Is tax the answer?

Started by Ashy, October 02, 2022, 10:39:13 AM

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Ashy

I may have missed something, but as I understand it the present government has used our own money to provide a £150 discount on council tax, which you may claim as cash, £66 a month off electricity bills, and a cap on the retail price of energy.

The Labour party only proposed a windfall tax on energy suppliers.

I do not see how a tax on profits can possibly benefit me, unless they also believe in trickle down economics.

klondike

In fairness I think they intended to use a windfall tax to fund their own handouts. The problem is if a government starts slapping taxes on companies when they get good profits where is the incentive to invest. In this case invest in producing more gas and oil which would alleviate the shortage which is what causes the high prices.

Now Labour are pushing for even more renewables ignoring the fact that when we need extra power in the UK solar and wind are often producing next to bugger all no matter how many wind farms or solar panels there are.

No wind = no wind power no matter how many turbines you have sat there not spinning. 

Ashy

I agree and unfortunately we can't fix stupid politicians. At present the world has no answer to storing electricity, our best offer to date seems to be pumped hydro. Atomic energy is probably the best solution to production but it doesn't make gas and it's not very responsive to changes in load.

Every kWh that a wind or solar device can produce has to be shadowed by hot standby conventional generators, so it costs much more to run than just conventional generators.

If this was all someone's proposal I would say come back when you have the solutions.

klondike

You could use nuclear produced energy to electrolyse water into hydrogen. The hydrogen could be used to power cars and trucks. The cost of producing infrastructure could be offset against the cost of infrastructure needed by battery cars. They are in no way sustainable anyway as sfaik there is no viable recycling method for the batteries.

Ashy

In London they have some hydrogen powered buses I believe but it's difficult to store and use. If they come up with a way of mixing it for safety with something less dangerous it might be better.

klondike

I think they use some sort of foam in the tanks which is presumably to limit the flow rate it gets out at if the tank is ruptured.. All fuels are potentially dangerous. To be any use they need to have a high energy density.

Lpg vehicles have been in use for ages. I saw one years back. Half the boot was taken up with the bottle. If only we could think of some liquid fuel to use  :hmm:

Michael Rolls

Quote from: klondike on October 02, 2022, 01:06:40 PMI think they use some sort of foam in the tanks which is presumably to limit the flow rate it gets out at if the tank is ruptured.. All fuels are potentially dangerous. To be any use they need to have a high energy density.

Lpg vehicles have been in use for ages. I saw one years back. Half the boot was taken up with the bottle. If only we could think of some liquid fuel to use  :hmm:
Petrol?
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Ashy

#7
Petrol would be good. I can remember when all the cars had petrol engines, such a good idea.

As an aside, having used oxy-acetelene welders, the acetelene bottle has some sort of foam in it. Not sure if the oxygen does too but I wouldn't be surprised.

October 03, 2022, 08:43:05 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamassan

Not a very pleasant read but interesting.