Energy sources of the future

[Blondy]

@butterscotch

In the electric cars thread , there’s a post about sodium batteries in post #35, the second to the last post.

Excellent. Have now read it. Thanks for the link.

[LongDriver]

@Blondy

On a related topic, where do you think we can actually reduce the usage of energy?

Heat generating triple glazing has reduced my heating load and bill considerably. Even a clouded sky will produce some heat from the inner glass.

[Percy_Vere]

@Blondy

On a related topic, where do you think we can actually reduce the usage of energy? Also, it seems pretty self evident that battery operated cars aren’t likely to be a viable option for a wide range of reasons. Apart from hydrogen cars, have any of you heard of any other ideas in the pipeline?

1. A great deal of energy can be saved during the night by converting each and every street light to LEDs. Worcester, from where we moved, had an active programme of changing all the street lights over from high pressure sodium and mercury lamps to LEDs. Paid for themselves in no time I believe.
2. There are a great many out-of-town stores and shopping malls that could have solar arrays installed on their roofs (if they haven’t already) and, indeed, many large buildings all over the country.
3. Anaerobic digesters were shown on last Sunday’s Country File programme. These ferment cow poo producing methane and fertiliser. The methane is burnt to heat water to produce electricity. The installation shown in the item cost £5m (but treated as a 20yr investment = £250k/yr depreciation), had been in use for 10yrs and had already paid for itself because of the rising cost of electricity and the sales value of the fertiliser. These digesters are not new technology at all, they’re just very expensive up-front and, as a dairy farmer, you would need quite a large herd.
   This isn’t the one on Sunday’s Country File but it’s the same sort of thing.