PlasticMac
Member
When I started this thread, I had no idea it would swerve in the direction it has. Good though, in'it?
Mac
Mac
Audi, Now and Then.
- Thread starter PlasticMac
- Start date
greywolfhound
Member
Leopard680
A2OC Donor
Sooooooo..... Back to Design; specifically Audi Design.
Another brilliant article from Driven to Write:
driventowrite.com
These guys seems to be real A2 fans as well... ? ? ? ? ? ?
PS: Check out their article on the Audi Q2...
Another brilliant article from Driven to Write:
Four Ring Cycle
1997’s A6 saw Audi choosing bravery over stylistic torpidude. A lesson they could do well to re-learn. By the early 1990s, Audi appeared to have run out of steam as the successes of the previ…
driventowrite.com
These guys seems to be real A2 fans as well... ? ? ? ? ? ?
PS: Check out their article on the Audi Q2...
PlasticMac
Member
Yes, excellent article, and, for me anyway, spot on. The whole range of the late 90s/early 00s had, not just a consistent design language, but one that set them apart from, and above the other premium marques.Sooooooo..... Back to Design; specifically Audi Design.
Another brilliant article from Driven to Write:
Four Ring Cycle
1997’s A6 saw Audi choosing bravery over stylistic torpidude. A lesson they could do well to re-learn. By the early 1990s, Audi appeared to have run out of steam as the successes of the previ…
These guys seems to be real A2 fans as well... ? ? ? ? ? ?
PS: Check out their article on the Audi Q2...
We were lucky.
Mac.
Shoestring7
Member
Interesting discussion. I've found watching the whole debate over the last decade very frustrating. At the turn of the last century, there were three different automobile power sources fighting it out for superiority; steam, electricity and gasoline, The winner was the technically superior solution at the time, and it's technical superiority that drives any change in industry, not government nudges.
In the UK, that means electric cars will win out, but only if there is constant, cheap electrical power, something successive governments have completely failed to deliver in a catastrophic sequence of short-term, virtue signalling, decisions. Instead of an accelerated nuclear power strategy, we import millions of trees from Canada, electricity from France and the price of gas is about to go through the roof.
I just looked at the UK electricity generation dashboard; 1% currently from solar, 10% from wind, 7% biomass, 56% from gas. Brilliant planning chaps. At least we're not as screwed at the Germans,
We also tend to take a very Eurocentric view of the electric car debate. Good luck with electric cars if you're in Africa, India or South America, and don't even have reliable electric power for refrigeration, lighting or cooking.
In the UK, that means electric cars will win out, but only if there is constant, cheap electrical power, something successive governments have completely failed to deliver in a catastrophic sequence of short-term, virtue signalling, decisions. Instead of an accelerated nuclear power strategy, we import millions of trees from Canada, electricity from France and the price of gas is about to go through the roof.
I just looked at the UK electricity generation dashboard; 1% currently from solar, 10% from wind, 7% biomass, 56% from gas. Brilliant planning chaps. At least we're not as screwed at the Germans,
We also tend to take a very Eurocentric view of the electric car debate. Good luck with electric cars if you're in Africa, India or South America, and don't even have reliable electric power for refrigeration, lighting or cooking.
G
Guest 4123
Guest
Solar would be perfect for all these areas (as indeed it already is), apart from the most southern areas of South America.
RAB
mars
Member
True, technical superiority is what drives the change (that's a quote, not a pun), but things like price differences, established infrastructure, habits, niche use cases, "But sometimes!" and general fear of change are forces of friction for that change - and, if that change is beneficial to the public, especially if its benefits expand beyond the users, the government should help contrast that friction.
Honestly? That should go for meat alternatives as well. Give them the subsidies given to the meat industry at present.
PlasticMac
Member
Technical superiority is what drives the change, but only in a world without any other, less logical drivers. Politicians (national and geo), activists, lobbyists, the list is long.
Chopping down trees in Canada, to fuel a boiler in Drax power station is a good example of nonsense logic.
Mac
Shoestring7
Member
G
Guest 4123
Guest
The World's first solar powered steel mill:
www.ft.com
www.pv-magazine.com
RAB
Solar-powered steel mill blazes trail for green energy transition
A plant threatened with closure in a Colorado town is hiring again after switching to renewables
www.ft.com
US steel mill to get powered by 300 MW of solar
The iron and steel sector is the 'world’s largest industrial source of climate pollution.' This steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado, will be the first in North America to rely on solar power.
www.pv-magazine.com
RAB
PlasticMac
Member
Probably no night shift. ?The World's first solar powered steel mill:
Solar-powered steel mill blazes trail for green energy transition
A plant threatened with closure in a Colorado town is hiring again after switching to renewables
US steel mill to get powered by 300 MW of solar
The iron and steel sector is the 'world’s largest industrial source of climate pollution.' This steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado, will be the first in North America to rely on solar power.
RAB
Mac.
mars
Member
Hey, that's a great idea! With the level of respect of worker rights we've seen from employers lately, I guess physical inability to force them into a night shift is as good a solution as you could hope for!
G
Guest 4123
Guest
Shoestring7
Member
An article that pretty much makes my point: "Kevin Smith, CEO of the Americas for Lightsource, said: “The more than 700,000 solar panels can provide 90% of the plant’s energy needs at peak production” – and 95% of the mill’s annual energy demand, according to other reports."The World's first solar powered steel mill:
Solar-powered steel mill blazes trail for green energy transition
A plant threatened with closure in a Colorado town is hiring again after switching to renewables
US steel mill to get powered by 300 MW of solar
The iron and steel sector is the 'world’s largest industrial source of climate pollution.' This steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado, will be the first in North America to rely on solar power.
RAB
G
Guest 4123
Guest
Yes, but in most of Africa, India etc, they don't get a yearly average of 28" of snow!
RAB
PlasticMac
Member
Doesn't (the solar steel mill) make sense to me though. Steel making is a continuous process, so just keeping the high temp part at temperature over night, even if at "standby" will surely require a lot of Kilo Watts?
And 700,000 solar panels? Imagine the area of land, and the infrastructure?
Mac.
G
Guest 4123
Guest
For a coal powered steel mill, it's probably more economic to operate 24/7 but when the power is almost free.....
They're not exactly short of unused land in Colorado - take a look on Google Earth!
They use completely different technologies. You can't shut a conventional furnace down because of the risk of the lining cracking, so they operate 24/7 until the lining needs replacing. The PV mill would use an electric arc furnace; you can shut them on and off like a light.
Electric arc furnace - Wikipedia
RAB
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PlasticMac
Member
My (out of date) furnace comment stems from a visit to British Steel, in Port Talbot in the mid 60s. The image of a very hot steel ingot being rolled through successive rollers, to eventually becoming a roll of steel sheet still evokes awe. The way it accelerated down the line, as it got thinner and thinner, still glowing deep red, was more than impressive. Up there with a visit to Swindon Railway Works, with my Dad and elder brother in the mid 50s - I was about 10, and steam was still main stream. Talk about a vision of hell, not that my vocabulary would have run to such eloquence at the time.
Mac.
Mac.
G
Guest 4123
Guest
I went to Swindon Works in early 1980 as part of the service crew of GWR Castle No. 5051 Drysllwyn Castle after restoration at Didcot after being rescued from Dai Woodham's scrapyard at Barry. It was it's first foray onto the mainline after restoration for the purpose of weighing, to ensure even weight distribution by adjustment of the springs. Here it is standing proudly outside A Shop:
The food in Swindon's canteen was sumptuous, a view probably influenced by the fact that we'd been working throughout the previous night! This was all in preparation for the tours to Stratford-on-Avon (Phoenix and Sunset) in January which were to be the last for the GWS's 10-coach GWR Vintage Train. Before that we had a running-in trip to Oxford with the Vintage Train. After running up to Oxford tender-first, the driver was instructed to return at maximum speed to see what the loco was capable of. Sleepy Oxford was certainly woken up that morning; we reached 70mph at Culham, still accelerating but then caught up with a rattler (dmu to non-railway types)! I was on the footplate!
From Audi to the GWR!
RAB
The food in Swindon's canteen was sumptuous, a view probably influenced by the fact that we'd been working throughout the previous night! This was all in preparation for the tours to Stratford-on-Avon (Phoenix and Sunset) in January which were to be the last for the GWS's 10-coach GWR Vintage Train. Before that we had a running-in trip to Oxford with the Vintage Train. After running up to Oxford tender-first, the driver was instructed to return at maximum speed to see what the loco was capable of. Sleepy Oxford was certainly woken up that morning; we reached 70mph at Culham, still accelerating but then caught up with a rattler (dmu to non-railway types)! I was on the footplate!
From Audi to the GWR!
RAB
Last edited by a moderator: