The Anonymous Widower

Hydrogen Tourist Transport Network Trialled In The Peak District

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Fleet News.

This paragraph outlines the trial.

A trial is taking place in the Peak District National Park where hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) will run together between multiple destinations and attractions.

 

Note.

  1. Toyota will provide the buses.
  2. Air Products is providing hydrogen.
  3. The services appear to be centred on Chesterfield station.

It looks like one of the objectives is to test the two types of buses against the terrain.

I can see hydrogen-powered buses being used extensively in tourist areas all over the world.

September 13, 2022 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Twelve The Answer To Carbon Emissions?

Everybody knows that The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42.

I’ve just been digging around the Internet, where I started in the Wikipedia entry for the Electrochemical Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide, which says this about the process.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, also known as electrolysis of carbon dioxide, is the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to more reduced chemical species using electrical energy. It is one possible step in the broad scheme of carbon capture and utilization, nevertheless it is deemed to be one of the most promising approaches.

This led me to the Wikipedia entry for a company called Twelve.

I then looked at the Twelve web site.

The Mission Statement

Most companies have them and their’s is.

We Are The Carbon Transformation Company​

Which is backed up by the following.

We make the world’s most critical chemicals, materials and fuels from air, not oil with our revolutionary carbon transformation technology.

We’re reinventing what it means to be a chemical company in the climate era, on a mission to eliminate global emissions and build a fossil-free future.

I have explored the web site and it looks good for me.

See what you think!

September 11, 2022 Posted by | Energy, World | , , , | Leave a comment

The Queen’s First Computer System For Her Horses

In The Queen Was Well-Briefed, I mentioned a lunch with a Hewlett-Packard engineer and that he had done some work in Buckingham Palace.

This article on NBC is entitled When Did Queen Elizabeth II Last Visit San Francisco And The Bay Area?, where this is the first paragraph.

Queen Elizabeth’s visit to the Bay Area included a serenade by Tony Bennett, a meal at Trader Vics in Emeryville and a dinner at the De Young Museum with President Ronald Reagan and the First Lady.

The visit was in 1983 and these two paragraphs describes her visit to Silicon Valley.

On March 3, 1983, the Queen visited Stanford University and the Hewlett Packard factory, the technology company based in Palo Alto.

At Stanford Queen Elizabeth dined at the Hoover House with university president Donald Kennedy.

Hewlett-Packard presented the Queen a HP 3000 computer on which to plan and organise the breeding of her race horses, to mark her visit to the company.

I should say, that the engineer, who I’ll call Bob, was well-known to me, as he’d been the engineer, who’d serviced my HP 21MX computer, when I was programming Artemis in the 1970s. He was very good at his job, but hadn’t expected his job to take this direction.

Hewlett-Packard had behaved very professionally and had obtained a licence for suitable software from the Aga Khan.

The installation of the computer in the basement of Buckingham Palace had gone well, with the user terminal being placed in the Queen’s apartment.

When everything was working, the Queen’s equerry, with whom he was dealing, announced they would be going to France to get the software from the Aga Khan’s stud at a chateau to the West of Paris.

The equerry arranged with the engineer to meet him at the VIP suite in the Queen’s Building at Heathrow in a few days time. He was also told he’d be staying one night in France.

So at the appointed time, he gingerly opened the door to the VIP suite and walked in. Almost immediately he bumped into Mrs. Thatcher, who was leaving. Luckily, he was spotted by the equerry, who beckoned him over.

He asked the equerry about the flight and was told that they would be flying in a Dominie of the Queen’s Flight to Beauvais.

I can remember him saying that that was the way to fly.

They were met by a limousine on arrival in France and taken to the chateau.

He was then shown to his room, which he described as an extravagant tart’s boudoir.

After a period of time, the equerry knocked on his door and announced the plan for the visit.

They would have dinner in half-an-hour with the Aga Khan and then in the morning his software guy would show you about the software and hand over a copy.

The engineer did admit to being a bit out of his depth, but the equerry just told him to copy him and he’d be alright.

Thirty minutes later the equerry collected the engineer and they were shown into a room, where the meeting would take place.

There was a curtain across the room, and as it drew back, all the flunkies prostrated themselves on the ground. The engineer was watching the equerry, who just stood there. So he copied him.

When the curtain finally revealed the Aga Khan, the engineer felt it best to just stand there.

However, the Aga Khan approached him and said. “Hello! You must be Bob!”

The rest of the visit went without incident and the software was duly collected.

 

September 10, 2022 Posted by | Computing, Sport, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Queen Was Well-Briefed

Lord Lloyd-Webber has just said this on the BBC. But he has not been the first, in the last few days.

Some years ago, I had lunch with a Hewlett-Packard engineer, who had done some work in Buckingham Palace.

It was probably in the mid-1980s, as the lunch was just after the Queen and Prince Philip had visited San Francisco in 1983, which is reported in this article on NBC.

He told a fascinating tale about how the Queen was well-briefed.

In those days, there was a detailed card index of everybody she had ever met.

So say, she was going to meet the Mayor of Norwich, her staff might brief her with the knowledge that they had met in 1975, when his father had been the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.

The purpose, was so that the Queen could start a conversation, with an appropriate topic.

 

September 10, 2022 Posted by | Computing, World | , | 5 Comments

Will The Queen Enable One Last Important Result?

Would it be too much to hope, that the world leaders coming to the Queen’s funeral, might find that swapping their uplifting memories creates goodwill that helps to solve at least one of the pressing problems of the world?

September 9, 2022 Posted by | World | , , | 1 Comment

RCAM Technologies

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a wind turbine with built-in energy storage?

This article on Power Engineering, is entitled Five Long-Duration Energy Storage Projects Get Funding In New York.

One of the projects, from RCAM Technologies is described like this.

To develop a 3D concrete-printed marine pumped hydroelectric storage system that integrates directly with offshore wind development in support of grid resiliency and reduced reliance on fossil fuel plants to meet periods of peak electric demand.

That sounds like an offshore wind turbine with built-in energy storage, that is 3D-printed in concrete.

The RCAM Technologies web site is all about 3D-printed concrete.

  • It looks like they can build taller wind farm towers, than you can make with steel.
  • It appears offshore wind turbine tower with integrated foundations  can be built on-site.
  • Material can be 100 % locally-sourced.
  • The next step could be to build some form of pumped storage into the tower.
  • They are experimenting with storing energy as pressure in 3D-printed concrete spheres. The New York grant will help fund this.
  • High Speed Two is using 3D-printing of concrete, as I wrote about in HS2 Utilising UK-First Pioneering 3D Concrete Printing On Project.

The company has offices in Colorado, California and Edinburgh.

Conclusion

This technology could be on the right track. Read their web site.

September 9, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Five Long-Duration Energy Storage Projects Get Funding In New York

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Power Engineering.

These are the two opening paragraphs, which outline the state’s ambitions.

New York awarded $16.6 million in funding for five long-duration energy storage projects and made another $17 million available for projects that advance development of long-duration energy storage technologies, including hydrogen.

The state’s larger goal is to install 3,000 MW of energy storage by 2030 to help integrate renewables. New York wants to eventually develop 6,000 MW.

The article then lists the projects, which I will look at in separate posts.

RCAM Technologies

September 9, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , | Leave a comment

A Design Crime – Platform-To-Train Access On The Northern Line At Bank Station

These four pictures show the platform-to-train access on the Northern Line at Bank station.

Note.

  1. The first two pictures are the new Southbound platform.
  2. The last two pictures are the Northbound platform.
  3. The other pictures show the wide and level walkways between the two platforms.

The Southbound platform has level platform-to-train access, but the old Northbound platform does not!

That constitutes a design crime in my book.

September 9, 2022 Posted by | Design, Transport/Travel | , , , , | 2 Comments

Old Street Station – 9th September 2022

I took these pictures this morning, as my bus passed Old Street roundabout.

The Queen was also being shown on this bus-stop in Moorgate.

How many pictures like these are being displayed?

 

 

September 9, 2022 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | 3 Comments

It Looks Like The Gas Leak Has Killed The Tree Outside My House

A couple of months ago, I had a gas leak outside my house.

These pictures show the tree outside my house.

It looks like the gas in the soil has given the tree a good kicking.

Incidentally, when I was a child, all the trees in the road outside our house in Cockfosters were killed by gas leaks.

September 9, 2022 Posted by | World | , , | 1 Comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »