I'm sorry, but I view this thread as the typical knee jerk reaction the press want the public to have.
The press cherry pick the most sensational headlines and make mountains out of mole hills, and skew the public's perception of what has been suggested. It's bit like Brexit again.
What the Press have done is to imply the proposals will be implemented, but have failed to take into full account the extent and the rate of technological developments that will take place between now and then.
If no development were to take place and the scheme was imposed, then yes there will be a big fail, but that is not going to be the case.
I think we all suspect governments don't always use clear logical thinking. To be fair, there are some very clever people involved with advising the government on technical matters - what politicians do with it may not be perfect but somehow we do generally do make it work.
There is an element of "chicken and egg" here. If no firm proposals had been made, developments would have been in many different directions, some of which could easily be opposing others, diluting the effort and end benefits. But by defining the goal now, it will tend to focus the direction of development efforts.
I'm not suggesting it will be easy, there are likely to be many pitfalls along the way. But I am certain we will see some quite innovative ideas that might challenge conventional thinking going forward. For example: can our present power grid handle the increasing demand for electric cars? the answer is yes and no. The actual power distribution grid is rarely used to its full present capacity, But the power generators are. So we have scope to distribute more power if its available.
Already there are clever ideas that will enable the excess night-time capacity of the generators to be captured by smart charging vehicle batteries, and to use those same batteries to supplement the grid when peak power demands exceeds generation capacity. This will smooth the demand on the grids power generators and make more energy available when its needed.
Expect to see new initiatives to reduce demand in areas that we have taken for granted. Examples where this has already started is the adoption high efficiency lighting (e.g LED's), Reduction in motor power in household goods, etc Expect to see similar initiatives for industry. It's also probably we will see structured vehicle taxes based on the kw power rating of motors in cars. THis will again tend to focus manufacturers in to producing practical cars. We don't need the neck snapping performance of a Tesla model S, I'd rather see a more modest motor offering greater range. This would reduce the charging needs for many cars.
Commerce (as differentiated from manufacturing) is likely to be looking at increasing flexible working from home, or more local business facilities to reduce commuting. Local authorities may ban vehicles in some areas on certain days.
Re-evaluation of goods and public transport involving the railways which mile for mile are far more efficient for long distance bulk carrying.
Initiatives to reduce packaging on goods we buy. I can easily recall the times when an entire households rubbish for a family of 6 could be easily contained in a single smaller waste bin! we have gone packaging mad, which has been exacerbated by the explosion of online shopping all of which requires protection.
New houses and conversions will need to be even more energy efficient, possibly being required to have PV and HW solar panels and power storage systems.
From the environmental perspective, it is a common comment that by going to electric power we are simply shifting the problem from the car to power stations. Well that is true to some extent, but in reality, the types of emissions from a power station are are different to those from a car exhaust. The quality and efficiency of combustion in a power station are managed far more carefully than that of an individual car, plus there is greater scope to build power stations with more effective particulate collectors, so for the same journey an IC car will produce more pollution than an electric car charged from the grid.
This situation will improve further as more renewables come on line, and cleaner generator sets are installed.
We will have to increase our generating capacity, but there is a lot of scope for renewable's in local areas. Combined power and Heat systems raise power conversion and usage efficiency. But also longer term large scale generation using more efficient conventional generates powered by gas or even coal, where the design of scrubbers in the exhausts can be far more effective than trying to clean up individual cars.
despite the whole life costs of nuclear, and the disposal of highly toxic waste, becasue it is highly concentrated it is easier to manage, than say the wide spread exhaust gas emissions of vehicles.
Does it mean the end of IC engines and especially diesel's? I don't think so, there will still some places with very good reasons why such power sources will be the only viable form of mechanical energy, and of course there is a massive stock of such engines in use now, which will take time to be replaced.
Is it all going to be a problem Yes, but its also a massive opportunity.
Also read Farage's article on the great brexit fraud. It's the silly season in politics but then when isn't it?
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