Hydrogen Powered Tractors Could Be The Green Answer In That Industry
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
I agree with the title and the article is worth a read.
For some time, I’ve felt that hydrogen would be ideal to power a tractor and other agricultural machinery.
- Now that companies like ITM Power have developed efficient electrolysers, the accessibility of the fuel is a lot easier.
- Many farmers would have their own electrolyser.
- Diesel is always getting nicked, but stealing hydrogen would probably be more difficult.
- Hydrogen could also power the farmer’s cars.
Energy use on the farm could be very different.
Battery Storage Trialled To Provide Upward And Downward Flexibility To UK’s National Grid
|The title of this post, if the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News
This is the introductory paragraph.
Battery software company Arenko has teamed up with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) arm of National Grid in the UK to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility in a “first of its kind trial”.
So what do Arenko actually do?
This is the home page of their web site.
It has this title across the page.
Automation Technology For Batteries
Beneath it is a mission statement.
Our vision is to be the preferred software platform to unlock value for batteries worldwide.
Finally you get this explanation.
Arenko is a world leading battery software and controls platform building a differentiated position in the multi-billion dollar battery controls and automation market.
Batteries are software defined assets which are only as valuable as what controls them.
Arenko’s enabling software platform uses our proprietary and proven automation technology for batteries to asset owners, utilities and battery system integrators unlocking and capturing substantially higher returns and protect your battery assets.
Arenko’s automation technology connects and optimises both the battery’s technical and commercial performance using AI, enhanced analytics and deep learning algorithms.
I would think, this could be my kind of company.
- Software-based
- Ambitious
- All about control engineering.
- I suspect they constantly simulate what is happening to batteries and the electricity network.
If they get it right, they could go a long way.
Camp Hill Line Set To Gain Third Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of a sub-section on this page on Rail News.
This is said.
PLANS to build a station at Moseley on the Camp Hill line in Birmingham have been submitted. If approved, Moseley will be the third station on the restored route, where Birmingham City Council has already given the go-ahead to stations at Kings Heath and Hazelwell. The line was closed to passengers as a ‘wartime economy’ in January 1941, but the withdrawal was confirmed in November 1946.
Under Future Plans on the Wikipedia entry for the Camp Hill Line, this is said.
In July 2018, the Midlands Rail Hub was unveiled which would see reopening of Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell with the chords built to connect Birmingham Moor Street with the line to Kings Norton and another to Water Orton.
In September 2018, the designs of the new stations were revealed as Kings Heath, Hazelwell and Moseley were planned for reopening by 2021 with a frequency of 2 trains per hour.
It looks to me, that Birmingham City Council are going to make the Camp Hill Line an important route across the city.
‘World First’: SGN Launches Bid For 300 Green Hydrogen Homes Project In Fife
This title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Business Green.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Around 300 homes in Scotland could soon have their heating and cooking powered by green hydrogen produced from renewable electricity under proposals for “the world’s first green hydrogen-to-homes network” unveiled today by SGN.
A few points from the article.
- Construction could start in the winter of 2020/21.
- The project will take two or three years.
- The modified houses appear to be in Levenmouth.
- The project has been dubbed H100 Fife.
- The hydrogen will be produced by electrolysis using electricity generated by offshore wind.
The article also gives a round-up of the state of hydrogen in the UK.
Could This Have Other Implications For Levenmouth?
In Scottish Government Approve £75m Levenmouth Rail Link, I discussed the rebuilding of the Levenmouth Rail Link.
I suggested that the route could be run by Hitachi Class 385 trains with batteries, which Hitachi have stated are being developed. I covered the trains in more detail in Hitachi Plans To Run ScotRail Class 385 EMUs Beyond The Wires.
If there were to be a source of hydrogen at Levenmouth, could hydrogen-powered trains be used on the route?
- The simplest rail service could be a hydrogen-powered shuttle train between Levenmouth and Glenrothes with Thornton stations.
- I estimate that the five-mile route could support two trains per hour, using a single train.
- Trains could be an Alstom Breeze, a Class 799 train or a hydrogen-powered Class 230 train.
The Levenmouth Rail link could be a prototype for other short rail links in Scotland.
In
Thoughts On Coeliacs And COVID-19
This article in The Times is entitled Covid-19: Being Black Does Not Put You At Greater Risk, Researchers Say.
This though is the significant paragraph in my view.
The documents also show that among younger people obesity raises the death rate fourfold, and for those in their fifties it more than doubles it.
As I am not by any means obese, it pleases me.
But it got me thinking about fellow coeliacs.
Most are built like whippets and many seem to be fit for their age.
So do we get a secondary protection against COVID-19?
How Many Diagnosed Coeliacs Have Caught COVID-19?
the coeliac charity; Coeliac UK, indicated to me, that they are doing research into the number of coeliacs, who have caught COVID-19.
Surely, one way to find out how many coeliacs are in hospital with COVID-19, would be to look at how many hospital cases are on a gluten-free diet!