(Originally Letter to Guardian Newspaper) With the battles continuing over the EU’s access to Russia’s gas supplies via transit arrangement across the Ukraine, it may be worth looking to the future, when a different set of energy options may change the geopolitical realities. Currently we are fighting over the dwindling and increasingly expensive oil and […]
Read MoreWould Europe's use of significant power imports from Africa and the Middle East be "completely barmy" ?
(Some clarifications and extensions made since earlier version) A number of people have made comments similar to this: “I have found Czisch’s plan for an Inter-Continental Grid, with Europe as its centre, unrealistic, politically. The idea that Europe should rely on power imports from Africa and the Middle East is completely barmy. The recent panic […]
Read MoreMechanical power station master clocks.
Power stations used to have two of these pendulum master clocks (one duty, one standby). A series of mercury switches were used to send 30 second interval pulses to various measurement and control equipment. For example typically there would be two rooms (duty / standby) filled with various meters and the pules instructed the meters […]
Read MoreTim Burr, National Audit Office, "England is at risk of missing the 2013 EU landfill reduction target"
This press release is basically saying the UK is at risk of not achieving its Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) landfill diversion target for 2013. This means that energy from waste plants (using anaerobic digestion) are too slow and difficult to procure even with government support for the PFI credits and with the risk of massive fines […]
Read MoreASA bans renewable fuels ad
The ad which claimed that biofuels were a sustainable answer to OPECs oil, was found to have breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 3.2 (Division of informed opinion), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 49.1, 49.2 and 49.3 (Environmental claims). The ASA said that the the ad must not appear again in its current form. ASA told RFA to remove […]
Read MoreToyota announced that it plans to start selling fuel cell vehicles in 2015
13th January. Toyota announced that it plans to start selling fuel cell vehicles in 2015. They also announced they will release a plug-in hybrid later this year and an all-electric two seater in 2012. Speaking at the North American International Auto Show Masatami Takimoto, Toyota’s executive vice president of research and development, said […]
Read MoreUK Gas Storage Fiasco Illustrates Folly of Assuming That Markets Can Substitute for Strategic Planning
Headline in the Guardian article covering this, Jan 12th says it all “Plans to Increase Britain’s gas storage capacity left in tatters by credit crunch” What did the economists at Ofgem expect? Only an economist would have any faith in the Market’s ability to replace central planning. Having bemoaned the fact that UK only has […]
Read MorePhysics and Engineering Basis of Multi-functional Compact Tokamak
Kindly provided by Brendan McNamara. Part of the IAEA Fusion Conf Proceedings at Geneva this Oct. Basically small fusion reactors are viable now. Abstract An important milestone on the Fast Track path to Fusion Power is to demonstrate reliable commercial application of Fusion as soon as possible. Many applications of fusion, other than electricity production, have […]
Read More" Why Batteries Not Hydrogen Fuel Cells Are The Future Of Private Motoring" – George Wallis
Wallis’ excellent paper attempts to show why cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are not the immediate future of private motoring, and why batteries have an important and immediate part to play. Note: (‘Nazi sharks etc.’ refers to a no doubt bad taste joke, made by James May during the recent BBC TV Top Gear show, […]
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