Diesel & petrol alternatives? Your thoughts please

Posted on 01/09/2021 17:05 by JVB66

Hydrogen is one of the options being examined by the railway companies. The one drawback in use is storage , as to make it viable is the very High pressure it has to be stored at to give any sort of miles per fill up , as the same with the bulk storage tanks ,

Posted on 01/09/2021 17:05 by ChocolateTrees

UK peak consumption has dropped over time, the high point was in 2005 and we are down over 10% since then. 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/322874/electricity-consumption-from-all-electricity-suppliers-in-the-united-kingdom/

They have built new power stations since that time - mostly wind turines, but mainly, our consumption has dropped significantly. 

Posted on 01/09/2021 17:37 by davetommo

Unfortunately the problem with statistics is that  thes days they make (fiddle) the figures to show what they want you to see. I worked for 30 years at BT now Openreach. In the later years when the bosses came from university and not the shop floor and figures mattered. They would doctor them to make things look better. 

Posted on 01/09/2021 17:37 by davetommo

Unfortunately the problem with statistics is that  thes days they make (fiddle) the figures to show what they want you to see. I worked for 30 years at BT now Openreach. In the later years when the bosses came from university and not the shop floor and figures mattered. They would doctor them to make things look better. 

Posted on 01/09/2021 16:51 by Whittakerr

Sorry, what i meant is hydrogen is already, (in some areas) being introduced to the natural gas supply that is piped to your home. The Nett effect is a reduction in carbon emissions from boilers, fires, etc.

Its being introduced at a level that can be safely burnt by all existing appliances, If it was to be introduced at a higher concentration then modifications to burners would be required similar to when natural gas replaced town / coal gas in the sixty's. 

Sorry for the confusion.

Edit

https://hynet.co.uk/

Clearly a perspective from a producer, but informative non the less.

 

Posted on 01/09/2021 16:52 by ChocolateTrees

Good to be sceptical Rocky. Blue Hydrogen is hydrogen produced using the Methane Steam reformation process (which on its own is grey hydrogen), and adds carbon capture and storage to it (to make it blue). So far it's a concept being pushed by the oil companies as a "green" energy solution. But is uses natural gas and energy to produce, and more energy to provide the capture and storage solution. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production#Environmental_impact

Green hydrogen (hydrogen made from renewable electricty by electrolysis) is truly zero carbon, but is about 30% efficient from source to wheel compared to 70% with battery electric  for the same driven distance, so is kind of expensive. 

https://www.volkswagenag.com/content/dam/online-kommunikation/brands/corporate/world/presence/stories/2019/08/wasserstoff-oder-batterie/Website_Wasserstoff_vs_Batterie_Vergleich_EN_1163.png

Essentially - you pay a very large amount for the perceived convenience of hydrogen as a fuel. 

There is a great podcast here on the subject, (Fully charged) hosted by Robbert Llewelyn, (Kryton from Red dwarf, and Scrapheap) 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/27lByvU1GoYEKpQSuJ1cTu?si=369709347e324630

 

 

Posted on 01/09/2021 18:02 by Tinwheeler

Careful, DT, you never know who you're talking to😤

Posted on 01/09/2021 18:06 by JVB66

Not just Your previous company , with the parachuting of graduates with wonderful, CVs into responsible positions