France say bye bye Diesel n Petrol ... Hello ???

France moves to ban petrol and diesel cars in a bid to meet Paris agreement targets

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French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot says he has set the country's carmakers the goal of not selling petrol or diesel cars by 2040.

At a news conference unveiling a five-year plan to encourage clean energy and fulfil the country's commitments under the
Paris climate accord, Mr Hulot said France's car manufacturers have projects that "can fulfil that promise".

He also said the country aimed to become carbon-neutral by 2050.


"One of the symbolic acts of the plan is that France, which previously had made the promise to divide its greenhouse gas
emissions by four by 2050, has decided to become carbon neutral by 2050, following the US decision," Mr Hulot said.


"The carbon neutral objective will force us to make the necessary investments."

Mr Hulot also said on Thursday that France would stop producing power from coal-power stations — now 5 per cent of the total — by 2022.

The country also wants to reduce the proportion of its power from nuclear to 50 per cent by 2025, from the current 75 per cent.

Mr Hulot's announcement comes a day after Sweden's Volvo became the first major automaker to pledge to abandon cars and SUVs powered solely by the internal combustion engine.

Source

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With that and this, Big Oil will be twitching I fancy.

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All new cars launched by Volvo from 2019 onwards will be partially or completely battery-powered, in what the company called a “historic end” to building models that only have an internal combustion engine.

Between 2019 and 2021, the firm will introduce five 100% electric models, and ensure the rest of its conventional petrol and diesel range has a hybrid engine of some form. It is the first major manufacturer to make such a bold move.

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He also said the country aimed to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

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Presumably they will be powering their industrial sector with unicorn dung.

Or maybe they'll just hope that they can bluff their way through with some clever accounting.

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The country also wants to reduce the proportion of its power from nuclear to 50 per cent by 2025, from the current 75 per cent.

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They're (i) replacing (transport) fossil fuels with electricity, (ii) becoming carbon neutral (which could mean anything but presumably at least means reducing massively the overall input of fossil fuels) and (iii) reducing the share of nuclear in the mix by a significant amount. And this will be done, at the latest, 33 years from now. That sounds.....er......ambitious. Mind you, by 2050, we'll have more pressing issues than worrying about forgotten promises like this.

Shouldn't the thread title be ?

France say bye bye Diesel n Petrol ... 'Allo 'Allo! ???

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Originally Posted by David48atTD

French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot says he has set the country's carmakers the goal of not selling petrol or diesel cars by 2040.

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Originally Posted by David48atTD

Mr Hulot also said on Thursday that France would stop producing power from coal-power stations — now 5 per cent of the total — by 2022.

The country also wants to reduce the proportion of its power from nuclear to 50 per cent by 2025, from the current 75 per cent.

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Me thinks Mssr. Hulot did not pass his math exam at school.

I do like the unicorn dung idea.

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Originally Posted by Passing Through

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He also said the country aimed to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

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Presumably they will be powering their industrial sector with unicorn dung.

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Maybe you should try and find out a little more about what is happening around you.

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Renewable sources of energy have generated more electricity than coal and gas in Great Britain for the first time.
National Grid reported that, on Wednesday lunchtime, power from wind, solar, hydro and wood pellet burning supplied 50.7% of UK energy.

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Renewables provide more than half UK electricity for first time - BBC News

I'm not sure burning imported wood pellets from North America is as environmentally friendly as it sounds but...

The wood pellet power stations probably contribute the majority of the 50.7%

To put electric cars in perspective and someone can check my math.

UK produces 54 Gw of electric power.

UK has 36 million cars. If we take average hp of 75. That means UK needs75x746x36,000000 = 2014Gw of electrical power to power all the cars. Ok they don't all drive at once but you can see you don't need a very large percent of them on charge to deplete the electricity production.

Sadly I won't be around to laugh when everything is electric and the planet is still warming up.

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Originally Posted by VocalNeal

UK has 36 million cars. If we take average hp of 75. That means UK needs75x746x36,000000 = 2014Gw of electrical power to power all the cars. Ok they don't all drive at once but you can see you don't need a very large percent of them on charge to deplete the electricity production.

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Correct, hence the pressing need to enhance public transport, which requires much less energy per passenger.

Not to mention the pollution, which seems to have sparked Hanoi's intention of ridding the country of motosais by 2030 (probably overambitious).

Electric or H2 cell powered car technology has been good to go for a long time. A quiet revolution around the corner.

Volvo are even more on the ball. Only electric or hybrid from 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ic-hybrid-2019

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Maybe you should try and find out a little more about what is happening around you.

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That article is about the United Kingdom, not France, it's half the grid, not all of it (and not including the electrification of the entire national vehicle fleets), it's one afternoon, not for now until the end of time, and it includes burning pelletized wood, which is only fractionally less disastrous than burning coal.

The only way for any advanced economy to become carbon neutral is for that economy to collapse, and I don't think that's what the French have in mind. It's total fantasy to think that industrial capitalism can ever be sustainable. A five-year-old should be able to understand that. And if you look at the details of any of those proposals, the absurdity of it all becomes immediately obvious. For example, most of the NDCs made under COP21 involve CCS (which doesn't yet exist on any kind of industrial scale at all and quite possibly never will) and burning biomass on a vast scale but there's just nowhere near enough landmass on the planet to grow all the biomass required to replace fossil fuels and to feed a population which is going to peak at over 10 billion people. None of this comes close to adding up; it's all an extraordinary act of self-deception to allow us to carry on with a collective way of life which is guaranteed to end in disaster for the entire biosphere whilst pretending that we care. The truth is, of course, that we don't.

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Originally Posted by Passing Through

It's one afternoon, not for now until the end of time,

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Are you sure you have done your sums? And they will be recharging at night when there is no solar. Anyway, as I said I will not be around to laugh...

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Originally Posted by aging one

Volvo are even more on the ball. Only electric or hybrid from 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ic-hybrid-2019

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See Post #2.

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Originally Posted by Passing Through

The only way for any advanced economy to become carbon neutral is for that economy to collapse

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Tosh. Renewables are improving all the time.

The first few posts show that at least three countries are going in the right direction.

Of course the big three will take some work, but it's not impossible.

I cannot currently see how the increase in power that will be required can be serviced without Nuclear power if we wish to radically move away from fossil fuels.

All new cars launched by Volvo from 2019 onwards will be partially or completely battery-powered, in what the company called a “historic end” to building models that only have an internal combustion engine.

Now's the time to get me a Volvo. Looking pretty sleek these days, and the last time I drove an S40 T5 that thing went like fire.

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Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

I cannot currently see how the increase in power that will be required can be serviced without Nuclear power if we wish to radically move away from fossil fuels.

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Unless other, safer technologies are developed, which is what is happening.

Agree though, the rate of change will be dependent on what's available.

OF course the oil companies want to squeeze out every last drop of profit, so they'll be lobbying like crazy to stop it happening.

^Yep. It's the balance of power shifting that has delayed alternative energy sources and propulsion systems being introduced for quite some time now.

Yes, in the US the power companies do their own bribing to try and stifle the competition.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...company-nevada

Everyone driving around in electric cars is all well and good but the cost of them is going to have to come down massively as at the moment they are just a fashion accessory for the rich. Hybrids are ok price wise but to me kind of defeats the object either go the whole way or don't bother.

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Originally Posted by buriramboy

Everyone driving around in electric cars is all well and good but the cost of them is going to have to come down massively as at the moment they are just a fashion accessory for the rich. Hybrids are ok price wise but to me kind of defeats the object either go the whole way or don't bother.

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The new Tesla is about the same price as an Audi A3, around $35,000.

You hardly have to be rich to afford that. I think they have around 400,000 preorders.

There are even cheaper makes down to around $22K.