Not As Environmentally Friendly As Promised

[Trevp666]

Gosh! Cold weather in Scotland in December, who'd a thought it.

If you look closely at the base of each turbine though, you'll find the 'settings'.

 

[Stormkhan]

Very few tube lines go 'south of the river' generally, because over the decades when the majority of the tube network was first built it was discovered that the composition of the ground changes as you head south-east, becoming much more sandy/gravelly and unstable, which prevented the prevailing tunnel-building techniques of the time from being adequate for construction of same.
A lot of urban-sprawl development came later, and then it was found that people were oddly resistant to having their properties compulsorily purchased and knocked down to make way for new train lines etc.
Which is why places like Croydon ended up with modern tram services, years after perfectly serviceable tram lines and trolleybus routes were ripped up.

One interesting You Tube channel is Jay Foreman's, on the whole history and geography of London.

 

[Coal]

If you look closely at the base of each turbine though, you'll find the 'settings'.
View attachment 63080

 

[maximus otter]

Wind power for 1.2m homes is wasted because of lack of storage​

Enough wind power to supply 1.2m homes a day was wasted over winter because there is no capacity to store extra energy generated on gusty days, according to new research.

National Grid’s electricity system operator asked wind turbines which were expected to generate about 1.35 terawatt-hours of electricity between October and January to switch off instead because they were not needed to meet demand at the time, according to the consultancy Stonehaven.

Meanwhile, gas-fired power turbines burned an estimated 65 terawatt-hours of gas over the period when wind speeds were lower – costing an estimated £60bn.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/06/coal-power-station-put-standby-low-winds-forecast/

maximus otter

 

[MorningAngel]

I wasn’t really sure where to put this. It’s the reverse of the thread really. Are we being lead to believe the environment is more messed up than it is?

As I’ve mentioned before I live within the M25 about 20 miles from London. Now I’m pretty sure 30 years ago you didn’t get to see many stars where we live as I was always blown away with how many you could see when we were at a caravan park by the coast. But for a good few years (maybe more) at least I’ve managed to see loads from my garden.

 

[RaM]

Yep when you watch old films and see how murky it was and it's not the quality
of the film , that's how it was you realise how clean it is now, I am old enough
to remember how bad it really was, I don't want to turn back the clocks but
there's a lot of money being made by frightening people.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I wasn’t really sure where to put this. It’s the reverse of the thread really. Are we being lead to believe the environment is more messed up than it is?

As I’ve mentioned before I live within the M25 about 20 miles from London. Now I’m pretty sure 30 years ago you didn’t get to see many stars where we live as I was always blown away with how many you could see when we were at a caravan park by the coast. But for a good few years (maybe more) at least I’ve managed to see loads from my garden.

There is definitely less pollution in the UK now.
All the heavy industry has gone abroad.

 

[MorningAngel]

There is a definitely less pollution in the UK now.
All the heavy industry has gone abroad.

That’s a good point. We did used to have a large Glaxo Wellcome (as it was) factory.

 

[Trevp666]

'Light pollution' has reduced dramatically in the UK in the past 5 or 6 years too.
This is due to local councils and The Highways Agency moving from 'Sodium' bulbs (the orange ones) to new 'LED' type of bulbs which have almost all of their light directed downwards.
The sodium bulbs used to emit their orange light in a much greater arc, and also (IIRC) at a different, longer, wavelength to standard lightbulbs. They were originally chosen due to their light being better able to cover a larger area and be visible in less clear conditions, such as mist and rain/spray.
These modern LED lights I find are rather hopeless as they do not give off a sufficiently bright light, and also are less powerful anyway. The existing streetlights were originally installed the correct distance apart for the sodium bulbs used at the time, and as such we now have pools of unlit street between the lights.

But, 'short story', less light pollution now.

 

[Mythopoeika]

'Light pollution' has reduced dramatically in the UK in the past 5 or 6 years too.
This is due to local councils and The Highways Agency moving from 'Sodium' bulbs (the orange ones) to new 'LED' type of bulbs which have almost all of their light directed downwards.
The sodium bulbs used to emit their orange light in a much greater arc, and also (IIRC) at a different, longer, wavelength to standard lightbulbs. They were originally chosen due to their light being better able to cover a larger area and be visible in less clear conditions, such as mist and rain/spray.
These modern LED lights I find are rather hopeless as they do not give off a sufficiently bright light, and also are less powerful anyway. The existing streetlights were originally installed the correct distance apart for the sodium bulbs used at the time, and as such we now have pools of unlit street between the lights.

But, 'short story', less light pollution now.

My Mum's council decided to turn off the streetlights at night. Useless.

 

[Stormkhan]

That’s a good point. We did used to have a large Glaxo Wellcome (as it was) factory.

If it was in Dartford, then my older sister used to work there.

 

[MorningAngel]

If it was in Dartford, then my older sister used to work there.

Yup that’s us. Lots of people here did. I temped there a couple of times. I can’t remember why but I was sent down to a basement one day and there were these robots trundling around on a lined track. It was like something from old style Doctor Who and a lot more unusual back then.

 

[Stormkhan]

If I recall correctly, my sister worked when it was called Burroughs & Wellcome?

 

[hunck]

'Light pollution' has reduced dramatically in the UK in the past 5 or 6 years too.
This is due to local councils and The Highways Agency moving from 'Sodium' bulbs (the orange ones) to new 'LED' type of bulbs which have almost all of their light directed downwards.
The sodium bulbs used to emit their orange light in a much greater arc, and also (IIRC) at a different, longer, wavelength to standard lightbulbs. They were originally chosen due to their light being better able to cover a larger area and be visible in less clear conditions, such as mist and rain/spray.
These modern LED lights I find are rather hopeless as they do not give off a sufficiently bright light, and also are less powerful anyway. The existing streetlights were originally installed the correct distance apart for the sodium bulbs used at the time, and as such we now have pools of unlit street between the lights.

But, 'short story', less light pollution now.

I can’t agree with you that newer LED streetlights aren’t as bright as the old orange ones. The new ones were installed in my road a few years ago & give out more light than the old ones. The difference was quite noticeable - it’s like the light given off by a full moon & the white light is preferable to the orange haze from the old ones as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Trevp666]

'Bright' was probably a poor choice of words TBH....I expect 'intense' is a more apt word.
I always found the old orange sodium lights were much better at illuminating a larger area, albeit with the sickly orange glow, but the modern LED lights tend to be more restricted in their coverage.
Directly beneath the modern white lights is much brighter, for sure, but away from their immediate focal point the illumination is poor.

 

[RaM]

Funny stuff led lights I have them on my scooter if you look at them they will burn your eyes out but do they light the road do they buggery

 

[Coal]

'Bright' was probably a poor choice of words TBH....I expect 'intense' is a more apt word.

Exactly so. The 'brightness' is a function of the light emitted and the angle over which it is spread. Narrow beam LEDs can exceed safe levels (type approvals now look at the brightness of LEDs for this very reason). Essentially two LED's using the same power can have different brightness's, but the brighter will have a narrower viewing angle.

It's made worse by it being nearly impossible to find LED's with anything other than clear resin over then, even if it's coloured. 'Back in the day' LEDs often came with a translucent plastic resin, so they had a soft light, which is fine for indicators. Not so good for car lights. If house-hold LED bulbs didn't have a pearlescent finish they'd be literally blinding.

 

[MorningAngel]

 

[Tunn11]

View attachment 63346

I like the cartoon but telegraph poles?!

 

[Tunn11]

If I recall correctly, my sister worked when it was called Burroughs & Wellcome?

Yes, Mrs T's Mum used to work there.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I like the cartoon but telegraph poles?!

There are still places with overhead power lines that aren't mounted on pylons.

 

[Tunn11]

There are still places with overhead power lines that aren't mounted on pylons.

Fair point. Note to self, be more careful if climbing random poles.

 

[MorningAngel]

Tesla goes down across Europe leaving some drivers unable to charge cars​

https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/14/tesl...18282364/?ito=facebook|social|metroukfacebook

 

[Stormkhan]

As soon as Elon takes something over, the problems begin ...

 

[maximus otter]

As soon as Elon takes something over, the problems begin ...

"Musk actually joined Tesla in 2004, when he provided $6.35 million of the company’s initial $6.5 million funding. With that investment, Musk became Tesla’s chairman...

In October 2008, Musk became CEO."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-elon-musk-changed-tesla-173233602.html

- And only fifteen years later, something goes wrong with the software (which he didn't write...)



maximus otter

 

[gordonrutter]

'Bright' was probably a poor choice of words TBH....I expect 'intense' is a more apt word.
I always found the old orange sodium lights were much better at illuminating a larger area, albeit with the sickly orange glow, but the modern LED lights tend to be more restricted in their coverage.
Directly beneath the modern white lights is much brighter, for sure, but away from their immediate focal point the illumination is poor.

I can attest to the fact that close to these things are ridiculous, for example the one directly outside my bedroom window.

 

[MorningAngel]

I wouldn’t want my car relying on the whims of an app.

 

[Coal]

I wouldn’t want my car relying on the whims of an app.

Most cars already do. Microcontroller based engine management systems have been almost ubiquitous since the early 1990's.

 

[Stormkhan]

As demonstrated by the need of a computer plugged in to the engine in a garage for diagnostics, performance etc.

 

[Kondoru]

At great expense.