I’m sure i’ve seen something on the TV about deep sea mining and it didn’t look like it was any good for the environment down there.

I think the summary is it’s pretty catastrophic for the ecology of the volcanic vents being mined. But that’s offset by the fact that you only need to mine comparatively small areas of a very big ocean. BUT, that in itself isn’t without it’s problems, these ecosystems are so specialized it’s possible they contain species that don’t exist even on other vents.

The solution isn’t more cars, it’s EV’s to replace some cars and less traveling in the first place so less cars overall.

Even if you charge your EV from a solar panel it still has a huge carbon footprint, the car, the solar panel, the road, etc all have a footprint, not just the 60% reduction in the carbon footprint of the fuel.

The solution isn’t more cars, it’s EV’s to replace some cars and less traveling in the first place so less cars overall.

You can say it till you’re blue in the face but that greenwash is hard to shift.

I agree!

install solar at our places of work, we could charge our cars where they sit in the day, and take the power home with us to run our houses over night.

Always wondered why we have massive roof acerage on retail and industrial parks without any solar panels and yet perfectly nice looking (especially older houses) are being ruined aesthetically.

Always wondered why we have massive roof acerage on retail and industrial parks without any solar panels and yet perfectly nice looking (especially older houses) are being ruined aesthetically.

Or even just car-parks…

https://www.ablecanopies.co.uk/canopies/solar-canopies/grange-mono-pitch-solar-canopy.html

Always wondered why we have massive roof acerage on retail and industrial parks without any solar panels and yet perfectly nice looking (especially older houses) are being ruined aesthetically.

I think…….the feed in tariff that encouraged home owners didn’t apply to large scale installations?

Also a lot of industrial building is incredibly cheap. Like a design life of 25 years kinda cheap. It wouldn’t surprise me to find that the roof of some wouldn’t be up to the extra weight!

And in most cases those buildings are leased.

EDF have signed a deal with Tesco to use their new roof mounted solar panels and I think Ikea have had their own for a while. But it’s a very good point.

Energy efficiency in retail is shockingly bad, look at all the tin barns that need heated in winter and cooled in summer, the acreage of black tarmac and the open chiller units everywhere. You could use the car park as a heat sink for GSHP, insulate the buildings, utilise the roof space and put doors on the bloody chillers. Does my head in standing in a fridge aisle with a hot air blower right above me, apart form the environmental aspect how much does that cost per year?!?

Worked well for Walmart.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/20/walmart-tesla-lawsuit-solar-panels-fires

I guess unsubsdised solar in the UK is of questionable economic value. Any subsidies for large scale solar farm were probably easier to get with solar farms in fields. Cheaper to build and maintain.

Your right Suirrelking. Things are changing in France and Germany: a local Lidl has:

Doors on all the fridges
Blocks with grass growing through them for the parking places
Solar panels on the roof
A building to the latest energy standards (which still aren’t good enough IMO)
4 EV charge points
I don’t Know about the air-con. I’ll have a look the next time I shop there

Maxtorque – now we’re getting there. 😉