Since 1980 car registrations in the UK have increased by 65%
That means to reduce todays UK vehicle emissions down to 1980 levels, all of todays registered vehicles would need to do something like 80mpg to 100mpg.
This minimum mpg figure would have to be increased as the number of cars on the road increased world wide.
It would have to increase further if we wanted to take emissions below 1980 levels.
The only way to do that is to increase vehicle efficiency substantially and to reduce the number on the road.
... or reduce the population so that those who are still driving cars aren't sat in massive traffic jams going nowhere. (I know this is the least likeliest option, but it would solve or reduce so many problems)
err... and just how are you going to go about reducing the population? Probably the easiest way is to let the sceptics have their way and let nature take its course...
I know population reduction is never going to happen (that is unless nature decides to take over) but it is the one thing that seems to have got us into the mess we're in.
Nature has taken over - it always has - it always will - don't forget we are part of it...
Any species that seeks to increase its population is only acting naturally. It is somewhat unnatural for a species to seek to limit its own population, and only natural that it would come up against huge opposition if it tried to do so.
Originally posted by Lucibee: Nature has taken over - it always has - it always will - don't forget we are part of it...
Any species that seeks to increase its population is only acting naturally. It is somewhat unnatural for a species to seek to limit its own population, and only natural that it would come up against huge opposition if it tried to do so.
Infanticide is quite common in nature. But we don't condone it in human society. Only this summer i was watching Bill Oddie describe a baby owl eating it's dead sibbling as being normal and natural.
Originally posted by Arfa: I know population reduction is never going to happen (that is unless nature decides to take over) but it is the one thing that seems to have got us into the mess we're in.
It's already happening in much of the developed world. As people get more affluent they stop having as many kids. I think Italy is the lowest in Europe with 1.4 children for every couple.
Originally posted by Lucibee: Nature has taken over - it always has - it always will - don't forget we are part of it...
Any species that seeks to increase its population is only acting naturally. It is somewhat unnatural for a species to seek to limit its own population, and only natural that it would come up against huge opposition if it tried to do so.
Infanticide is quite common in nature. But we don't condone it in human society. Only this summer i was watching Bill Oddie describe a baby owl eating it's dead sibbling as being normal and natural.
To expand on that a bit, if we don't do everything that is natural because we think some of it is wrong, that implies we have the potential to limit our population growth, eg. reduce the birth rate.
Originally posted by Arfa: I know population reduction is never going to happen (that is unless nature decides to take over) but it is the one thing that seems to have got us into the mess we're in.
No...it's unsustainable living (driven by unchecked market economics) that has got us where we are today!
The birth rate in the UK was falling for decades (I believe it is now slowly on the way up again), but the UK population has increased due to immigration and through people living longer.
Originally posted by Arfa: ... or reduce the population so that those who are still driving cars aren't sat in massive traffic jams going nowhere. (I know this is the least likeliest option, but it would solve or reduce so many problems)
Congestion and the effects it has on pollution could be reduced at a stroke if both government and business had the guts to introduce - either mandatorily, or through incentives - staggered working and school hours.
I'd love to see a commercially viable hydrogen car, but I think it will be some years before that is commercially viable. What might be possible is viable electric cars (ignore the hybrids, which are a wasteful red herring), perhaps partly recharged through solar energy.
...and they don't have to be boring city cars either!
Originally posted by vxpert: I'd love to see a commercially viable hydrogen car, but I think it will be some years before that is commercially viable. What might be possible is viable electric cars (ignore the hybrids, which are a wasteful red herring), perhaps partly recharged through solar energy.
The trouble is hydrogen is an energy carrier, like a battery, it has to be produced from another energy source.
