Clean Air/Congestion Charging set to be introduced by 2030

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948706#Comment_121948706

I bought have a fairly big period property in the countryside. One of the reasons for doing so (apart from the increased mental wellbeing and benefits of living in a rural area versus the noise, pollution and general unpleasantness of an urban one) was that I could be caretaker/custodian of a a protected property. A property which the government actively wants civilians to look after as it's part of our history and heritage.

The house has a huge thermal mass thanks to the very thick walls. All good there. However it has some original single glazed glass, some of which is of similar thickness to that which you would find in a picture frame and was produced in a way that is not done any more so as a result I am unable to swap it out for something kinder to the environment and that also allows the house to be heated using less fossil fuels. And therein lies a problem - because I have to create a lot of heat to counteract the shortcomings of the thin single glazed glass, my option is more or less a large kerosene boiler that pumps out lots of heat. A heat pump would be of no use, at best it would be on 24/7 outside of the summer months. But the Green party is removing more and more ways that homes can be heated but for people with protected homes (protected at Government level), the amount of ways to usefully and legally heat those homes is continually being reduced and I'm not seeing the corresponding alternatives that are being made available to people like myself. I am being constrained by the same government who won't allow me to swap out my 200 year old thin single glazing.

I have plenty of wood available on the land so I have one fuel source there but sometimes I need more heat than the wood can provide. I'm swapping out the open fires for stoves as that is permitted and will help things. I was hoping to keep one open fire but heating wise, I've decided it'll be stoves all the way. I use the excellent colombian coal that has also been banned in the ROI. You get fantastic heat from it and don't have to use much of it. The "smokeless" processed coal that is only available to buy now is not in any way smokeless plus it burns with less heat so after testing it for a while, I found that I burn about twice as much of it compared to real coal so it's over double the price of the processed/fake coal that most likely used a huge amount of energy to be created in the first place as they are all perfectly formed rugby ball shaped identically sized pieces......I don't want to even think how much energy was wasted creating the fake coal!

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949346#Comment_121949346

There's pedantic, and then there pedantic man....that obviously goes without saying.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949229#Comment_121949229

They will bring in bus lane enforcement soon which will stop the mis-use of bus lanes. Can't come sooner after driving in Dublin for years and watching so many clowns thinking it's their own private lane

Once that is in place then an empty bus lane is exactly what is required so the bus can travel faster and easier from one destination to another quicker,

In terms of the number of people who don't have access to public transport compared to the number of cars on the road, it's no contest to be honest. Removing a couple of thousand vehicles daily off the roads in Dublin will be a success. The few people without access to public transport should be in support as it will make it easier for them to get into the city.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949280#Comment_121949280

Bingo, a free bus lanes means that when a bus is on it then it will be faster to get from point A to B, a lot of the problem in Dublin is buses are slowed down by idiots who use the bus lanes.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948704#Comment_121948704

And you can pay a hefty fee for the comfort of doing so in 2030 (if you decide to keep driving a high emissions vehicle)

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949295#Comment_121949295

Anyone considering an EV should know that they’ll never be able to trade it in, won’t get anywhere near its value on the second hand market and will need a small mortgage to fix anything that may go wrong with it.

Nissan Leaf, €35k new will eventually need a new battery after about 9/10 years costing €19k.

Good luck with that.

helimachoptor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948568#Comment_121948568

I spent a lot of time in Georgia (country), India and the US for work, and a dabble in the Middle East.

ireland and its plastic straws won’t have any impact, no matter how good we do, or how much money these schemes costs, its a grain of sand compared to India and china alone.

Georgia has a population of about 60% of the republic, it produces 33% of the emissions of Ireland. Those emissions will only grow as it develops and the population grows. They aren’t worried about the planet here (Georgia).

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948837#Comment_121948837

That article from 2021 is not happening at all. There are currently no plans to charge for electric vehicles in the ULEZ zones (in fact Kahn had tried to expand zero emissions zones but has been forced to roll back by the propaganda and scaremongering in the Tory press)

magicbastarder

if people are worried about how much CO2 china (or india, etc.) is producing, it's simple. stop buying stuff made in china.

how much of europe's reduction in CO2 and china's increase is simply us shifting the CO2 burden of what we consume to them?

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949359#Comment_121949359

Good for you. Why you'd want to live in such a huge old house is beyond me but enjoy the warm fire.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949151#Comment_121949151

The EU plan to ban incandescent light bulbs has been an overwhelmingly positive one. Energy usage from lighting has plummeted, the technology around LEDs has massively improved and now you can get LEDs cheaper than you could buy an old incandescent light bulb, but it costs the user 90% less in electricity

The same morons who opposed the ban on incandescent light bulbs are going to be opposed to stricter emissions rules in built up areas. Luckily for them, they still get to breath the cleaner air and benefit from the cheaper, better technology as a result of these measures.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949448#Comment_121949448

I was reading a paper about the cheap availability of LED lights has actually led to more energy usage due to jevons paradox. We're a hopeless bunch, humans.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949229#Comment_121949229

If you build it, they will come is true for roads. If you build more roads, people will live further away from where they work.

People measure the distance from work in the length of time it takes to get there, not the actual number of kilometres they live from their destination.

Building roads just leads to more congestion with people clogging up those roads by travelling from further away.

Improve public transport will lead to more people taking public transport, and this is a much much better use of scarce space than roads for private motor vehicles

I think the electric bikes will be a huge part of future urban transport. It solves the Hill problem we have in Ireland, which is the biggest pain point for commuting by bikes (cycling up hills is miserable for normal people, (yes i know some wierdos like it))

Provide safe corridors for ebikes and we don't need everyone to have their own car, and we don't need short hop public transport in small urban centres as much. If people can get to where they're going in 10 minutes by ebike instead of 50 minutes walking, they're less likely to take a car which then requires that they have to find somewhere to park it with the costs and effort involved there....

The dutch have been doing this for decades and they love their bikes. Ebikes make that accessible for Irish people even with our hilly streets

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949431#Comment_121949431

Just takes some political leadership then to expand the congestion charges to big heavy E.V's.

Maybe not in the lifetime of the current Tory government however.

ToweringPerformance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949295#Comment_121949295

You hope. In reality politicians will get voted in and will change laws to suit people's needs. Anything the Green looney tunes do now can be reversed.

If people want to buy milk float cars that's up to them it's a free country and that's their right but i'll be sticking to my diesel for a long time yet.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949357#Comment_121949357

The incandescent lightbulbs had very poor alternatives when the ban was announced. (CFLs were rubbish and not that much more efficient than incandescent bulbs)

In the years between announcing the ban, and implementing it, the quality and value and range of LEDs that hit the market massively improved so much that nobody even thinks about the old edison style bulbs anymore because the newer versions are just better in almost every way

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949391#Comment_121949391

Except none of this is true

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949421#Comment_121949421

Paper straws are universally seen as the epitome of tokenism and I hate them as much as everyone else.

Georgia will develop, and due to advances in renewable energy technology, they'll skip the coal oil and gas phases and go straight to wind solar and whatever else suits their economy.

magicbastarder

anyway, usual grumble about this. they'd achieve many of the benefits, for cheaper, if they just policed bus lanes properly.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949359#Comment_121949359

I would check into that, I know a family member has a period property and had to work with a number of people, no idea who but county council anyway, but at the end got approvals for a window replacement. They had to be made specially but the overall heat loss reduction more than paid for the installation.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949506#Comment_121949506

"milk float"

😂

The majority of electric cars are faster, better handling, more responsive than a diesel car will ever be. Bang away at the diesel car, nobody is stopping you but don't slag off another car when you clearly have no idea how they drive or their performance

Homesick Alien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949421#Comment_121949421

Yeah, I mean if other countries are worse why bother at all right? Let's just accelerate the burning of the planet together!

Of all the arguments to not move to cleaner solutions this has to be the most selfish and idiotic.

opinionated3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949530#Comment_121949530

Literally spoke to a main dealer last weekend that is now refusing trade ins of any EV bar the single one that they produce themselves. Too much of a risk to be sitting on the forecourt with no potential buyers around.

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948372#Comment_121948372

you know that public transport isn't noiseless, right? and it emits fumes too.

ToweringPerformance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949571#Comment_121949571

I know all about them thanks very much my son is a mechanic and that's the name they use for them. Look if you want to spend 50k on something that's worth less than half that a couple of years later be my guest fools and their money and all that. My Passat cost me 8k 6 years ago probably get 6k for it now but iv'e zero intention of selling it will drive it for another 10 years at least and enjoy it whilst i do. 👍️

Tenzor07

Electric/battery powered or Diesel power, congestion/traffic on city streets is still the same..

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949448#Comment_121949448

I know what happens in our house now - more light bulbs and they just get left on. And of course on the roads, these wonderful LED headlights blind us.

The point about the bulbs is that come the last time the Greens were in, it was one of the things that got them a right kicking in subsequent election. Another great disastrous Green policy of that time was banning bedsits. Absolutely disgraceful and has led in no small part to the hideous rental costs now forced on young and old single renters.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949480#Comment_121949480

I'd be interested in seeing this paper.

From what I've seen, household energy use from switching to LEDs has reduced significantly (even if people do tend to have more lights than they used to, and tend to not be as diligent at switching them off)

For industry and commercial use, LEDs should be a net gain, but the big improvement will be replacing CFLs which is what a lot of commercial and industrial lighting comes from, and they've been slow to adopt as many of their fittings are more specialised than the domestic range of light fittings)

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949442#Comment_121949442

It's not huge by country house standards (about 5,000 square feet) although I'm getting a +2,000 square foot extension built at the moment but that will be of modern standards and that end of it will be heated by more regular means.

Why I want to live where I live is because old protected homes and other buildings need looking after and people who do so are basically volunteering to be custodians of such properties so that the buildings can remain extant, thus preserving the history and heritage of the country. Would you prefer if we just knocked all buildings that don't meet current build standards and erase all physical presences of them? How would the Green party deal with it if in power?

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948663#Comment_121948663

your comparison to London is not a fair comparison. London has a vastly better, more frequent, more reliable, integrated and better reach of a transport network than Dublin has. Granted they pay more for using it, but everybody's fear is that the result will be we all end up paying more taxes and have a worse commute to work every day.