Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[CitroJim]

Edit: I've just had a thought - that means our local asparagus will come pre-cooked straight from the ground

That saves having to fire up the microwave

[mickthemaverick]

Furthermore you'll be able to give us a glowing report on it!!

[CitroJim]

Furthermore you'll be able to give us a glowing report on it!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Weedy distribution network Pylon

Mere 66000V hardly worth the barbed wire

Regards Neil

[bobins]

Courtesy of Michael Portaloo and his Great British Railway Journeys.......

The origins of the National Grid.
"Today many of us take energy for granted, but as the sun set across Godalming on the evening of the 26th September 1881, residents of the small Surrey market town left their homes and stepped out- not into darkness - but into the glare of thousands of candles-worth of illumination.

Godalming had just brought the world's first-ever public energy supply and electric street lighting online.

Made up of four Arc lamps and 27 incandescent bulbs, supplied with renewable energy generated by waterwheel at the nearby Westbrook Mill, the scheme soon expanded to installations in major local business - from the tanners to the grocers, the drapers and the bank. Thanks to the Godalming Borough Lighting Committee electricity was now for sale to any member of the public who wished to buy it."
https://www.eonenergy.com/blog/2019/Feb ... -of-energy

[Gibbo2286]

Godalming had just brought the world's first-ever public energy supply and electric street lighting online. From Ebay?

[Gibbo2286]

Did you see this in the news this morning? An electric bus in Scotland but this paragraph is a surprise:

A key limiting factor is the power supply. The city installed an HGV charging point in Greenmarket, west of the city centre and near the railway station, which the new service is using.

The high-speed charging system requires as much electricity as a small housing estate would use, and therefore the service is designed around the availability of power.

[mickthemaverick]

On the same thinking Gibbo it must take one hell of an Excel spreadsheet to hold a National Grid, but at least you could adjust the gridlines with the margins tool!

[NewcastleFalcon]

I saw that BP had published their Energy Outlook 2020 – 14 September 2020.
..and there is a video of good old Spencer Dale Group Chief Economist at BP talking about the various charts.

Very different from their previous effort. Virtually all "Oil" Companies are now Energy Companies wonder if BP will remain BP or rebrand themselves and drop the "P" and their shareholders are probably very little "B" now anyway.

But for a global Oil Giant effectively acknowledging that the future is not oil seems a significant change.

Far from forecasting little change in the demand for oil and natural gas, they acknowledge that oil has probably passed its peak now and will be in decline, on the back of electrification, domestic/industrial and transport, and the rise of the once much-derided wind and solar and other renewable energy.

This is what they say about Oil

Demand for oil falls over the next 30 years. The scale and pace of this decline is driven by the ?increasing efficiency and electrification of road transportation.

Two things they cling onto mostly based on Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS)

Natural Gas
....The outlook for natural gas is more resilient than for oil, underpinned by the role of natural gas in ?supporting fast growing developing economies as they decarbonized and reduce their reliance ?on coal, and as a source of near-zero carbon energy when combined with Carbon Capture Use ?and Storage (CCUS).

Hydrogen
The use of hydrogen increases as the energy system progressively decarbonizes, carrying energy ?to activities which are difficult or costly to electrify. The production of hydrogen is dominated by ?a mix of blue and green hydrogen.?

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

and BP arent alone. Rivals Shell are also recognising the energy Transition.

"Offshore Wind, Hydrogen in Focus of Shell’s German Business Overhaul"

Shell is restructuring its business in Germany as the energy transition progresses worldwide, the oil giant announced on 29 September, listing offshore wind and hydrogen as some of the key elements of its operations in the country.

The company said it plans to participate in the production of electricity from renewable energy sources in Germany through offshore wind, or combined offshore wind-hydrogen projects.

Shell also states that it aims to become the leading supplier of green hydrogen, where hydrogen production is powered by renewable energy, for industrial and transport customers. The company targets a tenfold increase in the electrolysis capacity in the Rhineland refinery, and plans to investigate further hydrogen projects.

While Battery EV's largely cut out, lets say the former "oil" industry, the new Energy Industry competitors which used to be in the "oil Business" are appearing more than keen now to get into "renewables and Green hydrogen", and an increasing bit of electric vehicles infrastructure. While the BEV is set to be the "current king", a developing hydrogen production industry is likely to aid the development of fuel cell cars/buses/trains/lorries/ships/aircraft.

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I have to say that I think that is the way to go. The fuel cell gives back the single biggest loss for me in moving from ICE to BEV. With Hydrogen I can pull up at a fuel station and fill up in a few minutes and be on my way with range only governed by the size of the on board hydrogen tank. That would sell me immediately, but there is currently the huge problem of H production and distribution and the intrinsic safety issues. Petrol is not exactly safe but you do not have to pressurize it for storage and use and so that is one less possible contributary factor to an accident over Hydrogen. Make the pressurization safe and its a winner for me!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

https://electrek.co/2020/10/05/egeb-exx ... ergy-jobs/

It seems like over in the USA, their biggest oil company is pretty much hoping for business as usual, and concentrating at what they do best digging up oil and gas. Had a paddle around the Exxon Website, couldnt find too much focus on renewables but a little bit about greening the oil and gas production process.

Little bit about recovering co2 direct from the Air

regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I thought it worth directing Energy enthusiasts to the P.E. Quiz thread which contains an interesting video about wind turbine manufacture in Britain

viewtopic.php?p=659398#p659398

[bobins]

Mrs Bobins used to work for a marine survey company who've worked on offshore wind farm arrays. All the rocks and very large stones on the seabed on the footprint of each turbine had to be mapped prior to the construction of the array as they'd need to be moved - it's a condition of such installations that those rocks and stones are put back in the same place in xx years time when the array is decommissioned

[mickthemaverick]

How amazing is that? I can't really see that there is any need to replace them after xx years because the ecological circumstances will have changed to deal with the foundations of the array towers. Surely replacing them will just further disrupt the evolution of the area. Meanwhile where are they storing them?