scuro2

Hydrogen is not the answer for cars or other smaller motors.

Something is up, first green Xmas in Quebec city which is 400+ years.

It depends...take a picture of a print and a carving and post it.

I have Loomis travel rod. If you are talking every application and you want to a rod that can handle bigger fish then that is the one I would go to. You don't want a rod tube for travelling if it can be avoided.

So that was a ft of wet snow. He has a long tricky driveway and he "had to push the snow" down the driveway first because there is no place to put it near the house". Even so he got one side done before he had to recharge. His judgment, "for a normal driveway, perfect" which is basically what I have been saying all along. To that I will add zero maintenance. I put the batteries in and press start. No oil to check, and no gas to fill, no worrying about old gas sitting in your blower for 10 months. No fumes to breath in as you clear the snow and the machine is relatively quiet. It's just a much nicer experience to clear snow. True, as he said, you won't be clearing your neighbour's driveway. Personally, I wouldn't buy extra batteries for an extra long driveway. If your driveway is too long get a gas blower.

I didn't even buy the high end two stage EGO model. We've got a two lane 30' driveway. I don't know about ryobi but two years ago we had 13 inches of snow to the point where the snow was higher then the mouth of the snowblower. The EGO cleared it. It was a little extra work and required charging the batteries but I got one lane done and the walkway on a single charge. 2-4 inches of dry snow? Why the EGO eats that dusting for breakfast. I jog with the snowblower at that height and it chucks the snow 30'. It's like electric cars, everyone who doesn't have one has an opinion but do people really know anything about something new until they have tried it? Nope! If I lived in Buffalo or had 300 ft driveway I'd get gas, but for 90% of the people electric is better and cheaper. Ditto EV cars. I get 400km for $4 from my EV car.

I didn't even buy the high end two stage EGO model. We've got a two lane 30' driveway. I don't know about ryobi but two years ago we had 13 inches of snow to the point where the snow was higher then the mouth of the snowblower. The EGO cleared it. It was a little extra work and required charging the batteries but I got one lane done and the walkway on a single charge. 2-4 inches of dry snow? I laugh in your face John. I jog with the snowblower at that height and it chucks the snow 30'. It's like electric cars, everyone who doesn't have one has an opinion but they are basically ignorant. If I lived in Buffalo or had 300 ft driveway I'd get gas, for 90% of the people electric is better. and cheaper. Ditto EV cars. I get 400km for $4 for EV car.

I have had an EGO for two years now. We have a fairly big driveway and it almost always I can do it on one charge. If you have a very long driveway I'd get gas. For most (99%)people electric works great. As an added bonus you can use the batteries for an electric lawnmower or other devices. I several pieces of equipment so I am using the batteries year round. No problems ever on the start and you don't have to worry about gas separation etc. Probably the nicest thing is no stink from a two stroke motor.

Not only advanced technology but the advancement of civilization. A continuing trend is that a greater percentage of the world's population is exiting poverty. We want more toys and bigger houses, they want frigs and their own personal transportation.

..talking and listening. Dan I understand you better now just cause I kept my mouth shut when I didn't have anything really worth sharing. You showed me that ICE cars are a way of life for some people. I guess I kinda knew that but didn't see the real passion in it. Funny thing is if we met in person we might just get along. I can fish with almost anyone who has a passion for it. Fished with a group of guys this summer including a QAnon believer. We were fine out on the boat.

I have respect for anyone's opinion. Look, I checked your video out. Twitter posts have a time stamp. The one on this video doesn't. There is no video evidence, surely Musk would have spoken about it. You can go to the Telsa website and there is no 2023 hydrogen fuel cell models. No news articles on this either. I'm totally into this space because I need a new car. I check the news daily in this space - zilch on Elon changing him mind. "Again check facts before posting a rebuttal!!!!" - I'd be happy if you prove me wrong. Link to a credible news article on this from an established news outlet. There should be hundreds of such articles on this "news".

The video is 6 years old. Musk predicted it, hydrogen cars went nowhere. Two hundred hydrogen cars have been sold in Canada as of July 2022. Toyota was all over this and avoided EVs. They still haven't got an EV model in full production.

Elon Musk on Hydrogen motors

As Elon Musk states, we never hear about all the gas engine car fires. Statistically there are far more per vehicle. I get it, if you need a big truck to haul things for significant distances in the north then EVs are not for you. Most people have none of those needs. The average distance travelled in a day is 50 to 60km. Any EV can handle that no matter what the temperature. Even most plug in hybrids can do that all on that mini battery. Like it or not EVs will be the future chosen vehicle regardless of any subsidies. We are in the infancy of EV development. Lithium is expensive and already there are technologies that are better that don't use Lithium. As the batteries become lighter and and more efficient the weight will be similar to ICE cars. The power of the market will decide this one. If propaganda decided everything we would be driving Ladas and we there would be the Canadian units pushing towards Kiev with Putin!

I saw a prediction recently that by 2030 half the new cars will be EVs. I can tell you that likely isn't going to happen by 2030. The only company able get you an EV in a few months is Tesla with the model Y which is expensive. Plug-in hybrids like the Rave4 are a 3-5 year wait. Most other EVs are about a 2 year wait. You might be able to get certain models in a year to year and a half. Demand is seriously outstripping supply. Current EV adoption is under 6%. The governments goal is 60% by 2030

We moved from a city house to a lot that is two thirds forest. I bought a lot of electric tools and can comment on them. Snow blower - We have a 60ft double driveway. It was only challenged when we had 15inches of snow. The opening of the mouth is smaller than that but it got the job done. It just took longer and I couldn’t complete it all in one go. You could buy a bigger two stage model. Pole saw - I'd never buy a gas one. Weed wacker - I'd never buy a gas one hedge trimmer - I'd never buy a gas one Chain saw - it is limited by the length of the blade. I think they top out around 18 inches. The batteries would wear down quickly with say oak that is 3ft thick and you are constantly cutting. I live on ravine and it does 95% of my jobs well. If I have really big stuff I call my brother and we use his gas saw. Lawn mower - for most lawns it’s great. It’s not economical to cut your grass when it is really long. It will do the job but burn through the battery quickly. So best is regular cutting. I can usually get both my front and back done on one battery. That is about 70 minutes of cutting. Leaf blower - if you got a really big lawn and there are lots of leaves gas would be better. There are variable settings for the leave blower. Mostly I don't have it on high. On high I could run it for an hour. Gas would blow harder. My basic rule of thumb for electric tools is that if you will use the tool consistently for really big jobs gas is better.

It's not complicated at all. The link of rising temperatures to green house gases is irrefutable. Humour me, assume this is totally true and projections are accurate. We are the number one emitter of CO2 per capita and the 7th largest emitter globally. That is not insignificant. Granted there are reasons for this but guess what China is going to say if we make zero progress and they want to keep their coal power plants. You do it together or it doesn't get done. You can "pay" now or pay many multiples more in the future. The question isn't, "do you really need". It's more shaping behaviour through market forces. I don't know why any fossil fuel is subsidized by any government. Gradually make it more expensive to buy gas. Do it so that ALL the taxes collected go directly to all citizens. Less people will buy an ICE Hummer. More people will buy fuel efficient vehicles, perhaps a plug in hybrid or an EV. At some point GM will drop the ICE Hummer line. We saw this in the 70s where people no longer wanted the big gas guzzlers. So it will be again.

Your price estimate on the snowblower is still high even for the two stage. At Lowes for $2000. But the real issue of course is cost. Global warming is costing us already with crop failures and extreme weather events and insurance. These costs impact everyone no matter where you live. Now imagine the prairies being a permanent dust bowl. Real flooding in much of Florida and other low lying areas. That is coming sooner then later and that is when we are really going to pay. Conservative means to conserve and not waste money. It means to maintain and do things better. Economically I am definitely conservative. I've voted conservative several times. The Conservatives should be leading the charge. They can definitely do it better the Trudeau but if I see repeal the carbon tax there is no way I am voting conservative. How do you do it? How do you cut green house gas emissions? It's going to to require a move away from fossil fuels. I see no reason why you can't take into account your address when raising the price of fuel. I live in a city of 30000. I saw a women driving a Hummer. She had high heels on and was 5 ft tall. I'm sure her driveway is short and paved. That sort of lunacy has to be curtailed. If not a hummer I see plenty of huge expensive trucks in driveways for people who don't have a job requiring a truck. Most of these vehicles are spotless, no wear and tear. It's got to be a group effort like hydrocarbons and the Ozone layer was. The carbon tax is the solution offered by the brightest minds in the world. It likely will not be enough. Too little too late.

All those prices you listed are all way on the high side. The thing is you buy your snow blower with two batteries and now you buy all your other tools without batteries. Now the other electric tools are cheaper then their gas counterparts and they are much cheaper to run and maintain. Base model EGO snowblower is $899. Electric tools are perfect for a good majority of the population. There are plenty of EV SUVs at $50000 all in and they qualify for a $5000 EV grant. Hybrid plug ins with 80kms of range also. You have gas but if you do all your driving in your community you can mostly run off of the battery. People are doing this type of math and choosing this because it makes economical sense for them. I get it, not for you. I'm not sure what you mean by electric generator? Do you mean a solar backup battery? If you need a generator you need a generator regardless of electrical tools. I did not get a solar backup battery. You would need an expensive battery to power your air conditioner. One option I was looking at was installing a switch to your furnace that could hook up to a car battery. You could power your furnace for a while if there was a blackout in the winter. I wonder if anyone on this board has done this? That is the big worry, the cold instead of heat. I do get what your saying if you live out in the country, I'd be doing exactly what you are doing but realistically you are definitely in a minority. The rural population is about 14% of the overall population. Likely much higher on this forum!

Just looked it up, 34 per cent nuclear, 28 per cent natural gas, 23 per cent hydro, 13 per cent wind, one per cent solar and less than one per cent biofuel. That is more natural gas then I thought. Likely the natural gas is used to meet peak demand especially during the hottest and coldest parts of the year. Based on those percentages I am assuming it would be more environmentally friendly to power your car from electricity vrs gas. EV cars are not the answer to global warming. I am eyeing one but can't wait 2 years to get one and the model Y is still expensive at about $72000 all in. I'm likely going to buy a used car and then buy in 4-5 years when the EVs will be cheaper and more efficient. I did buy solar panels but this definitely is not for everyone. Ideally you want direct sun so your roof has to be positioned right and you can't have much shade hitting the roof. There is a $5000 dollar incentive for this. In the end I did it mainly as an investment. It should pay for itself in 7-8 years. They promised a bit better. The panels should get me at least 30 years of production. No normal household can go off the grid with solar. You do get credits for overproduction from Ontario Hydro which you use up during the winter when the sun is weak. The other key reason I did this was it reduces the need for peak time electricity in the summer. I don't need all the electricity I produce during the day for my air conditioning. It is used by the houses in my neighbourhood for their air conditioning and energy during that time. It will also save OH on transportation costs.

Nuclear isn't always a no brainer, it depends on the location and country. May be the better approach is to work towards eliminating what is worst. The low hanging fruit is coal burning power plants. We have none in Ontario so two stoke motors are another easy target. They can produce a lot more pollution. For most Ontarioians switching out gas powered tools for electric is a wash. The added benefit of electric is that the tool doesn't need oil changes and you don't have to worry about your gasoline in the engine over the winter. It is also a clean and less noisy experience to operate. That and you have a button start, full power as soon as you press it. I've got a big lawn and can cut it with one battery, I have a second battery. You would need more then an acre of lawn before gas is necessary. Ditto for electric cars. To me it's a no brainer if you live the GTA and have a detached house to get electric for commuting and regular use. Ditto the snow blower, chain saw etc etc. Some will need gas but the vast majority of people won't. You could encourage this with something as simple as eliminating tax on electric tools. Better is a slowly rising carbon tax. On top of that battery technology is improving all the time. To do nothing will eventually end the civilized world as we know it. Global warming is happening and all us older ones know it. Here we didn't have real winter this year until Jan 23rd. As a boy a hard winter would set in around christmas, that is when our neighbour flooded his outdoor rink. You could never now flood in Dec and hope to have ice for any length of time.

So the story starts like this, my friend joins me on a trip to Great Slave for Pike fishing on a whim. He'd never been to a lodge, never fished a weekend, or even likely not a full day. Most of his fishing happened as a kid. His PB Pike previously had been a 28incher. He was a bit out of sorts the night before. He didn't know what he was getting himself into but I had him covered. We were loaded for bear. To put him at ease that first afternoon I give him my favourite lure and he never looked back. Three trophies that afternoon. Honestly at times he had a fish on every 2-5 minutes for what seemed like hours. Winds were high limiting locations to fish all week because of murky water. There were minor forest fires all around us making for some beautiful sunsets. The few good spots were getting absolutely pounded but Steve kept on bringing us back and he caught plenty. He has no idea how many trophies he caught. I'd guess about a dozen and may be 2-3 dozen in the high 30s. He caught roughly 3 times the fish I did in all classes, except maybe Walleye. He loved it all, was totally thrilled with the fishing. I finally threw my hands up in the air when he tossed his spoon into a small muddied cloudy shore line pool next to the boat that looked like a double cream coffee. He pulled a chunky one outta of 3ft of water, next cast he does the same thing! It was just going to be one of those trips. I had two ideas that worked. My one idea got me my biggest fish. My second idea Steve lands a 43 incher. Even on the way home he had horseshoes up his a$$. His luggage comes off the carousel first in Calgary because we missed our connecter. Ditto at Toronto. I never saw my luggage after we left Yellowknife for 5 days. I finally got the last of my luggage delivered at 11pm from Toronto. For me it was a great trip. We had a lot of laughs and I’ve have a health issue for the last 2 years and wasn't even sure if this trip would go okay. It was nice to live again!

Is that a big ass inflatable or kayak? Cause where does the battery go? Basically you can fish any non private lake if you don't have a gas motor.

HHHUUUUUGGgge!!

I've rented a cottage there too. Mainly a bass lake, apparently there are walleye and I've seen people fish for them. I fished it for lakers which are supposedly there too but not even a nibble over several mornings.