"Simply moving the burning of fossil fuels from the car to the power-station doesn't really count."

Yes it does - I.C.Es are very inefficient at extracting the dense energy contained in oil based fuels, electric motors are much more efficient. Even with transmission losses... Can't remember where I read the figures - so I can't supply here.

"Come on guys give us the Hydrogen powered model!"

Why 'cos May said so on TG? Or cos you like the concept of inefficiency? Pure EVs are like 3 times more efficient than pure Hydrogen - and at least EVs *exist* albeit in early stages - hydrogen cars are still (water) vapour for consumers.

Don't forget that Lotus is also working with another Reg fave - Ecotricity - to power their entire Hethel production plant from wind energy. Hmmm - yes think about that... that just leaves the raw material processing to account for in terms of CO2 impact - especially if Lotus EV customers use Ecotricity too...

Jolly roger - cos pirate ships are wind powered arrrr ;-)

Will people stop going on about 'Keeping the lights on' lol - it would take a handful of hamsters on hamster wheel generators to keep your average household's low energy lights on.

Let's be honest here - we are talking about keeping our 750w power supplies for our high-powered PCs, large plasma screens and surround sound running... :)

Isn't that why most people seem to be in favour of nukes when it comes to this kind of polemic discussion (apart from the beardy weirdy greenpeacers like me of course) - cheap energy so that we don't have to worry about turning things off? (such an inconvenience having to think about energy use! tsk!)

@Paul Stephenson - RE: EDF. I believe it is still majority owned by the french governement.(85% stake).

I sometimes wonder whether the Register is part of the pro-nuke/anti wind cabal along with the dubiously named Renewable Energy Foundation - http://eeru.open.ac.uk/natta/renewonline/rol52/7.htm

What do you think happens when a nuclear plant or 2 (or 6) shuts down on the same day for 'essential maintenance' ? AFAIK - the gas powered plants kick in to keep the lights on, along with hydro from existing pumped storage.

That's not a speculation about what will happen 'in the future' - it already happens.

Let's start thinking about how the grid *needs* to change now that the oil/gas party is over. I thought neo-cons, and geeks would be pro-change...

Stop reducing the discussion to a polemic debate, I know it makes it easier for the journalist, but c'mon!

How about reporting on the recent news of huge under-estimation of nuclear decommissioning and clean-up, or the fact that 'British' Energy is now the property of the French (Government owned) EDF? ;-)

@ Soylent

If Nuclear is 'relatively' safe - why don't we have nuclear reactors in cities? That is where the bulk of the energy demand is... that would be far more efficient.

Why are we trying to bury waste in Cumbria and not in existing industrial brownfield sites in densely populated areas?

long live ccmixter and real peer-to-peer content sharing... (creative commons)

i wonder how long it will take for the artists to realise that the labels offer them nothing at all these days apart from a coke fuelled veneer of marketing... production and distribution can be done better at home...

i would rather pay an artist direct than pay the fat execs via my ISP subscription...

Prof *does* do the stand-by thing himself, and encourages everyone to do so.

http://withouthotair.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-do-advocate-switching-off-electrical.html

Don't delude yourselves my little wing-nut enviro-skeptic geeks - every little DOES help.

Yes, that includes turning off your PC at night and having to reload your tabs (oh noooo! that's like almost as inconvenient as turnng off the power switch in my TV!) and choosing a webhost that is making efforts to reduce their consumption...