Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures
The title for this post was inspired by this article on the BBC, which is entitled Water Scheme Kicks In To Boost Severn Amid Drought.
This is the sub-heading.
A groundwater scheme in Shropshire that pumps additional water into the River Severn has been switched on
These are the first three paragraphs, which add more detail.
It comes after the Environment Agency (EA) last month declared drought status for the West Midlands, following the driest spring in 132 years.
The scheme, owned and operated by the agency, pumps groundwater stored naturally in sandstone underneath much of north Shropshire, and delivers it through an underground network of pipes into the Severn.
The scheme pumps almost 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools of fresh water every day into the river, with a total of 49 pumps and 53km (32.9m) of underground pipes.
It looks a good scheme to me, but I suspect, those pumps and pipes didn’t come cheap.
These two further paragraphs, explain how it works.
Two reservoirs in Wales – Clywedog and Vyrnwy – are the first resources used to top up the river during dry weather.
The groundwater scheme is the last option to be brought into operation during dry conditions, because of how resource-intensive it is.
I suspect politicians like Trump and Farage would not have sanctioned a scheme like this, as it only protects a river.
This page on the Environment Agency blog gives more details of the scheme.
I looked up the title, that I’ve used for this post on Google AI and received this answer.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures” is an idiom suggesting that unusual problems or difficult circumstances may require unconventional or extreme solutions that would not normally be considered. The phrase originated from an ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, who wrote about extreme diseases needing extreme methods of cure. The saying acknowledges that when faced with significant challenges, bold or drastic decisions may be necessary for survival or success.
As it seems the scheme is working well, I feel that the decision to build it, was the right one.
A Thought On The Texas Floods
I asked Google AI, if Texas is bad for natural disasters.
This was the reply.
Yes, Texas is known to be susceptible to a high number of natural disasters, particularly when compared to other states in the US. Texas experiences a wide variety of natural hazards, including hurricanes, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, hail storms, sinkholes, and droughts. The state has also experienced earthquakes, potentially linked to the extraction of natural resources like oil and gas.
I certainly wouldn’t want to live there, as my one experience of a bad storm in the UK nearly killed me. I wrote about my experiences in The Great Storm.
Trump Could Be A Disaster For The Environment
This article on ITVx is entitled ‘Drill, baby, drill’: What Trump’s Re-election Could Mean For Our Climate
The article is a must-read.
It starts with a picture that has a placard that says “Trump Digs Coal”
I certainly don’t and have felt that way since probably the Aberfan disaster of 1966.
This is the first paragraph from the Wikimedia entry.
The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses.
In coal mining areas, disasters still happen.
We should all show our disgust at Trump ad the people who voted for him, by not buying any American products, unless it is absolutely necessary.
Centrica And European Energy Sign Agreement On Måde Green Hydrogen Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica Energy and European Energy have signed a balancing and optimisation agreement for the Måde green hydrogen facility located at Port Esbjerg. Under the agreement, Centrica Energy will manage power production from co-located wind turbines, designating excess power production to green hydrogen production.
These two introductory paragraphs give more details.
Powering the 12MW green hydrogen facility are two wind turbines, part of the Måde Wind Turbine Test Center, developed by European Energy with a total installed capacity of 16MW. The turbines will provide renewable electricity, which is used to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis with demineralised water.
Expected to produce approximately 1,500 tonnes of green hydrogen every year, European Energy has secured an agreement with Port Esbjerg and a world-class industrial gases company for the offtake from the facility. As the production of hydrogen is a heat-intensive process, the excess heat from production will be fed into the local district heating network, demonstrating sector coupling across the electricity, fuel, and heating domains.
These are my thoughts,
Hydrogen Production
The hydrogen production uses a standard electrolysis method, but excess heat will be fed into the local district heating network.
AquaVentus And Denmark
I introduced AquaVentus in this post called AquaVentus.
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note.
- The thick white line running North-West/South-East is the spine of AquaVentus, that delivers hydrogen to Germany.
- There is a link to Esbjerg in Denmark.
- There appears to be an undeveloped link to Norway.
- There appears to be an undeveloped link to Peterhead in Scotland.
- There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
- Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Brough owned by Centrica.
- There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers, that are distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?
In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea.
It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network in the North Sea, that will bring the hydrogen they need to their country.
I also suspect that any spare hydrogen produced in Esbjerg can be added to the AquaVentus network.
- Hydrogen could be sent to Brough and Aldbrough in the UK for storage.
- Hydrogen could be sent to any country in the network that needs it.
Countries will pay for the hydrogen they use.
Optimising AquaVentus
AquaVentus is a complex network.
- Hydrogen could be produced offshore in British, Danish, Dutch, English, German, Norwegian, Orcadian, Scottish and Shetland waters.
- Hydrogen could be sent to Brough and Aldbrough in the UK for storage.
- Hydrogen can be sent to Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, The Netherlands and the UK.
A company like Centrica has the expertise and the software to control the various hydrogen flows to the best advantage of hydrogen producers and users.
Indian Minister’s Health aAdvice: Lie In A Cowshed To Cure Cancer
The title of this post, is the same. as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Senior politician in Narendra Modi’s party says he drinks cow urine every morning to kill bacteria and eliminate negativity
These are the first three paragraphs.
The humble cow has long been venerated in India. Revered by Hindus, pictured with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and long used by his Bharatiya Janata Party to promote the leader’s own politically charged brand of nationalism, the animal plays a central part in Indian life.
That adoration could grow further after a senior politician claimed that cows could cure cancer.
Sanjay Singh Gangwar, 48, a BJP minister for sugarcane in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said patients could eradicate their symptoms simply by cleaning and lying down in a cowshed. They would be cured by the “positive aura and energy” of cows, the minister said.
When I found a peer-reviewed paper entitled Coeliac Disease: Can We Avert The Impending Epidemic In India?, I discussed it with my GP at the time, who was of part-Indian extraction, and I got a rant about Narendra Modi.
I now take anything Narendra Modi says with a very large dose of salt.
Gangwar’s advice doesn’t stop there.
These two paragraphs give more pearls of wisdom.
The health benefits of a cow do not end there, added Gangwar. He advocated drinking “filtered” cow urine — which he said he did every morning — and use cow dung as flooring in village homes. And anyone suffering from high blood pressure should simply stroke a cow — once in the morning and again in the evening.
“If a cancer patient starts cleaning a cowshed and lying there, even cancer can be cured,” he insisted as he inaugurated a cow shelter in the city of Pilibhit. “If you burn cow dung cakes, you get relief from mosquitoes. Everything that a cow produces is useful in some way.”
So to Gangwar, the global-warming methane, that cows emit is useful, but in what way?
Is Gangwar, Donald Trump’s long-lost Indian son from a dalliance in the country?
New National Grid Substation Fully Operational, Transmitting Clean Power To 1.5 Million Homes
he title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.
These three bullet points act as sub-headings.
- National Grid’s new Littlebrook 400kV substation in Dartford, Kent is now fully energised.
- The facility enables the transmission of 2GW of low carbon and renewable energy from interconnectors and offshore wind farms off the coast of Kent to power around 1.5 million homes.
- New technology deployed to reduce emissions at the site.
This is the first three paragraphs, which outline the project.
National Grid has successfully commissioned a new, state-of-the-art substation, in Dartford, Kent, enabling 2 gigawatts (GW) of low carbon and renewable energy to power around 1.5 million homes.
National Grid and its contractors Balfour Beatty and GE Vernova’s Grid Solutions have been working since June 2019 to build a replacement for Littlebrook 400kV substation.
The new facility will help to reduce the use of sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆), a gas commonly used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and to keep the network safe and reliable.
These two paragraphs explain how the new substation fits in with National Grid’s SF₆ policy.
Engineers are using GE Vernova Grid Solutions’ innovative g3 gas-insulated busbar equipment which is SF6- free. A total of 5.6 tonnes of SF₆ gas has been saved, forming part of National Grid’s ambition to reduce its SF₆ emissions by 50% by 2030 and removing all SF₆ gas from electrical assets by 2050.
Teams have also deployed net zero construction methods throughout the project to reduce the environmental impact of the works, including steel manufactured in Britain, solar powered electrics, electric vehicle charging points, biodiversity net gain plan for the local area and an onsite biodigester to manage wastewater, all saving 5229 tonnes of CO₂ emissions during construction.
National Grid have this page on their web site, which is entitled What Is SF6? Sulphur Hexafluoride Explained, where this is the first paragraph.
Sulphur hexafluoride – also known as SF6 – is a ‘greenhouse gas’ that has long played a part in global warming, similar to that of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Hence the need for its removal.
Conclusion
Removal of sulphur hexafluoride from the world’s electricity substations and switchgear will be a very large task.
Simon Reeve’s South America
I am just watching episode two of this television series on BBC2.
It is definitely a must-watch. You can watch it here.
Interestingly, the program was giving a similar message about the rain forest, that I talked about in The Enforcer From The World Bank.
Australia Climate Protest: Rising Tide Activists Shovel Coal Off Train
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
About 50 climate activists have been arrested in the Australian state of New South Wales after protesters climbed on a train carrying coal and began shovelling its cargo out of the wagons.
At least with coal, the mess won’t do too much damage.
National Grid Avoids Emissions At London Power Tunnels Substation With Green Grid Technology
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.
These are the main bullet points.
- £1bn project to rewire London will see the replacement of ageing high-voltage electricity cables and expand network capacity to meet the increasing electricity demand
- A new substation at Bengeworth Road in Lambeth is at the heart of the project and will be built by Linxon using Hitachi Energy’s SF6 free gas insulated switchgear technology in a UK first
- The project forms part of National Grid’s ambition to have no SF6 in electrical assets by 2050
- National Grid is investing a total of £1.3bn every year in electricity network infrastructure needed to help the UK decarbonise and reach net zero emissions
I’ll now expand some of these points.
The London Power Tunnels
This is said about the London Power Tunnels.
National Grid’s London Power Tunnels (LPT) project is a seven-year, £1 billion project, to rewire South London via deep underground tunnels. This vital work to replace ageing high-voltage cables will expand capacity and help keep Londoners connected to secure and reliable electricity supplies.
Note.
- In total, there are 32.5km of 3m diameter tunnels.
- They stretch between Wimbledon and Crayford.
- As part of the project, a new tunnel access shaft, substation and headhouse is being built at Bengeworth Road, Lambeth to connect to our London Power Tunnels (LPT) route.
The London Power Tunnels have their own web site.
Sulphur Hexafluoride
This is said about Sulphur Hexafluoride.
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6 ) is used in the electricity industry in substations to prevent short circuits and to keep the network safe and reliable, but it has a high global warming potential. National Grid’s ambition is to reduce its SF6 emissions by 50% by 2030 and remove all SF6 gas from electrical assets by 2050.
Linxon is building Bengeworth Road substation for National Grid and to support the business in its transition to SF6 -free solutions, in a UK first, Hitachi Energy will deliver EconiQ™ 400-kilovolt (kV) gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) and gas-insulated lines (GIL) containing no SF6, to enable the transmission of energy over long distances. Installation is expected to begin in 2023, subject to prior approval of the substation by Lambeth Council.
In the Wikipedia entry for sulphur hexafluoride, this is said.
SF6 is 23,500 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas but exists in relatively minor concentrations in the atmosphere. Its concentration in Earth’s troposphere reached 10.63 parts per trillion (ppt) in 2021, rising at 0.39 ppt/year.[8] The increase over the prior 40 years was driven in large part by the expanding electric power sector, including fugitive emissions from banks of SF6 gas contained in its medium- and high-voltage switchgear. Uses in magnesium, aluminium, and electronics manufacturing also hastened atmospheric growth.
As I have a lot of experience of HF, my view is that we’re well shot of the SF6, but I’ll be 103, when National Grid eliminate it.
Dual-Fuel Class 37 And 66 Locomotive Concepts Unveiled
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the first paragraph.
G-volution and SBL-Rail have produced design concepts for dual-fuel versions of Class 37 and 66 locomotives, which would be able to run on diesel with biomethane, biopropane or hydrogen.
Note.
- There are about sixty Class 37 locomotives in service or stored.
- 480 Class 66 locomotives were originally produced and over 300 must still be in service.
- Both locomotives have electric transmissions.
- G-volution are developing a dual-fuel Class 180 train, that I wrote about in Grand Central DMU To Be Used For Dual-Fuel Trial.
- Two of the design concepts involve replacing the current diesel engines with modern Cummins engines, that meet current emission regulations.
- Fuel savings of ten percent are mentioned for one engine conversion.
This is said about the dual-fuel conversions.
Biomethane and biopropane dual fuel engines would offer significant carbon and cost savings verses diesel. Hydrogen has the potential to do so if produced from renewable sources, but would need to be ‘much cheaper’ than it is today.
The article then gives a table, which shows the various savings.
The article comes to these conclusions.
- Biomethane and biopropane prices are expected to fall, as production increases.
- Green hydrogen is too expensive, but costs will come down.
- More rises in the price of diesel, will tilt costs towards alternative fuels.
I feel that to get the emissions and costs down, there would need to be a bit of cheating.
Look at this picture of a Class 66 locomotive under 25 KVAC electrification.
I wonder, if a pantograph and all the electrical gubbins could be fitted to a Class 66 locomotive to create a genuine electro-diesel locomotive.
- It would use electrification, where it exists.
- It would use the existing electric transmission.
- I do suspect though that the Class 37 locomotive may be more difficult to convert because of its age.
It should be noted that in GB Railfreight Plans Order For Future-Proofed Bi-Mode Locomotives, I talk about how GB Railfreight are proposing to purchase a fleet of new electro-diesel freight locomotives, that appears will have Class 66 locomotive performance on both electrification and diesel.
The Involvement Of Cummins
Cummins, who are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of diesel engines, could have a lot to lose from the move to zero-carbon.
- But they have adopted an if-you-can’t-them-join-them philosophy to hydrogen.
- They have bought up hydrogen companies like Hydrogenics.
- They are developing internal combustion engines that can run on hydrogen.
- Cummins have claimed to me, that they will try to fill any niche market with their engines, so it would be likely, they would apply that philosohy to hydrogen.
I believe that Cummins will not give up their market share without a fight.
I would expect, Cummins will actively support G-volution’s plans, if it would sell upwards of fifty large engines.
Conclusion
I have four main conclusions.
- I believe that this study could lead to a very significant and worthwhile updating of a Class 66 locomotive.
- The locomotive would need to be modified so it could use electrification.
- But I am more dubious, that this could be done with the Class 37 locomotive.
- I also believe that Cummins will be part of the solution.
In the wider world, I also believe that to retain their turnover and market share, Cummins and the other big diesel engine manufacturers will come up with increasingly innovative solutions.
Caterpillar, Cummins, Deutz, JCB, MTU and others will not give up multi-billion businesses without a fight.
The Anonymous Widower 