Prices of the electricity we use to charge

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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people like Flecc, openly declare that all private ownership of cars must be stopped. He lives in the middle of a mega city far from typical, but all must be banned.
Wrong, I have never said that.

I have reported in detail that this is clearly the ambition of the politicians in many countries, including Great Britain. I strongly disagree with their alternative personal transport policies which are impractical, but as reported, if we dont wake up, they will happen, given their expertise in ruining this country.

I'm not a politician and as I've posted, never would be one.
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Ghost1951

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France and the other EU countries it compared us with still have the same rules on air pollution.
Something isn't working out there then -

60062
 

Ghost1951

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Wrong, I have never said that.

I have reported in detail that this is clearly the ambition of the politicians in many countries, including Great Britain. I strongly disagree with their alternative personal transport policies which are impractical, but as reported, if we dont wake up, they will happen, given their expertise in ruining this country.

I'm not a politician and as I've posted, never would be one.
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If I have misunderstood you then, it was probably related to posts like this one....

E-cars and ULEZ are both to cut down driving, as I've been posting for years now. It's all about making driving much more expensive and less attractive.

And e-cars were always going to suffer the same charges as i.c. cars eventually, the money has to come from somewhere. That's why two years ago we e-car owners were told VED would also apply to us for 2025.

Part of what lies behind all this is the fact that the authorities worldwide have realised that permitting widespread car ownership and use in the first instance was a massive mistake. It's been hugely costly in road building, it's enabled a huge increase in crime and greatly increased health costs in dealing with accident outcomes and respiratory problems.
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Woosh

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Something isn't working out there then -
Atmospheric condition, sand from the Sahara in high altitude.
I just looked at the iquair.com current map. Where you live , PPM2.5 is 5 micrograms per cubic metre, 4 in Southend, 14 in Paris where my daughter's family live, and 28 in London where my son's family live. What do you say about the difference? Should Mr Khan do something about the air quality?
 

Ghost1951

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Atmospheric condition, sand from the Sahara in high altitude.
I just looked at the iquair.com current map. Where you live , PPM2.5 is 5 micrograms per cubic metre, 4 in Southend, 14 in Paris where my daughter's family live, and 28 in London where my son's family live. What do you say about the difference? Should Mr Khan do something about the air quality?
The numbers themselves make no sense unless we understand the context of what air pollution was like before. Earlier I mentioned the black nasal secretions of my childhood in the city of Newcastle. You are concerned that some roadside monitoring sites in London currently show PM2.5 levels at 28 microgrammes per cubic meter. But what does that mean?

In London in 1951 (my birth year) the AVERAGE pollution level was 204 uG per cubic meter, SEVEN times the present level. This is not during a 'smog' event - that was the average. At its peak around 1900, the suspended particulate matter in London's air was 623 uG per cubic metre.


60063

Throughout at least the first ten years of my childhood, air pollution levels were probably at least ten times what they now are - most likely more than that. You could taste the sulphur dioxide and smell the acrid by products of bituminous coal being burned slowly on open fires in people's grates.

You seem particularly exercised by these numbers. I think your obsession is unhealthy.

Look again at all the green markers at the sites of DEFRA UK Air Quality Monitoring sites and be pleased that virtually none in the UK are yellow (moderate air quality) and none of them are red.

You are dancing on the head of a pin - not for the first time.

Right now UK air pollution

60064


EDIT:

And by the way - as the European map a few posts above shows, much of the current UK pollution level is being blown from Europe by south westerly winds.

Interactive live map


Putting our levels of air quality in a world wide context the fuss here is ridiculous.

60065
 
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Ghost1951

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At the end of John's gospel, Pontious Pilate says in response to a remark made by Jesus, 'What is truth?'

This is an important question. Normally accepted criteria for deciding what is true, and what is false have never been so challenged as they are these days. We seem to be descending into a swamp of chaos in which more and more politicians make completely unfounded claims and more and more ordinary people rush down the rabbit hole of made up data and conspiracy nonsense. It's quite depressing really.

I was reminded of this just now when i read of this insane remark made by Marjorie Taylor-Green, the controversial Republican Congresswoman, which she made recently on X.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says 'they' control weather as Helene death toll reaches 125
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right congresswoman of Georgia, is once again facing criticism for peddling a baseless – and just plain bizarre – claim about the weather.

“Yes they can control the weather,” Greene said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

The eyebrow-raising comment came as the death toll from Hurricane Helene rose to 215, after the storm tore through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee last week. Greene had previously shared a map of the hurricane’s devastation overlaid with an electoral map to seemingly draw a (very questionable) connection between the two.

Greene did not specify who “they” were in her tweet, but she has a controversial history when it comes to weather claims. In 2018, Greene suggested California wildfires were caused by a laser beam from space that was connected to the Rothschild family, which has frequently been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
 

Woosh

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Throughout at least the first ten years of my childhood, air pollution levels were probably at least ten times what they now are - most likely more than that. You could taste the sulphur dioxide and smell the acrid by products of bituminous coal being burned slowly on open fires in people's grates.
few of us work in factories now and even when we do, our factories are much cleaner than they ever were. That means we have achieved a great deal but the numbers still show there is a lot more to be done.
I am usually more optimistic than a lot of people of my age. I believe pollution and climate change can easily be beaten in the next two generations because the cost of energy will be a lot less than now.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,200
30,603
If I have misunderstood you then, it was probably related to posts like this one....
Indeed, explaining the widespread political view.

You surely don't think I want my driving to be more expensive and more controlled and restrictive, or that I want to be forced to use public transport?

Of course I don't, my early driving and riding was in an even more free age than yours and I've duly hated most of the changes since.

BUT, as a realist I recognise that some things have to change:

When the whole population wants to own and drive cars in our crowded island.

When 86% of the population live in cities and towns but want and deserve air as clean as the countryside majority enjoy.

And when cars are causing us so many serious social problems.
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saneagle

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At the end of John's gospel, Pontious Pilate says in response to a remark made by Jesus, 'What is truth?'

This is an important question. Normally accepted criteria for deciding what is true, and what is false have never been so challenged as they are these days. We seem to be descending into a swamp of chaos in which more and more politicians make completely unfounded claims and more and more ordinary people rush down the rabbit hole of made up data and conspiracy nonsense. It's quite depressing really.

I was reminded of this just now when i read of this insane remark made by Marjorie Taylor-Green, the controversial Republican Congresswoman, which she made recently on X.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says 'they' control weather as Helene death toll reaches 125
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right congresswoman of Georgia, is once again facing criticism for peddling a baseless – and just plain bizarre – claim about the weather.

“Yes they can control the weather,” Greene said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

The eyebrow-raising comment came as the death toll from Hurricane Helene rose to 215, after the storm tore through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee last week. Greene had previously shared a map of the hurricane’s devastation overlaid with an electoral map to seemingly draw a (very questionable) connection between the two.

Greene did not specify who “they” were in her tweet, but she has a controversial history when it comes to weather claims. In 2018, Greene suggested California wildfires were caused by a laser beam from space that was connected to the Rothschild family, which has frequently been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Do you remember the floods in Saudi Arabia recently? The Saudis admitted that they had been cloud seeding for several days before the floods started.

From Google AI:

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that can help with climate change mitigation by increasing rainfall and snowpack:
  • How it works
    Cloud seeding introduces tiny ice nuclei into clouds that are subfreezing, which helps water droplets form ice crystals that fall as rain or snow.
  • Benefits
    Cloud seeding can help with water shortages caused by drought, overharvesting, and rising temperatures. It can also increase snowpack in mountain areas, which can help keep temperatures down and fill rivers and streams when the snow melts.
  • Controversy
    Cloud seeding can have unintended consequences, such as too much rain, increased pollution, and hail in agricultural areas.
  • How it's done
    Cloud seeding can be done using aircraft or ground generators. The particles used are often silver iodide, but other substances like liquid propane are being tested.
  • History
    Vincent Schaefer, an American chemist and meteorologist, developed cloud seeding in 1946.
What Google AI says about the Saudis:

Yes, Saudi Arabia has been cloud seeding to increase rainfall, combat desertification, and expand green areas:

  • Program goals
    Saudi Arabia's cloud seeding program aims to increase rainfall, reduce desertification, and make the country greener.
  • Program progress
    In 2023, the program conducted 415 cloud-seeding flights over six regions of Saudi Arabia. The program has completed four phases and is currently working on a fifth.
  • Program details
    Aircraft and drones disperse environmentally safe materials into clouds to increase rainfall. The materials can include silver iodide, which can help moisture condense and form raindrops.
  • Program history
    Saudi Arabia has been looking into cloud seeding since 1976, and the first experiments were conducted in 1990 in the Asir region.
  • Program expansion
    Saudi Arabia plans to expand its cloud seeding program and lead regional research into the practice. The country is also looking to cooperate with neighbors like the UAE.
Cloud seeding is a controversial weather modification technique that's still being studied. It's only effective on clouds that already contain moisture and have the potential to produce rain.
 
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Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
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Do you remember the floods in Saudi Arabia recently? The Saudis admitted that they had been cloud seeding for several days before the floods started.

From Google AI:

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that can help with climate change mitigation by increasing rainfall and snowpack:
  • How it works
    Cloud seeding introduces tiny ice nuclei into clouds that are subfreezing, which helps water droplets form ice crystals that fall as rain or snow.
  • Benefits
    Cloud seeding can help with water shortages caused by drought, overharvesting, and rising temperatures. It can also increase snowpack in mountain areas, which can help keep temperatures down and fill rivers and streams when the snow melts.
  • Controversy
    Cloud seeding can have unintended consequences, such as too much rain, increased pollution, and hail in agricultural areas.
  • How it's done
    Cloud seeding can be done using aircraft or ground generators. The particles used are often silver iodide, but other substances like liquid propane are being tested.
  • History
    Vincent Schaefer, an American chemist and meteorologist, developed cloud seeding in 1946.
What Google AI says about the Saudis:

Yes, Saudi Arabia has been cloud seeding to increase rainfall, combat desertification, and expand green areas:

  • Program goals
    Saudi Arabia's cloud seeding program aims to increase rainfall, reduce desertification, and make the country greener.
  • Program progress
    In 2023, the program conducted 415 cloud-seeding flights over six regions of Saudi Arabia. The program has completed four phases and is currently working on a fifth.
  • Program details
    Aircraft and drones disperse environmentally safe materials into clouds to increase rainfall. The materials can include silver iodide, which can help moisture condense and form raindrops.
  • Program history
    Saudi Arabia has been looking into cloud seeding since 1976, and the first experiments were conducted in 1990 in the Asir region.
  • Program expansion
    Saudi Arabia plans to expand its cloud seeding program and lead regional research into the practice. The country is also looking to cooperate with neighbors like the UAE.
Cloud seeding is a controversial weather modification technique that's still being studied. It's only effective on clouds that already contain moisture and have the potential to produce rain.
Yes I do remember it, but I think the incident occurred in the UAE - Dubai, not Saudi Arabia and I also remember that the heavy storm (it was an exceptional storm in fact) had been predicted for days before hand.

I also remember that the UAE weather people, who I think you are referring to have said that they had NOT been cloud seeding when the storm struck. The point was, they aready knew that the rain would be heavy because the system which brought the deluge, was being watched for days beforehand. What would be the incentive to go about dumping chemicals into the atmosphere to try to promote condensation when a heavy storm system was already being watched and tracked for days beforehand?

They do cloud seeding in very dry weather, to try to begin the formation of condensate particles which may then join together to precipitate as rain.

 

Ghost1951

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Margery Taylor Green's point was that nefarious political forces had controlled the weather in order to ruin the lives of Republican dominated states.....

Utter madness.

She is known for it.
 

Woosh

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Margery Taylor Green's point was that nefarious political forces had controlled the weather in order to ruin the lives of Republican dominated states.....
Those states won't be republican after 6 November.
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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saneagle

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Yes I do remember it, but I think the incident occurred in the UAE - Dubai, not Saudi Arabia and I also remember that the heavy storm (it was an exceptional storm in fact) had been predicted for days before hand.

I also remember that the UAE weather people, who I think you are referring to have said that they had NOT been cloud seeding when the storm struck. The point was, they aready knew that the rain would be heavy because the system which brought the deluge, was being watched for days beforehand. What would be the incentive to go about dumping chemicals into the atmosphere to try to promote condensation when a heavy storm system was already being watched and tracked for days beforehand?

They do cloud seeding in very dry weather, to try to begin the formation of condensate particles which may then join together to precipitate as rain.

It was predicted because they were cloud seeding with the intent to cause rain. There was a lot of misreporting at the time, but the Saudis admitted cloud seeding in the area where the floods were. Obviously, they tried to spin it that it wasn't the cloud seeding that caused the floods, otherwise they would have been held liable and people would want to put the brakes on cloud seeding. They said the clouds were full of water on their own, which is true, but it's the cloud seeding that makes it fall as rain. Maybe they misjudged how much water was in the air or maybe they simply didn't care. Either way, they were cloud seeding right there and the floods occurred immediately after. Every interested party is trying to spin it to fit their own agenda.
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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Those states won't be republican after 6 November.
Well, who knows. Certainly I don't.

The main problem is the, 'What is truth?'issue that I referred to above.

Once a significant proportion of the electorate begin to get their information from the toxic cess pit of social media, all bets are off. If thirty or forty percent of people go down that rabbit hole the world is done for as far as rational decision making is concerned. It has become a really widespread problem. It is present on here.
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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It was predicted because they were cloud seeding with the intent to cause rain. There was a lot of misreporting at the time, but the Saudis admitted cloud seeding in the area where the floods were. Obviously, they tried to spin it that it wasn't the cloud seeding that caused the floods, otherwise they would have been held liable and people would want to put the brakes on cloud seeding. They said the clouds were full of water on their own, which is true, but it's the cloud seeding that makes it fall as rain. Maybe they misjudged how much water was in the air or maybe they simply didn't care. Either way, they were cloud seeding right there and the floods occurred immediately after. Every interested party is trying to spin it to fit their own agenda.
This is not accurate.

The forecast of very heavy rainfall preceded the event by as much as a week. The technique of cloud seeding is used in the UAE because it is a very arid region, but the outcomes of cloud seeding operations are utterly incapable of producing that amount of rainfall. The storms were being tracked long before they came to land and there were no cloud seeding operations even though there were meteorological flights. There is nothing surprising in a meteorological service operating flights to measure a well foreseen spectacular rain event. They run such flights here in the UK too, flying planes into thunder storms and such like events.

 
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