Carbon neutral fuel is not far off

Carbon neutral fuel is not far off

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Discussion

otolith

56,026 posts

204 months

Monday 6th January 2020
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Flumpo said:
A few years ago I saw an interesting experiment that was being done in the USA. I think it was in Nevada. Solar powered trains (can’t think of a better word) went up a steep incline powered by the sun up to the top. When you wanted energy they tipped over the crest to a vertical drop and through a dynamo they created energy.

Obviously that’s probably not feasible large scale. But maybe wind or solar could power something which could then have its energy converted into something else. Could you use wind to pump water into a lake then open a dam when you need the power.
Pumped storage is a thing.

The larger and more diverse your network, the more constant the demand - especially if you get to the point of crossing time zones.

Dave Hedgehog

14,546 posts

204 months

Tuesday 7th January 2020
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xjay1337 said:
Until there is a method of being able to drive for approx 300-400 miles, being able to fully refuel in 10 minutes tops, Electric cars will always be a minority, or used as secondary cars in and around town (for which they are fantastic).

Imagine the queues at the "pumps" when you need to recharge your batteries..... because of course, there is never going to be the infrastructure to allow every single parking spot at your work to charge your car.
this is only a problem for the 1% of motorists who do over 300 miles a day, for the vast majority of drivers current EVs will work every day

charging is an issue for the moment for a lot of people who have on street parking, its early days and there are several solutions for this in the works


rxe

6,700 posts

103 months

Tuesday 7th January 2020
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Dave Hedgehog said:
this is only a problem for the 1% of motorists who do over 300 miles a day, for the vast majority of drivers current EVs will work every day

charging is an issue for the moment for a lot of people who have on street parking, its early days and there are several solutions for this in the works
Except when they don’t and that’s the killer. What does the M5 services look like on the Thursday before Bank Holiday as everyone piles down to the West Country from London and then run out of power somewhere near Exeter? You either need to provision terawatts of charge capacity, or people queue for days.

Chris32345

2,085 posts

62 months

Tuesday 7th January 2020
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rxe said:
Except when they don’t and that’s the killer. What does the M5 services look like on the Thursday before Bank Holiday as everyone piles down to the West Country from London and then run out of power somewhere near Exeter? You either need to provision terawatts of charge capacity, or people queue for days.
Not just that it's the billions needing investing into the distribution network if lots of people start charging at home the network can't handle a possible 3-4 fold increase in peak demands
10 people running of one transformer all trying to charge there car at same time would overload many of them ontop on normal demand

otolith

56,026 posts

204 months

Tuesday 7th January 2020
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Chris32345 said:
Not just that it's the billions needing investing into the distribution network if lots of people start charging at home the network can't handle a possible 3-4 fold increase in peak demands
10 people running of one transformer all trying to charge there car at same time would overload many of them ontop on normal demand
Have you told the National Grid? You definitely should, because they aren't worried at all.

Flumpo

3,736 posts

73 months

Wednesday 8th January 2020
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otolith said:
Chris32345 said:
Not just that it's the billions needing investing into the distribution network if lots of people start charging at home the network can't handle a possible 3-4 fold increase in peak demands
10 people running of one transformer all trying to charge there car at same time would overload many of them ontop on normal demand
Have you told the National Grid? You definitely should, because they aren't worried at all.
Deleted as I can’t be bothered.

Edited by Flumpo on Wednesday 8th January 12:21

Evanivitch

20,030 posts

122 months

Wednesday 8th January 2020
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Flumpo said:
The national grid are working with the government, local authorities and the big petrol stations and see fast chargers not home charging as a way forward.
.
They've said no such thing.

They acknowledge that many people won't have home chargers because of on street parking, but they certainly see home chargers being normal for those with driveways.

And also, NG don't seem to have issue with the spread of streetlight chargers and kerbside chargers either.

GroundZero

2,085 posts

54 months

Tuesday 18th February 2020
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Focused said:
This could be very interesting for petrol-heads...

https://forecourttrader.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/a...
Will the new fuel provide a similar energy per volume content as petrol and diesel?
Even if it is a little lower, using turbos can bring engine power up to fun levels again.

Surely the Greta brigade can't argue against this development can they?

Assuming new vehicles are also focussed on recyclable materials.

The new fuel needs to arrive quickly, because Boris in his infinite wisdom has only given the ICE car 15 more years.
But then again, the world only has 12 years left anyways doesn't it? wink

Dave Hedgehog

14,546 posts

204 months

Tuesday 18th February 2020
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GroundZero said:
The new fuel needs to arrive quickly, because Boris in his infinite wisdom has only given the ICE car 15 more years.
But then again, the world only has 12 years left anyways doesn't it? wink
The world will be fine, the amount that is habitable or usable for food production for humans is going to be the problem


Skodaku

1,805 posts

219 months

Sunday 23rd February 2020
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Pumped Storage has been used to generate electricity for a long time. There a station in North Wales...Snowdonia, I believe, but not sure if it still operates. Worth searching, (online), for. I think it pumped water up to storage over night and released it to generate power during the day...but may have been the ither way 'round. Only two possibilities. 🙄

Evanivitch

20,030 posts

122 months

Sunday 23rd February 2020
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Skodaku said:
Pumped Storage has been used to generate electricity for a long time. There a station in North Wales...Snowdonia, I believe, but not sure if it still operates. Worth searching, (online), for. I think it pumped water up to storage over night and released it to generate power during the day...but may have been the ither way 'round. Only two possibilities. ??
Dinorwig, also affectionately known as the Electric Mountain. About 9GWh of energy storage.

SPKR

226 posts

76 months

Tuesday 25th February 2020
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Probably too late. Even if it happens. At least for cars.