For all the doom and gloom sayers (oil/power related)

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,678
National Grid Alternatives
Wind 'could power all UK homes'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7135930.stm
All UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled by John Hutton.
The government hopes that it could provide around 33 gigawatts by 2020, which would mean introducing some 7,000 turbines
Click to expand...
6481__44195419_windfarm203cr_pa.jpg


Severn Barrage
A barrage in the Severn Estuary could supply 4.4% of UK electricity supply (17TWh) from the second greatest tidal range resource in the world, generating electricity for over 120 years. Developing a Severn barrage would result in significant climate change and energy security benefits.
Click to expand...
41548668sombarrage203zc1.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/01/easevern101.xml

Thermal breeder reactor
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that consumes fissile and fertile material at the same time as it creates new fissile material. These reactors were initially (1950's and 1960's) considered appealing due to their superior fuel economy; a normal reactor can consume less than 1% of the natural Uranium that begins the fuel cycle, whereas a breeder can use much more with a once-through cycle and nearly all of it with reprocessing. Also, breeders can be designed to utilize Thorium, which is more abundant than Uranium. Renewed interest is also due to the dramatic reduction in waste they produce and especially long-lived radioactive waste components.


Production of fissile material in a reactor occurs by neutron irradiation of fertile material, particularly Uranium-238 and Thorium-232. In a breeder reactor, these materials are deliberately provided, either in the fuel or in a breeder blanket surrounding the core, or most commonly in both. Production of fissile material takes place to some extent in the fuel of all current commercial nuclear power reactors. Towards the end of its life, a uranium (not MOX, just uranium) PWR fuel element is producing more power from the fissioning of plutonium than from the remaining Uranium-235. Historically, in order to be called a breeder, a reactor must be specifically designed to create more fissile material than it consumes.
Click to expand...

Solar Energy (africa Based)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/nov/27/renewableenergy.environment
Two German scientists, Dr Gerhard Knies and Dr Franz Trieb, calculate that covering just 0.5% of the world's hot deserts with a technology called concentrated solar power (CSP) would provide the world's entire electricity needs, with the technology also providing desalinated water to desert regions as a valuable byproduct, as well as air conditioning for nearby cities.

Focusing on Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, they say, Europe should build a new high-voltage direct current electricity grid to allow the easy, efficient transport of electricity from a variety of alternative sources. Britain could put in wind power, Norway hydro, and central Europe biomass and geo-thermal. Together the region could provide all its electricity needs by 2050 with barely any fossil fuels and no nuclear power. This would allow a 70% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production over the period.

CSP technology is not new. There has been a plant in the Mojave desert in California for the past 15 years. Others are being built in Nevada, southern Spain and Australia. There are different forms of CSP but all share in common the use of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays on a pipe or vessel containing some sort of gas or liquid that heats up to around 400C (752F) and is used to power conventional steam turbines.
Click to expand...
15wu5.jpg


Biomass
Biomass may be defined as any biological mass derived from plant or animal matter, including material from forests, crop-derived biomass and waste material, and constitutes the largest source of renewable energy across Europe.

The potential for the use of biomass to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contribute to energy security and support rural development has been highlighted in a recent report by the Biomass Task Force |and the Energy White Paper |(DTI et al., 2007).

Current UK food crops such as sugar beet, oil seed rape and wheat grain can be utilised to produce liquid transport fuels, and forest residues and dedicated energy crops, such as the fast growing grass miscanthus and coppiced trees willow and poplar, can be use in both small- and large-scale heat and power production.

Despite the estimated available land area of 1 million hectares for non-food crops, potentially providing 8 million tonnes of biomass, energy generated from biomass in the UK has remained small, only contributing 1.5% of electricity production and 1% of heat.
Click to expand...

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (not England based, again possibly Africa)
A process called Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the heat energy stored in the Earth's oceans to generate electricity.

OTEC works best when the temperature difference between the warmer, top layer of the ocean and the colder, deep ocean water is about 20°C (36°F). These conditions exist in tropical coastal areas, roughly between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. To bring the cold water to the surface, OTEC plants require an expensive, large diameter intake pipe, which is submerged a mile or more into the ocean's depths.

Some energy experts believe that if it could become cost-competitive with conventional power technologies, OTEC could produce billions of watts of electrical power.
Click to expand...
otecschematicwq0.jpg


Wave Power
Wave power refers to the energy of ocean surface waves and the capture of that energy to do useful work - including electricity generation, desalination, and the pumping of water (into reservoirs). Wave power is a form of renewable energy. Though often co-mingled, wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave power generation is not a widely employed technology, and no commercial wave farm has yet been established. Plans to install three 750 kW Pelamis devices at the Aguçadora Wave Park in Portugal in 2006 have been delayed and no installation had taken place by August 2007. Other plans for wave farms include a 3MW array of four 750 kW Pelamis devices in the Orkneys, off northern Scotland, and the 20MW Wave hub development off the north coast of Cornwall, England.

The north and south temperate zones have the best sites for capturing wave power. The prevailing westerlies in these zones blow strongest in winter.
Click to expand...

http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/wave-hub-underway-off-coast-of-001734.php
It's hard to say if wave energy will ever live up to its potential - the energy in the ocean is practically limitless, while harnessing it is very cumbersome to say the least. Nonetheless, three companies have been lined up to build the world's first full scale wave energy facility, known as the "wave hub", 10 miles off the coast of Cornwall, England
Click to expand...
wavepowerhh3.jpg


Fuel alternative's
Metal: The fuel of the future
Chunks of metal such as iron, aluminium or boron are the thing, he believes. Turn them into powder with grains just nanometres across and the stuff becomes highly reactive. Ignite it, and it releases copious quantities of energy. With a modified engine and a tankful of metal, Beach calculates that an average saloon car could travel three times as far as the equivalent petrol-powered vehicle. Better still, because of the way that this metal nano-fuel burns, it is almost completely non-polluting. That means no carbon dioxide, no dust, no soot and no nitrogen oxides. What's more, this fuel is fully rechargeable: treat your spent nanoparticles with a little hydrogen and the stuff can be burnt again and again. It could spell the start of a new iron age, and not just for cars. All kinds of engines, from domestic heating units to the turbines in power stations, could be adapted to burn metal.

Topping up your tank with what are essentially iron filings might sound bizarre, but vehicles can run on all sorts of materials, from methane to coal dust or gunpowder. So why not metal too? After all, burning a heap of powdered iron releases almost twice as much energy as the same volume of petrol. And replacing iron with boron gives you five times as much (see Graph).
Click to expand...
2935_fuels_of_the_future.jpg

6877_running_on_iron.jpg


Fuel Cell Cars
Although they are not expected to reach the mass market before 2010, fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) may someday revolutionize on-road transportation.

This emerging technology has the potential to significantly reduce energy use and harmful emissions, as well as our dependence on foreign oil. FCVs will have other benefits as well.

FCVs represent a radical departure from vehicles with conventional internal combustion engines. Like battery-electric vehicles, FCVs are propelled by electric motors. But while battery electric vehicles use electricity from an external source (and store it in a battery), FCVs create their own electricity. Fuel cells onboard the vehicle create electricity through a chemical process using hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air.

FCVs can be fueled with pure hydrogen gas stored onboard in high-pressure tanks. They also can be fueled with hydrogen-rich fuels; such as methanol, natural gas, or even gasoline; but these fuels must first be converted into hydrogen gas by an onboard device called a "reformer."

FCVs fueled with pure hydrogen emit no pollutants; only water and heat; while those using hydrogen-rich fuels and a reformer produce only small amounts of air pollutants. In addition, FCVs can be twice as efficient as similarly sized conventional vehicles and may also incorporate other advanced technologies to increase efficiency.
Click to expand...
fcxschematic600pxpageeg1.jpg


Hydrogen Cars
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/203414/bmw_7series.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle
Hydrogen internal combustion engine cars are different from hydrogen fuel cell cars. The hydrogen internal combustion car is a slightly modified version of the traditional gasoline internal combustion engine car. These hydrogen engines burn fuel in the same manner that gasoline engines do. As in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the volume of the vehicle that the tank occupies is significant. Research is underway to increase the amount of hydrogen that can be stored onboard, be it through high pressure hydrogen, cryogenic liquid hydrogen, or metal hydrides.
Click to expand...

Bio Fuels
Biofuel is considered a means of reducing[2] greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy security by providing an alternative to fossil fuels. However, In October 2007, Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen published findings that the release of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) among the commonly used biofuels, such as biodiesel from rapeseed and bioethanol from corn (maize), can contribute as much or more to global warming than fossil fuel savings due to global cooling. Crops with less N demand, such as grasses and woody coppice species have more favourable climate impacts. [3]

Biofuels are used globally: biofuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The most common use for biofuels is in automotive transport (for example E10 fuel). Biofuel can be produced from any carbon source that can be replenished rapidly e.g. plants. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
The fact is, if there is another way to charge "us" to use power they will, oil has just been an easy way to make money, once its gone we will be paying for Hydrogen pumps/electric pumps.
 
Read the wind power article earlier. It seems that engineers in the know have serious doubts about it being financially viable, or technically reasonable, to simply knock up 7000 large off-shore wind turbines in 12 years. Subsidised microturbines for homes would be better in my opinion.
 
malfunkshun said:
Read the wind power article earlier. It seems that engineers in the know have serious doubts about it being financially viable, or technically reasonable, to simply knock up 7000 large off-shore wind turbines in 12 years. Subsidised microturbines for homes would be better in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Cost is the issue, but there's no need to build so many. To start with it can be a scaled task over many years. It's certainly technically possible though. Which can be supplemented by other methods. Micro turbines and water solar panels should be fitted on all new houses.
 
cheets64 said:
The fact is, if there is another way to charge "us" to use power they will, oil has just been an easy way to make money, once its gone we will be paying for Hydrogen pumps/electric pumps.
Click to expand...

Well duh? They're (Government or private investment) not going to invest billions on changing the fuel infrastructure and say 'hell, have it for free'.

The transition to renewable energy will occur because it's economically viable. There's no interest in energy/oil/fuel companies to put any money beyond fossil fuels at the moment, people don't want to pay premium for renewable energy at the moment.
 
AcidHell2 said:
Cost is the issue, but there's no need to build so many. To start with it can be a scaled task over many years. It's certainly technically possible though. Which can be supplemented by other methods. Micro turbines and water solar panels should be fitted on all new houses.
Click to expand...

Technical possibility isnt the issue. I believe it is more to do with finding enough sites that are resource and financially viable. Adverse effects on wildlife (did you know that large off-shore turbines scare off whales, dolphins and fish and kill birds). The context of the article I read was carbon reduction to meet the EU's 2020 targets. So, on that basis financial demands will increase, no possibility of spreading the cost over more time, meaning a larger part would be passed on to the consumer.
Micro turbines for electricity and solar panels for pre-warming water/electricity would have a huge impact if it was widespread enough.
 
basmic said:
15wu5.jpg


Whereabouts in UK has constant sun in amounts illustrated above?
Click to expand...

Focusing on Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, they say, Europe should build a new high-voltage direct current electricity grid to allow the easy, efficient transport of electricity from a variety of alternative sources. Britain could put in wind power, Norway hydro, and central Europe biomass and geo-thermal.
Click to expand...
And also using Africa for solar power.
 
well, if 1million new homes had 1kwh solar arrays that made an hours full output, per day as an average over 12 months, that would be 1million kilowatt/hours per year no?
A micro turbine with a 1.1m rotor should make about 600kwh/year, so if we assume a low average across the entire UK of say 300Kwh/year, multiplied by a million homes.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom