stations around the country. But nuclear power is not very flexible, it cannot be switched on and off as the wind power contribution fluctuates, nor can solar be controlled. Currently the only way to ensure a steady supply of electricity for every need for the foreseeable future is to use gas.

If ER and GT have any ideas about how to meet demand without it, they should tell us more.

If we did decide to go nuclear, as the planning to commisioning point usually takes a minimum of 15-20 years, we could not expect to see any nuclear plant operational until 2035 - 40.

This is what I find so frustrating about ER and that young wunderkind GT. They have singularly failed to address the actual issues or suggest any solutions themselves. Short of saying that we should all go vegan and all planes should be grounded. Which shows an incredible ignorance of agriculture and a true naivete over how the world works .

It can't be just "runabouts". It has to be all cars. There is already a huge network of charging points across the UK.

zap map

Large areas being used for solar farms in East Anglia, gonegirl. The nearest one to us is on land that DH used to manage so very near. We can't see it thanks to a railway embankment. Not the prettiest of things to look at but it's on land that was failing in its productivity so better to be used to create power.

Maize is also being grown to feed anaerobic digesters.

The times they are a changin'

Very true merlot.

I caught a bit of GT's rant and afraid to say she is in danger of sounding like a stroppy teenager who's been sent to her room.

Scowling at Donald Trump was childish. She needs to be taught to rise above that kind of thing.

No!!! The kids understand her. They're the ones who have to get governments going, and keep them going. Things are too easily shelved.

As one of the placards said, we will die of old age. They will die of global warming related causes.

But surely it's important that she's taken seriously. Not all kids behave like that when needing to put an important point across.

Kids might understand her but they're not the ones who need to listen.

They need to keep the protests up to keep it at the forefront. The delegation they want to send to number 10 will do the real talking. It's one of their demands.

Anyway, she is being taken seriously. She can do and say what others can't.

Not everyone thinks of her speeches as "rants". That's just you and baggs.

I would like to scowl at Trump.

Yes, so would I, Gonegirl

I'd probably be too scared.

I suppose it was too short for a rant. Unless I missed most of it.

She must be exhausted. Poor kid.

I agree with merlotgran that GT is in danger of becoming recognised more for her scowling and ranting than for the message she wants to convey. Someone needs to stop writing her scripts with such venom or she won't command any respect. It's a shame she is actually losing some of her own childhood by being thrust into the limelight. I feel sorry for her.

What she was actually angry about was Trump ignoring her. You see her move into position as she thinks his going fawn over her like everyone else has done and he walks straight past her as if she is totally insignificant... Someone didn't pay her attention and her head explodes.

Yes, the girl is passionate and young. But she IS on the spectrum and even her parents have admitted that she obsesses and sees everything as a binary choice.

I watched her on TV. Her delivery was 'too' dramatic. It felt like very much it was 'acting' (and very well rehearsed at that).

What I would like to know is who is stage managing that, because a performance like that cannot possibly be coming from a 16 year old child ?

Ps. Is anyone else not even slightly uncomfortable that this young girl is being allowed to get overly emotionally distraught? There's a great deal of sadness in the world. I'm not convinced she's emotionally resilient enough to be involved in this campaign.

I'm not. To be dramatic, passionate and angry is a good way to get the message across. She's a fine actor, that's all!

Me, Urmstongran, I worry for her. I hope her courage will be rewarded. I feel enormously grateful to her. I hope her campaign will inspire more and more people to rise against the forces of greed and fascism so we can work together to stop our own extinction.

ug ?? have you met any teenagers lately? Emotional is their stock in trade.

What a disingenuous post

This

Matt Haig
@matthaig1
·
9h
To the usual suspects saying we shouldn't listen to what a 'child' has to say:

Mary Shelley came up with Frankenstein aged 18.

Joan of Arc led the French army to victory at 17.

Anne Frank wrote her diaries before she was 15.

Oh, and Mozart wrote a symphony when he was eight.

Of course a 16 year old can deliver an emotional or fluent speech. She is not a typical teenager, neither was Mozart who was writing concertos and wowing huge audiences at an even younger age. Maybe she is a child genius in the same vein. If she was an older celeb type she would be sneered at, but because she can’t be accused of hypocrisy she is accused of being false.

Gonegirl A battery big enough to power a lorry, would be as big as a lorry. Even fast chargers will take 30 minutes to charge a small car. How long will it take to charge a lorry battery trailer 12 hours and how long will that charge last 3 - 4 hours.

Hydrogen is an emission free fuel. Its byproduct is water. It is, in fact a very good way of using excess electricity from windfarms and a good way of using production surges and evening supply. It is the fuel that will replace diesel in providing us with industrial traction.

This is the problem with this subject, Too few people have any idea about the science and technology behind alternative fuels, the major problems, and where the breaktthroughs could be.

Too many are very happy to make a fuss, shout and demonstrate and make ludicrous demands but none of them are prepared to make the effort, to try and really understand the problems, to focus on where there are projects that could make major contributions to providing us with clean fuel but are held up and lead a campaign that motivates ordinary people to take practical steps in reducing their own fuel consumption.

monica I think that information is out of date. Have you seen the Tesla range?

My son is getting one in the New Year.