IS GREEN RENEWABLE ENERGY A CON?

bluebell

Member
a good article in the sunday times business section about the drax powerstation, the article said that it imports wood chip from lousiana usa to burn in the powerstation to create electricity and gets nearly £900 million a year in subsities from the govt how the hell does all that make sense ? one is it really all that green when you take all the energy used to cut the wood chip and then transport it to burn ? and why should we have to import it in the first place ? cant we either burn our own wood chip and pay our own people, or dare i say burn coal and employ , keep all the money in the uk economy, and what about the subsidy paid to burn this wood chip, guess whos pays that? the poor old general public ?
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
Always makes me wonder how it all stacks up when I'm sitting at the level crossing waiting for yet another train load of wood chip (in it's own specaially dedicated trucks) to pass by on it's way from Immingham to Drax. :scratchhead:
This American wood must have a tremendously high calorific value if they can cart it half way round the world and still be efficient. :scratchhead:

Something to do with the Kyoto agreement (???) when the silly bu66ers all agreed to use some form of renewable energy to make it look like they were saving the planet :scratchhead:
 

bluebell

Member
the currant elections have highlighted the massive massive gaps in prosperity in the UK , soft soft southerners like me in the rich areas that abound round london ? the london elite lecture other areas about not spoiling the countryside with deep coalmines or other well paid jobs ?
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
wind energy for April produced very little for the UK. Then the recent low pressure was so windy, we paid them to shut down due to oversupply!
Electric cars are fine but when people think they are saving the planet by trashing their old car forget it.
I think when we think about buying newer more efficient products, we never think of the embedded energy in the old, which should be taken into account (of course the advertising of the manufacturers is all aimed at never letting us think of that). My gut feeling is, that to be as energy efficient as possible, we should not buy electric cars but should be like Cuba was and keep 1950 cars going and going, I wonder if there are any studies to look into this? Of course, we all like to buy new.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Unless the trees that are cut down to make wood chip are about to die anyway or that they are immediately replaced with new fast growing trees, how do we square the fact that those trees were photosynthesising, taking CO2 out of the atmosphere which they will not do any more, until they are replaced?

Doesn’t it makes you wonder if it would have been better to leave the trees to photosynthesise and burn the coal instead?
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
And then there is the usually rubbish like the toilet paper manufacturers say about every tree we cut down we plant 5 to replace it....the fact the 4 that were thinned out are used for something else is sweep aside.


Why can we find a way of using hedge trimmings in rotation?
Let them grow up for 5 years, trim the side and then top them out chip it and utilise them.
 

chickens and wheat

Member
Mixed Farmer
I find those metal water bottles hilarious,the ethos is that buying one saves the planet,they must grow on trees.
Kids BBC at the weekend had a visit to a coffee grounds to logs recycling plant, sensible idea,. But the muppet presenter said that we can now save the planet with every cup of coffee drink.
Same programme had a teenagenkid visit some beavers in the UK, he got over enthusiastic and started saying stuff like thanks to the beavers there is now one natural part of england left,while everywhere else is destroyed.
A few minutes later he stated he was a city boy and it was one of his first trips to the countryside. Ideal choice then for an up and coming wildlife presenter.

Sorry gone off topic. But it shows now easy it to twist info regarding enviroment and wildlife.
 

bluebell

Member
but are the people who most demonstrate against these schemes local ? or are they incommers who have retired or moved their for a better Life ? like the rich incommers mainly from the homecounties who bought second homes down in cornwall now dictating where fishermen can keep their boats ?
 
I think when we think about buying newer more efficient products, we never think of the embedded energy in the old, which should be taken into account (of course the advertising of the manufacturers is all aimed at never letting us think of that). My gut feeling is, that to be as energy efficient as possible, we should not buy electric cars but should be like Cuba was and keep 1950 cars going and going, I wonder if there are any studies to look into this? Of course, we all like to buy new.
I heard it said some time ago that the geeenest car you can drive is to keep the car you’ve got
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Makes folk feel less guilty about their polluting behaviour if they can switch to green energy to hear their poorly insulated homes; go vegan to keep buying imported avocado / GM soya / drought inducing almond milk; get electric car or offset their three long haul holidays a year.

It's making new markets in guilt and shame.
it grinds my gears when people try to guilt trip you they can't win a argument with facts or a sensible discussion oh no they bring out the guilt trip card or the I'm offended card its a disease a lot seem to suffer from one or two on here have a serious dose of it
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 43.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 34.4%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.7%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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