So here we are COP 26 is about to begin and we are where exactly ?
I wasn't impressed by this weeks net zero announcement's and papers , mainly for some technical reasons and the problems around ground source heat pumps , for older/larger houses.
The more earth shaking problem , was neatly outlined by one phone caller on a green radio piece , was that domestic gas heating accounts for just 1.5% of emissions , and then wondering why the rest of the emissions , had not had more thought. Ending gas boilers on new builds in 2024 when we could have done it a decade ago , as we can build very thermally efficient electric homes , didn't improve my mood much either
However in the few moments of clarity that appear at the moment, it looks like Hydrogen has at last had the proper reconsideration it deserved , and in case you didn't notice it was missing in this weeks announcements.
Its difficult to get some of the big energy systems thinking into a blog post at the moment , as we are waiting for some of the transmission grid , definitions , and some high technical meetings are due in December to explain the grid of tomorrow , that we probably will need today. I do favour HVDC or UHVDC , as i think some very high electrical new demands will be in DC but if we are going to be using more energy in the electrical form (and it could be a lot more) , then we have the equipment to do this , cables being particularly important the MW scale inverter.
The electric bus I am still a little sceptical about , mostly because the batteries are far from perfect when being in use at 5yrs . About a month ago there was a lot of hype around a silcone valley company solving the solid state battery problem , it turned out it was a success in the lab , and we havent heard much since then. ESS and there excellent iron sulphate battery have gained USA stock listing , and in some applications if there figures are good , it should be one of those technologies that is properly defined.
So should i chance my arm and say what else will be defined ??
1 I think the new build home , will be electric , probably use some of the new wood construction methods , and probably be fully electric and then from here it gets complicated , generally i think (other than more remote buildings) they should be grid connected , because if we start going off grid , the grid will start to have more expense , however that doesn't mean we cant improve some energy balances for home owners as to heat and hot water , the air source heat pump could work better , but as yet i haven't seen one i really like , the problem being in the more air tight houses having thermally efficiency , you still need to change the air , and ground source heat pumps don't do this , but like i say at the moment i haven't seen one i like.
2 One person wanting aground source heat pump was told it would be difficult as he had 60A mains fuse , which i thought was odd as mine is 100A , and it turns out (and they are probably on TT systems) , there are a lot of domestic mains fuses at 60A , so in the future i think we might see 120A as a new mains fuse supply , where the rest of the system can be upgraded , but that will take many years if not decades.
3 Home car charging might not be a good idea , for the grid as it is at the moment and in the longer term , not too sure about roadside chargers either .it looks as though a 20 min charge will be the norm , but as one motorist pointed out at a popular motorway stop , its a bit of pain when there are 3 cars in front of you for a charger and you know they are going to be20mins each and you 1hr before you get to the charger , booking them is equally problematic .
4 Bio materials : it would be helpful for future waste processes and recycling if food and drinks manufacturers , can find good bio materials , we probably need to get aluminium out of wrappings and caps .The glass container is still being debated , the food makers want to keep it as its a very familiar way of marketing/purchase , and in some ways it depends on the bio materials we can make. I think glass works where it can be re used and generally zero landfill is a good idea , as the complex of chemicals that form in landfills , is erm interesting to say the least , there are also other things that probably went into some landfills , that may not be so good if they start to leak.
5 Efficiency does have an important role, and I hope sequential oxygen combustion will deliver some very much improved efficiencies for combustion plants , and if it can convert some CO2 into CH4 , then that's an obvious energy efficiency gain.
6 i think wind power to power the UK always was misleading , as it always was likely future electricity demands would be much greater , the reactive power problem still hasn't been explained very well (or for that matter 3 phase in phase) in very large battery engineering , and i suggest that if the reactive power is problem , then someone had better fess up to the gov minister , before we end up with a system that runs all ac motors at one third speed , and claim it as a success.
7 Carbon capture and storage mmm well the carbon credits/carbon finance people seem to like this technology , but as yet no one has answered my questions about longevity of any store , or the lifetime energy input required to fill (the alleged safe underground rock strata), or for that matter what sort of energy for pumping is required as the pressure as it fills increases . So its a big NO from me for CCS , although i did like the Iceland geothermal one , which is good for Iceland i suppose , but i dont think shipping CO2 to Iceland works out even in the fantasy land of carbon trading (noting they dont want carbon reduction) . Fracking also has big NO from me also.
8 and last but not least An EV with fewer electronic gizmos (obviously not a decent stereo system though or air con) , that has some sort of regenerative braking , as standard .
I know president Xi and Putin have indicated they wont attend , and i thank President Putin for his genuine remark about , Russia does consider environmental problems as important . We do need China and Russia to work with everyone on the problems , and we shall see , how far we get at COP 26 , and just hope its not all Blah Blah Blah again .
Thanks for reading
Helios