German election results and the internal combustion engine

[Vonkie]

For obvious reasons, most people are commenting on the fact that the populist right wing AFD did better than most people had hoped.

But for those with an affinity for the internal combustion engine (I fancy that covers most, if not all, of us), the fact that the governing coalition will almost certainly be the so-called Jamaica coalition (CDU/CDU/FDP/Gruenen), with the Green party as a substantial partner, is probably more significant. In the wake of the VW diesel brouhaha, the Germans may be forced to follow the knee-jerk fashion of declaring war on the internal combustion engine, and perhaps even care little or nothing at all for classic cars as colateral damage.

That, for European, and even world, trends, would be significant, as the Germans have been a strong reactionary force in the battle against fossil fuel engines, with tremendous influence on global trends. If they are forced to join the wave with enthusiasm, things could get ugly surprisingly quickly. The obvious answer (regulate new manufactured vehicles only) does not seem to be politically sufficient.

Let's watch this space.

[Durango2k]

Its not that sure that they manage to set up a government at all.
The right-wing part (csu) will try to expand faaar more to the right side, to drain the ultra-right AFD.
At the same time in the same gov you need the green party.

We live in interesting times.

My guess is they‘ll try it, but it‘ll only last 2 yrs. Then Merkel will be history, finally, and you‘ll see the SPD again....

Carsten

[politeperson]

I have back up plans.

If they stop me driving my my E type, I will

1) Put it in my living room in a glass box so I can look at it

or

2) Put an electric motor in it and use it

or

3) Purchase an airfield or race track to drive it with my mates

or

4) Move everything to Africa so I can still drive

or

5) Orchestrate a revolution.

or

6) Do illegal night driving

Simple

[Hugo]

This has been on the cards for years now. The main factor that militates against the abolition of the internal combustion engine is the fact that the oil companies are still sitting on a lot of oil that they want to sell us.
Governments are not just going to 'ban the internal combustion engine' of course - it starts with little steps such as restricting access to certain cities (Paris being a case in point) to vehicles that comply with the latest 'emissions' regs (i.e. that the stuff coming out of the tail-pipe is cleaner than what gets sucked in at the front).
That is why (as per a recent discussion) I am opposed to the plan to take older cars out of the MoT and Vehicle Excise Duty brackets since they are then marked out as a special group and made easier to 'dispose of'.
As a side issue, I am not convicned that 'emissions' regs are even beneficial to humans. For starters 'emissions' are rarely defined, but to take one example, 'particulate matter' (soot to you & me), I have a theory (untested) that if a person breathes in lumps of soot, he will cough them up again. But if you reduce them to nano-particles (whatever they are), they will pass un-noticed through the alveoli into the bloodstream.
Oh, and I once heard Pres Obama talking about 'carbon pollution'. I realised at that point that we are not dealing with rational people, but with a new religion.

[Series1 Stu]

Inhaling soot and coughing it out again? Wish my grandad and thousands of other miners like him could manage to cough out the coal dust they inhaled. Might have had a few more fishing trips with him.

Regards

[Hugo]

If the coal dust had been reduced to nano-particles you may have enjoyed even fewer? I am not saying my theory is correct, but I believe it is worthy of consideration. The body has defence mechanisms against things it recognises, but make the particles small enough & it won't see them at all.

[Moeregaard]

As if California weren't enough of a mess already, the politicians here--headed up by the one and only Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown--are discussing plans to make all new car sales in the Golden State electric within the next couple of decades. Never mind that most of our electricity here is generated by--you guessed it--oil.

[Durango2k]

It‘s way easier to filter one power plant but 2 million cars.

But yes, have a look at ze germans, and put some solar panels on your roof.

I would, if I could.

Carsten

[Herzeg]

Carsten

I drive through Europe each summer and it's amazing now how many green areas next to the Autobahns are covered completely in solar panels. I assume it's financially worth it to the land owners to ruin the landscape

John

[Hugo]

Britain's Climate Change Act must be the grandest piece of folly ever enacted. It stipulates that Britains' "carbon account" (no, I didn't know we had one either) must be 80% lower by 2050 than it was in 1990. So we're putting windmills everywhere.
This is one reason why the government is so keen on electric cars - because they have to be plugged in to the grid to re-charge, and all these batteries can be used to stabilise the electricity supply when the wind fluctuates.
Of course when the wind drops to nothing, as it does on those freezing cold January and February days, you need a back-up. And for this, the government wants millions of diesel generators on stand-by.
All of this is great news for the landowners who make a fortune from having windmills and/or generators parked on their land, subsidised by the plebs who have to buy their electricity at grotesquely inflated prices.
But how it's supposed to save the planet I have no idea.

[Mark Gordon]

If the coal dust had been reduced to nano-particles you may have enjoyed even fewer? I am not saying my theory is correct, but I believe it is worthy of consideration. The body has defence mechanisms against things it recognises, but make the particles small enough & it won't see them at all.

Hugo, the pulmonary mucosa is lined by ciliated cells whose job it is to work in wave-like concert to remove particles that get inhaled into the lungs. However, small particles can and do get past the cilia and into the alveoli which is where the gas exchange between the lungs and the bloodstream occurs. Unfortunately, not all of those particles get moved by the cilia or coughed out with the mucous that is secreted. When I was studying human anatomy, a quick look at the outside of the lung could identify which cadavers had been smokers by the black splotches of tar on their lungs. Nonsmokers' lungs are gray in death and pink in life with no pigmented patches. So no, I don't think that your theory would hold up to examination. Now, nanoparticles are a whole different matter and the truth is that right now, we just don't know what the impact is going to be on the environment nor the critters in it as more of those particles get dispersed about. I suspect that it ain't gonna be good.

As far as the immune system recognizing nanoparticles, it is very good a recognizing and attacking small invaders such as viruses and even molecular sized antigens. What it's ability to dispense with nanoparticles would be, I have no idea, but just because something is big enough for the immune system, particularly the humoral arm, to recognize doesn't mean that it can recognize a potential antigen and deal with it. For example, the human immunodeficiency virus is difficult for the immune system to recognize and attack.