air source heating

[kevplumb]

Thatcher burnt the gas to make electricity, against advice, to make the power industry attractive to private companies. The UK has 60 year of coal underneath with this being left in the ground and the mining industry abolished for political spite. She closed down mines and started to import cheap coal from abroad which was subsided by their governments, using safety levels in mines which would not be acceptable in the UK. She was told to reserve gas for primarily domestic use.

well said that man

 

[Corgigrouch]

I suppose that another way of looking at it is that when we have burnt all that cheap foreign coal, we are still sitting on a nice pile of our own though I'm sure that this wasn't by design..

The salt mines under Cheshire are being converted to store natural gas which has really upset the locals in the surrounding villages though I have no problem with this or Nuclear power. Before anyone asks, Yes, I would live next door to a Nuclear power station, I have great faith in British engineering provided that accountants don't get involved.

I like heat pumps though I still feel that they have a way to go, my preference goes towards air to air as individual units can be used to heat the rooms that are being used rather than heating every room, I would argue the need for air conditioning, or rather dehumidification which can not be achieved by ventilation alone

 

[Agile]

Our coal industry has been closed down because mines in other thirld world countries can pay miners just £40 pw whereas our Brit miners want £400.

Its cheaper for us to import coal and quietly forget about our foreign trade defecit. That used to be important but now its hushed up. Its effect is seen though in the way our currency has gone down against the dollar and Euro.

Thats not the recession but just that we have mis managed our energy requirements.

France has quietly gone nuclear with their riot police beating the hell out of any protesters!

Tony

 

[Dick Puller]

Well said Telly Tony!!

Mrs Thatcher closed the mines cause they were not making money, the Unions were trying to run the country & that middle aged woman kicked the sh.t out of them!!!

Mrs Thatcher was the best PM the UK has had since Churchill.

 

[GeorgeBramwell]

Well said Telly Tony!!

Mrs Thatcher closed the mines cause they were not making money, the Unions were trying to run the country & that middle aged woman kicked the sh.t out of them!!!

Mrs Thatcher was the best PM the UK has had since Churchill.

My GOD!!! What drivel !!!

Thatcher closed the mines for political spite. The Tories bulldozed the 1951 Festival of Britain sites a few weeks after getting into power for political spite. There were some superb advanced buildings. Only the Festival Hall, survived.

Thatcher did much damage and we are paying the price for her obsessional stupidity today.

The UK is running out of gas and has to buy imported gas - hence massive crippling energy price hypes. To get rid of the coal industry she allowed companies to use cheap North Sea gas to power electricity power stations instead of coal, of which the country has an abundance. She was told to preserve gas for primarily domestic consumption and use coal for electricity generation. We now have few coal mines left in the country - a country with amazing coal reserves.

Unfortunately as North Sea oil was coming on-line in a big way Thatcher got to power. Then she decided to implement some bizarre economic policies - that naturally failed. But she would not reverse or hold back - "the lady is not for turning", she said. This obstinacy against common logic is misinterpreted as "being strong", and "saying as it is", etc. Attributes that appeal to the hard of thinking. The buffer of North Sea oil revenues meant it saved her bacon.

She squandered the income of North Sea oil on unemployment benefit, instead of investing the proceeds for the future: commerce, industry, education, etc. North Sea oil and gas was the greatest legacy the country had seen and she squandered it.

Obsessions cloud reality and she had some obsessions OK. And the sycophants followed her.

 

[GeorgeBramwell]

Our coal industry has been closed down because mines in other thirld world countries can pay miners just £40 pw whereas our Brit miners want £400.

Do you think we should pay our miners £40 a week? Maybe we could whip them as well.

Nuclear IS NOT the way forward. Tidal lagoons is:

On average only about 40% from an oil field is extracted because of the uneven shapes of the caverns. More flexible pipes are being employed to extract about twice as much, which means the North Sea has twice as much oil. So not all doom and gloom.

But, peak "crude" oil is reality. In less than a century about half the world's crude oil reserves have been exhausted. Could be a serious problem. The UK can use 100% electricity for everything including all transport and heating, etc by using tidal lagoons.

The UK can get all its power from tidal lagoons built into the Irish Sea. It is largely a matter of dumping rock in the sea on an unprecedented scale. British engineers can manage that OK, and the British Isles geography is the best in the World for such an undertaking. It involves moving about 2500 million tons of rock to the Irish Sea, creating tidal lagoons to supply 100% of Britain and Ireland's electricity needs.

The numbers are staggering but possible. A heavy train can move perhaps 500 plus tons of rock so about 4 or 5 million train loads are needed. The UKs waste can be dumped into the lagoon walls too while under construction. The scale is no less than the laying of rail systems through the UK in the 1800s - trackbed, rails, trains, stations, bridge, tunnels, etc.

Tidal lagoons are both the long-term answer and they are more acceptable politically. It would take maybe 30 railways to haul rock from say 30 large quarries over 25 years to meet 100% of Britain's need for energy. 2500 million tons of rock and 25% of the Irish Sea. This is clearly possible and mostly involves hauling rock from mountains to sea on an unprecedented scale. New valleys can be created also with new lakes and fresh water reservoirs, so great knock on effects. Britain's engineers are easily up for that challenge. The walls built can also be bridges and anti tidal surge barriers too. There are many knock on benefits.

The plan would be similar to the rise of the railways in the UK, when from 1830 to 1860 most of the UK was covered. A massive engineering undertaking in every aspect, of train making, and the civil side.

The insides of hills and mountains can be cut out for the rock and lakes constructed top and bottom to make provision for instant use peak time hydro stations and fresh water reservoirs - half time energy peaks in major football games on TV.

The UK can then run super-fast electric Maglev trains city centre to city centre, that can replace air travel and oil usage, without any problems in running costs. In fact propeller planes using electric motors and the more efficient battery sets could be used for island hopper planes.

Fuel poverty and pollution is then a thing of the past.

 

[Corgigrouch]

George, You make it all sound so easy... I'll get me shovel.

 

[GeorgeBramwell]

George, You make it all sound so easy... I'll get me shovel.

Don't forget the wheelbarrow.

 

[kevplumb]

have to say it's one hell of a good argument for tidal

personally i go with geothermal but thats just my opinion

 

[Corgigrouch]

George, You make it all sound so easy... I'll get me shovel.

Don't forget the wheelbarrow.

I fear that I may need more than one... I wonder if I could negotiate a decent discount from Wickes... And think of all the points on my loyalty card.

I'm with Kev, it is a compelling argument, it could provide work for loads of British workers, give the Government something useful to spend our taxes on, provide the clean power we need to run our heat pumps and be the envy of the world... Far too sensible.. they'll never do it.

 

[GeorgeBramwell]

George, You make it all sound so easy... I'll get me shovel.

Don't forget the wheelbarrow.

I fear that I may need more than one... I wonder if I could negotiate a decent discount from Wickes... And think of all the points on my loyalty card.

I'm with Kev, it is a compelling argument, it could provide work for loads of British workers, give the Government something useful to spend our taxes on, provide the clean power we need to run our heat pumps and be the envy of the world... Far too sensible.. they'll never do it.

Geothermal is using heat pumps. You need power to turn the pumps. Some terrain is better than others, so not guaranteed.

A test tidal lagoon was scheduled for around Swansea - nothing on geothermal in the UK. . Lagoons are the long term answer with many brilliant knock ons, like:

• solving the water problem by digging reservoirs,
• ship canals than run way inland - Birmingham can have a port.
• bridges created across estuaries and maybe one to Ireland and the Isle of Man
• anti-flood protection - essential for many coastal areas and cities.
• Fish farming in the lagoons - protected from they Spanish)
• all electric trains and rapid-transit in in cities.
• electric cars with charging points everywhere - at supermarket car parks, etc.
• no filthy diesel and fossil fuel emissions.

I go with tidal lagoons and the benefits are many.