It's clear to anyone - with a scientific background or not - that you can increase the speed of a flow by narrowing the pipe. We see this when squeezing the garden hose, or when narrowing a river through its embankments. The same principle applies to wind. Try blowing air out of your mouth with … Continue reading Wind generation & the Venturi effect
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How the Jones Act affects the energy transition
It's been over five years since I first heard about the Jones Act on NPR's Planet Money podcast - an obscure American law that prohibits foreign vessels from shipping goods between domestic U.S. ports. Every time you want to send something from one American port to another American port, the cargo has to travel on … Continue reading How the Jones Act affects the energy transition
Britain goes a full week without coal power
When I published this post, the last time a coal power plant generated electricity was 13:24 Wednesday 1st May. National Grid ESO has confirmed that not only had no coal been used on the electricity grid since then, but none had been scheduled either. This was almost guaranteed to make a full week without coal. … Continue reading Britain goes a full week without coal power
Carbon Counting – Orange Juice to Olive Oil
In early 2007 - 12 years ago - the then-CEO of Tesco pledged to put labels on the company's 70,000+ products showing the carbon emissions associated with them. As someone who worked with carbon accounting under a government renewable scheme (the RHI) I can understand how difficult a process this can be. There are numerous … Continue reading Carbon Counting – Orange Juice to Olive Oil
Notes on Clark’s big energy speech
Overview Clark sees a future of zero subsidy, where low-carbon energy is the cheapest option. Overall lots of agreeing with Helm’s Cost of Energy Review (CoER) which had a ‘compelling vision for the future’. Clark focused on three key recommendations – the Firm Power Auction, independent System Operators, and dealing with a system dominated by … Continue reading Notes on Clark’s big energy speech
The Scottish offshore wind farm Donald Trump tried to stop has officially opened today
After years of planning, a large experimental wind farm has been built off the coast of Scotland. Named the 'European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre' (EOWDC), it's been funded by Swedish company Vattenfall and was officially opened today (7th September 2018) by the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The wind farm was opposed by the now-US … Continue reading The Scottish offshore wind farm Donald Trump tried to stop has officially opened today
Trump’s last ditch for coal will undermine US energy markets
The leaked plan to directly intervene in the US power market and compel buyers to use coal power is a worrying trend.
On Sunday afternoon, UK solar generated more electricity than any other single source
Electricity generated by solar panels on fields and homes outstripped all other single sources of energy yesterday afternoon, in what looks to be a historic first. The UK isn't known for being a sunny place, and in terms of renewables it has more of an association with wind energy. Yet for around three hours, solar … Continue reading On Sunday afternoon, UK solar generated more electricity than any other single source
Armenia’s forgotten interconnector
Look at the ENTSO-E grid map for Europe and you'll see an oddity. Turkey and Armenia, which have tense relations and a closed off border, apparently share an electricity interconnector. This means that their electricity grids are physically connected, and they can theoretically import and export electricity. How is this happening? Has the need for … Continue reading Armenia’s forgotten interconnector
Europe is facing a gas problem that can’t be solved with LNG
Gas networks in NW Europe (but not the UK) are generally divided into L-gas (low calorific gas) and H-gas (high calorific gas). The dependence on one large field for L-gas is becoming apparent, and with this field facing production restrictions, problems may occur before the L-gas networks can be converted into H-gas networks. Using H-gas in L-gas networks is unsafe, and many domestic/commercial appliances can only work with a certain range of gas.
