Road Maintenance Budget

[Roxanne]

14 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

The Ash dieback epidemic is really bad, I don't think most people have any idea of how bad, and how much its going to change the landscape over the next decade or so not just here but all across Europe. There is no good solution.

You’re right, it is. I was talking to a tree man who was dropping a load of ash and he said that in a hundred years the Island is going to look very different, tree wise. Apparently, the next disease is just around the corner and it’s no longer a question of if, but a question of when. 

[0bserver]

1 minute ago, Roxanne said:

You’re right, it is. I was talking to a tree man who was dropping a load of ash and he said that in a hundred years the Island is going to look very different, tree wise. Apparently, the next disease is just around the corner and it’s no longer a question of if, but a question of when. 

I think there have always been pests and diseases that have come and gone. It's just that in the past we didn't have the knowledge of them and they weren't tracked to the same extent. 

Although, like every cloud there is a silver lining! Great time to buy a log burner and get some cheap firewood.

[NoTail]

9 minutes ago, 0bserver said:

Although, like every cloud there is a silver lining! Great time to buy a log burner and get some cheap firewood.

Watch out! Log burners are now the work of the devil. If you buy one you will have the greenies round threatening to do you in.

[finlo]

54 minutes ago, NoTail said:

Watch out! Log burners are now the work of the devil. If you buy one you will have the greenies round threatening to do you in.

Plans are already afoot to outlaw them!

[Non-Believer]

1 hour ago, finlo said:

Plans are already afoot to outlaw them!

You WILL use gas and local electricity.

IoMG have spoken.

[CallMeCurious]

3 hours ago, NoTail said:

Watch out! Log burners are now the work of the devil. If you buy one you will have the greenies round threatening to do you in.

I'm surprised they've not been on to blame climate change for the diseased trees. Or Putin... or some other thing. You won't be allowed to burn wood soon, you'll have to take it out back and give it a decent burial.  

 

[CallMeCurious]

1 hour ago, Non-Believer said:

You WILL use gas and local electricity.

IoMG have spoken.

But not 'our' gas... coz of mu environment.

[Zarley]

18 hours ago, Tailless said:

They either need to move the TT to a new course each year so other roads get some loving or give the existing course the standard Manx neglect and market TT as the "New TT:  Same as the old TT but with the bumps and potholes intact."  Should put a bit  of tension in the rider's lives.

You may be on to something there. If the TT course had the same bumps and potholes as the rest of the island's roads, it would certainly slow the course down, as some seem to be calling for in the TT 2023 thread. 

And it wouldn't cost anything to achieve. Win-win!

[Zarley]

17 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

The Ash dieback epidemic is really bad, I don't think most people have any idea of how bad, and how much its going to change the landscape over the next decade or so not just here but all across Europe. There is no good solution.

I didn't realise how bad it is on the island until I was on a couple double-decker buses last summer, one to Douglas and one to Ramsey. When you're sitting up top, you can't help but notice the hundreds - if not thousands - of bald treetops. It broke my heart. 

[Two-lane]

13 hours ago, CallMeCurious said:

You won't be allowed to burn wood soon, you'll have to take it out back and give it a decent burial.  

When wood rots does it give off greenhouse gases?

[quilp]

Methane and CO2, probably. 

[CallMeCurious]

5 hours ago, Two-lane said:

When wood rots does it give off greenhouse gases?

Yes but not the nasty particulates that are now the new thing to get you off of cheap fuels and onto the expensive green energy.

Given that the wind energy and solar energy inputs are free and presumably the costs of materials and installation are well known by now, how come the electricity is not free with a standing charge for maintenance and replacement costs over the lifetime of the installation?

For example say we the taxpayer/MUA customer pay £30m for turbines that last 20 years with a maintenance cost of 0.5% per annum (£150,000) and a 5% per annum for replacement costs. So £30m/20y = £1,500,000 a year to payback the installation costs, £150,000 a year to keep them repaired and running and further £1,500,000 a year to purchase the replacements. So say £3m a year give or take.

Now divide that by say 100,000 consumers (private, public and business) that'd be £300 a year or less than £30 month added to the new upcoming standing charge of between 23 & 40p per day and keep the industry kVA demand related charges to keep the infrastructure going.

Sell any excess to the UK market at a discount rate to ensure 100% use of the capacity.

With a bit of management using the sinking fund for replacement to repay the inital loans quicker, the interest saved there and then interest accrued over the final ten years might bring it down further.

Now that would be transformational, imagine the business you could attract with almost zero energy costs that are fixed for 20 years on island with no CO2 whatsoever.

Use the UK export revenue to pay off the loan quicker and then build the infrastructure for green hydrogen production for storage/backup and HGV's etc. so we wouldn't need any fossil fuels for base load cover when the wind/solar fails and have the interconnectors as backup of last resort.

   

    

   

 
 

[Omobono]

CallmeCurious you make some excellent points and I don't know why  you were not called to advise the MEA  about their finances ,  you make more sense than the company brought in from the UK  at a cost of £130k    to tell them that that were loosing   £1 million a week , 

but nothing about cutting their cloth accordingly  and stop wasting money on vanity items , particularly  during this very difficult period  that the Island and its economy is having to struggle through , but there seems to be no stopping the gravy train !

[finlo]

1 hour ago, CallMeCurious said:

Yes but not the nasty particulates that are now the new thing to get you off of cheap fuels and onto the expensive green energy.

Given that the wind energy and solar energy inputs are free and presumably the costs of materials and installation are well known by now, how come the electricity is not free with a standing charge for maintenance and replacement costs over the lifetime of the installation?

For example say we the taxpayer/MUA customer pay £30m for turbines that last 20 years with a maintenance cost of 0.5% per annum (£150,000) and a 5% per annum for replacement costs. So £30m/20y = £1,500,000 a year to payback the installation costs, £150,000 a year to keep them repaired and running and further £1,500,000 a year to purchase the replacements. So say £3m a year give or take.

Now divide that by say 100,000 consumers (private, public and business) that'd be £300 a year or less than £30 month added to the new upcoming standing charge of between 23 & 40p per day and keep the industry kVA demand related charges to keep the infrastructure going.

Sell any excess to the UK market at a discount rate to ensure 100% use of the capacity.

With a bit of management using the sinking fund for replacement to repay the inital loans quicker, the interest saved there and then interest accrued over the final ten years might bring it down further.

Now that would be transformational, imagine the business you could attract with almost zero energy costs that are fixed for 20 years on island with no CO2 whatsoever.

Use the UK export revenue to pay off the loan quicker and then build the infrastructure for green hydrogen production for storage/backup and HGV's etc. so we wouldn't need any fossil fuels for base load cover when the wind/solar fails and have the interconnectors as backup of last resort.

   

    

   

 
 

You do know how Nikola Tesla ended up after making similar suggestions!

[asitis]

1 hour ago, CallMeCurious said:

Yes but not the nasty particulates that are now the new thing to get you off of cheap fuels and onto the expensive green energy.

Given that the wind energy and solar energy inputs are free and presumably the costs of materials and installation are well known by now, how come the electricity is not free with a standing charge for maintenance and replacement costs over the lifetime of the installation?

For example say we the taxpayer/MUA customer pay £30m for turbines that last 20 years with a maintenance cost of 0.5% per annum (£150,000) and a 5% per annum for replacement costs. So £30m/20y = £1,500,000 a year to payback the installation costs, £150,000 a year to keep them repaired and running and further £1,500,000 a year to purchase the replacements. So say £3m a year give or take.

Now divide that by say 100,000 consumers (private, public and business) that'd be £300 a year or less than £30 month added to the new upcoming standing charge of between 23 & 40p per day and keep the industry kVA demand related charges to keep the infrastructure going.

Sell any excess to the UK market at a discount rate to ensure 100% use of the capacity.

With a bit of management using the sinking fund for replacement to repay the inital loans quicker, the interest saved there and then interest accrued over the final ten years might bring it down further.

Now that would be transformational, imagine the business you could attract with almost zero energy costs that are fixed for 20 years on island with no CO2 whatsoever.

Use the UK export revenue to pay off the loan quicker and then build the infrastructure for green hydrogen production for storage/backup and HGV's etc. so we wouldn't need any fossil fuels for base load cover when the wind/solar fails and have the interconnectors as backup of last resort.

   

    

   

 
 

I have no idea if this post is representative of the realities. However what I do know is, it is refreshing to see someone with original thought over and above the "find a way to extract more cash from the taxpayers and waste it " mantra, which pervades our administrations !