ENERGY MATTERS

[Tizer]

I know they've been fined and the money will go to people having trouble paying their energy bills - or so we are told.

[Stanley]

[Big Kev]

Got the gas bill today for the 19 days before Npower took over the supply, it was only £26. I think I'll need to reassess my monthly DD or I'll be paying way too much. Be interesting to see what the elec comes in at for the same period, no idea what tariff it's on...

[Stanley]

Try a variable DD and pay monthly? (That's if the house has a smart meter of course)

[Big Kev]

SMETS 2 meters are being fitted on the 14th, I'm in a fixed deal until 2021.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

Kev, I've read that some installed SMETS2 meters `fail after being tested'. What's that all about? Also there are people complaining they've been charged ten times too much and it turns out the meters were out by a decimal point!

[Big Kev]

Kev, I've read that some installed SMETS2 meters `fail after being tested'. What's that all about? Also there are people complaining they've been charged ten times too much and it turns out the meters were out by a decimal point!

The majority of the millions of meters out there are doing what they should be doing. The meters themselves will be doing what they should be doing, it's the configuration sent to them and the interpretation of the responses that will be at fault...

[Tizer]

In other words, it's not the meters it's those pesky human beans again!

(Any of you who remember Carl Sagan's programmes on TV will probably remember his human beans.)

[Big Kev]

In other words, it's not the meters it's those pesky human beans again!

Yup, the meters will only do what they're programmed to do...

[Stanley]

My early model seems to be working fine now, never any problem with it. (Saying that might have been a mistake!)

[Tizer]

These companies are as bad as the bankers!...
`Energy customers hit with backdated bills' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that and it reminded me of my £500 bill from BG. That was what triggered me into forcing them to bill me monthly on current usage as reported by the smart meter. They took some persuading but now I am proof against sudden unexpected demands.

[Tizer]

The continuing fires in Australia and Scott Morrison refusing to believe climate change is happening prompted me to look in more detail. at the country's production and export of coal. It led me to the web site of the Reserve Bank of Australia and this page which has a large amount of economic data on coal and not only for Australia. I thought it was worth putting here as a source of information.
`The Changing Global Market for Australian Coal' (19 September 2019) RBA coal report
There is a link to a 12-page PDF download, 500kb.

[Stanley]

I took the trouble to read it Tiz. Some very interesting trends revealed particularly India and surprisingly for me, Indonesia, I would never have guessed they were as important.
The overall thing that strikes me is that like so much 'development' world wide this is a picture of extracting and using natural resources which are finite. Like oil, we are assured that we shall not exhaust the supply because new reserves are being found and exploited but any fule knows that this is not true, we are heading inevitably for exhaustion of resources but like a lot of other matters, the can is kicked down the road. The same argument was used for years on climate change but look where we are now.
On the whole, depressing but thanks for the link.

[Tizer]

The Indonesia figures surprised me too. Also, the information shows how coal production, consumption, import and export is complicated and difficult to disentangle with respect to emissions etc.

[Stanley]

One thing we have all learned (I think!) is that the two most important concepts in this discussion are 'Renewable' and 'Finite'. Extractive industries like coal and ores are finite when the aim of policies to alleviate our ills has to be renewable resource. At the moment the driver is economic interest and that's the core problem.

[plaques]

It now looks like the definition of fracking is not all its cracked up to be. (sorry about that). Most people are under the delusion that Fracking is dependent on high pressure fluids being injected into the ground to fracture the shale strata followed by some grit injection to keep the cracks open. This definition is now under scrutiny since it is possible to create the necessary fractures using low pressure water and acids. To quote Stuart Haszeldine, professor of carbon capture and storage at the University of Edinburgh, His analysis shows that of 4,500 oil wells fracked in the US from 2000-10, 89% would not be defined as fracking in the UK, along with 43% of US gas wells fracked over the same period. This being so the moratorium on 'fracking' may not be as comprehensive as we think. Fracking

[Tizer]

I wonder if there'll be a demand next to ban the use of explosives in mines and quarries to crack rock? Where do you draw the line?

[Stanley]

You've reminded me of a story Tiz.....
I had a friend in Barlick Called 'Science' Clark. He had a portable rock drilling rig and made his living dropping quarry faces for the big quarries. One of his clients was Shap Granite. There was a regulation that stipulated that the vertical bores had to stop above the quarry floor to avoid deep ground effects but the quarries liked him to go a shade deeper so as to cut the 'toe' out of the face so they could clean up a nice flat floor. He went a bit too far one day and when they blew the face it transmitted the shock down into the strata. Meanwhile, in Carlisle a printer was running a job in his press when suddenly there was a shock and the type was thrown out of the bed. It turned out that his works was on the same strata of rock as the quarry and the incident was traced back. After that Science had to be a bit more careful!

[Tizer]

Perhaps flexible solar panels are getting closer to commercial use?
`New solar power source and storage developed' LINK

[Stanley]

The story of solar power over the last few years has been one of increased efficiancy and lower cost. Very encouraging.
Meanwhile we carry on building the Hinkley white elephant!

[Tizer]

Talking of Hinkley Point, see the photo below which I took in Taunton Museum yesterday. It's part of an exhibition of the paintings of Jenny Barron who lives in Watchet just along the coast from the power station. The painting combines notable features of the Watchet coast - boats, fossils (ammonites and devil's toenails) and the power station. The propeller could signify a link between ships and the station's turbines. Jenny Barron

[Tizer]

Will they make these in Barlick?
`Rolls-Royce plans mini nuclear reactors by 2029' LINK

[Stanley]

Looking at the way Rolls runs these days it's hard to say but I'd guess that if they did start making them it would be in a dedicated plant and not necessarily in a backwater like the UK. Remember, 'global' is the key word these days.
Brexit Affect?
One of these days Hinkley Point is going to hit the headlines again. There are so many things wrong with that contract!