[News] The Energy crisis

[peterward]

The energy sector in this country is a shambles.

Sky high prices, massive profits for mainly foreign owned Energy companies, a crumbling infrastructure, and no clear policy on renewables.
The privatisation of all the utilities has been an unmitigated disaster for customers. We have to beg the French owned EDF to build our new nuclear power stations if it ever happens, water companies pouring millions of gallons of sewage into our rivers, with the permission of the government, and the scrapping of our gas storage facilities, we know have less than 1/16 th of Germanys capacity.
There was one politician that would have taken these industries back into public ownership, but apparently his glasses were wonky, so, we didn’t vote for him.

Fracking?

 

[nicko31]

Taking back control...

£20bn Sizewell C nuclear plant gets the green-light: Government gives French giant EDF (French government) go-ahead to build power station on Suffolk coast

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ll-C-nuclear-power-station-Suffolk-coast.html

 

[Springal]

Could be worse - could have given it to those coal burning Germans (reference to their Green Party backing fossil fuels over nuclear in a vote recently …)

 

[nicko31]

Could be worse - could have given it to those coal burning Germans (reference to their Green Party backing fossil fuels over nuclear in a vote recently …)

To be honest whoever builds NUC's they are the most expensive form of new energy possible. Misguided, expensive with the toxic legacy for our kids and grandkids

We'd be better off spending £20B insulating the most leaky dwellings in northern Europe.

 

[maresfield seagull]

Does anyone have any Meaningful statistics regarding the efficacy of wind / solar / wave farms as a renewable energy source ?
As opposed to fossil fuel or nuclear ?

 

[nicko31]

Does anyone have any Meaningful statistics regarding the efficacy of wind / solar / wave farms as a renewable energy source ?
As opposed to fossil fuel or nuclear ?

Not sure what you're asking. But Onshore wind of the cheapest way to add capacity to the grid.

NUC's take a decade to plan, a decade to build and a decade to get the embedded carbon back. Best case 25 years to carbon neutral, we don't have 25 years...

 

[beorhthelm]

Does anyone have any Meaningful statistics regarding the efficacy of wind / solar / wave farms as a renewable energy source ?
As opposed to fossil fuel or nuclear ?

efficacy will be as good as you want it to be, by changing the desired outcome. wind and solar are fine for adding to supply, the problem is reliablity and continuity. we need a base supply to cover a minimum, whether thats gas, nuclear or as yet undetermined storage. gas prices started dramatically rise last autumn as low winds across europe led to using more gas than expected to cover the shortfall (and storage not filled). so nuclear and/or as yet undetermined storage is needed, along with a lot of wind and solar farms.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Not sure what you're asking. But Onshore wind of the cheapest way to add capacity to the grid.

NUC's take a decade to plan, a decade to build and a decade to get the embedded carbon back. Best case 25 years to carbon neutral, we don't have 25 years...

Indeed, as evidenced by a fall in day ahead electricity prices whenever the proportion of wind generated power increases. That’s a meaningful statistic that happens with regularity. The market is always right.

 

[nicko31]

Indeed, as evidenced by a fall in day ahead electricity prices whenever the proportion of wind generated power increases. That’s a meaningful statistic that happens with regularity. The market is always right.

Maybe we should consider green gas from anerobic digestion from grass cuttings. This is a real project being built in Reading but bizarrely gets very little press

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-61696033

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Maybe we should consider green gas from anerobic digestion from grass cuttings. This is a real project being built in Reading but bizarrely gets very little press

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-61696033

That’s great. Thanks for the link. I actually think uptake and interest in these kinds of off grid projects is increasing. When we returned to the UK in 2015 we lived in a house powered by biomass. There was zero marginal cost to us from electricity and gas but the constraint was it needed the farmer to continually replace the input. He was the landlord and was a big proponent of the technology so was happy to do so. I think that all of these technologies combined will drive the transition ie there is no one replacement for fossil fuels. We just need politicians to create the right incentives in the tax system.

Another example;
https://www.biogasworld.com/news/turning-food-waste-into-energy-to-power-homes/

 

[beorhthelm]

Maybe we should consider green gas from anerobic digestion from grass cuttings. This is a real project being built in Reading but bizarrely gets very little press

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-61696033

this sort of thing is a great addition to the energy mix. bit suspicious about not using agricultral land, usually grassland either grazed or used as fodder. should have domestic cutting collected up for something like this.

 

[nicko31]

That’s great. Thanks for the link. I actually think uptake and interest in these kinds of off grid projects is increasing. When we returned to the UK in 2015 we lived in a house powered by biomass. There was zero marginal cost to us from electricity and gas but the constraint was it needed the farmer to continually replace the input. He was the landlord and was a big proponent of the technology so was happy to do so. I think that all of these technologies combined will drive the transition ie there is no one replacement for fossil fuels. We just need politicians to create the right incentives in the tax system.

Another example;
https://www.biogasworld.com/news/turning-food-waste-into-energy-to-power-homes/

Full report and analysis done by Imperial College

https://downloads.ctfassets.net/620...b8c68d87ed798ccf02e/Green_Gas_Report_2022.pdf

The pursuit of running existing boilers on green gas seems a lot more viable than heat pumps which only work for few and are very expensive. Few things I saw in the report...

a) There is waste land where grass could be harvested from which is not used for agric use

b) The bi-product from gas digestion could be used as fertiliser

c) Reduction in UK meat consumption will free up some UK farmland for grass harvesting purposes

Dale Vince claims this is the solution. We will see, but its real and the Reading project is in construction right now

 

[worthingseagull123]

Full report and analysis done by Imperial College

https://downloads.ctfassets.net/620...b8c68d87ed798ccf02e/Green_Gas_Report_2022.pdf

The pursuit of running existing boilers on green gas seems a lot more viable than heat pumps which only work for few and are very expensive. Few things I saw in the report...

a) There is waste land where grass could be harvested from which is not used for agric use

b) The bi-product from gas digestion could be used as fertiliser

c) Reduction in UK meat consumption will free up some UK farmland for grass harvesting purposes

Dale Vince claims this is the solution. We will see, but its real and the Reading project is in construction right now

There will be no need to reduce meat consumption though if we increase meat imports.

 

[nicko31]

There will be no need to reduce meat consumption though if we increase meat imports.

Consumption Down about 20 percent in this past decade and still falling, land will be freed up

 

[A1X]

[tweet]1552544599578640385[/tweet]

 

[Springal]

[tweet]1552544599578640385[/tweet]

£1.34Bn profit in 6 months. £57M being paid out in dividends. As a small shareholder, great.
As a consumer - shameful

 

[Rogero]

That is disgusting!!

 

[Springal]

Worth highlighting Centrica do just more than British Gas and not read their results to see how much BG contributed to that.

 

[Notters]

Maybe we should consider green gas from anerobic digestion from grass cuttings. This is a real project being built in Reading but bizarrely gets very little press

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-61696033

There are hundreds of AD plants being built all the time, for what it's worth.
I'm working on one where a food manufacturer is using their discarded potato peelings.
They're pretty small scale though.

 

[Randy McNob]

£1.34Bn profit in 6 months. £57M being paid out in dividends. As a small shareholder, great.
As a consumer - shameful

Thatcherism. while 2 leadership candidates argue they are both Thatcherites and the antidote to soaring inflation and poverty. couldn't make it up

For the few not the many