Slide 14 of the presentation labelled future system operation at : http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Balancing/operationalforum/2009/ – presented to all and sundry at the Operational Forum (open to all comers) by National Grid at the Ardencote Manor 2 weeks ago, may interest. The following three slides after that are also interesting, as […]
Read MorePumping Power calculator – what power is needed to pump seawater to the middle of the Gobi Desert for desalination in the SeaWater Greenhouse? – answer – not a lot
The spread sheet for calculating this, kindly provided by Wessex Water, one of the UK’s leading water supply companies, is available here: This spread sheet enables you to calculate power needed to pump water any distance through any height: http://tx1.fcomet.com/~claverto/cms/?dl_name=Pipe_Headloss__Power_calculator.xls You can see that in fact, compared to national energy consumptions, […]
Read MoreSenior Energy Analyst reports on biochar as economic method of CCS
Hi Claverton,
Just read this on bio-char.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/67843ec0-020b-11de-8199-000077b07658.html.
Sound’s good to me. At £9/tonne this seems a sizeable contribution to GHG
reduction at a carbon price we already have in the EU cap and trade system.
I think the silver buckshot Al Gore cites will have many such low tech, low
cost solutions. For me making charcoal is an intuitively correct solution
as it seems to be a simple way of compressing the natural carbon capture
cycle that can be done at low capital costs and with lots of other benefits
as well.
Rgds
M
Read More"UK Energy Risks – Uncertain but not Unimaginable" – Global Energy Advisory
On the 23rd of February it was reported that one of the large six utility companies in the UK lost £172.5mn, in just three months, by trading a gas position. This loss could have been against a background of relatively low gas price volatility; presumably this “increase in wholesale cost” will now be passed on to end consumers? Who trades and who pays? Who invests and who pays?
The new Energy & Climate Change Committee is today taking oral evidence from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt Hon Edward Miliband MP, in the House of Commons in London. The independent Global Energy Advisory White Paper entitled: Investment Failure, Fails Customers, was circulated to the Committee earlier this week.
The paper discusses the potential risks to UK energy security which are well known within the Industry. It also asks pertinent questions regarding the costs and consequences of the energy investment/trading decisions being taken at the current time.
This discussion will be continued at the Global Energy/Advisory Super Derivatives Seminar in London on March 5th – see below for full details.
Read MoreProfessor Lewis Lesley comments on the recently announced plan to purchase expensive High Speed Trains from Hitachi
(Letter originally printed in The Guardian but heavily edited…………) Dear Editor, Whilst commentators have been arguing about how many jobs and where, no one has raised the question of “value for money”. At £5.4m per carriage, these are the most expensive trains ever in real terms. As a comparison for the same money, 30,000 high speed luxury […]
Read MoreRevealed – how the hybrid car "works"
The hybrid Toyota is a well known and claimed fuel efficient car. We all know its somehow got a battery and an engine. But what is the idea? Why does this make it more efficient? Essentially the Toyota is more efficient (well a bit) than many similar cars, because the engine operates on what is […]
Read MoreCheap Solar Concentrator for PV
“Article describes a square piece of clear, molded acrylic about a centimeter thick which when beam of light shines a directly at its flat surface, a green beam enters the acrylic and bends toward the center of the square. “If the process is repeated at different points on the surface the beam darts toward the […]
Read MoreLittle known (or conveniently forgotten) reason for 1926 miners strike recalled – Dr Fred Starr
If no one has anything better, here is a slightly incomplete table for coal production. This has been compiled from various sources over the past few years.
Peak was 1913 when we were exporting 100 million tons at a price of around £1 per ton. This might be equivalent to £50 per ton today (or higher?).
UK coal exports began to get uncompetitive after WWI, and was one of the main reasons for the 1926 General Strike, when the coal owners wanted to reduce wages.
Coal output was insufficient in WWII (and afterwards) and was one reason for sending one in every ten
conscripted men down the mines
UK coal reserves are now given as somewhere between 400-800 million tonnes. Not the billions that everyone supposes.
If the UK energy system was totally dependent on coal, as it used to be, these would last 2-4 years.
Read More"would it be practical to store syngas as a method of allowing IGCC-CCS plants to respond to the overnight fall in demand?" Fred Starr responds
Claverton Hydrogen Storage on IGCC Sites
Dear Neil
You asked if it would be practical to store syngas as a method of allowing IGCC-CCS plants to respond to the overnight fall in demand
The prospects of the on-site storage of syngas, to enable an IGCC to vary its output seem limited. The gas that would have to be stored would have to be hydrogen. Otherwise, the processes by which the carbon in the syngas is removed would have continuously vary their throughput. Only the gasifier and air separation unit ( for supply of oxygen) would run at a constant output
Unfortunately, a very large amount of gas is produced when gasifying
Read MoreCarbon Pathways Analysis – Informing Development of a Carbon Reduction Strategy for the Transport Sector
Carbon Pathways Analysis July 2008 Executive Summary Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Carbon Pathways by Mode Chapter 3: Carbon Pathways by Type of Journey Chapter 4: The Impact of Mode Switch on Emissions Chapter 5: International Comparisons Chapter 6: The Challenge for Transport Acknowledgements This paper has benefited greatly from the inputs of Mark Barrett […]
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