SteamyTea

Where will the charging points go?

I read it too, can't remember anything about it to be honest. I liked the 80's too much.

There are so many separate issues that get clumped together with transport that it is sometimes hard to disaggregate them. So a few points: Lithium Sulphur batteries. The energy density may reach 5 times the energy density of Lithium Ion batteries, so maybe reaching a practical level of 1 kWh/kg. Gasoline is 13 kWh/kg. Now there are advantages in motor efficiencies that help electric vehicles (90% compared to 45% for an IC). So still a big gap. There is also a lot of life left in the IC engine. I don't think that the charge/discharge cycle numbers are that great yet, maybe 1000. Greenhouse gases. It is probably better to centrally generate (or at least MW locally) than burn fuel in a vehicle. The grid is getting cleaner and will continue to do so for a couple of decades. Other pollutants. The main ones are particulates and oxides of nitrogen. These are relatively short lived in the environment, but have a long term affect on health. Getting rid of high concentrations of these is a good thing. EVs will help greatly here. Traffic Congestion. This may not change greatly with the introduction of EVs. It is really a function of the economy. The better off we become, the worse the traffic becomes, unless there is intervention from governments/councils/planners. Walking/Cycling. While we still mix vehicles and pedestrians/cyclists, we will have a problem. Vehicles easily kill and main people, people hold up traffic. Major rethink is needed. Living in the South West, and liking both walking/cycling, it is not the vehicles that puts me off, it is the weather. I don't think that covered walkways are the answer though, they just feel like a good placed to get mugged. I don't know the best way around this one. I am sure there are many other things that affect transport and new technologies being introduced. One being costs. Oddly enough, in the past, generally the more you paid for a car the higher the performance and the less mileage you got from the fuel. With EVs it seems that the more you pay, the better distance you get from a charge. This is not strictly true as Tesla recently showed by remotely upgrading the battery packs for Florida residence (so they could flee when the hurricane hit). Because battery energy density, and power delivery is pretty poor compared to gasoline/diesel, vehicles need to be larger and heavier, not always a good thing. I saw a new Leaf today it is not a small car, nor is the ZOE, but then again, not many cars are small today.

Welcome Amanda Interesting that you think the look of the house should affect the performance. Without going to extremes of design i.e. a green house or a concrete bunker, I would have though that with the right choice of materials i.e. insulation, tinting glazing, that most houses can be made to look like any house i.e. traditional for the area. Interested on your thoughts as I see a lot of 'eco' places and they seem to consist of nothing more than thick windows and a bit of timber cladding. Really what is wanted is a maximum imported/CO2 energy usage figure for space heating. This should, ideally, be the same for all housing, but that is impractical, though an interesting challenge for an engineer. And just to add to @Nickfromwales comment, stick around. Self builders are often hostile to architects.

Not sure if they charge. But there are free internet services, Skype, Viber, Whatsapp. I am surprised that more people don't use the IP phone system more. I guess that there is something comforting about a real number going though a real network and getting charged for it.

Possibly. I don't know enough about RF stuff to judge, it has a habit of bouncing around. I would think that you need to do many repeatable tests to get a robust result, and then it would only be a correlation, which is not causation. As an example, I have 4 towers very close to me that I can connect to (all less than half a mile). I get a full signal inside and out side, am connected 100% of the time. So regardless of my construction type, I cannot contribute to this sort of test.

@PeterStarck Would need to correlate it with frequency and distance from mast, as well as any local topological oddities.

I shall try the deadpan Jack Dee delivery from now on.

I think Ed knows it, shall let him tell everyone. I just get my posts deleted.

Similar to the secretary and her lost pencil joke.

I seem to remember that in the initial reports it was mentioned that water and aluminium not mixing too well when there is a fire.

Should have put an electric range in, much more reliable. I know of one for sale

How many of us that have worked 'on a bench', which is the same as a desk really, did not misplace things at work. But do a few DIY jobs at home and things go missing. I suspect it is the unfamiliar situation that is the problem. It is similar to walking upstairs and forgetting why you went there, so have to take a trip downstairs to remember (and found you have wet yourself). This is a 'boundary' problem and is innate. It stops us getting killed when we get to junctions, or when we change from one environment to another i.e. forest to plain. Now I suspect that those on here that work in many different places, on different jobs, are much better of keeping track of their tools, their work environment may well be centred around their tools, rather than the task. But that is one for social studies rather than engineers. And we all know that social studies is bollocks, and we all know that we loose tools.

I seem to remember that the only 'proper' study was a NASA one done several decades ago. And has been misquoted and distorted ever since. I think there was a bit about it in my comic last year. May have been this one: https://ia800300.us.archive.org/35/items/nasa_techdoc_19930072988/19930072988.pdf

At least with ten tape measures, you can show that something really is the right length.

It can take me years to train people at work to put things back in the right place. Had a student a couple of summers back, she insisted that she knew best. Took me a while to break her, but I managed it. There is an old joke about the forgetful secretary and her pencil. Had the plug unwired from an extension lead once. I am with Nick, don't nick others tools and if you find them, find the owner. It is not the expense of them, it is the utility value.

I just wish cafes understood that people that drink black coffee don't want it so strong that it is painful. Generally if I see the Lavazza sign I know I can get something drinkable. See the Origin sign and I know it is going to be dreadful. The worse place for coffee is the Cornish Hen. They may as well just give me a cup of boiling water and charge me £2.50. The best is the cafe in Tehidy Wood. Disclaimer. I cannot comment on anything with milk, froth, syrups, soya, bubbles etc

Mikee's thread is still ongoing. He had a partial resolution. http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=9305&page=1 You can go to last page here: http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=9305&page=51 Just for reference, the multifoil thread had 32 pages.

Can you sell your eBay heat pumps to an MCS installer?

That last picture shows a right mess of pipe and cabling. And are those fridge magnets behind the door.

It may make sense for old rural housing that is currently using solid fuel. I seem to remember that if you had gas you could not get RHI. May have dreamt that.

Readable https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/29/air-pollution-sadiq-khan-calls-for-ban-on-wood-burning-stoves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8AvfXar9zs

That is in everyone's best interest though. No good developers going bankrupt by building houses that no one is willing to buy.

It may be hidden in here: http://www.uk-ncm.org.uk/