A little while ago, Dale had the pleasure of being picked up and driven around by Robert Llewellyn for his very entertaining and simple yet clever online CarPool show. Here’s the video as published today – hope you enjoy.
October 2, 2009 By paul
Filed under: Transport, Wind CarA little while ago, Dale had the pleasure of being picked up and driven around by Robert Llewellyn for his very entertaining and simple yet clever online CarPool show. Here’s the video as published today – hope you enjoy.
This blog is about answers to the big questions - how will we keep the lights on, what kind of cars will we drive (will we drive?) and how will we feed ourselves - in a post oil world, and a world where we can't afford to keep burning things and throwing things away. Energy, Transport and Food are the three big issues.
Dale
Could the Nemesis be modified to be slightly quieter. Watching the video the noise it makes could be irritating on a long journey. Is the noise from the motors or the reduction gears?
Derek
I refer to the interior cabin noise.
Derek
Compare the Nemesis noise to the Tesla Roadster noise on Car pool.
Derek
he’s driving a prius in this video! not the Vince EV.
Dave
At the end of the video the Vince EV is featured and you can listen to the noise then
Derek
I expect the noise is not a big issue on a sports car. For petrol heads and their messiah Mr. Clarkson I would imagine the noise is a good thing enhancing the feeling of torque. It’s not like a ferrari is quiet or in any way practical afterall! Maybe some tweaking would be necessary for the family hatchback, but then again that would naturally be slower & quieter.
Robert Llewellyn is a star! As is Dale Vince…
Interesting comment by Dale regarding Bernard Ingham and the nuclear power industry.
I know of a retired nuclear scientist that helps anti-wind farm groups. A Dr Phillip Bratby, some of his handy work:
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldeconaf/195/195we07.htm
The old “wind is environmental do goodery, nothing more” arguement.
Must be why wind is doing so well in the home of environmental do goodery.
Texas!
Dr. Bratby sadly makes many elementary mistakes.
Reading just paragraph 6 of his statement he confuses weather and climate; and claims that the earth has been cooling since 1998.
Both these issues are used to spread confusion about climate change, and it’s worth watching these two short videos to understand the issues better:
http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610#play/uploads/23/l0JsdSDa_bM
http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610#play/uploads/3/QwnrpwctIh4
Yes, Greenman does some good work with his videos.
RealClimate has just posted this:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/10/a-warming-pause/
dale – this is a great way to communicate in a relaxed manner the ecotricity story and rationale. enjoyed it. thanks.
Great video. It’s good to hear you challenge some of the myths about windmills. I’d like to hear more of your opinions on specific storage solutions and levelling peaks/dips in demand. You’ve probably already read the book I’m into now (10 technologies to save the planet – fantastic if you haven’t), but he talks about ‘pumped storage technology’. Is this a viable technology for Ecotricity?
The number of sceptics I hear telling me that windmills don’t work half the time and there isn’t enough wind etc still astounds me. I think most people probably don’t have a clue that such technology exists! I think we really need to push it out there to give people something they can believe in.
I agree that this should be promoted a bit more. There are so many myths about turbines floating about the internet etc, and there are so many people that are completely anti-wind because of this
Hello Dale,
Lithium from Seawater? I hadn’t heard of that one before. I had thought that Bolivia was going to have a stranglehold on our motoring appetite. A few minutes googling turned up this:-
http://www.poweraircorp.com/docs/lithium_problem_2%20meridien%20international%20research,%20july%202007.pdf
It is a bit dense and full of charts and graphs, but readable if you persevere and analyses the case for and against lithium and other battery technologies. However, several basic facts leap out from it – that 75% of the world’s lithium is in South America (I did not know about the pivotal role of the continent as a whole); that the largest lithium reserves in China are in fact in Tibet; that extracting lithium from seawater is a technology that is only just entering its infancy and is still in the laboratory – it is decades away from any industrial application at best.
I still maintain that the current enthusiasm for the lithium battery is overhyped and the zinc-air and NaNiCl (Zebra) batteries are probably better bets. Diversity will be our saviour in terms of batteries and, yes, fuel cells as well. We must avoid replacing oil dependency with lithium dependency.
Best regards,
Jonny.
Very good watching… Dale you came accross really well and Bobby is always a pleasure to watch… hope lots of people have switched to Ecotricity like me now!
Hey Bob
Interestingly enough – we have had quite a few people signing up who give carpool as the reason. Really a bit of a pleasant surprise!
Thanks for the comment and for joining us!
Paul