The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

This one from an article by Rowen Atkinson.

https://youtu.be/Yiga3atlTRs

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1997 TVR Chimaera 450

Yes, I read the original article he wrote for the Guardian newspaper, last Saturday. Apparently Rowan Atkinson has a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, with a master's in control systems, as well as a life long passion for cars. He, like many of us, thinks battery vehicles are a blind alley and are very far from environmentally clean, as well as being impractical. He points out that Volvo reckon gas emissions produced in making an EV are 70% greater than in making a petrol or diesel vehicle. He also criticises the trend, promoted by the car makers, of changing to a new car every three years when current vehicles will probably last at least 30 years with care.

He hopes hydrogen technology will come of age sooner rather than later, but until then we should use our cars for as many years as they can be kept going. Hear, hear I say.

EDIT: I should have watched the video first as Geoff on YouTube reads the article that was obviously first published in the Telegraph. Interesting that the Guardian thought it worthy of reproducing it. How can we make sure all those in Westminster read it?

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Mike
(1969 MGB GTV8, 1977 Dolomite 1850HL, 1971 MGB roadster now all three on the road)

The copy a mate just sent to me was from the Sunday Times...quite odd really, as the MSM tend normally to just spew the government narrative!

I watched an interesting documentary on hydrogen power recently; the most common and readily available stores of hydrogen are apparently water and methane, but unfortunately the energy required to break both molecules down is greater than the energy released when the hydrogen is burned again.

There are two big developments using hydrogen taking place near me currently, both utilising wind power, of which there is a surplus.
In Orkney, the islands' council is well on with having all the inter islands running on hydrogen.
In Easter Ross they are looking to produce hydrogen on a much bigger scale using offshore wind.
Interesting times


Ian

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I have been wondering if the Middle East may invest heavily in Solar energy. Their wealth has come from oil, but there is no reason they couldn't stick vast amounts of solar panels into uninhabited areas, and use that electricity to produce hydrogen. They could then continue their existing income stream supplying the west with fuel.
Hydrogen does have some serious difficulties though. The molecule is so small it is difficult to seal/contain. And if up against electric, it is far less efficient than storing energy in batteries.

I remember reading a well thought out book, and the author wrote that he expected the human race to move away from fossil fuels. His reasoning was that a similar change happened a 120 years ago. Prior to that everybody used horses to move around. And in a very short time we moved to the ICE, it was just better/more convenient. I bet then most people thought cars would never catch on. And we are now due another change. Not an evolution, but something very different. I bet there is stuff going on right now around the world and just maybe one of the crazy ideas will come off.

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Clive Senior
Brighton

The largest solar field in the world is in Qatar (who enjoy twice the light intensity of the UK and a continuous season). It stretches to the horizon in all directions, an unimaginable scale. It produces 800 megawatts of electricity. Compare that to Drax power station in the UK which produces 4,000 megawatts which is only 6% of UK demand; you’d therefore need a solar field 10 times the size of the Qatari field to replace Drax alone, and that’s just during the summer period!

The big lie however is that solar (and wind) power is cheap; the capital investment required for each is massive, both for the initial equipment and also new transmission infrastructure. So there is little future in producing an inefficient fuel (hydrogen) using expensive means to acquire it. The ICE only gained popularity and widespread use after Henry managed to make it affordable. The big difference at the time is when the ICE was developed, governments didn’t subsidise its use, or mandate the phasing out of horse and cart; the evolution was natural.

There’s a documentary somewhere that I can’t find the link for at the moment which describes the theoretical but disastrous cooling effect a solar field in the Sahara would have; I’ll keep looking for it…