Chis Hodrien told us all at the October Claverton conference at Wessex Water Bath. that gasification-CCS was poised to become reality! It is interesting that the States are all legislating in favour of gasification IGCC (having recognised its many advantages for new-build), the very opposite of the British Gov’ts post-combustion CCS bias. They also recognise […]
Two environmental assessments show ‘huge scope for development’
The two announcements are the study on locations for future offshore energy developments, which identified scope for between 5,000 and 7,000 more offshore wind turbines, and the study on the Severn Barrage, which shortlisted 5 projects with the potential to supply up to 5% of UK’s electricity consumption. The conclusion of the UK Offshore […]
European Super Grid – "Wrong to suggest this would make Europe more vulnerable than importing Russian Gas and Middle East fossil fuels" – ?
The above slide from Czisch (“An affordable renewable power system for Europe”) shows that Europe is unlikely to be vulnerable to sudden disconnection / sabotage of say a single or several, North African regions since there is considerable redundancy in connection and diversity of supply areas, and European grids of necessity already have existing sophisticated […]
"Real energy security" – Prof. David Elliott, Open University
(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 […]
Would 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 […]
Mechanical 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 […]
Tim 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 […]
ASA 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 […]
Toyota 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 […]
UK 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 […]