Yes, I did say in the med term. This will all be, for better or worse, cost driven.
After 20 years or so hopefully someone will have worked out creative ways to
repurpose / recycle / scrap old junk wind turbines. I've heard it's quite spectacular when one of the blades de-laminate from fatigue.
What's the time line on economic FNR's?
TCD
Yeah, the bedrock my house rests on is sort of connected to a lot of other types of bedrock, quite possibly bumping into various other rocks all the way to Portsmouth or even Inverness where I've always wanted to go sometime, while the air molecules are just bouncing randomly around in the air at relatively low density even when it's fairly cold.
And I worry about the employment market, health system, retirement funding and, ahem, "cultural differences" that might be part of such a seemingly innocous move. 😀
More worried about the fruit though, I think the climate here is excellent for apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, myrtleberries, cloudberries, and I might not get the same quality over in the UK. Rhubarb, blackcurrant and redcurrant might be somewhat similar, and there might be better crop of things like potatoes. But what would be the benefits other than that? Higher density of people? I like my space.
...Yet!
Perhaps the only way to deal with fully depreciated WT’s is to sink them in the deep ocean.
More junk unfortunately. Seems you cannot go against entropy ( ie from disorder to order) without creating trash.
🙁
More junk unfortunately. Seems you cannot go against entropy ( ie from disorder to order) without creating trash.
🙁
I do hate those new dazzling blue-white headlights. And surprised that German manufacturers who are usually tiptop on engineering think they are a good idea.
Back in the pre-EU days, you had to paint your headlights yellow to drive in France. No dazzle and your night-vision didn't get destroyed! The bureaucrats outlawed them as non-EU standard! 😕
Seems to me some of you are in a muddle about Nuclear and Wind power... time for some facts.
Cost of electricity by source - Wikipedia
Wind power is a great success for people with windy climates. The absolutely cheapest power. Solar panels, especially in sunny climes, are not far behind. After that gas and coal are much more expensive. And Nuclear absolutely the worst on cost. Nuclear makes zero sense economically. Partly because decommissioning old plants is hugely costly.
And remember, CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas. Reducing methane and Nitrous oxide emissions is far more economic. I wasn't joking when I said eat chicken. Beef produces 4X the methane emissions. Vegetables, hardly any.
Back in the pre-EU days, you had to paint your headlights yellow to drive in France. No dazzle and your night-vision didn't get destroyed! The bureaucrats outlawed them as non-EU standard! 😕
Seems to me some of you are in a muddle about Nuclear and Wind power... time for some facts.
Cost of electricity by source - Wikipedia
Wind power is a great success for people with windy climates. The absolutely cheapest power. Solar panels, especially in sunny climes, are not far behind. After that gas and coal are much more expensive. And Nuclear absolutely the worst on cost. Nuclear makes zero sense economically. Partly because decommissioning old plants is hugely costly.
And remember, CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas. Reducing methane and Nitrous oxide emissions is far more economic. I wasn't joking when I said eat chicken. Beef produces 4X the methane emissions. Vegetables, hardly any.
I've been really interested in that, there's a lot of good plans for sustainable methane production and some of the best lasting vs cost effective solutions date back to the mid 50's and are made to cycle the waste through during the natural process. The gas is trapped in the bubbling part of the chamber built from concrete and provide some pressure to push out good quality dirt. The gas is sent through a water filled bubbler that contains a lot of iron shavings to help reduce the worst contaminants/pollutants, after this the gas is ready for burning.
Heard on the radio today that the best way to increase the electric power generation would be to refurbish buildings to a more energy efficient standard, potential for power reduction in tiny Norway alone is about 20TWh. 20TWh is about double what we generated through wind power last year.
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I also vote for eating more rabbits.
Heard on the radio today that the best way to increase the electric power generation would be to refurbish buildings to a more energy efficient standard, potential for power reduction in tiny Norway alone is about 20TWh. 20TWh is about double what we generated through wind power last year.
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I also vote for eating more rabbits.
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"Where's the beef"? I go to the meat section at the grocer's and the beef has been reduced to a third of what it used to be prior pandemic. A lot of people got sick in the processing plants probably slowing down the producers. Gonna have to wait for methane production to return to normal once the calves grow up. 
Meanwhile, the blades are simply piling up in landfills! 😱
Europe is currently scrapping about 3,800 ageing blades annually and it's only going to get worse!
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We can all contribute by having our own home biogas toilet!
An average person defecates about 500 g a day, which can be converted to 50 litres of methane gas.
This has energy equivalent to driving a car about 1.2 km. 😎
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Unfortunately, the early nuclear reactors were not designed for easy decommissioning. Sellafield was the first commercial nuclear power generation facility in the world and folks weren't thinking about the end bit unfortunately. The article below estimates it will cost £121 Billion to decommission it and the work will only be complete in 2120 (yes, ~100 yrs from now).
PS121 billion: the cost of Sellafield shutdown -
However, things have moved on from then, and the newer plants are I understand much much easier to decommission. Nothing comes close to the energy density of nuclear (see Galu's earlier post!) and modern systems are very clean.
Take your pick: wind turbine blades in landfill or decommissioning a nuclear plant.
People forget that annually there are >50 000 deaths caused by burning coal while for nuclear its a tiny fraction of that, and mostly due to industrial accidents (e.g. Jack dropping his spanner on Fred's head type things).
PS121 billion: the cost of Sellafield shutdown -
However, things have moved on from then, and the newer plants are I understand much much easier to decommission. Nothing comes close to the energy density of nuclear (see Galu's earlier post!) and modern systems are very clean.
Take your pick: wind turbine blades in landfill or decommissioning a nuclear plant.
People forget that annually there are >50 000 deaths caused by burning coal while for nuclear its a tiny fraction of that, and mostly due to industrial accidents (e.g. Jack dropping his spanner on Fred's head type things).
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I was actually thinking it could be combined with grinded food waste (y'know, peels and whatnot), and together the output of something like my household of four it would be enough for the cooking and perhaps a bit of heat.
I notice on your Energy Dashboard, Bonsai, that coal is currently supplying only 1% of the UK's electricity generation.
Energy Dashboard - real time and historical UK energy figures, analysis and mapping
There are currently only two coal plants connected to the UK grid. They will be decommissioned by 2024 under current plans.
Apparently, one of them had to be fired up at the beginning of September when low winds meant the National Grid needed an additional souce of energy.
UK had to turn on coal power plant to help National Grid cope with low winds | UK News | Sky News
Energy Dashboard - real time and historical UK energy figures, analysis and mapping
There are currently only two coal plants connected to the UK grid. They will be decommissioned by 2024 under current plans.
Apparently, one of them had to be fired up at the beginning of September when low winds meant the National Grid needed an additional souce of energy.
UK had to turn on coal power plant to help National Grid cope with low winds | UK News | Sky News
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Yes - pity about that.
I think the one area the UK has done a remarkable job in is in transitioning away from coal - quite an achievement given that its not a small country and demand is at first world levels. Coal is filthy stuff IMV. The elephant in the room is still gas however. The only way that is going to go is if more nuclear comes on stream and there is a huge shift away from gas central heating. IIUC, there is legislation in the pipeline to ban gas central heating - you can only use air source heat pumps.
I lived in Shanghai for 9 months (2015) and remember one night taking the elevator down to the underground car park to take a short cut to the department store across the road. It was like walking through thick fog and it burnt my eyes and the back of my throat. We had 2 of those indoor air filters running 24/7 when it was bad. There was a big conference in Beijing while we were in Asia (Obama plus a whole bunch of other world leaders) and the Chinese government mandated that all coal fired plants be turned off for a few days in the region. Clear air and blue skies for a few days, then back to smog again. Apparently China will no longer fund coal fired PS locally or anywhere else.
I think the one area the UK has done a remarkable job in is in transitioning away from coal - quite an achievement given that its not a small country and demand is at first world levels. Coal is filthy stuff IMV. The elephant in the room is still gas however. The only way that is going to go is if more nuclear comes on stream and there is a huge shift away from gas central heating. IIUC, there is legislation in the pipeline to ban gas central heating - you can only use air source heat pumps.
I lived in Shanghai for 9 months (2015) and remember one night taking the elevator down to the underground car park to take a short cut to the department store across the road. It was like walking through thick fog and it burnt my eyes and the back of my throat. We had 2 of those indoor air filters running 24/7 when it was bad. There was a big conference in Beijing while we were in Asia (Obama plus a whole bunch of other world leaders) and the Chinese government mandated that all coal fired plants be turned off for a few days in the region. Clear air and blue skies for a few days, then back to smog again. Apparently China will no longer fund coal fired PS locally or anywhere else.
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It is proposed that, at a certain date, all new gas boilers being sold must be capable of being converted to run on hydrogen.
Air source heat pumps are useless unless a house is built to ultra high insulation standards. Retro fitting insulation would not be adequate.
The air pump is only capable of producing low temperature heat at the radiators, and mains electricity will still be required to heat water to shower, bath and making a good old cup of British tea temperature.
I believe it is pie in the sky for the powers that be to tell us that air source heat pumps are the answer to our home heating problems!
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Death to the air-air heatpumps! Long live the liquid-liquid heatpumps!
Btw hydrogen is not really a feasible thing unless you got a lot of power that you don't have a great use for, might be you can get away with using 2x electric power to get 1x hydrogen power, but mostly it's 3x because of remelting the sacrificial alu slush to make new anodes.
... Unless anyone else has some groundbreaking research that they know of.
Btw hydrogen is not really a feasible thing unless you got a lot of power that you don't have a great use for, might be you can get away with using 2x electric power to get 1x hydrogen power, but mostly it's 3x because of remelting the sacrificial alu slush to make new anodes.
... Unless anyone else has some groundbreaking research that they know of.
Are we about to have a breathrough in nuclear fusion?
Nuclear fusion breakthrough: what do new results mean for the future of 'infinite' energy?
Protestors in the UK getting, er, "hot under the collar" about the need to insulate 29 million HOMES. Is anybody arguing about that? Just a question of who pays for it really. 😀
Apropos nothing, I chucked my little MTM common enclosure bomb again into Multi-Way recently. Always gets people arguing. 😉
Thing is, if I concluded the exact opposite, they'd still disagree! I always run away giggling. 😱
Nuclear Fusion might work one day, IMO. The Sun does it easily enough.
My current worry is Dead-Spots in the Oceans. A perfect storm of sewage, cow poo and fertilisers streaming down rivers into the Sea. Suffocates the fishes with Algal blooms from Nitrates and Phosphates. Jellyfish multiply. Anaerobic bacteria give off greenhouse gases. The UK and the Baltic are really quite bad for this, though there have been some local successes in cleaning up, say, the Thames river.
Dead zone (ecology) - Wikipedia
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn | Oceans | The Guardian
Phosphate detergents are largely banned for this reason.
Apropos nothing, I chucked my little MTM common enclosure bomb again into Multi-Way recently. Always gets people arguing. 😉
Thing is, if I concluded the exact opposite, they'd still disagree! I always run away giggling. 😱
Nuclear Fusion might work one day, IMO. The Sun does it easily enough.
My current worry is Dead-Spots in the Oceans. A perfect storm of sewage, cow poo and fertilisers streaming down rivers into the Sea. Suffocates the fishes with Algal blooms from Nitrates and Phosphates. Jellyfish multiply. Anaerobic bacteria give off greenhouse gases. The UK and the Baltic are really quite bad for this, though there have been some local successes in cleaning up, say, the Thames river.
Dead zone (ecology) - Wikipedia
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn | Oceans | The Guardian
Phosphate detergents are largely banned for this reason.
Is there any way we are NOT destroying the planet? 😱
I saw a TV programme the other week in which a passenger in a light plane takes multiple images of the Galloway coastline that reveal where the trash we put in the sea ends up on the beaches.
Then, a team of volunteers goes to the worst areas to tidy up the mind boggling mess.
I'm proud of such well-minded action, but it is literally a drop in the ocean!
I saw a TV programme the other week in which a passenger in a light plane takes multiple images of the Galloway coastline that reveal where the trash we put in the sea ends up on the beaches.
Then, a team of volunteers goes to the worst areas to tidy up the mind boggling mess.
I'm proud of such well-minded action, but it is literally a drop in the ocean!
The residents at Huntington Beach may disagree. 😎
But what do expect from an 'advanced' civilization? 🙂
I think the way it will be mandated is through new builds. Modern UK (and EU) homes are very well insulated and easily meet the demands required for ASHP.
As I mentioned a few pages back, we had one in our previous house and it worked extremely well. (It was a new build as is my current house).
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