Author Topic: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)  (Read 4622 times)

Michael Rolls

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #45 on: Nov 19, 2020, 09:22:56 AM »
My heart sinks when I hear the 'smart' adjective deployed!
Mike
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The older I get, the better I was!

eegrek

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #46 on: Nov 19, 2020, 11:24:56 AM »
The main problem with the electricity supply is the problem of matching demand with the grid capacity. This capacity is going to be supplemented apparently with small nuclear generators (six being supplied by Rolls Royce) . High  demand has already been solved with Large Battery facilities such as installed in Australia to even out peak demands and prevent outages.


There are number of alternative scenarios which involve car to grid mechanisms where when a large number of electric cars are attached to a charging point at home then the owner can elect to earn money by allowing some of the battery charge to return to the grid when the cost of electricity is at its highest, obviously if the owner has more charge in the battery than he requires for his next journey.


The same goes for those people who might invest in power walls where it the power wall is either charged at night when electricity is cheap or during the day by solar cells and when many people are at work and not using the domestic power supply. This capacity can be allowed to help the grid reach its maximum power demand in the evening. This is a good way of using the car as a source of income. Many car owners in practice only have to charge their car two or three times a week.


Charging  when street parking really is the biggest problem  all to solve, especially having to depend on councils to provide a solution as they will always be reluctant to spend the money unless they can make a profit out of it. Lamp post charge points have been tried and chargers that rise and fall from the pavement are available but are a rather up market solution. I think that a trial should be carried out to provide kerbside chargers say about 4 per street at first to prove the concept and then to gradually roll out more as time goes on.

klondike

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #47 on: Nov 19, 2020, 04:31:44 PM »
What happens on 1st January 2021 when the EU get the arse because we wouldn't hand over our fishing rights and continue subjugating our laws to them so they shut off the electricity wire we import power over?


Mr. Google he say...
The UK has been a net importer of electricity since Quarter 2 2010, with total net imports in Quarter 2 2020 of 4.5 TWh. This accounted for 6.5 per cent of total electricity supply (excluding own use) over the period.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Ashy

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #48 on: Nov 19, 2020, 04:39:35 PM »
Then you need a bicycle dynamo.

As to street parking, I'm afraid it's all too simple. If you haven't got an electric car you will not be allowed to park and/or it will not be practical to do so. If you have got an electric car you will have to take your turn and hope for the best. There is always the AA.

klondike

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #49 on: Nov 19, 2020, 04:56:41 PM »
They made wind up radios so perhaps they'll make wind up cars. They certainly should as the whole thing is a big wind up.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Ashy

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #50 on: Nov 19, 2020, 05:43:39 PM »
Maybe the idea is not so silly. A spring can be used as a store of energy and they could use a big leaf spring. Then you could take it into a winding up station and have it wound up (for a fee) using a hydraulic motor, like the ones that raise Tower Bridge. Yes it has definitely got legs and emission free in use.

Ashy

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #51 on: Nov 19, 2020, 05:47:10 PM »
http://douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/POWER/clockwork/clockcar2.jpg

"This three-seat clockwork car was built by Ingersoll Moore, of Bloomimgton, IL. It was driven by four clockwork motors, each having three flat coiled springs. These were connected by gearing and all could be wound up by a lever on the driver's right side. Double action ratchets allowed the lever to wind the springs as it was moved in either direction. This must have been extremely hard work as you were effectively rowing the car along with one hand. No details of its range are currently known. "

Michael Rolls

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #52 on: Nov 19, 2020, 05:48:14 PM »
They made wind up radios so perhaps they'll make wind up cars. They certainly should as the whole thing is a big wind up.
I used to have a wind-up car. Mind you, it was a bit small.....
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Ashy

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #53 on: Nov 19, 2020, 05:54:11 PM »
Other experiments were done in the nineteenth century with cars and tramways, but obviously they didn't get very far. Electric traction and the internal combustion engine were infinitely superior.

As a matter of fact, our cities could have retained the trolleybuses, and certainly would have, if diesel had not been almost given away at the time, circa 1960-64.

I think most electric bus and tram systems generated their own power from coal at the time and that was getting more expensive.

prestbury

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #54 on: Nov 20, 2020, 01:49:44 PM »
Another greater worry is the phasing out of gas boilers. It was provisionally announced yesterday that from 2023 all new builds will not be allowed to be fitted with a gas boiler. They must use either electric boilers, ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps or hydrogen boilers.

The 2nd and 3rd options are expensive to install and the electric option is neither efficient nor cheap for the consumer. The fourth option is Hydrogen boilers although there are currently only two experimental ones built by Baxi and Worcester and no sign of any production yet.

Hydrogen would be pumped through the existing gas network, initially with a small amount of methane gas but hydrogen cannot be pumped through existing steel pipes which account for around 20% of the network.

And so the green march goes on!

Ashy

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #55 on: Nov 20, 2020, 01:55:43 PM »
I suspect that builders will leave the new homes with no heat if the government makes it difficult. The new owners will have to do the job.

prestbury

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #56 on: Nov 20, 2020, 02:17:37 PM »
I suspect that builders will leave the new homes with no heat if the government makes it difficult. The new owners will have to do the job.

That may be the case but if they want to sell them they would have to have the home with heating.

A comparison of average costs for just the boiler installation in an average house:
Gas Combi Boiler - £1,500
Electric Combi Boiler - £4,000
Ground Source Heat Pump - £10,000 to £18,000
Air Source Heat Pump - £8,000 to £15,000
Hydrogen Combi Boiler - £1,500

The running costs of gas or hydrogen boilers make them the most economical for consumers with electric the most expensive. Ground or air source can be the most economical over a period of time as can be solar but there has to be an additional element of maintenance costs added.



Michael Rolls

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #57 on: Nov 20, 2020, 02:37:52 PM »
The usual idiocy in the name of saving the planet - which it won't do
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

klondike

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #58 on: Nov 20, 2020, 02:47:26 PM »
Those setting the rules are not those paying. On the contrary there are probably either some nice little backhanders to be made from setting them or investing in companies sure to profit based on knowledge of what is to come.


Want to know why? Whatever the why may be the answer is usually follow the money.
So long and thanks for all the fish

crabbyob

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Re: Pie in the sky? (nothing to do with covid)
« Reply #59 on: Nov 20, 2020, 02:47:39 PM »
so what might the costs of running a hydrogen Combi-boiler
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but as we are already here we may as well dance”