You can get central heating boilers (I've certainly seen gas fired ones in the UK) that are actually mini-generators, the heat almost being a bi-product of the electricity generation. More pricey than the normal boilers but an interesting technology.

If you can setup your roof solar panels (be they solar thermal or solar PV) to follow the sun that should increase efficiency, but it might be marginal. I've also seen a lens system fitted over a solar panel that concentrates the solar radiation.

Next is to try and cut down on your power usage ... LED lights have come on in leaps and bounds over the last five years and greatly reduce your power consumption, though they are not cheap to buy. The upside is that they are supposed to last a LOT longer.

Air-to-Air heat exchangers might be an option too, and certainly using heat exchangers to try and not flush your heat out might be worth a look.
EG when you have a shower the water that goes down the plughole is only a handful of degrees cooler than when it came out the shower head. Could you use a heat exchanger to take heat from the 'waste' water and pre-heat water going into your hot water cylinder?
EG If you run a clothes dryer, are you venting the air directly? Could you run that through a heat exchanger to pre-heat fresh air coming in?

I'd start with the Jubilee Line, as the JL Extension has trackside barriers already (the trains pull in and the train doors line up with doors in the tracksdie barriers). If they could roll those barriers out along the rest of the Jubilee Line it'd be one less 'safety' thing for the union to get their panties bunched about.

Piccadilly Line next as it services Heathrow and that seems like a useful target for (approaching) a 24hr service.

Line by line will take some time and hopefully natural wastage (ie people retiring) should lessen the blow on the drivers, but they're not going to like it and make life hell for Londoners as this progresses.

Maybe the answer would be to insist on a new contract that stops them striking over anything to do with the introduction of automation. Obviously, we can't expect them to not strike when drivers are sacked for being drunk so there'd be no point trying!

Funniest thing of all, after how many years of driverless trains on the DLR (also in London) is the Tube Driver's Union saying it won't be safe!
[rubs chin thoughtfully] Hmmmm. I wonder if they've got an ulterior motive?

Stand by for the Tube Driver's Union holding London to ransom again ... [sigh]

Or a harbour in New Zealand if anyone pisses off the French!

Even if that was actually safer to exceed the limit at that point?
By the time it's asked you "Do you want to allow me to potentially save your life by exceeding the local speed limit Dave?", and you've noticed the question and answered it, it could well be too late!
So let's assume you've given it permission to save your life by exceeding the speed limit, and something happens and your GoogleCar guns it and saves your life, but your vehicle is spotted and you get a ticket. Who pays?
If GoogleCar had decided the safest thing to do (for you, at least --- hmm this raises another question I'll come back to) then I'd feel somewhat aggrieved if I got a damn ticket for doing it!
... and do these GoogleCars follow the Asimov Laws of Robotics? Would it career into a queue of children to protect you from truck?

Off Topic ... but I like your sig. I've been leaning that way myself for some time now. Much like the US president can only run for two terms, wouldn't it be grand if there was something similar for the politicians lower down the tree! Politicians _should_ be people who've been out in the real World. They should _not_ be people who go to university with the desire to be politicians.

Damn. Yeah, good point. Shame really, 'cos them Israeli boffins have been working so hard on it and now they've got to just stop and do something else 'cos your commute is too long. You know, I bet they're kicking themselves for not asking you about your commute first 'cos they could've saved themselves the bother!
PAH! 3000km! 3000 schkilometers I say! Not to menschion we don't even have any kilometers in the US anyway.

Indeed ... in the UK the great unwashed spend more on DMR ('distant male regent') ring tones than we spend on fusion research!

LOL where you say "... freedom hating ..."!

Because people who want to reduce the chance of _everyone_ getting shot by limiting firearms obviously hate freedom!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha - man, best one yet!

With you up until the the ID card stuff. Whilst our (UK) Gov. (Previous nuLab and current Con) seem to keep trying to foist ID cards on us we've been able to stop them so far. Odd that both nuLab and Con have both been mostly against it whilst in opposition, then seem all gung-ho for ID cards when they get voted in. Makes you wonder what the hell changes when they get the keys to No 10!

So I too see ID Cards in that very "papers please" light. They are a tool that gives power to the Gov and adds nothing to the people forced to carry them. Just Say No!

That was the slow motion video!

Obviously carefully stepping over the fact that the previous labour government (Callaghan was it?) shut more mines than Thatcher because, and here's the kicker, they were uneconomic! It cost more to dig up the coal than the coal was worth, and we could get coal cheaper from elsewhere, including the damn shipping costs! ... no really!

Had Scargill not tried to bring down the elected government by flexing the miner's muscle maybe the scenes of violence could have been avoided, but I'll grant you that anywhere the Met (London Police) got brought in it turned nasty, but that's more a reflection of the Met than Thatcher - the Met are _still_ a little too handy with their fists (see Ian Tomlinson)

Ha ... my own fault for not refreshing the page before posting ... but if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can ... oh forget it!

Apparently, only women, but I think we long ago realised that wasn't a problem!

Why bother? I _guess_ because we have a set of rules about what kids have to be taught and part of that involves examination. So it's OK for the kids to take an exam and potentially do badly (if there are questions set on topics they've wilfully been mislead on!), but it's not OK to just not teach the subject.

If there was some way to weed out 'bad teachers' you could hope that the Biology teachers at such a school would continually be identified by Ofsted (UK schools watchdog) and warned, offered re-training, etc, then sacked, but sadly that's unlikely because the teacher union(s) would probably get all upset and call a national strike - even if Ofsted had such powers, and I don't think they do because if they did the teacher union(s) would probably get all upset and call a national strike!