Energy Switch Inertia
I’ve just heard Paul Lewis on BBC Breakfast talking about some of the new rules to find the best energy deal. It sounds a real mess, which is all to the advantage of the Big Six.
I wrote Read This Article If You’re With The Big Six Companies, when I read a good article by Stewart Dalby, where he advocated self help.
Talking to a few friends who are still with the Dreaded Big Six, I’m convinced that the biggest problem is brain inertia and making the decision to switch.
But against this, I’ve never met anyone, who is dissatisfied with a small supplier after switching.
There are various methods, I’ve heard of where people found their new small energy supplier.
- Recommendation from a friend or someone they trust.
- One lady was pointed to her supplier by her doctor.
- From the consumer pages of a daily or local paper. One was even recommended by the Daily Star!
- I’ve seen one supplier advertised above urinals in a pub toilet.
- From a local councillor.
I chose my supplier, as I saw an interview with OVO’s founder in the Sunday Times. I liked what I read and as I still do, I have no reason to change!
Combined Food And Power
I suppose it sounds too good to be true to produce both food and power from the same industrial process.
But look at this page entitled Combined Food And Power on the Orthios Group web site.
The company might have something.
Bombardier’s Battery Technology
I have just found this timely article in the Rail Engineer entitled Battery-Powered Tram Record.
It is a detailed technical article about batteries and their application to Bombardier’s new trams in Germany.
Is it a case of trams today and trains tomorrow?
Good Riddance To Coal-Fired Power Stations
This article on the BBC is entitled UK’s coal plants to be phased out within 10 years. This is said.
The UK’s remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has proposed.
Ms Rudd wants more gas-fired stations to be built since relying on “polluting” coal is “perverse”.
Because coal is pure carbon, when it burns, if produces carbon dioxide.
On the other hand, natural gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and methane, which is a compound of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atons. So when it burns, it produces a lot of the combustion product of hydrogen, which is water.
I think to get the same amount of heat or produce a given amount of electricity, natural gas creates about half the amount of carbon dioxide, than coal does.
There is another advantage of using gas to generate electricity. You can have small power stations generating electricity, where it is needed.
An interesting small gas-powered power station is the Bunhill Energy Centre in Islington, which is used to generate electricity and heat for some of the Council’s buildings. Phase 2 of this project will capture waste heat from the London Underground and a large electricity sub-station, that will be used to heat more buildings.
These cogeneration systems will become more numerous. For instance, if you had say a large detached house in the country, you might use solar panels or a wind turbine, backed by a microCHP system for dark or still days.
We shouldn’t underestimate, the skill of engineers to design electricity combined heat and power systems matched to all the different markets.
There will come a time, where many of us will generate the electricity we need, either by ourselves or perhaps in a local co-operative. We could even sell the surplus back to the grid.
I will not predict what a system will look like, but it will heat your house and provide you with the electricity you need.
The one thing, I will predict that coal will not have any use for the generation of electricity.
Swansea Tidal Lagoon In The Independent
I have a feeling that the Swansea Tidal Lagoon could be a very worthwhile way of generating electricity.
Today, there is this article in the Independent entitled Swansea’s tidal lagoon project delayed amid concerns over costs.
It is a comprehensive review of the technology and contains some interesting nuggets.
- The Swansea scheme has a capacity of 320MWh
- The company is saying up to five other places could have a lagoon power station and together they would develop eight per cent of our electricity.
But to me, its biggest advantage, is once it is built, with maintenance, it will continue to produce zero-carbon energy for a long time.
I shall be watching this project with a lot of interest.
Atlantic Superconnection Features In The Sunday Times
I am an electrical engineer by training and although possibly the only work I’ve done in the power field directly is to wire a plug, I know the technology of power generation fairly well.
Ever since I went to Iceland last year and first heard about IceLink, I’ve followed the project with interest.
Today there is an article in The Sunday Times entitled Cameron wants sea cable to bring lava power from Iceland.
It talks about the involvement of a company called Atlantic Superconnection
Read the article and follow the company!
My Kind Of Energy Company
I found this article on edie.net entitled Ovo Shuns Coal And Nuclear.
I am very much against using coal as a fuel for various reasons, but as I get older and hopefully wiser, I feel that nuclear energy is non-viable economically.
The cost of the new station at Hinkley Point doesn’t look good value for money, when compared to some of the new developments in the pipeline.
Tidal, such as the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, personal solar and linking the UK to Iceland with an undersea cable, might well prove to be better long term investments.
So I applaud OVO for their stance and will continue to use them as my energy supplier.
A Solution To Lower Energy Bills
This article in that right wing paper, The Guardian is entitled Do you want lower energy bills? Ask at your town hall
It is a must read.
Does Your Energy Company Say Sorry When Its Web Site Gets Its Knickers In A Twist?
Mine does!
Ovo Says Sorry
I got this, when I clicked a link to view my statement!
I suppose it’s better than leaving me lost in cyberspace!
Does Jeremy Corbyn Really Support Coal?
I am very surprised by this report in the Daily Mirror, which talks about Jeremy Corbyn and coal. Here’s the first paragraph.
Jeremy Corbyn could bring back coal mines despite vowing to ‘keep fossil fuels in the ground’.
The article goes on to talk about carbon capture technology to burn coal without producing any carbon dioxide.
I have been to learned lectures on this technology and there’s about as much chance of making it work economically, as landing an astronaut on the Sun.
I may be wrong about carbon capture technology, but we would be better spending the investment on insulating our woefully energy-inefficient buildings, so everybody had a lower energy bill.
We obviously need more electricity and there are better ways of generating it without the carbon problem.
My preferred methods would be.
- Importing electricity generated by geothermal and hydroelectric power stations in Iceland using an undersea cable. The so-called IceLink is described on this page on the National Grid web site.
- Tidal power in the Severn and other western estuaries. The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon is a project that has started.
- Offshore wind and wave.
- Solar panels on buildings. Technology is improving and costs are falling.
- Local energy generation using small-scale systems like the Bunhill Energy Centre in Islington.
I also believe that if we funded research in our best Universities, we could fundamentally change our energy use, generation and conservation.
We might even be able to do without using more of the following types of power generation in the future.
- Coal, with all its problems of pollution and the carbon dioxide it generates.
- Nuclear, with all its problems of high cost and unacceptability by certain sections of the population.
- On-shore wind, with all its visual intrusion.
I think the future is going to be scientifically green.
I suspect that in twenty or thirty years time, our main uses of fossil fuels, like oil and gas, will be in the production of needed chemicals, heat energy for industrial processes and powering transport.
The Anonymous Widower 