• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Where Will Our Clean Energy Come From?

The rise of Dong. I like it! :p
 
Yay!

New Technology Burns Natural Gas with No CO2 Emissions
How can we burn natural gas without releasing CO2 into the air? This feat is achieved using a special combustion method that TU Wien has been researching for years: chemical looping combustion (CLC). In this process, CO2 can be isolated during combustion without having to use any additional energy, which means it can then go on to be stored. This prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
Click to expand...

Rest of article at link:

https://scienceblog.com/494192/new-technology-burns-natural-gas-no-co2-emissions/
 
Today saw the UK gaining 20% of its electricity needs from solar power, which I gather is a new record. Worth noting that wind power provided a further 10%, so those two renewable sources account between them for 30%, second only to gas, in first place, and nuclear, in second. Coal, notably, was way, way down the list.

If you're interested in this, there's a very good Android app I just found out about called GridCarbon, which shows the live breakdown. Interestingly, at 21.13 BST, solar still accounts for 0.8%...
 
Last edited:
Renewables provide more than half UK electricity for first time
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst

Renewable sources of energy have generated more electricity than coal and gas in the UK for the first time.
National Grid reported that, on Wednesday lunchtime, power from wind, solar, hydro and wood pellet burning supplied 50.7% of UK energy.
Add in nuclear, and by 2pm low carbon sources were producing 72.1% of electricity in the UK. :)
Wednesday lunchtime was perfect for renewables - sunny and windy at the same time.

Records for wind power are being set across Northern Europe.
The National Grid, the body that owns and manages the power supply around the UK, said in a tweet: "For the first time ever this lunchtime wind, nuclear and solar were all generating more than both gas and coal combined."

On Tuesday, a tenth of the UK's power was coming from offshore wind farms - a newcomer on the energy scene whose costs have plummeted far faster than expected.
So much power was being generated by wind turbines, in fact, that prices fell to a tenth of their normal level.

Environmentalists will salute this new record as a milestone towards the low carbon economy.
Critics of renewable energy sources will point to the disruption renewables cause to the established energy system.

At the time of Wednesday's record, 1% of demand was met by storage; this will have to increase hugely as the UK moves towards a low-carbon electricity system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40198567
 
Geothermal power plant could be built near Redruth in Cornish energy revolution
By Oli_Vergnault | Posted: June 22, 2017

Redruth is set to be at the heart of a new Cornish energy revolution after a £10 million investment in a geothermal technology project was announced for the town.

Geothermal Engineering Ltd, (GEL) who recently re-issued tender for drilling a geothermal heat well at Jubilee Pool in Penzance, is set to begin exploratory drilling at Union Down.
If the test site proves a success, a power plant could be operational by 2020, and could produce enough electricity to fully supply up to 1,500 homes.
The company hopes it would be the first of many such projects for Cornwall, which is seen as the perfect site for geothermal energy in the UK.

Geothermal technology makes use of the natural heat of the earth, and, as the granite below the surface across Cornwall has the highest temperatures in the country, the county is seen as a literal hotspot.
To generate electricity, water is pumped 4.5km below the surface of the earth, where it is heated to up to 175C before being pumped back to the surface where it is used to drive the power plant.

etc...

http://www.cornwalllive.com/geother...y-revolution/story-30404776-detail/story.html
 
Didn't see this otherwise on the board:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40403351

Ant power: Take a ride on a bus that runs on formic acid
By Jorn Madslien Technology of Business reporter

A group of students has developed a way of storing energy that could be cheaper to make, more practical and more sustainable than alternative renewable fuels.
They are young and clever, and they want to change the world - one bus at a time.
"We've created the world's first bus that runs on formic acid, which is a much cheaper solution than hydrogen, yet it delivers the same environmental benefits," says Lucas van Cappellen from Team Fast, a spin-off company from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
"We're building our own future."
Around 40 of his fellow students are endeavouring to develop emissions-free transport that will help in the global battle against climate change. And they're also trying to create careers for themselves.
Formic acid is found in nature, delivered in the stings and bites of ants and other insects - the Latin word for ant is formica.
And this simple carboxylic acid (chemical formula HCOOH) is already used in textiles and leather processing, as a livestock feed preservative, and is also found in some household limescale removers.
But Team Fast has found a way the acid can efficiently carry the ingredients needed for hydrogen fuel cells, used to power electric vehicles.
The fuel, which the team has dubbed hydrozine (not to be confused with hydrazine), is a liquid, which means you can transport it easily and refill vehicles quickly, as with conventional fuels.
The difference is that it is much cleaner.
"The tailpipe emissions are only CO2 and water," explains Mr van Cappellen. "No other harmful gases like nitric oxides, soot or sulphuric oxides are emitted."
To prove the concept in the real world, an electric bus is set to hit the road in the Netherlands later this year, where it will shuttle between running on conventional bus routes and appearing at promotional events and industry fairs.
The bus has an electric drive system, developed by bus builder VDL, that receives additional power from the formic acid fuel cell system mounted in a range-extender trailer, towed behind.
"Our tank is around 300 litres, so we will extend the range of the bus by 200km (180 miles). However, we could of course make the tank bigger very easily," says Mr van Cappellen.
Current hydrogen fuel cell buses have a range of up to 400km.
But why develop a bus rather than a car?
"If we built a car, we would compete with electric cars, but we believe battery-powered cars are a good solution for a lot of people," says Mr van Cappellen.
"But if we prove that we can build a bus that meets the needs of bus companies, with a range of around 400km and quick refuelling, we will have shown the potential of hydrozine in a segment where there is no sustainable competition yet."
Hydrozine is created through a chemical reaction between water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
"In a reactor, water and CO2 are bonded using sustainable electricity. This is a direct, sustainable electrochemical process," explains Mr van Cappellen.
The hydrozine is then broken down by a catalyst into hydrogen and carbon dioxide inside a piece of kit called a reformer that Team Fast is attempting to patent.
Its newly designed reformer is a tenth of the size of reformers of the past, which is why "it is now applicable in transport applications for the first time".
The hydrogen is then added to a fuel cell where it reacts with oxygen to generate the electricity that powers the electric motor.
"We are continuously looking for new technologies that can extend the range of zero emissions traffic in a simple way," says Menno Kleingeld, managing director, VDL Enabling Transport Solutions.
"The decomposition of formic acid into hydrogen gas is one of these new, promising technologies."
But does it really stand a chance of becoming commercially viable?
"It costs about 35,000 euros (£30,000) to convert a conventional petrol filling station to a hydrozine filling station, a process that essentially involves replacing the pipes and coating the tanks," says Mr van Cappellen.
As such, it is "100 times cheaper" to roll out a fuelling network for hydrozine than for gaseous hydrogen, he maintains.
"Hydrozine is currently cheaper than petrol and more expensive than diesel in the Netherlands, and in future we expect prices to come down so it will be cheaper than both," he adds.
Although the bus emits CO2, Team Fast argues that the original CO2 used to create the hydrozine is taken from existing sources, such as air or exhaust fumes, so that no additional CO2 is produced - it's a closed carbon cycle in the jargon.
Some experts believe the technology shows promise.
"Team Fast has a very good project," says Professor Richard van de Sanden, head of the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research.
"It works on a very important issue: the storing of renewable energy in a transportable form and in a form which can actually be used."
And several companies are supporting the project.
"What we're working on together is a version of renewable energy that can combine renewable energy with CO2 capture," says Martijn de Graaff, senior business development manager at TNO Industry.
"If we achieve this it will give us a stable future."
The students' own commitment is impressive, with 15 of the 40 working full time on the project, and the rest contributing at least 20-25 hours per week.
"We don't get study points for it, but you can only learn so much at university about the practical experience of things," Mr van Cappellen says.
"It's our own future we're making."
Click to expand...
 
Power successfully generated from Americium:
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UK-generates-usable-electricity-from-americium
UK generates usable electricity from americium
The UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and University of Leicester have generated usable electricity from the chemical element americium in what it believes to be a global first. The achievement is seen as a step towards potential use of americium in so-called space batteries, which may mean future space missions can be powered for up to 400 years.
Click to expand...
The 'nuclear boy scout' (David Hahn) was almost the first to do this, but his experiment had to be shut down for obvious safety reasons.
 
This principle has been around for a while, but instead of using expensive and exotic materials, it uses aluminium to store hydrogen.
What's the betting that this never makes it to market? Now that the 'elites' are obsessed with electric cars...

Climate change: 'Bath sponge' breakthrough could boost cleaner cars
A new material developed by scientists could give a significant boost to a new generation of hydrogen-powered cars.

Like a bath sponge, the product is able to hold and release large quantities of the gas at lower pressure and cost.

Containing billions of tiny pores, a single gram of the new aluminium-based material has a surface area the size of a football pitch.

The authors say it can store the large volume of gas needed for practical travel without needing expensive tanks.
Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52328786
 
Note that hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to generate electricity, so this hydrogen/metal sponge concept could become part of a successful electric car strategy.
 
eburacum said:
Note that hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to generate electricity, so this hydrogen/metal sponge concept could become part of a successful electric car strategy.
Click to expand...
Yes. But we're currently obsessed with batteries.
The problem with electric cars is the need to used rare earth magnets. In short supply.
Hydrogen cars based on gas combustion don't require exotic materials.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Yes. But we're currently obsessed with batteries.
The problem with electric cars is the need to used rare earth magnets. In short supply.
Hydrogen cars based on gas combustion don't require exotic materials.
Click to expand...

https://www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets...in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-air

I think there's a good reason why they are looking a batteries. Fairly closed system no fumes etc. Waste only when the battery dies. Once they figure out a better battery than lithium ion the world will be much improved.
 
I read as a kid that the amount of energy the sun puts out every second could power all our cities for a million years. I haven't done the maths as an adult, but still think the research should be put into photo-electric cell technology and batteries. Admittedly the countries with the most oil seem to have the most sunshine, but there are vast areas of the sub-Sahara that could benefit from a boost to their economy. At the moment there seems a concerted effort to irrigate the deserts from aquifers- that's not going to work for long. Cultivate solar panels instead.
 
Solar energy also has big problems with storage and distribution.
 
Interesting idea! Iron is fairly plentiful and it can be recycled!

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywis...rst-industrial-test-as-renewable-co2free-fuel

Iron Powder Passes First Industrial Test as Renewable, Carbon Dioxide-Free Fuel

Simple question: What if we could curb this whole fossil fuel-fed climate change nightmare and burn something else as an energy source instead? As a bonus, what if that something else is one of the most common elements on Earth?

Simple answer: Let’s burn iron.

While setting fire to an iron ingot is probably more trouble than it’s worth, fine iron powder mixed with air is highly combustible. When you burn this mixture, you’re oxidizing the iron. Whereas a carbon fuel oxidizes into CO2, an iron fuel oxidizes into Fe2O3, which is just rust. The nice thing about rust is that it’s a solid which can be captured post-combustion. And that’s the only byproduct of the entire business—in goes the iron powder, and out comes energy in the form of heat and rust powder. Iron has an energy density of about 11.3 kWh/L, which is better than gasoline. Although its specific energy is a relatively poor 1.4 kWh/kg, meaning that for a given amount of energy, iron powder will take up a little bit less space than gasoline but it’ll be almost ten times heavier.
Click to expand...
 
Mythopoeika said:
...fossil fuel-fed climate change nightmare...
Click to expand...

Is the rest of the feature as dispassionate and well-researched, or is he just recycling a press release he’s received from the Fly-by-Night Iron Powder Generator Company (est. 2020; a distant memory by 2021)?

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
Is the rest of the feature as dispassionate and well-researched, or is he just recycling a press release he’s received from the Fly-by-Night Iron Powder Generator Company (est. 2020; a distant memory by 2021)?

maximus otter
Click to expand...
I haven't heard of a scam associated with this, but the article is on the IEEE website - they are generally respected.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I haven't heard of a scam associated with this, but the article is on the IEEE website - they are generally respected.
Click to expand...

My thought was not so much scam as vapourware. Like so many of the other amazing developments that never quite arrive, e.g. cold fusion, EM drives etc.

maximus otter
 
Last edited:
maximus otter said:
My thought was not so much scam as vapourware. Like so many of the other amazing developments that never quite arrive, e.g cold fusion, EM drives etc.

maximus otter
Click to expand...
Yeah, so much promise, so little 'deliver'.
This used to happen with stuff that got shown on 'Tomorrow's World'. Remember that?
 
Yes, `Tomorrows World` was a great show...if but for the one fact that few of those clever inventions made it to market.

I think once the veiwers realised that it lost interest.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Yeah, so much promise, so little 'deliver'.
This used to happen with stuff that got shown on 'Tomorrow's World'. Remember that?
Click to expand...

I’m still waiting to commute to my job on Mars, wearing my Bacofoil suit, and with Maggie Philbin keeping me company on the trip.

maggie-philbin-white-shirt-30-2.jpg


maximus otter
 
Kondoru said:
Yes, `Tomorrows World` was a great show...if but for the one fact that few of those clever inventions made it to market.

I think once the veiwers realised that it lost interest.
Click to expand...
Well it took them 38 years to realise it as that’s how long it ran for, that marks it out as a very successful show.
 
I live in a little terraced house that would have had night storage heaters and a gas fire, when it was built in the late 1970's.
At some later date the storage heaters were removed, and gas central heating (four radiators in total) was installed.
When I moved here, 13 years ago ,I replaced the boiler with a new one.

I wonder what the government will suggest I do when the boiler needs replacing?
I already have some sort of cavity wall insulation.
The roof is tiny (thinking about solar panels).

I cetrainly won't want to spend a small fortune on the place -it wouldn't be worth it at my age!
There must be so many people in the same situation......
 
New design for wind power generation

Small prototype at present but could be scaled up. No blades to kill birds, produces no sound.

The unusual design has attracted comparisons to a huge sex toy, with internet commentators dubbing it a ‘skybrator’.

The main mechanism behind the windless turbine is a phenomenon called ‘vortex shedding’, when smooth air passes by an object and causes it to vibrate, creating energy that can be harnessed.

There are two repelling magnets at the bottom of the 10-foot pylon, which keeps the tower oscillating in the opposite direction to where it’s being pulled – this makes it deal for low-wind environments.

So, although called a turbine, it actually only shares the energy source with wind turbines – the mechanism of action is completely different.

But this is an advantage, as the pylon can work for longer, and in lower temperatures, without breaking, thanks to its lack of an internal motor.
Click to expand...

science 9397801 bladeless wind turbine
 
The latest work on advanced magnetic materials is looking very promising towards 'fusion in a plasma' with a new Tokomak.

"It means the refrigerator that we're using (to cool the magnetic tape to -235c) is like a refrigerator that could fit in your kitchen," says Dr Mumgaard, who co-founded CFS and is the chief executive.
"The same thing with the previous generation of technology... would need a refrigerator that's the size of your house."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56843149
 
hunck said:
science 9397801 bladeless wind turbine
Click to expand...
Those are badass.
I wonder if certain family of mine will still complain, because "nobody's thinking of how the power grid will be overloaded if we move to more electricity" and "you have to have coal" and "but I don't like how they look".... you can't improve anything with some people.
 
It's a surface one so would have to be out of sea traffic lanes. Not sure how far offshore it is. They're expensive to set up & I don't know the feasibility of generators attached to the sea bed. Ideally that would be the way to go.

It's seemed to me for quite while now that tidal is worth investing heavily in, but that would ideally be government funded & we all know that's not going to happen.

This seems a good start though..
 
hunck said:
It's a surface one so would have to be out of sea traffic lanes. Not sure how far offshore it is.
Click to expand...
It's near the Orkneys, so not far off shore. You can easily see the Orkneys from the mainland.

As for a sea traffic lane, ships tend to avoid going against 8 knot tides if at all possible. 1 kt = 1.15 mph so 8 kts = just over 9 mph. That is a hell of a current before you even start to take into account the waves if the wind is blowing against the tide. As a general rule, the places that offer the best opportunities for tidal power are least likely to be frequented by shipping.

That aside, equipped with GPS, ships can navigate with incredible accuracy and can avoid known fixed hazards such as this with ease.

The unit is smaller than most ships anyway and is firmly anchored in place at both ends so it does not need to swing as the tide turns. It looks suspiciously like a yellow submarine.

The Orkney islands are a wonderful place for people with an interest in Forteana, or at least the ancient and unusual, including Maes Howe, the Stones of Stenness, and Skara Brae. Wonderful place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top