A New UnBorised, Corbynless, Farage-frei British Generation Can Then Step To The Plate
The title of this post is the last sentence in an article in today’s Times by David Aaronovitch, which is entitled Macron Offers Us A Way Out Of Brexit Mess.
It is well-worth a read.
By step up to the plate, he means rethink their relationship with a reformed Europe.
Whitechapel’s Monster Fatberg
This article on the BBC is entitled ‘Monster’ fatberg found blocking east London sewer.
It has now been cleared up and Thames Water have turned the mess into enough fuel to power three hundred and fifty buses for a day.
We’ve had these fatbergs in London before as the Guardian reported in 2015.
It seems the big problem is fast food outlets with dubious hygiene practices, who just tip the fat down the drains.
I know of someone, who had a problem with a pub near where they lived, which wasn’t handling its rubbish properly. A call to the local Council got it sorted.
So perhaps, the solution is in part, getting the Council to check the hygiene practices of all food outlets better.
Also, just as a plastic bag tax has cut their use, perhaps we need a wet wipe and a nappy tax to cut use of these products, as they are another big problem.
Banksy At The Barbican
These pictures show Banksy’s new art at the Barbican.
As it’s in a tunnel, that is probably owned by the City of London Corporation, I doubt it will be removed or stolen.
Is Banksy going upmarket choosing underneath the Barbican?
EcoPar
I’d never heard of EcoPar until I read this article in Rail Engineer, which is entitled Modified MEWPs go underground.
A MEWP is a mobile elevated work platform and they are being used in the sub-surface lines of the London Underground.
One of the problems is that many of them are diesel-powered, which I wouldn’t have thought to be a good idea in tunnels.
This is where EcoPar comes in. An English translation of the EcoPar’s Swedish entry in Wikipedia says this.
EcoPar is a Swedish environmental fuel , a so-called synthetic diesel fuel and used as an alternative to diesel oil . EcoPar is extracted from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process . EcoPar is a trademark of EcoPar AB, formerly Oroboros AB, located in Gothenburg .
This is from the Rail Engineer article.
Compared to the use of conventional fuel, it is estimated that carbon monoxide emissions are reduced by up to 76 per cent, carbon dioxide by 30-50 per cent, nitrous oxide by up to 26 per cent and carcinogenic emissions by up to 90 per cent.
That sounds a lot safer.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of EcoPar and other synthetic diesel fuels.
The Wind Of Change Blowing All Over The UK
This has nothibg to do with Brexit or even politics, but the UK and in addition our friends in Denmark, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands seem to be investing to reap the wind.
To many of my generation, Hornsea is a town on the Yorkshire coast famous for dull ethnic pottery. But now it will the name of the Hornsea Wind Farm, which will have a generating capacity of up to 4 GigaWatt or 4,000,000 KiloWatt. It will be sited around 40 kilomwtres from the nearest land.
To put the size into context, Hinckley Point C, if it is ever built will have a power output of 3.2 GigaWatt.
You may day that wind is unreliable, but then Hornsea will be just one of several large offshore wind farms in the UK.
- Dogger Bank(4.8 GW),
- Greater Gabbard(504 MW)
- Gwynt Y Mor(576 MW)
- London Array(630 MW)
- Race Bank(530MW
- Thanet(300 MW)
- Yriton Knoll(600-900 MW)
- Walney Extension (659 MW).
The electricity produced can be used, stored or exported.
Storage will always be difficult, but then there are energy consumptive industries like aluminium smelting, creating steel from scrap or the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen, oxygen and ither gases, that could probably be based around an interruptible supply backed-up by a biomass or natural gas power station.
Hydrogen As A Fuel
Hydrogen could be the fuel of the cities for buses, taxis and delivery vehicles. Suppose they were hybrid, but instead of a small diesel engine to xharge the battery, a small hydrogen engine or fuel cell were to be used.
Remember that the only product of burning hydrogen is water and it wouldn’t produce any pollution.
Each bus garage or hydrogen station could generate its own hydrogen, probably venting the oxygen.
Enriched Natural Gas
We can’t generate too much hydrogen and if because of high winds, we have hydrogen to spare it can be mixed with natural gas, ehich contains a proportion of hydrogen anyway.
Dunfermline
I’d never been to Dunfermline before, so my friend and I took a look round before returning to Edinburgh over the bridge.
It would certainly be worth another visit.
Dunfermline certainly needs an electrified rail line from Edinburgh, as I talked about in Running Electric Trains Across The Forth Bridge.
This Google Map shows the centre.
Note Dunfermline Town station in the South-East corner of the map.
Thank Goodness Strictly’s Back
India Knight finishes her article in news section of The Sunday Times with the title of this post.
She contrasts it with all the gloomy news and says that it starts the run-up to Christmas.
I agree with her, as it can be a very uplifting piece of froth!
Why People Don’t Change To Cheaper And Smaller Energy Suppliers
This news item on the Money Saving Expert web site is entitled Energy users don’t switch because they haven’t heard of cheapest firms, MSE poll finds.
If you’re thinking of changing read it and you might learn something to guide you to a more affordable supplier.
I swapped to OVO Energy a couple of years ago, and I’ve had no serious issues and they now have allowed me to connect my solar panels to the electrocity network.
The only problem, I had with swapping was getting nPower to pay me the money they owed.
My Japanese Wallet
These pictures show my Japanese wallet.
Note.
- The pocket on the outside to hold one credit card. Unfortunately, you can’t do contactless in the pocket.
- The inside purse to hold a few coins, my door key and a few Warfarin tablets.
- Plenty of space for cards.
- The usual folder for notes.
- The zip that closes it shut.
I haven’t shown the miniature Samurai sword, that pokes out if someone, who doesn’t look like me tries to open the wallet.
Internet Age Just Starting, Says Tech Guru
The title of this post is the same as the title of a short article in the Business section of the Sunday Times.
It is a summary of an interview with Marc Andreesen onside the Business section.
Some points raised.
- The next wave of technological disruption will affect law, medicine and construction.
- The basic cost of starting an Internet company has fallen dramatically
- There’s something really special happening at the intersection of medincine and computer science.
I certainly agree with the title of the article.
The Anonymous Widower 