The Return Of Nuclear Power !?!

[mike os]

Wonder what happens when the containment fails ….

 

[mike os]

Fusion reactors: Not what they’re cracked up to be

Long touted as the “perfect” energy source, fusion reactors share many drawbacks with fission—and even add a few new ones of their own.

thebulletin.org

 

[Dave-sparks]

As for power distribution, solar, some wind and micro-hydro should help, as no longer is all the power coming from a few central sources. Combined heat and power could further make production and use closer, so requiring fewer increases to the network.

They won't help much as they feed in at the 11kV or higher level. The problem I was describing is that of the local LV distribution networks which in some places still use the old DC cables.

Unless you mean microgeneration like solar panels on houses, but that also creates its own problems for the networks, like a rise in local voltage.
The rise in local LV voltage results in the solar inverters outputting less or shutting down completely due to overvoltage. This has of course led to solar companies selling 'voltage optimisers', which are a big box of snake oil, to unsuspecting domestic customers.

 

[R Kraft]

One Source said that if we went all electric, we would at times need 5 times the electrical power, that we now have available.

 

[Kayos]

One Source said that if we went all electric, we would at times need 5 times the electrical power, that we now have available.

What source?

I have had huge dealings with ENWL lately, upgrading the supply to 3 tower blocks (183 properties) and after the meetings the talk inevitably turned to electric cars, suffice to say they are not worried, even if uptake massively increases

 

[mike os]

What source?

I have had huge dealings with ENWL lately, upgrading the supply to 3 tower blocks (183 properties) and after the meetings the talk inevitably turned to electric cars, suffice to say they are not worried, even if uptake massively increases

Then someone is lying to us , we either have just about sufficient capacity now in which case we don’t have enough or we currently have a huge overcapacity

 

[Munkul]

I've seen a quote recently from National Grid stating they believe electricity generation needs the grow by 10% to accommodate electric vehicle charging

They were claiming we do generate enough electricity but it's the peaks they struggle with, if intelligent chargers were used to fluctuate the feeds to electric vehicle charging it'll will cope

10% per year, maybe

I know smart charging etc will bring some of the demand down, but come on... Common sense tells you that power in kw-hours used will go up in multiples, and the best smartest grid in the world isn't going to find that much extra efficiency to meet the demand.

It's really simple. Comes back to the first law of thermodynamics.
Whatever quantity of useful energy is used to push our cars around right now, will eventually come out of the electric socket. Plus conversion and other losses. Its a fag packet calculation that anyone can do, based on average ICE and EV efficiencies, and it comes out with a number around 5.

 

[Kayos]

Then someone is lying to us , we either have just about sufficient capacity now in which case we don’t have enough or we currently have a huge overcapacity

Or, and this maybe a bit of a mad idea, we are building more capacity?

The huge off shore wind farm off the east coast is only getting bigger and its located somewhere the wind rarely drops, the nuclear plant is being built

Plus electric cars only make up a fraction of total sales, if they stop selling petrol and diesel cars in 2030 how many decades before they are all off the road?

 

[Kayos]

Also im personally involved in projects that will reduce electricity consumption per household by 30-40%, one starting in the North East is 2000 properties, thats a lot of electricity going spare

 

[500e]

Point me in the direction of 30/40%
Please

 

[R Kraft]

All electric means home heating of all types, cars, trucking , aircraft , ships and factories.
Last I knew fossil fuels in the states produce about 70% , renewables was about 14%, so about 4 or 6 times more renewables would be needed.
Even if a country were to commit suicide, a couple of countries that are the worst emitters, would make any sacrifice meaningless.

 

[mike os]

Or, and this maybe a bit of a mad idea, we are building more capacity?

The huge off shore wind farm off the east coast is only getting bigger and its located somewhere the wind rarely drops, the nuclear plant is being built

Plus electric cars only make up a fraction of total sales, if they stop selling petrol and diesel cars in 2030 how many decades before they are all off the road?

Adding in the all electric home heating too ?

 

[Dave-sparks]

Also im personally involved in projects that will reduce electricity consumption per household by 30-40%, one starting in the North East is 2000 properties, thats a lot of electricity going spare

What and how?

Household electricity consumption, per household, is already pretty damn low, so what and how can you be reducing it by 30% or more?

Electric heating is, and always has been, as near to 100% efficient as it is possible to get
Most modern electronics are constant power devices so any changes to voltage are irrelevant as they will maintain the same power consumption.

 

[Farside]

I hope all you electric car owners are looking forward to the day the governments wake up and realise their revenue stream from fossil fuels is drying up, and start to charge a quid per kWh for your car charger.

 

[R Kraft]

They are already talking about a miles driven tracking system, for taxes.
With a tracking system they can see if you speed, or if you are wasting energy by not following an approved route.

 

[KemppiFrog]

The hydrogen economy is now taking off and most domestic heating boilers will be able to run off hydrogen and according to Bosch Worcester the calorific value of natural gas is higher than hydrogen but hydrogen is more dense so they get the same output per cubic metre of gas consumed, the one real issue is that only 11% of UK boilers can be run from hydrogen as they are within range of the proposed production sites.

Only catch is producing the hydrogen, for that you need electricity.......

 

[Ross365]

the calorific value of natural gas is higher than hydrogen but hydrogen is more dense

In what stored form is hydrogen more dense than natural gas? Natural gas comes out of the ground; it's a fossil fuel, but as pointed out above, hydrogen has to be manufactured using electricity. It's not a fuel, simply an energy transfer medium... and it catches fire so very easily .

 

[daleyd]

The hydrogen economy is now taking off and most domestic heating boilers will be able to run off hydrogen and according to Bosch Worcester the calorific value of natural gas is higher than hydrogen but hydrogen is more dense so they get the same output per cubic metre of gas consumed, the one real issue is that only 11% of UK boilers can be run from hydrogen as they are within range of the proposed production sites.

I’m sorry your going to have to explain that again, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever - hydrogen is literally the least dense gas on earth….

I’m doing some work currently as part of the Hydeploy project to use hydrogen in a float glass furnace as a trial for industrial users, so I wouldn’t claim to be an expert but I do have some knowledge of the differences between hydrogen and Nat gas - and what you’ve described above makes no sense to me - the figures I’m working off are that hydrogen only has about a third of the energy density of nat gas - so at standard pressures they are expecting to flow about 3 x (roughly) the amount of hydrogen as they do natural gas to maintain the same temperature in the furnace. (The trial is to run 1 burner out of 8 in stages up to 100% hydrogen and then to run the whole furnace on a blend of gas/hydrogen up to a max of 20% hydrogen)

 

[Kayos]

What and how?

Household electricity consumption, per household, is already pretty damn low, so what and how can you be reducing it by 30% or more?

Electric heating is, and always has been, as near to 100% efficient as it is possible to get
Most modern electronics are constant power devices so any changes to voltage are irrelevant as they will maintain the same power consumption.

Removing storage heaters and fitting heat pumps, 30-40% saving is very realistic and often higher

 

[Kayos]

Adding in the all electric home heating too ?

Like I said, I am personally involved in reducing thousands of properties consumption by removing electric heaters and fitting heat pumps