@Ripple ,. Yeah, l agree, every fink we make, involves using energy in some form!
The windmills have a relatively short life span and will need replacing on a constant basis, this will involve energy!
Unless we can generate enough energy from wind it will never be carbon free!
This seem unlikely to happen?
It will have to happen either that or live a simpler well insulated life.
All in all it will probably create massive carbon footprint to get there .
Hmmm time for a coffee .
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Hi
Donkeyman. everything we do involved leaving a footprint, you are breathing, you are leaving a footprint.
You are using an electronic device to post on here.
Wind turbines work with a very low carbon footprint, do do solar panels etc.
They are labelled carbon free to distinguish them from fossil fuels
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@swimfeeders ,All very true swimmy ? Non off which can help us in our
present predicament does it?
But there is more to come , We are on the cusp of having the vast tundra
areas of the northern hemisphere defrosting ! Evidence Greenland!
This is long frozen vegetation that when it thaws, releases methane gas!
Methane is nine times more effective when it comes to global warming
than carbon !
And this process will be entirely out of our control!
Yet companies are already vying for licences to prospect for fossil fuels
in Greenland once everything has thawed ??
UKs inputs are minuscule in changing anything compared to USA, China, and
lndia! I do love to be a joy bringer !!
[quote=“Ripple, post:24, topic:94056, full:true”]
Yes agree , hydro power reliable and zero carbon[/quote]
I agree but we don’t the scale we need. Norway is good for that. In UK we have a hydro storage scheme, Dinorwegin the Snowdinia Park. It generates 1,728 MW. Just for scale Drax power station in Yorkshire is 4,000 MW.
Slag Heaps are an eyesore.
Drax owns and is investing several hydro electric power stations Drax obviously see hydro in a positive light.
Presumably there are reasons why hydroelectric power hasn’t been expanded to provide all of the UK’s electrical supply. I can think of three possible…
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You’d have to drown too much land, assuming you coukd find suitable olaces in the first place
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I’m guessing, but presuming that unless the reservoirs are so huge to not have to worry, the flow rate out is more than the flow rate in, so you’d have to limit the amount of energy you could produce.
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Long period of drought = no water = no electricity. Thus you’d have to have bigger reservoirs.
We use a lot of pumped hydro here. You pump the water up to a reservoir at night which keeps generators on line which would otherwise have to be stopped (very expensive to restart). Then at peak demand the water is released downhill to provide power when it is needed. You could pump it back up that night or release it for environmental river flow.
I think you recover 80% of the power it took to pump up but it saves a fortune in oil used to fire up boilers.
This relied on the fact that peak demand was during the day and electricity was cheap at night. Solar has turned this on its head with too much power available during a sunny day so I don’t know what the future is. I expect showers of engineering dandruff are being shed to work it all out.
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I suspect you have larger appropriate areas of land that could be utilised/drowned that the UK, and possibly a smaller demand?
Possibly true, but that’s how it works
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I agree. As it happens I did a project for hydro scheme in a paper mill. It fell into disuse as the paper machines got much bigger and faster. However we resurrected it and I got a second hand motor and I configured it as a generator. The power rating is 500 kW so not massive in industrial terms. It was satisfying and free energy.
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Hydro has the disadvantage of needing a sizable mountain or hill to work?
These are not always available locally, or near to where the power is needed?
Plus as Dex pointed out, if it doesn’t rain you are up shyte creek!
On an island like UK tidal should be investigated more, we have high tidal
variation and many narrow straits where the tidal variation is enhanced !!
Why don’t we use them more ??the times that high tides occur also vary in
different locations thus spreading the time that power can be generated!!
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I recall that there is at least one thing in the UK in operation which uses tidal flow upstream and later downstream to turn a turbine somewhere along an estuary. Not sure if this idea is to be used elsewhere. As with many such projects, local ecological disruptions need to be taken into consideration.
@Dextrous63 , l believe the French have had an estuary based system in
operation for some years now !
It is situated some where along the Atlantic coast part of France!
I will have to Google against all my instincts, to find details ??
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This is a good site for hydro pros & cons
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@Ripple Very good article Rip. ! However it doesn’t mention tidal, ?
Tidal is not dependant on rainfall, and doesn’t create greenhouse gases
from submerged vegetation either !
Like diamonds , tidal is forever !!
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Thank you kindly , sir! I have had been around a bit and have seen a bit. It was part of my job.
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If you are fascinated by the prospects of Fusion then you can watch this (it is quite interesting but not exciting)
