Renewable Energy Discussion thread

[timwilky]

My new gas boiler goes in on Thursday, the current on has lasted 18 years. It still works but has deveoped a leak, BG fixed it and 2 days later it started leaking again, So time to go.

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by Seeker

which says a lot for its durability, unfortunately it's only about 65-70% efficient compared to 93-95% for a modern boiler.

Think this has been mentioned on here before, but the improvement in efficiency and lower fuel costs can take years to recoup the cost of a new boiler. Plus their complexity means they are less reliable and more likely to need repair ,I think was also mentioned, but I don't claim to be an expert on heating boilers.
ps was meaning to look into the grants available in our area for energy efficient home improvements. Already have cavity wall insulation and adequate loft insulation, although I was contacted about retro installation of insulation in partywall cavity as that acts like a flue for heat escaping at the top of the cavity. Would like that doing.

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by svenrico

Think this has been mentioned on here before, but the improvement in efficiency and lower fuel costs can take years to recoup the cost of a new boiler. Plus their complexity means they are less reliable and more likely to need repair ,I think was also mentioned, but I don't claim to be an expert on heating boilers.
ps was meaning to look into the grants available in our area for energy efficient home improvements. Already have cavity wall insulation and adequate loft insulation, although I was contacted about retro installation of insulation in partywall cavity as that acts like a flue for heat escaping at the top of the cavity. Would like that doing.

A few people in our cul-de-sac had cavity wall insulation - fitted by those cowboys going round doing the 'government backed scheme' they never did a survey of the cavity ( they are supposed to do a boroscope inspection ) otherwise they would have found, as I already knew that when our houses were built in 1997 the cavity was partially filled with expanded polystyrene sheets during the build. How they managed to blow those silly beads in as well I'll never know. The neighbours who had the insulation installed have reported no change in their heating bills. One bloke I used to work with had retro-fit cavity insulation and a few months later their walls were going black and their windows streaming with water, I advised him to get a dehumidifier which he now has to run 24/7 to keep the place as dry as it used to be before the cavities were blocked up..... any saving in heating probably gobbled up by dehumidifier running costs..

The £20K plus needed for ground source heat pump + another £5K for horizontal pipe loop or near £10K for vertical pipe loop ( if your ground is suitable for ground source, not all areas are ) has a massive payback period.

Problem with 300mm+ of insulation in loft is that you can no longer keep anything up in the loft, and not even walk across it safely because you can't see where the rafters are, I just filled between the rafters and boarded the loft over - after all whats the use of having a loft if you can't stored stuff up there ? If the roof ever leaks the insulation will soak up the water and get that heavy the ceiling will fall down.

[SV650rules]

The amount of gas storage ( storage not supply ) that we have in UK has been vastly reduced in the last 3 to 4 years, we are now virtually working on 'just in time' supply of mainly from Norway and up to 20% of gas from liquified gas tanker ships from around the planet. This comes at a time when gas is being used in huge quantities to bail out renewables unreliability. We didn't get rid of sailing boats until we had fully functioning reliable steam ships, and got rid of steam when other forms of propulsion became reliable. We didn't ditch propeller aircraft until we had reliable jet engines. We have however pretty much ditched fossil fuels well before we have any reliable alternatives.

Here is an well known environmental activist who has grave doubts about rollout of renewables - exactly the same doubts that I have had for years now. Even that bastion of greenies California uses a lot of fossil fuels when the sun goes down to keep the lights on. Renewables can best be described as fuel savers when they deign to contribute to the grid, they are not the answer - and unless we extract our digits and get some decent reliable base load generation we are in for many problems.

https://www.americanexperiment.org/2...t-save-planet/


https://climatechangedispatch.com/to...co2-was-lower/

.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

The amount of gas storage ( storage not supply ) that we have in UK has been vastly reduced in the last 3 to 4 years, we are now virtually working on 'just in time' supply of mainly from Norway

...which made sense when we were part of the EU. The Belgium and Norwegian interconnectors (there are 3 to Norway) link us to the European gas network. Does it make sense now? Depends on how much of a Brexiteer you are - the EU has said that when the next fisheries negotiations take place in 5 years, they may use the gas supply as a lever. Although that should not affect the Norwegian supply.

California - I used to live a few miles from the San Onofre nuclear power plant - it went off line to be upgraded and, unfortunately, when powered back up the heat exchangers proved to be unsatisfactory so the plant was shut down again and the decision made to leave it closed.

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant sits directly over a major earthquake fault (as does nearly everything in CA) and PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) are planning to decommission the plant shortly.

California's power problems are partly political - in the 90s it was cheaper to buy electricity from neighboring states and then the Enron scandal hit. California was desparately short of power and the neighboring states screwed CA by jacking the prices - gotta love capitalism. The problem in CA is still NIMBYism.

UK: https://www.theguardian.com/business...year-uk-energy

Does the UK have a coherent long term plan, does it in fact have any plan? I hope so.

This is the main problem: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a9373221.html

If the majority of Tory members don't believe in man made climate change and the MPs represent their constituents (ha ha) then where's the impetus for change?

We are building, or rather the French and Chinese are building a new nuclear power plant in Somerset and talking about building one in Suffolk. Whether these are good value or will ever be completed is moot.

Finally, I live in a rural county which, you'd think, would have good air quality. No. The Trent valley and Drax coal power stations lower my air quality - so goodbye to coal asap. You can put a wind turbine in my garden.

[DJ123]

Originally Posted by Seeker

UK: https://www.theguardian.com/business...year-uk-energy

Does the UK have a coherent long term plan, does it in fact have any plan? I hope so.

This is the main problem: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a9373221.html

If the majority of Tory members don't believe in man made climate change and the MPs represent their constituents (ha ha) then where's the impetus for change?

We are building, or rather the French and Chinese are building a new nuclear power plant in Somerset and talking about building one in Suffolk. Whether these are good value or will ever be completed is moot.

Finally, I live in a rural county which, you'd think, would have good air quality. No. The Trent valley and Drax coal power stations lower my air quality - so goodbye to coal asap. You can put a wind turbine in my garden.

I'm hoping the National Grid have a plan that only needs someone in Parliament to sign off on the bill. This lot couldn't organise a pi$$ up in a brewery - because they've all gone bust now.
What else can they spend all that money on we were paying to the EU?

[Chris_SVS]

Drax has been burning biomass for a number of years and is phasing out coal within months if not already.. They're also planning to run two CCGTs

[ethariel]

Regardless of how much solar/wind is built and comes on line, without energy storage in place we still need fueled generation - Gas, Nuclear, Biomass, Coal, without it we are back to rubbing sticks together to make fire.

Renewables are a nice topup in the grid when it's sunny/windy, it may even at some points make up 30 ro even 40% of the total generation but that rarely lasts an hour before a cloud comes along or the wiind dies down (or it gets too windy).

Without the capability of being able to press buttons to generate electricity we are stuffed, full stop.

Renewables as they stand without storage are a joke, I hate to think of the cost/mass of an energy storage medium capable of storing enough energy and able to release it in a controlled fashion to replace fossil fuels, if it ever went bang, hell that would make a nuke look like a raindroip.

The answer lies in science fiction - Cold Fusion, Space Based solar arrays, alient power sources - without them, it's back to burniing something we can store to make the energy we need.

Look at the hunt for lithium to make batteries for cars, imagine having to compete with car manufacturers for batteries for electrical storage as a Grid backup, you thought Nuclear was expensive? lol

[Chris_SVS]

My employers have a massive battery storage array... An Electrical Engineer I would call a good friend worked a lot on the project.

It's mahoosive for the 10mw it provides*


*Their remaining coal fired units are contracted until 2023/4 respectively but there's tenders in the works to replant with gas

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

A few people in our cul-de-sac had cavity wall insulation - fitted by those cowboys going round doing the 'government backed scheme' they never did a survey of the cavity ( they are supposed to do a boroscope inspection ) otherwise they would have found, as I already knew that when our houses were built in 1997 the cavity was partially filled with expanded polystyrene sheets during the build. How they managed to blow those silly beads in as well I'll never know. The neighbours who had the insulation installed have reported no change in their heating bills. One bloke I used to work with had retro-fit cavity insulation and a few months later their walls were going black and their windows streaming with water, I advised him to get a dehumidifier which he now has to run 24/7 to keep the place as dry as it used to be before the cavities were blocked up..... any saving in heating probably gobbled up by dehumidifier running costs..

The £20K plus needed for ground source heat pump + another £5K for horizontal pipe loop or near £10K for vertical pipe loop ( if your ground is suitable for ground source, not all areas are ) has a massive payback period.

Problem with 300mm+ of insulation in loft is that you can no longer keep anything up in the loft, and not even walk across it safely because you can't see where the rafters are, I just filled between the rafters and boarded the loft over - after all whats the use of having a loft if you can't stored stuff up there ? If the roof ever leaks the insulation will soak up the water and get that heavy the ceiling will fall down.

They obviously were cowboys if they didn't inspect the wall cavities to see if they were suitable for retro fill insulation , partial fill cavity walls aren't intended to be fully filled and a minimum cavity width is required anyway for full fill insulation. 300mm or maybe 350mm is the optimum thickness for loft insulation (between and over the ceiling joists ) Ordinary roof trusses aren't designed for loft storage . ps you will still be able to see the rafters and the joists are in line with the rafters !