Good luck, folks!

The vast majority of the cost of fuel in the UK is TAX. As organised by G. Brown, when he was chancellor.

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Bring it on Boys! Everyone is behind you all the way. Lets show this Government that we are fed up with the cost of fuel, and trying to earn an honest and decent living when prices are rising far beyond our feeble wages. Go get ‘em

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Having lived through 5 decades, (50′s 60′s 70′s 80′s and 90′s) – I have seen the price of fuel relentlessly go up, and up.
Probably the most notorious rise was in late 1973 when rationing was nearly introduced, – and the price of a gallon of petrol went from 33p a gallon to over 50p a gallon in less than a few weeks. (note Gallons not LITRES !!)

So .. nothing’s changed there then.

What is really needed here is for the transport and motoring franternity to have a real VOICE. (look at another famous and recent thread in this forum about this very subject!!)

There are Millions of us out there paying these high prices for fuel, – and if those millions had a real voice – then things would HAVE to change, and FAST.

And ….just where is the activity looking for realistic, economic, and environmentally friendly fuels of the future – I don’t see much activity ?!

No …

it’s easier to watch the price climb, and raise more revenue as a result, from a section of the community that pays WELL over the odds already!

And … as a footnote, …….Nothing annoys me more than reading about “totally green” hydrogen powered vehicles, because …..all they produce is water! …. Well …that may be so on “recombining hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity to power the vehicle” , (and water as a by product) …. but …. no one ever says where the hydrogen comes from?? …. and …..might that be because hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of water…?? ..
and ….where does the electricity come from to do that? …. from fossile fuels mabye ??? – so are these vehicles that “green” after all?????

Lets have some real activity from the motoring and transport fraternity -and get some REAL joined up thinking going on fuel prices, and fuel policy.

Over to you guys ..

Good luck

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If the British government had never taxed oil, our economy would be about as fossil-fuel-efficient as the US economy is now, ie not at all.

Which economy is going to be best prepared for the coming shortages in fossil-fuels, ours or the USA’s?

Besides, fuel price increases are the result of a complex mixture of factors.

These include military tension in the Middle East, financial speculation on oil futures markets and PEAK OIL (see Washington Post, July 1st, Peak Oil: IEA Inches Toward the Pessimists’ Camp).

Simply calling on the British government to lighten the tax-load ignores these wider, global factors.

And ignoring the latest International Energy Agency’s report, which confirms that demand for oil is rapidly outpacing supply, is, in my view, not a sustainable position for the hauliers to take.

By attacking the government and ignoring the bigger picture, they are only postponing that moment, when we all have to face up to our own oil addiction.

The hauliers would have much more support if they were to demand that the taxes our government takes on fossil fuels were to be re-invested in removing our dependence on those same fossil fuels.

When are we going to grasp this nettle?

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Askeric dotcom is right to raise these difficult questions, and I would be interested to hear his input on these suggestions.

Biofuels are clearly not the answer if they lead to higher food prices for the poorest people in the world and if their cultivation leads to the acceleration of tropical forest destruction.

So we have to think about the answers to your questions very carefully.

You asked where the electricity would come from for electric vehicles.

Windpower is one answer, but not the only one.

Vehicles could charge up overnight on this carbon-free and renewable energy and then be usable the following day with only water as a waste product.

However, as the Centre for Alternative Technology points out in its 26th June press release (‘New Government energy plan highlights UK skills gap’), financial investment from government is needed.

‘If Britain is to implement a ten-fold increase in renewables, creating 160,000 new jobs will mean training 160,000 people.’

In my view, some of the tax from fossil fuels must be seen by the public to be going into renewables and into re-skilling Britain if we are to future-proof our economy and keep the public onside.

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What exactly do you mean by the phrase, ‘There will be blood’, Dave E?

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“Support for lorry demo” Is there?
A few wound up waggoners (ok a hundred or so can do plenty of damage to other road users but not exactly representative of the whole industry).

Your rage at this government will not change anything – a replacement CONservative one will (promise you everything to get in) but have to bow to global pressure anyway. Transport costs are going up, like it or not – you had it good under Blair, didn’t you? so now, pain is here for us all. (I say good under Blair, because that’s how many of your businesses have prospered or even come to exist).

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Askeric dotcom The problem with wind/solar power is that we are not in a climate where those forms of energy could be even 80% relied upon.

Nuclear is the only viable option to power the UK

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Phil.

I’m a thinking engineer, please don’t think I am not “more than aware” of the problems you mention!!
You have also not really read my post.
I said that “we may HAVE to use nuclear as an option in the short to medium term”.
And – are we also aware that the average power station (coal oil gas)……
(and nuclear – if all the nuclear reaction does is to produce heat to make steam to make a turbine rotate …. isn’t that efficient either)
…. is only about 1/3 efficient?
That is, as an example: for every 1Megawatt of electricity generated, 2 Megawatts goes “up the chuff” as waste heat (and the 1/3 generated goes eventually as heat also)
What a waste !!
So – on that basis, wind, wave etc is 3TIMES more effective than conventional “fuel” based power generation equipment, i.e DOSEN’T dump any heat ( that wasn’t there before as sunlight) into the equation.
If we are going to look at this problem, please let’s do it with some more intelligent thought.
I never actually said that renewable generation should ACTUALLY be in the UK
For example: I asked the question earlier about how hydrogen could be produced (to power “green” hydrogen/oxygen reactions in a fuel cell to produce electricity with water as the only by-product.
An interesting thought ……
Have you looked at how much energy reaches the earth from the sun, in relation to the TOTAL amount used every day by the entire population of the world?
The ratio is staggering. it is positively HUGE … look it up … on Google or wherever !
you will be surprised!
There is an incredible amount of energy reaching us from the sun. Just think how much solar energy falls per square metre of desert say?
Have you stood by the pyramids in Giza and noticed how hot it is? – most of the time ??!!
What if that energy were turned into electricity by some “as yet unknown process” –
Such electricity maybe used to de-salinate sea water for irrigation, and partly to electrolyse water for hydrogen ??.
What if the deserts were turned partly into arable land, and provided useful agricultural employment for locals to grow biomass for fuel and food? (I have contacts who are looking at the processing of sand into arable land )
We have not even “scratched the surface” here !!
As I’ve said – I DONT see any of this alternative fuel being discussed sensibly.
To dismiss it just becuase our British climate doesn”t support it I think is being defeatist.
so – lets see tax reduction on fuel, and some of the rest being spent on REAL alternatives.

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