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Solar is improving all the time- the solar roof tiles are promising.
Wave energy, wind etc are all coming along.
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It all depends on what part of the picture you want to look at or ignore.
Solar panels are energy intensive to make, and wind farms are energy intensive to construct (concrete has a huge carbon footprint), which means their carbon payback is very long, and that's before you consider the environmental cost of producing lithium batteries.
And without the availability of good storage, is it better to have power stations than run at high capacity regularly, or only run at minimal capacity expect from the inevitable periods where renewables can't cope with demand?
The problem with most of these things, is most figures commonly available, are produced by those with vested interests, so things get manipulated/selectively quoted to suit the authors own targets.
I see that a few months back it was announced that renewables had produced more electricity than fossil & nuclear in the UK.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/carboncounter.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/why-germanys-nuclear-phaseout-is-leading-to-more-coal-burning/amp/
I read an article in the Economist recently on this subject. The power generation market in Germany is screwed, they have dumped Nuclear but renewables can't meet demand. Coal Fired power stations fill the gap but because you can't turn coal fired stations on and off in any practical sense they are burning coal / spewing out C02 regardless of demand. The market in Germany mandates that renewables are used to supply demand, so when it's windy, lots of power is produced and electricity companies / distribution networks are obliged to take it. Meanwhile the coal is still being burnt in readiness for when the wind drops.
Elon Musk is the man to bring the future forward, his Gigafactory will reduce the cost of batteries, his Tesla cars have proved electric cars are just as fast as petrol cars (faster actually in acceleration ) ... 8 year warranty on the battery ... no oil change needed, no filters, no cam belt change, no particle filers or duel mass flywheels ... free charging at Supercharging points.
If I had the money I would honestly buy a Tesla now and there will come a time when only the rich will drive petrol cars
http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Used-Tesla-Roadster.jpg
But this one looks kind of red
http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/09/Tesla-Motors-Model-S_0008.jpg
Hydrogen fuel cells could be the answer. You refuel your car as you do now instead of petrol you use hydrogen.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/chart/electricity-generation-mix-quarter-and-fuel-source-gb
Why was Germany so determined to get rid of all nuclear power by 2022 - was it an environmental policy?
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
The Tesla Model 3 is out soon which is hopefully the game changer, it's priced at around $35, 000, does 0 to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds and has a range of 215 miles. .... It will do that 215 miles on less than a tenner of electric and won't burn any oil, or wear on the clutch. You can see that being a hit with taxi drivers
23 years to put in all the infrastructure for charging points and add more cabling to the national grid to distribute all that electricity. Plus building a significant number of new power stations to provide all the electricity.
Look at the mess that is HS2 and how much that is forecast to cost.
Are we just shifting the position from exhaust emissions to power stations and all the rainforest we will have to chop down to mine the materials for the batteries.
I don't belive the carbon footprint for a "proper" diesel / petrol car vs electric car, including their supply chains and operating life , is fully understood.
Im in favour of it but it needs to be done properly.
That's may view as a chartered electrical engineer.