Climate change: what are YOU doing to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand?

Forums › Off topic › Climate change: what are YOU doing to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ... | 19

Awrrr
18657 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1841330 8-Aug-2017 17:46

Seakiwi:

GIGO

That can be said of most of your contributions here.

While the manufacture of electric cars does create more emissions, mainly because of the batteries, this drops to half that of an ICE vehicle over the lifetime of the car. It is certainly worthwhile and it can only continue to improve.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

MarkH67

517 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1841335 8-Aug-2017 18:04

Rikkitic:

While the manufacture of electric cars does create more emissions, mainly because of the batteries, this drops to half that of an ICE vehicle over the lifetime of the car.

No, not half.

For a heavy car with large batteries like a Tesla X P100D it is around 1/7 of the emissions over the lifetime of the car. For smaller cars like the Leaf it is around 1/10 of the emissions over the lifetime of the car.

But that might be pessimistic - the data coming in from Tesla for the SOH of the batteries on their cars is indicating that they might last well over 20 years, this could mean a lot more years to average the emissions related to manufacture over. The numbers are also better for EVs that can be charged solely by power generated by renewables.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18657 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1841341 8-Aug-2017 18:26

Okay. I was basing it on a report in Wired that cited the Union of Concerned Scientists but I am happy to be corrected.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

shk292

2853 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1841425 8-Aug-2017 19:46

kryptonjohn:

That may be due more to subsidence than climate.

Roughly speaking, Wellington sea level rise is has been linear at 2mm/yr for the last 100 years. The national average is around 1.7mm a year but lucky wellington had 1-3mm tectonic subsidence a year over the last decade.

Excluding recent subsidence, there is no observed acceleration of sea level rise in NZ.

Interesting GRWC report here:

http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/About-GW-the-region/News-and-media-releases/2012-images/SeaLevelVariabilityandTrendsintheWellingtonRegion2012REPORT.pdf

Never let the facts and figures get in the way of a good story!

frednz

1467 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1841479 8-Aug-2017 21:27

MarkH67:

I'm picking up my first EV on Saturday, I'm going to use it to commute to work which will reduce my petrol burning by somewhere around 1,000 litres a year. I have replaced the most used light bulbs with 13W LEDs, plenty of light with a lot less energy than the old bulbs used to use, even compared to CFL bulbs the LEDs use half as much power.

I do understand that this is very little in the scheme of things, but if everyone in the world that has a car were to switch to an EV over the next decade or two then it really would make a significant difference. None of us can do much to improve the world, but ALL of us combined CAN make a difference. There are other things that should change which would be done at a much larger scale than the individual person - I'd love to see our national electricity production moved to 100% renewable (currently 80%) and of course it would be good if all other countries tried for the same thing, especially those currently using coal.

For those people that wont buy an electric car today - I would hope that they would reconsider within the next 5 years, there will be many more choices and better performance as time goes on.

Congratulations on your purchase, I'm sure you will enjoy it and be able to encourage others to follow your lead.

I must admit that I've hesitated a lot with buying my first EV because I'm used to buying new cars, but a NZ-new EV costs at least $60,000 (Hyundai Ionic with range of about 200km). Ouch, a petrol version of a car like the Hyundai would probably cost around $40,000 so there is a large premium to pay if you want to buy a NZ-new EV. However, EVs are developing rapidly and I've already decided I'm not buying a petrol based replacement for my current ICE car, so I'll have to wait until new prices come down or until a Government subsidy on new EVs is introduced.

However, it seems that people who take the risk of buying a used imported EV have been fairly satisfied with their EVs and have got used to the lack of NZ maps etc. However, I'm a bit worried about the fact that many garages haven't had any experience with servicing EVs and lack the specialist equipment needed to test the battery etc.

MarkH67

517 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1841516 9-Aug-2017 02:24

frednz:

However, it seems that people who take the risk of buying a used imported EV have been fairly satisfied with their EVs and have got used to the lack of NZ maps etc. However, I'm a bit worried about the fact that many garages haven't had any experience with servicing EVs and lack the specialist equipment needed to test the battery etc.

I have been on a day trip with a friend in his newish Ford Focus (turbo diesel, not an EV) and didn't even bother with his built in nav system because I couldn't be bothered working out how to use it when I was already very comfortable with using the nav app on my phone. With my new car I wont need satnav on a daily basis to find my way to work and back and for a trip where I want navigation there is always my trusty smartphone. So for me the lack of NZ maps isn't an issue, it would have been nice to have working satnav but it is not important enough to stop me buying a car without it.

For servicing, that's obviously a risk I've decided to take on, but I'm used to buying cars 2nd hand so I've always taken the risk that a car I've bought could end up needing some expensive work. I've seen mention of a person that does battery work for Leafs so it seems that something can be done. In general though these cars are likely to be very reliable and not need any maintenance at all over an above normal things like tyres and very occasionally brake pads. With the changing technology it is very possible that I'll trade in to some newer car with better range before I experience any problem at all with my Leaf.

Obviously I'm taking the small risk because I'm wanting to jump in with a zero emissions vehicle. For me it is worthwhile financially due to the significant savings on running cost. I have had a desire for many years now to stop the continual burning of fossil fuels. The more coal and oil we extract and burn the worse off our planet is - seriously not good! The more rapid the transition to EVs the better in my opinion. I also want to see 'clean green NZ' transitioning the 20% non-renewable electricity generation to renewable generation - hydro, geothermal, wind, solar or tidal generation is all fine, anything that doesn't involve burning coal, oil or gas. It would also be nice if other countries replace their coal fired power plants with something that doesn't pour huge amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere, we share that same atmosphere and will share on the same negative effects from climate change.

This is the best planet in the universe, it is the only one with WiFi! We really should look after the only home we have.

MarkH67

517 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1841517 9-Aug-2017 02:31

Rikkitic:

Okay. I was basing it on a report in Wired that cited the Union of Concerned Scientists but I am happy to be corrected.

To be fair - half the CO2 over the lifetime of the car for EVs could be about right in a country that produces its power from coal. I understand it is still better for the environment to be using EVs.

I'll be reducing my petrol burning by about 1,000 litres per year - that's just from changing my work commute to being done via EV.

How much CO2 goes into the atmosphere from burning 1,000 litres of petrol? Remember that the fuel needed to be extracted from under the ground or sea and transported to a refinery, then it needed to be refined, then it needed to be transported to NZ, then it needed to be transported to the petrol station where I bought it from. Those ships & trucks use fossil fuels to transport that fossil fuel. The more EVs in NZ the less ships full of petroleum product that will need to sail to NZ.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1841522 9-Aug-2017 06:21

I eat lots of beef, less cows = less gas.

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1841523 9-Aug-2017 06:23

MikeB4:

As a nation we need to stop clear felling forests and carrying out selective logging.

If we did this the forests would not be planted to start with.

We fell trees planted for the purpose of timber, not like other countries where timber is felled from native forests.

We have a net gain when the forests are growing so not cutting them down would reduce investment and actually add to the problem.

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1841527 9-Aug-2017 06:57

dickytim:
MikeB4:

As a nation we need to stop clear felling forests and carrying out selective logging.

If we did this the forests would not be planted to start with.

We fell trees planted for the purpose of timber, not like other countries where timber is felled from native forests.

We have a net gain when the forests are growing so not cutting them down would reduce investment and actually add to the problem.

Read the Norway story, they are a large timber producer and changed to selective logging. This allowed for increased production yet their total percentage of forest has increased.

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1841554 9-Aug-2017 07:52

wellygary:

dryburn:

Watch: Cowspiracy and then decided what is the easiest way to cut down on greenhouse gases

But 90-05% of NZ Agricultural production is exported, changing local consumption habits will have negligible impact on our agricultural emissions......

The "I'm too small to make a difference" argument fails because each of is a "negligible" part of the cause of the problem. It gives the 7.5 billion people causing the problem an individual free pass to do nothing.

Yet we have this huge problem we are all causing, together.

The ONLY way to deal with it is to personally own our own emissions and decrease them. Collectively it will make a big difference.

It's a fascinating insight into how poorly we deal with 'scale'.

The problem is because humans have reached a scale where we are making a large and rapid impact on the climate.

The solution to the problem is for every last one of us - no exceptions - to stop doing what is causing the problem.

You start with what you can do, personally, and then move on to the problems we need to solve as groups - large and small.......grid power to dairy herds.

Every little bit helps.....and a few billion of those will really help.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1841607 9-Aug-2017 09:10

Rikkitic:

I wish I had the rooms full of supercomputers and the years of training and the smarts and the expensive satellite data and the expeditions measuring ice shrinkage in Greenland and Antarctica and the Himalayas and the North Pole and the universities full of specialised researchers so I could also make such informed pronouncements on the falsity and futility of all that fake data. Impressive.

Those Actic expeditions to measure ice shrinkage have a habit of getting trapped in the ice!

http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/20/global-warming-expedition-stopped-in-its-tracks-by-arctic-sea-ice/

The rescue ship got trapped:

http://nationalpost.com/news/passengers-from-ice-bound-research-ship-free-to-go-home-while-icebreaker-that-rescued-them-now-trapped-in-antarctic/wcm/2313eeaa-f8f5-4a80-b09a-51fa99e46389

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/769579/north-pole-weather-forecasts-research-vessel-mission-climate

http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/07/20/global-warming-expedition-stopped-in-its-tracks-by-arctic-sea-ice/

Yeah I know it's weather not climate etc. It's still hugely ironic though.

As to the Antarctic... unlike the Arctic, it's ice cover is not shrinking:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/antarctic-sea-ice-reaches-new-record-maximum

frednz

1467 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1841608 9-Aug-2017 09:14

Here's a short extract from Joe Bennett's take on how electric vehicles will save the planet:

Soon the world will whirr with electric engines.

The air will start to clean itself.

People will taste the sweetness in their lungs and hear the quiet on the streets and they will see that it is good. And it will be the catalyst for great and lasting change, and people will finally come to their senses, plant trees, ease the climate back from the brink, stop fighting, stop being greedy, stop overpopulating, stop using plastic, stop electing bullies, stop raping the sea and ruining the land, stop believing they are loved by some fictional super-daddy and stop going to war on the pretext of that super-daddy.

United in one common cause all the nations of the earth will hold hands and go skipping through the meadows like the von Trapp children.

So that's that then, we are saved, and all without giving up the cars we love. Hallelujah

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1841618 9-Aug-2017 09:26

Don't always agree with Joe Bennett but he's an genuine craftsman of words.

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1841658 9-Aug-2017 10:23

While this on the political parties' climate change policies, one could argue that casting one's vote could be made as an action in relation to climate change:

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/08/08/41727/a-stark-contrast-emerges-on-climate-policy

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ... | 19