I don't no a great much about it I live in the north west. Is it affecting any of you at all. I've got a jap import legacy 2002 model I don't fancy taking it down there and paying these charges. On the ulez site it says some cars before 2005 back to 2001 are euro 4 but I've got no proof of this and my log book certainly doesn't say anything.

 

Dont contribute to the dire pollution either at home or in London. Drive less, unless you've gone fully electric. I have now with Tesla

 

I ride my bike to work as often as I can . But we all like cars otherwise we wouldn't own them or come on here.

 

Park an Ride ?

 

I ride from home.

 

Theres a disconnect between available public transport and climate change ambitions i fear

 

Meaning lol

 

Does Stockport have a ulez yet ..?!?

 

No. I'm hoping it doesn't happen here.from bits I've heard London is the worst for pollution. What I think is unfair for Londoners is there hit with this ulez thing and the congestion charge. To me the government is pricing people off the road. Which I think is silly when they make alot of money through fuel and oil . They say electric is the way forward but what happens eventually when there is no fuel and oil there is gonna be a big hole in the government's wallet with no revenue. So what then ? Are they starting taxing this so called good idea of electric vehicles? Charging people money to drive dirty cars doesn't solve the problem in my eyes.how about get some thing that drops the emissions loads . Maybe bio diesel or something.

 

Bio diesel is an appalling idea.



fracking would be better even

 

Its not just London, its every town and city throughout the world which are polluting their environment with emissions from vehicles having a massive impact on not just people but the environment as a whole. Vehicles are a major part of the problem along with industry and aircraft and shipping. The world is going to have to change its ways now to have half a chance of stopping environmental collapse of the eco-system. F***k the cost.

If we dont have an ecosystem, we are all dead!!

 

Well its mainly those south sea islanders / bangledishi /else who will be underwater otherwise

im sure this is your main concern

otherwise its a first world quality life issue !

 

South Sea islanders? Bangladeshis?
Have you seen the level of the Thames at Westminster Bridge embankment?
I've seen the Thames as high as just 3 feet below the parapet there.
Why do you think London built the Thames Flood Barrier?

If melting polar ice leads to significant rising sea level and combine with a high spring tide we could see very First World parts of our own capital city under water.

We've no reason to be complacent.

 

Thames barrier was expcted to be used 2 or 3 times a year, but with climate change

SINCE it was built in 1982, the Thames Barrier has been raised 150 times in order to prevent flooding in central London. This year's wet winter has required it to be closed 28 times since December 6, accounting for 18.7 per cent of the total closures

With increasing sea/ocean temperatures due to climate change it will be used with ever more frequently. This is just one aspect of increasing green house gas emissions.

A side note new houses wont be allowed in the UK to have gas/oil fired heating from 2025 . Im currently building a new house and are using air source heat pump for it water and heating requirements.

Emissions of CO2 need to be reduced drastically along with all sorts of other climate change emissions.

 

I like the idea of your house I must say. Never been keen on gas fires my self

 

Id be investing in ground scource heat pump myself , in order to save the planet

 

So was wracking brains - cos it seems to have been pretty dry this winter ( admittedly was away for a month)


that article on barrier is from 2014

 

Yes first link popped up

From government website

First decade. barrier used 10 times

Current decade more than 60 times!
More fluvial usage-pretty much what the weather environment scientists have said, wetter warmer weather for UK

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-tham...rrier-closures

 

Beaver reintroduction 'll sort that

 

Insulate your house as much as possible otherwise ASHP will cost you a lot of money, use u/floor heating. Look into getting a heat store and then add in Solar Water and maybe an immersion via Solar PV.

I have an ASHP on a not so well insulated house and it costs a heck load of money in electric and I would surmise that the price of electricity is only going to continue going up and up, despite economy of scale and how green we all end up being. Therefore, anything to reduce that is high on my list of to dos.

 

Congestion Charge is currently only for central London and operates 5 days a week 7-6. ULEZ is for the same small area but is 24/7. In 2021 they are expanding the ULEZ area to the North/South Circular roads.

To check whether your vehicle would be charged - https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/che...-vehicle-35896

I cycle to/from work every day (15 miles round trip) and you can taste the pollution on your tongue, so I will be welcoming ULEZ expansion in the future. On the reverse side, I have a perfectly good Euro5 car that I will have to replace before ULEZ starts as otherwise I'll be charged £12.50 a day to have it parked outside my house Chances are that I will keep it outside the zone (edge is close to me) and Uber/get a lift to it when I need to go down to Wales.

I would love an all electric car but the cost is high and other than Tesla, the range and infrastructure is not there to support a 275 mile journey without massive stops along the way. Yes I know some cars claim the range but real world driving and a reasonable pace would drop that - at least with a Tesla I could get a rapid charge along the way.

 

I actually prefer the idea of Ground Source Heating aka geothermal heating.
My neighbour used it in his new build.
At least it's a supply that's going to be around until the Earth's core cools down.

 

I'm also currently building. The house will be extremely well insulated such that I require a ventilation system to every room to ensure that I get enough fresh air. The roof will be covered in solar panels (7KWP), some of the energy that I need will be stored in batteries while the excess is sold to the power grid and can be bought back for any short fall. Heating is then via an ASHP and underfloor heating and additionally a wood-burner in the living room. The ventilation system then passes through a heat exchanger, which means heat from the wood-burner in the living room will be distributed throughout the house and the underfloor heading would reduce. From electricity and heating averaged over the year, I'll be 100% self-sufficient - in fact, I'll make money from the excess electricity I sell to the grid. My only utility costs will be water and drainage.

Admittedly, using the wood burner is not particularly environmentally friendly, but generally, my house construction will make a huge contribution to protecting the environment than swapping my Scooby to an EV - particularly considering with the current energy mix, EVs save only minimal CO2 and the battery production has additional negative environmental impact which doesn't contribute directly to climate change so is often ignored, but that doesn't mean its not as bad. e.g. lithium production seriously pollutes the water supply, strip mining for nickel and other metals used in battery production seriously destroys the environment, pollutants from the chemicals etc.

The other big change is I'm moving closer to work. Instead of 15km each way, which I mostly drive (I try to cycle at least once a week), I'll be just 3km from work which in future I will cycle or walk every day. Really, the best way to save the environment when it comes to your car is not to buy an EV, but to keep your existing vehicle longer and use it less - walk, cycle or use public transport more! This I think, is the thinking behind the congestion charge and ULEZ, not so much to price people off the road, but to make public transport financially competitive to driving. For too long, driving yourself has been too cheap compared to taking the train or bus. They could of course make public transport cheaper, but that's not really the capitalist UK way of doing things!

 

The only fallacy to that is that within the expanding ULEZ thousands of normal people have a variety of vehicles that will no longer fall within the permitted specification, so they will either have to get rid or pay £12.50 a day (£4500 a year!) to have their car within this area. They may not use it much already but this will force them to think long/hard about whether they want to keep it. It will mean many people will have to sell their existing car to a market that will not want them and then make the decision on what to replace it with, if anything. I'm fortunate, I live nr the boundary, so I will have options to avoid but so many others won't.
Other options are ditching the car completely and using ride/car shares or cabs. I don't think that people are ready for this complete switch in personal mobility.
Finally, its all the bloody buses that clog up the roads causing congestion.

Oh and my partner is selling her 2004 RAV4, perfectly good, sub 50k miles and in which she does maybe 2k miles a year because its not ULEZ emissions friendly. So she's replaced it with a 4.4l s/charged Range Rover Sport that is!

 

My 2l 170 hp 2002 petrol is exempt , slighlty amazed !

 

The new ashp are much more efficient than just a few years ago. They still work with max efficiency down to -15C. Our new home will have solar array of around 40kW to help power virtually all the house and charge our two EVs

Having got an S model, it is a genuine 300mile range car@ 70 mph. Its stupid fast, so Ive turned down the max acceleration and limit its top speed to just a little over nsl. It still accelerates faster than hot hatches. My wife has a Kona EV on order but switched to model 3, its should arrive next month.

 

Replaced your Sunday car then Andy

?

 

From reading similar threads on PH, it's quite possible that TFL's online checker is giving your car an invalid clean bill of health, so you may want to call them up or email them to check, otherwise you might be risking a fine(s).
Speaking from my own experience, I have a 2003 3l petrol V6 which also shows up as exempt, but all other sources say it's Euro3, not 4 (from MOT slips, its emissions might well be as good as Euro 4, but I don't see how TFL could know this).

 

Yes I wouldn't be at all surprised ..*

Not even thinking going central London , was just curious after Puff post on the rav 4.

Mines euro 3 and 215 g/ km.

( From internet)


and how many other would get like this ...,! Fab money making scheme

 

We are getting something similar called the clean air zone in Birmingham. There are so many other things that can be done and should be done to save the planet.