Electricity
2020-01-22 Development of a Global Atlas of Off-River Pumped Hydro Storage
I found this presentation by Matthew Stocks et al and asked the permission of Professor Andrew Blakers to extend it with a section on the potential in the UK. He agreed, and Dr Matthew Stocks kindly provided extracts for the UK.
This shows that there are 195 sites in the UK, with a total potential capacity of 6047 GWh.
As the requirement for 100% renewable electricity is only about 1400 GWh, it would be possible to select the best, near to existing grid power lines, and with the greatest height difference between the upper and lower reservoirs.
However, the UK has several interconnectors to neighbouring countries, some with time differences. These should allow 100% renewable electricity to be achieved with somewhat less pumped storage in the UK and the neighbouring countries.
2019-10-07 Changing from GLS to LEDs
This table shows the overall effect on power consumption of changing most of my lights from General Lighting Service (GLS incandescent) to Light Emitting Diode (LEDs). This was 87%.
2015-11-19 Changing from CFLs to LEDs
The lights in the Kitchen had been replaced with (2) Linear Fluorescent lamps, and those in the Lounge and Dining Room with Circular Fluorescent lamps. Also I had long replaced all the incandescent lamps with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). However, the latter were less than ideal in taking a minute or so to reach full brightness, and in the 'bluish' light quality. I was aware that Light Emitting Diode lamps (LEDs) promised superior performance in both respects, together with longer lifetimes, so I monitored their performance and prices over time.
2015-01-14 Saving Electricity in Appliances and Lighting
This presentation is based on my study of saving electricity in my own home, and was given to a meeting of the South Essex Area of the I.Mech.E., the I.E.T., and the Chelmsford Science and Engineering Society.
2013-10-09 Electricity from Wind and Storage
This presentation was given to a meeting of the South Essex Area of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in Chelmsford on 9th October 2013.
2010-09-21 CCS vs Wind Turbines
This presentation was prepared for - but not given at - a conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in London.
The UK Government was then offering the power companies £ 1 billion to build coal- or gas-fired power plants with CCS.
The UK Government was then offering the power companies £ 1 billion to build coal- or gas-fired power plants with CCS.
2010-09 Saving Electricity
This short presentation on Saving Electricity in Industry and Homes was given to an engineering society.
The data was valid at the time, but there have been considerable changes in some end-uses, especially lighting.
2008-02-18 Carbon Savings in the Buildings Sector
The on-site generation of electricity and heat from renewables – often called microgeneration - has been proposed in the U.K. for saving carbon – reducing carbon emissions – in the buildings sector.
1983-04-06 The Scope for Electricity Saving in Domestic Appliances
I was commissioned to produce this study by Earth Resources Research, on behalf of Friends of the Earth UK in connection the Sizewell B Enquiry.
Recent articles
2024-09-17 Britain’s Atomic Bomb Scandal (Channel 4 programme)
Channel 4 made a multi-part series of programmes with this title.The sub-title was: The dramatic, shocking story of Britain’s race for the nuclear bomb, the devastating fallout for the servicemen at the tests, and the veterans’ long fight for justice'. I watched all the parts, and made notes.Then I typed up the notes and followed up mentions and links to produce this document.2021-09-29 Nuclear Power and the EU Taxonomy
Around September 2021, the European Commission considered the inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy for future investments in energy. This was based on a single report from the European Joint Research Centre, which still has close links with the nuclear industry and is widely perceived as playing a promoting role for nuclear energy within the European Union. The JRC Report ignored the report of the German Ethics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply of 2011, which had lead to Germany phasing out nuclear power by 2023. The European Commision also ignored 'Sustainability at risk, A critical analysis of the EU Joint Research Centre technical assessment of nuclear energy with respect to the "do no significant harm" criteria of the EU Taxonomy Regulation, of 2021-09 by Dr. Christoph Pistner, Dr. Matthias Englert and Dr. Ben Wealer, for the Heinrich Boell Foundation.2023-06-06 Nuclear Power Has No Future
The UK government proposes to build nuclear power plants totalling 24 GW.This implies Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and about six more of similar size.The Labour party proposes to include nuclear power in it’s new ‘green’ energy policy.Yet nuclear power has no future, as shown in this document of 3 pages with 52 references. The first section shows that nuclear fuel may be effectively exhausted before 2050, when the climate targets should be met. The second section shows that the costs of nuclear power have risen over time, and are now uncompetitive. So nuclear power must be replaced by sustainable and affordable options such as energy savings and renewables like wind, solar and storage. The third section shows that nuclear power conflicts with energy savings and renewables, so impairing the business case and deterring investment.So the UK should phase out nuclear power and join the rest of the world in deploying energy savings and renewables.Although this document is published after the latest Government and Labour Party proposals,I have published many earlier documents on nuclear power, dating from 2006-0-19. (See below).Most notably, my report on the Fukushima disaster was published on 2012-04-11, with copies sent to several MPs and Ministers.2022-10-05 Nuclear Nonsense
The new UK government appears to support the previous government’s proposal of building new nuclear power plants. The Labour party proposes to include nuclear power in it’s new ‘green’ energy policy. However such nuclear proposals are nonsense, as shown in this 4-page due diligence assessment.2022-08-13 Nuclear Power And Weapons Are Killing Us
The Manhattan Project in the US covered every stage of the production of nuclear weapons. This included the mining and refining of uranium, enrichment to 80 to 90% U235 for uranium bombs, fuelling nuclear reactors with uranium to produce plutonium, and reprocessing the spent fuel to extract the plutonium for plutonium bombs. It was recognised from the beginning that these processes and plants would give rise to radioactive releases that would be harmful to the plant operators and the general public, yet they were never informed. This continues to the present day, when the nuclear weapon and power industry does everything in its power to deny and understate the many and extensive harms done to all living things. To this has been added the use of uranium in bunker-breaking bombs and tank-busting shells, that spread the dust so formed over their own forces, the enemy forces, and innocent bystanders, harming them all for generations to come. The human harms include many and extensive cancers, and also non-malignant diseases such as stillbirths, deformities and mental impairment and heart disease. With so much harm already done to humans that will take up to lifetimes to express, and so much nuclear debris laying in wait to harm even more humans, it is essential to identify every strategy and measure that can reduce the total harm.This document covers the first warnings of nuclear harms in the 1950s and - following studies beginning in the 1960s - five books of evidence by Dr Ernest Sternglass in 1981, Mr Harvey Wasserman et al in 1982, Dr John Gofman in 1990, Mr Paul Zimmerman in 2009, and Professor Chris Busby et al in 2010.2022-08-12 Stopping Sizewell C and all nuclear power in favour of a rational energy policy
Among the last acts of the Johnson government was the approval of a new nuclear plant - Sizewell C. The claim was that it would increase energy security and reduce carbon emissions. But the invasion of Ukraine has underlined that all nuclear sites are targets, and reduce national security. Also nuclear power would be far more costly than energy savings and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, with storage, and could not be generating electricity before 2030. They need uranium for fuel, yet almost half comes from Russia and Kazachkstan, so that the money and carbon costs would increase twice as fast. Moreover, they require huge amounts of energy to manufacture and build, so reducing energy security until construction is complete, and this energy repaid. Yet Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C are coastal sites, at risk from flooding by sea level rise and storm surge by 2100. As decommissioning and site clearance would take at least 50 years, they would need to be shutdown before 2050. Many reasons for stopping Sizewell C and all nuclear power are given in this collection of five documents.2022-06-14 Energy Transition Technologies
This is prompted by the Energy Hierarchy of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. From the most to the least sustainable, Tier 1 is Energy Demand Reduction, Tier 2 is Energy Efficiency, Tier 3 is Utilisation of Renewable, Sustainable Resources, Tier 4 is Utilisation of Other, Low-GHG-Emitting Resources, and Tier 5 is Utilisation of Conventional Resources as we do now.2022-06-18 Nuclear Insecurities
This is a three-page re-cast of 2016-08-09 Nuclear Insecurities (below).It includes 16 criteria under the original 10 headings, supported by 21 references.2021-06-09 The Futility of Fusion - A Dream Too Far
For the Presentation, Conclusions and a document with references, click on Read More. Nuclear fusion power on earth poses extreme technical challenges. One is the attainment of at least 100 million degrees C for long enough to produce net energy. Another is that any power plant fuelled with Deuterium and Tritium must 'breed' enough Tritium to sustain itself. Yet fusion power is futile because it cannot be deployed at a meaningful scale before 2050. This is the target date for Zero Carbon - hopefully limiting Global Warming to less than 2 C. So by this date all energy must be supplied from proven renewable sources such as Solar Photovoltaics, Wind Power, Hydro Power, sustainable Biomass and Solar and Deep Geothermal Heat.2016-12-19 Limiting Global Climate Change
Global climate change is the most urgent problem faced by humankind. Professor Will Steffen of the Australian National University and co-authors have shown that the earth is liable to many tipping points, several subject to positive feedbacks.Unless there is a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, humankind will lose control of climate change, with the planet entering the Anthropocene era. Severe global warming of 4 - 8 C would disrupt world food supplies, leading to mass starvations, migrations and war.
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