Early Risers.

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

The real issue I see is of storage - of power made by wind and photovoltaics, for the night and in quiet periods - we need a big battery. 

It's a pity joined up economics in not fashionable among politicians.

 

After completion of the 'B' word they could 'fiscally encourage' the construction of a British electric car factory. 

Building and future production would take a number of people out of the 'State support' system, recouping some of the money because they would be paying taxes. Extra business would be generated in the supply chain thus more income for the Government in taxes and more spending power in the economy.

Encourage people to go electric by providing a cheaper tariff for overnight car charging points thus soaking up the overnight surplus from wind, tidal and hydro systems into batteries in road vehicles.

 

Obviously I will never make a politician in the same way that I was turned down for a job in a government department concerned with the newly privatised rail set-up on the grounds that I knew too much about how a railway was supposed to work.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by TheSignalEngineer

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The lurgi is still in retreat but theres still a sniffy nose and now a ticklish cough. I have comunicated with my energy supplier re the absent gas meter recordings and await developements though from past experience I'm not holding my breath. Thats it for now, be back later.

[TheSignalEngineer]

3 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Just done my BP, on Friday it was 165/97.

Just now 133/85, it's been dropping all weekend,  it will be interesting tomorrow night after the stress of work... 

Bye for now..

When Mrs SE went for a check-up the nurse was surprised at how high her blood pressure was. That was probably because said person gives the air of total incompetence and was running 20 minutes late. Previously she had put me down as having various problems that others subsequently couldn't find any trace of.

in a week of tests at home at times when Mrs SE was relaxed and not under any stress the average over 12 readings came down to about 124/80.

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

Rugby watched and enjoyed this afternoon.

Carpness has faded, so much so that I fancied the fillet steak I bought on Thursday. I was allowed into the kitchen for approximately 4 minutes to do the cooking thereof, The Boss prepared the other stuff. Although I say it myself it was bloody delicious and The Boss concurred.  I had my first beer since Tuesday beforehand and Black Label Shiraz accompanied the meal. Another glass is now being enjoyed.

The Boss is watching Skating on Ice. I'm not.

Cheers 

[Tony_S]

With all this talk of blood pressure and with my impending visit this week to the hospital I thought I should check mine. I think the medics will increase my most recent medication as the small dose does seem to have reduced my BP and pulse rate a bit as hoped. 
Tony

 

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Oh yeah - the cable:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_to_England_Interconnector

 

I was trying to work out the diameter of the wire but I suppose it depends on how many MW they are willing to use to heat the Irish Sea when the cable is working at max load.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

The real issue I see is of storage - of power made by wind and photovoltaics, for the night and in quiet periods - we need a big battery.  Pumped storage?

 

One option is to liquify nitrogen. It can be used to convert waste heat into useful energy by driving a turbine.

 

Another option is to produce liquid hydrogen which can be used in fuel-cell EVs among other things.

 

Neither of these are efficient processes but they are still a lot better than failing to capture energy that otherwise would be lost.

[Tony_S]

36 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I was trying to work out the diameter of the wire but I suppose it depends on how many MW they are willing to use to heat the Irish Sea when the cable is working at max load.

It is the longest submarine AC cable in the world.  All the longer ones are DC. I didn’t even know about DC submarine cables until a few years ago when I read something about the Scottish Islands. 

[New Haven Neil]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

It is the longest submarine AC cable in the world.  All the longer ones are DC. I didn’t even know about DC submarine cables until a few years ago when I read something about the Scottish Islands. 

 

Snap - although it was the New Zealand one that came to my attention when i was researching rectifiers - damn big ones in that case!

[New Haven Neil]

33 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

One option is to liquify nitrogen. It can be used to convert waste heat into useful energy by driving a turbine.

 

Another option is to produce liquid hydrogen which can be used in fuel-cell EVs among other things.

 

Neither of these are efficient processes but they are still a lot better than failing to capture energy that otherwise would be lost.

 

I had read about hydrogen that seems very appropriate - didn't know about nitrogen liquifaction and its uses.

[Ozexpatriate]

There are technological solutions to solve problems with intermittent renewable generation. Many latent heat solutions are feasible as part of a solution. All that is required is to actually start doing it. The most effective solutions will become apparent.

 

The problem is overcoming the inertia of the status quo.  It's really not even cost. Our history since the industrial revolution has many examples of technical infrastructure being implemented because people decided it was necessary and simply found the money to implement it.

 

In my opinion, the biggest thing that needs to flip is the centralized generation model to a distributed generation model. 

 

Small (relatively) unobtrusive cylinder wind turbines are readily available for widespread, distributed power generation where solar power might not be the best choice.

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[81C]

Evening All

More boxes emptied and a home found for the contents man cave re-arranged and made more space to get some of the railway stuff out of the lounge and into the cave at least I can

now close all the doors, laundry tidied away more to do tomorrow and repaired a broke sink chain to get rid of the string holding it together some people are heathens the way they live.

A made to measure roller blind was ordered for the kitchen window @ 42 quid, it's £200 to do the other 3 windows with ready made venetian blind in an oak finish. 

Still it's time for tv and a drink I shall be watching Vera tonight.

 

           B. Oxwatcha

[BoD]

6 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I had read about hydrogen that seems very appropriate - didn't know about nitrogen liquifaction and its uses.

I suspect that the necessary technologies for power production and storage are yet to be invented. It has long been known that fossil fuels were a finite resource (I even featured on radio in the 70’s regarding this topic) and will soon be, for this and eco-reasons, a thing of the past.  Sadly, given  that most economies are driven by profit and ‘market forces’ it is unlikely that money will be spent on the necessary research until existing resources are very nearly exhausted or the possible alternatives are more profitable. There are some that would argue that this is the best/only way the the necessary new technologies will be achieved.  Enough of poly ticks I say.

[Coombe Barton]

Undersea to France - DC since 1961 and a 1986 mod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC_Cross-Channel

 

Full list worldwide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_power_cable

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

I suspect that the necessary technologies for power production and storage are yet to be invented.

Plenty of them have been invented. Improvements in efficiency, cost, reliability and endurance will be made with wider deployment but we're not lacking for concepts. Approaches with the highest efficacy will become evident.

[AndyID]

31 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Plenty of them have been invented. Improvements in efficiency, cost, reliability and endurance will be made with wider deployment but we're not lacking for concepts. Approaches with the highest efficacy will become evident.

 

The Orkney Islands have more renewable energy than they can use. IIRC they make liquid hydrogen which fuels suitably adapted IC engines in cars.

[Coombe Barton]

Home improvements, more sorting and being taken for a walk.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/slow-progression/

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I had read about hydrogen that seems very appropriate - didn't know about nitrogen liquifaction and its uses.

 

Basically a steam-engine running on nitrogen rather than water. Liquid nitrogen boils at -196C so it can suck a lot of energy from low-grade heat sources. People have tried to power vehicles using it to capture atmospheric heat but that doesn't really work, but if you have waste heat from say an IC engine it can make a big difference to the overall efficiency. You can also use it as a way to capture braking energy in vehicles.

 

I think the railroads could use it as a means to reduce fuel consumption to cross mountain ranges like The Rockies. They could make a lot of liquid nitrogen on the way back down!

[roundhouse]

Talking of American railroads here is a photo (that I just downloaded form the mobile) of a loco that I re-decaled and weathered for someone based on an old colour photo of a similar loco. The next one that I do for him will be much dirtier.

 

Back from another good day working in the shed listneing ot various music wiring the layout. other half was happy in the house cthcing up on various recorded TV

[AndyID]

Not a day for going anywhere but Shona doesn't seem to mind.

 

 

I have fulfilled my duties as chief cook (for now - bottle washing remains undone) by serving a brunch of fresh pineapple juice, bacon and eggs and English muffin bread toast. Can you get English muffin bread in England? It makes excellent toast.

 

The pineapple juice was made from a fresh pineapple using our juice extractor thingy. I've never tried it with pineapple before, The odd thing is it tastes quite different from the stuff that comes in cans. It's much "smoother".

 

The snow has eased-off a bit. I better get my boots on for the paw patrol.

 

BTW, the last victim for the avalanche was recovered thanks to something called RECCO. He must have had the radar reflectors in his clothing. They are passive tuned circuits with a diode that doubles the frequency of the reflection.

 

Uh oh. Spoke too soon. We are getting big flakes again.

[Coombe Barton]

1 minute ago, AndyID said:

Can you get English muffin bread in England?

Mainly from Drury Lane.

 

 

[brianusa]

14 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Seattle too is bracing for snow. Brian in Gig Harbor mentioned this the other day.

 

So far the prognosticators don't believe the deep cold from the Arctic air mass will make it this far south, (though we are on the edge of it) but may set up for snow here on Wednesday. We will have low altitude snow (around 1,000') tomorrow. Mountain snow has been very heavy.

 

As yet the lowest temperatures forecast for Portland are in the -4°C range mid-week and much will depend on the direction of a low pressure system off the coast of Oregon which may bring a small amount of snow (2cm - 8cm) or possibly 15cm depending on how it moves.

 

Latest weather update from Gig Harbour.  Clear, cold with a light wind which means the atmosphere is crystal clear.  Is this the calm before the storm?

     Brian.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In my opinion, the biggest thing that needs to flip is the centralized generation model to a distributed generation model.

 

 

With all due respect to Mr Tesla it might make a lot of sense to revert to high-voltage DC for a lot of power transmission, even to homes. AC did make sense but electronics have rendered it slightly redundant.

[Gwiwer]

It seems that half the UK coast now has a forest of offshore windmills visible.  Or at night a mass of red lights.  I'm not sure whether I like the view but compared with the prospect of ongoing coal or oil generation of the power which allows me to type this then I suppose it's a price worth paying.  

 

There are the huge reservoirs just west of us here which could have solar panels fitted.  And there is the alleged huge waste of money which is the Hayle wave hub connected to a land base in my adopted home town in west Cornwall and which has yet, apparently, to generate any power whatsoever.  There are plenty of solar farms down there; steep hillsides and higher rates of insolation (see map above) help to make those viable not overlooking the rental some farmers receive as a boost to their income for stationing solar panels - and sometimes wind turbines - on their land.  

 

Roast cow was enjoyed for dinner though I must confess to a viewing preference other than Call The Midwife whilst dining.  SWMBO has always sat on the sofa watching the idiot-tube at dinner unless we have guests or there is another reason to sit at the table such as a particularly sloppy and easily-spilled meal.  I invariably dine at the table.  Maybe I was brung up more proper.  Or maybe just in a different tradition.   

 

Either way the weekend is over and eyelid inspection is required.  The House of Fun awaits in the morning and with a major engineering occupation throughout the weekend on the main lines I may wake to find we are unable to run a Monday morning service if the Gentlemen of the Orange Army have been unable to vacate the permanent way in time.  

 

Sleep well.  Best wishes to one and all.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz