WASHINGTON â California is expected to put into effect on Thursday its sweeping plan to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, a groundbreaking move that could have major effects on the effort to fight climate change and accelerate a global transition toward electric vehicles.
âThis is huge,â said Margo Oge, an electric vehicles expert who headed the Environmental Protection Agencyâs transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. âCalifornia will now be the only government in the world that mandates zero-emission vehicles. It is unique.â
The rule, issued by the California Air Resources Board, will require that 100 percent of all new cars sold in the state by 2035 be free of the fossil fuel emissions chiefly responsible for warming the planet, up from 12 percent today. It sets interim targets requiring that 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the state by 2026 produce zero emissions. That would climb to 68 percent by 2030.
The restrictions are important because not only is California the largest auto market in the United States, but more than a dozen other states typically follow Californiaâs lead when setting their own auto emissions standards.
Thatâs interesting. I believe, and Iâm open to correction, that if you donât have a smart meter they will give you a 30% rebate on your yearly import. So youâre essentially getting a nice whack off high winter costs.
Stupid Q here⌠I have oil central heating⌠How much would I need to spend on top of the solar to drive my heating using electricity as primary source and oil kick in as back up?
You have an oil boiler as your primary heat source.
Are you enquiring about adding a solar PV system to drive an electric heating system that will take you so far, and for extra comfort have the existing oil system as âtop-upâ?
And if that is what youâre suggesting, are you asking how much would a solar + electric heating system cost to install and run?
At its most basic, solar PV is just a means of providing an alternative source for electricity. On good days youâll get great value out of it, on bad days youâll get very little.
Additional heating infrastructure to take advantage of this (electric oil filled radiators, storage heaters, copper coil underfloor heating etc) needs to be assessed on the basis that when you need heat the weather will invariably be bad, ie poor solar gain. So youâll pay the going rate.
I wouldnât be recommending solar PV as a primary domestic heating source in Ireland. In the winter a typical domestic solar PV system will provide very little to you in terms of useable power, at best maybe 15%.
If youâve a wife and (a few) daughter(s) you may forget this plan entirely.
If youâve a few pound to hide thereâs far more cost and energy efficient ways to tackle it. cc @KinvarasPassion
Iâve a mate in the construction game and he said people are getting incredibly bad advice around retrofitting heat pumps. They are being sold as a great solution but if you donât have the necessary air tightness, radiators etc, then it will be woefully inefficient.
I have a heat pump and well sealed house with mechanical ventilation; would adding PV panels connected to a battery be of any use to me to run the heat pump off with stored energy over the winter? The ESB bill for winter have been up around 7 and 8 hundred euros the past few years.
It would help, but youâre at the mercy of the weather for a measure of how much help.
Back of a fag box calculations tell you the worse the weather, the more you need the pump⌠and the worse the weather the less you get from the solarâŚ
In short, solar PV will not reduce the cost of winter energy to justify the outlay. Over a period of time (12+ years) youâll be able to see payback but that outlay would fill a brave few tanks of oil, pay a few winterâs electricity bills etc.