Air Source Heat Pumps

[Paulatic]

Over the last week or so the wind farms around here have been shut down to protect them from high winds. Wind is no use at all when a storm arrives.

The U.K. is fairly large and while yours might well have shut down.Elsewhere https://inews.co.uk/news/storm-eunice-t ... ds-1470963

Solar figures yes are poor

[Jdsk]

Over the last week or so the wind farms around here have been shut down to protect them from high winds. Wind is no use at all when a storm arrives.

The U.K. is fairly large and while yours might well have shut down.Elsewhere https://inews.co.uk/news/storm-eunice-t ... ds-1470963

Wind currently at 52% of GB total:

https://gridwatch.co.uk

Jonathan

[Stradageek]

The best answer out there is more Nuclear and particularly the small modular reactors, it’s not a perfect option but it’s the best in terms of reliably keeping the lights on - other might be happy for their and their neighbour’s electrify supply to fail but I am definitely not. As and when mass power storage schemes, at National Grid level, are eventually available then renewables might become enough to power the country.

I've read a lot about nuclear energy and by trade I was a reliability engineer.

The simple truth is that nuclear reactors cannot be made safe over the requisite lifetimes - engineering bits and pieces just cannot last that long under the extreme stresses involved - this applies to the processes used to treat and store waste too. If you add to that the unknown unknowns (Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Windscale) and the severity of the consequences, nuclear energy is just not an option.

I also believe that endlessly trying to keep up with modern day energy demands is a fools errand. How many people do you see shopping in flips flops and shorts in mid winter (I doubt that their home is held at 18°C) or sitting in the car park with the burble of a diesel V6 engine idling unnecessarily and returning less that 30mpg when it drives off.

In Shenzhen I was pleased to see that all motorcycles were electric, by law, and it was also illegal to run air conditioning systems to achieve a room temperature below 25°C.

Little by little it can be done but it needs collective will and understanding - if we continue to follow Thatcher's "There's no such thing as society" the future looks bleak.

Sunday morning rant over

[Carlton green]

Over the last week or so the wind farms around here have been shut down to protect them from high winds. Wind is no use at all when a storm arrives.

The U.K. is fairly large and while yours might well have shut down.Elsewhere https://inews.co.uk/news/storm-eunice-t ... ds-1470963

Wind currently at 52% of GB total:

https://gridwatch.co.uk

Jonathan


Screenshot 2022-02-20 at 08.11.54.png

What has been done with wind power is quite astonishing, I think that the really large off-shore turbines were the game changer. Of course the weather is variable and regional so particular turbines in particular locations won’t always be able to generate in the virtually none weather affected way that traditional electricity generators do.

[rjb]

Paulatic's pie chart above comes from the National Grid overview
https://grid.iamkate.com/
It gives an excellent overview of where our electric is coming from on instant, hourly, daily and yearly basis.

[Carlton green]

The best answer out there is more Nuclear and particularly the small modular reactors, it’s not a perfect option but it’s the best in terms of reliably keeping the lights on - other might be happy for their and their neighbour’s electrify supply to fail but I am definitely not. As and when mass power storage schemes, at National Grid level, are eventually available then renewables might become enough to power the country.

I've read a lot about nuclear energy and by trade I was a reliability engineer.

The simple truth is that nuclear reactors cannot be made safe over the requisite lifetimes - engineering bits and pieces just cannot last that long under the extreme stresses involved - this applies to the processes used to treat and store waste too. If you add to that the unknown unknowns (Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Windscale) and the severity of the consequences, nuclear energy is just not an option.

I also believe that endlessly trying to keep up with modern day energy demands is a fools errand. How many people do you see shopping in flips flops and shorts in mid winter (I doubt that their home is held at 18°C) or sitting in the car park with the burble of a diesel V6 engine idling unnecessarily and returning less that 30mpg when it drives off.

In Shenzhen I was pleased to see that all motorcycles were electric, by law, and it was also illegal to run air conditioning systems to achieve a room temperature below 25°C.

Little by little it can be done but it needs collective will and understanding - if we continue to follow Thatcher's "There's no such thing as society" the future looks bleak.

Sunday morning rant over

As a reliability engineer you will know that much can be done to alter reliability for the better.

U.K. nuclear has a relatively good track record for safety and that is because of positive attitudes - and actions - by U.K. regulators and users. Safety is their first concern and they very much learn from the experiences of others, their own experiences and by monitoring. Of course safety in Nuclear has changed over the decades just as it has in other industries; comparing Nuclear in the U.K. to that of other countries can be like comparing say a modern Jaguar car to an old Reliant Robin (they are simply too dissimilar to have relevance to each other).

Trying to keep up with today’s energy demands might not be possible but I was under the impression that Electricity consumption was down on what it once was, people use more energy efficient devices. One answer might be to legally limit the rate of electricity and gas supply to properties, but how practical and helpful that really is is another question. As for large and excessive energy consuming vehicles I’ve long thought and said here that we need to stop there sale, but that’s a separate discussion.

[rjb]

I'd prefer energy and water to be sold on a flat rate without standing charges so the more you use the more you pay.
The standing charge could be incorporated in the price per unit.

[pwa]

Over the last week or so the wind farms around here have been shut down to protect them from high winds. Wind is no use at all when a storm arrives.

The U.K. is fairly large and while yours might well have shut down.Elsewhere https://inews.co.uk/news/storm-eunice-t ... ds-1470963

Solar figures yes are poor

Interesting. Thanks.

Incidentally, one of our nearest windfarms, near Gilfach Goch, suffered a spectacular failure to a turbine a few days back. It snapped off! And that was before the big storms arrived. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60390094

[Paulatic]

[
Incidentally, one of our nearest windfarms, near Gilfach Goch, suffered a spectacular failure to a turbine a few days back. It snapped off! And that was before the big storms arrived. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60390094

Thank god it didn’t trigger a red alert, the area evacuated, and the land contaminated for at least a lifetime.

I dabbled in homebuilt mills many years ago. I shaped the blades out of soft wood and the first thing I learnt was how quickly passing through air can wear things.

[rjb]

I dabbled in homebuilt mills many years ago. I shaped the blades out of soft wood and the first thing I learnt was how quickly passing through air can wear things.

Me too here was mine
viewtopic.php?t=73437&start=60#p639976

[Jdsk]

Trying to keep up with today’s energy demands might not be possible but I was under the impression that Electricity consumption was down on what it once was, people use more energy efficient devices.

Annual electricity demand in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020 (in terawatt-hours)

https://www.statista.com/statistics/323 ... ingdom-uk/

NB scale.

Jonathan

[Carlton green]

Thanks for that graph, that’s quite a reduction!

I wonder how much fossil fuel consumption for transport has fallen. Even with working from home the roads still seem rather busy - Easter 2020 was quiet though .

We seem to suffer from a lot of secondary pollution and inefficiency due to how we structure society. My local secondary school has say 1000 pupils and the bulk of them are bussed miles each day instead of learning at what would have been smaller schools that they could walk to. Same with hospitals, patients have to travel many miles to big units when it should be possible to treat them more locally.

[ANTONISH]

What I see from the graph is about 15% reduction since 2000 - part of that may be due to a reduction in demand due to the pandemic.
However the aim of the government is to phase out home heating from gas and to introduce heat pumps.
There is also the aim of large scale replacement of fossil fueled transport by electric vehicles.
IMO this will lead to a large increase in electrical demand.

There is the plan (as yet unformulated ) or more of a hope - that millions of car drivers will hitch their vehicles to millions of charge/discharge units ( how they are going to available in sufficient number hasn't been made obvious) to even out the peaks and troughs of renewables.
If the vehicles are going to be used for their primary purpose that still means an increase in demand.

[Jdsk]

There is the plan (as yet unformulated ) or more of a hope - that millions of car drivers will hitch their vehicles to millions of charge/discharge units ( how they are going to available in sufficient number hasn't been made obvious) to even out the peaks and troughs of renewables.
If the vehicles are going to be used for their primary purpose that still means an increase in demand.

Those "charge/discharge units" will be the same object as used for charging EVs at home, and possibly some other locations. Some will be ordinary 13A domestic supplies, some will be dedicated units. Plus smart meters.

The limiting factor will be the software and the tariffs that determine the incentives. There isn't any particular new technology that's yet to be invented.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

However the aim of the government is to phase out home heating from gas and to introduce heat pumps.
There is also the aim of large scale replacement of fossil fueled transport by electric vehicles.
IMO this will lead to a large increase in electrical demand.

The FES 2021 projections (CT, ST, LW, SP are the four scenarios used throughout the reports):



https://www.nationalgrideso.com/future- ... lectricity

Jonathan