Energy prices, what's your plan?

I don't have exact figures for efficiency. I once did a risk assessment of a proposed carbon capture unit on the back of a gas turbine. They are complicated and expensive as they use amines to capture CO2 from combustion air before boiling it back out of the amine and purifying it, pressurising it and then finding a suitable store for it (normally old gas wells subsea).

I would guess that the energy required for CCS is substantial so probably emissions associated with that. Also if the system malfunctions it will just vent to atmosphere. It's not perfect but better than doing nothing like we do now.

My only objection to electrolysis is that you already have the electricity so use that directly rather than generating hydrogen to just burn it. I get that it's meant to be a way of storing excess green energy but the losses are vast. Just pump some water uphill or charge a massive battery, hell even sand batteries are more viable IMHO.

 

I heard the hydrogen is small and leaky compared to natural gas and that it itself is also greenhouse gas similar to methane. Given such problems I'm not sure how viable it would be.

 

Still hoping this subsidy of the fossil fuel industry is because they know fusion reactors will be online soon.

Fusion reactors run by unicorns on the back of the Loch Ness monster.

 

Yes, keeping H2 inside pipes and equipment is more difficult than natural gas due to the size of molecule being smaller. However its generally not too bad as long as the system was gas tight before (not always a guarantee!).

Hydrogen does has a Greenhouse warming potential (GWP) of 30ish over 20 years versus 80ish for methane (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential).

Either way we don't want to be leaking this stuff as its too bloody useful to do that. In the UK standards are generally high and I would say leaks are a rarity and typically short lived, some venting to atmosphere (without combustion) occurs but it tends to be small quantities and is regulated. In other parts of the world (including the US) things can be pretty diabolical with gas wells not being capped properly or venting (really bad) or large amounts of flaring (wasteful but less bad) being common place.

Ultimately its down to governments to set the rules and enforce them. Engineers always end up forced to design to the minimum acceptable standard which, guess what, tends to be the legal minimum (though some companies apply internal standards across all operations)

 

@Spraduke I think the video says, or another one, that the places where they've used CCS already they've not generally been effective at capturing carbon. Why that is they don't say/know.

I think the best idea of hydrogen (as I understand it but I am not a scientist/engineer) is to use it as a power back up in gas power stations. But I don't know how it compares with say heat batteries or actual batteries in terms of energy usage/leakage over time or volume. This would help balance the grid between slow reacting nuclear and the variable nature of renewables. Again though, no idea how it compares to alternatives for speed at reacting. (side note - there was somewhere trialing heat batteries built in coal power plants because a lot of the infrastructure is there. I thought that was kinda cool (hot?)).

I didn't really see the point of using hydrogen in homes, the main arguement always seemed to be that the infrastructure is there. But if the infrastructure needs to be upgraded because hydrogen is more prone to leaks and it embrittles metal, the infrastructure isn't there. And at least WRT heat pumps, if you can lower the amount of energy put into heating then we need less generation. Also, cooling

I suppose though, that doesn't help the people who are pushing for blue hydrogen. Nor the people who receive a bribe donation from them.

 

I did see an interesting thing the other day about using an aluminium and gallium (I think) catalyst to split the hydrogen from water and how there had just been some lab breakthrough. It was more aimed at the issue of hydrogen storage, hell of a lot easier to store water, and releasing it at point of use. Downsides were the very high price of the gallium, catalyst would need refreshing periodically and currently only lab scale but, interesting none the less.

 

My new slippers are lovely, don't know why I was so against them for so long, thank you energy crisis

 

Do those radiator reflectors work? I guess they'd be best on outside walls?

So happy now we've had the chimney cleaned. Takes the edge off.

We do have a 1200W oil filled heater which will be cheap to run if we just need to heat one room up I guess (the OH uses the dining room when WFH which turns out to be the coldest room when other parts of the house can be toasty if there's sun - no need for the boiler just for that.)

 

I'll just leave this here:

(desired temperature change) x (cubic feet of space) x .133 = BTUs needed per hour.

 

Firstly, thanks for the infodump

I did wonder about some of the claims and images in the marketing, As @MLyons says, we need a Halfacree Heat Hotspot Hmap.

Not sure the benefit in my house, most of our radiators are on internal 100+year old walls so, as you say, they lap up most of the heat.

I think if anything maybe shelves above the radiators would work better, push the heat into the room rather than up to the high ceilings.

Or radiator covers maybe.

 

Got any spare fans?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09DFVZVVY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not sure id get those past the boss

 

I have a few of those radiator reflector thingy from when they were giving samples out. Totally useless IMHO, doesn't make any difference to normal rooms with it installed. Well, maybe except in the converted garage, the radiator is where the garage door used to be, this new wall looks very thin and not well insulated.

For saving money, I've now got 2 electric oil radiators, my emergency heater and my parents' 2nd emergency heater. With some smart plug programming, I'll be using those to heat bedrooms between midnight and 4:30am. On Octopus Go EV tariff, electricity heating will be 100% efficient at 7.5p/kWh during that period, whereas gas will be 90% efficient at 10p/kWh from October. Tiny savings because not much heating is needed during those time anyway but I've not spent extra to buy anything, just re-using what we have.

 

Fracking given the go ahead, Truss wants gas in 6 months.

The founder of Cuadrilla says they're just soundbites and it won't happen because our geology isn't suitable enough for the investment needed.

Nothing new there.

 

A fracking site would very likely fall under the Control of Major Accident Hazard (COMAH) regulations. The minimum time to approve a new site is 6 months if everything is working as planned. Shocking news, the HSE and Environment Agency are underfunded and understaffed so 6 months is not going to happen. Oh and just the small detail of surveys and planning permissions on top of that.

Gas in 6 months would just about be possible if you ignored all existing laws and regulations - gives you an insight into the dream land that many politicians live in!

We could however have brand new solar and wind farms in 6 months (assuming government helped fast track applications through planning rules).

Political grand standing by people ignorant of the realities of working in industry at its finest. If only they would take 30mins to consult with people who knew first who could put them straight very quickly.

 

What would it be like for existing sites that got closed due to the ban? Would they be quicker to bring back into service or would it take just as long? I only ask because there is one about 12-15 miles from me that I would prefer stays inactive.