Folks In the run up to the UK election, evidence of an imminent global oil crunch has continued to build, un-noticed by the majority of people, almost entirely uncommented on in the election campaign. The CEO of a major oil company has admitted it no longer pays to build up new oil reserves. A US military panel has […]
Read MoreThe relationship between our rotten political system, the voting system and energy and other vital policy issues.
Dear All, forgive me for inflicting yet again my views on the relationship between our rotten political system, the voting system and energy and other (health, environment, media, financial, tax, justice) vital policy issues. In a nutshell, it seems blindingly obvious, ( to me anyway) that with our system, where the PM wields enormous power, […]
Read More"Electric power from offshore wind via synoptic-scale interconnection" – using HVDC interconnectors to smooth intermittent power
Abstract World wind power resources are abundant, but their utilization could be limited because wind fluctuates rather than providing steady power. We hypothesize that wind power output could be stabilized if wind generators were located in a meteorologically designed configuration and electrically connected. Based on 5 yr of wind data from 11 meteorological stations, distributed […]
Read MoreThe Cogeneration or CHP Directive
This refers to the ”’Directive on the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market and amending Directive 92/62/EEC”’, officially 2004/8/EC and popularly better known as the ‘CHP Directive’ It is a European Union directive for promoting the use of cogeneration in order to increase the energy efficiency and […]
Read MoreCash boost for alternative energy – Phys. Technol., Vol. 9, 1978 and how the UK lost the race to be a major wind energy producer
Cash boost for alternative energy The level of UK Government spending on development of alternative sources of energy is to increase by 60%. In a White Paper last month the Government announced plans for P6m-worth of research and development, to supplement PlOm already committed. Almost half of the extra money (P2.9m) will go on wave […]
Read MoreThe costs of variability due to the presence of large quantities of intermittent/variable wind energy on the UK national grid.
Managing Variability – A report to WWF-UK, RSPB, Greenpeace UK and Friends of the Earth EWNI SUMMARY In order to comply with legislation from the European Union, the UK’s renewable energy target (to produce 15% of final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020) may require between 35 and 40% of our electricity to come […]
Read MoreWhat happens to wind power when there is no wind? Why it makes perfect sense that old, polluting and inefficient coal fired power stations should be retained and receive a capacity payment
This note argues that environmentalists will have to recognise that part (and a small price) of the price we pay for creating significant additional capacity of intermittent / variable renewables is the continued existence of coal fired plant, operating at a very low capacity factor. (And of course it will make us less vulnerable to […]
Read MoreOFGEM report on problematic future energy supplies – admission of market failure in electricty supplies
The report is at: http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/WhlMkts/Discovery/Documents1/Project_Discove ry_FebConDoc_FINAL.pdf News articles at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8494899.stm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household- bills/7144386/British-households-risk-unaffordable-energy-bills-Ofgem- warns.html http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/sse-says-customers-using-less-gas-electricity-reuters_molt-20a544628846.html A little interpretation: Quote: “There is a need for unprecedented levels of investment to be sustained over many years in difficult financial conditions and against a background of increased risk and uncertainty.” To translate, “the fat cats and their shareholders have […]
Read MoreHydrogen – the green currency of the future
All governments have pledged to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions; this effectively means that the world must move to:
Electricity from nuclear, renewable or decarbonised sources
Hydrogen from renewable or decarbonised sources
biomass derived methane gas or hydrocarbon liquids or
heat as a by-product, or from biomass, solar or geothermal sources.
Of these electricity and hydrogen are purely manufactured energy vectors competing as intermediaries between energy sources and final consumers. In recent years the tide seems to have moved to electricity as the ultimate solution, but this article will take issue with this. This is principally because of the severe cost implications associated with either electricity storage or its corollary – demand side management.
Read MoreClaverton Group's comment on BBC Radio 4 "You and Your's" on the Energy Gap 13th October 2009 – its cheaper to save than to build.
David Porter of the AIP (founded originally by David Andrews as the AIEP to counter the monolithic anti market and anti chp bias of the CEGB – Ed.) needs reminding that grants for A++ fridges etc (say we offer £30 to reduce baseload from 600 to 120 kWh/yr = £750 to save 1 kW) are cheaper […]
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