Energy : Production, Storage, Efficiency, Solutions

idleprocess

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but this one caught my attention due to the fact that this apparently uses some 'different' batt tech (not lithium based [but proprietary]), which may be of particular interest to those who have an interest in batt tech alternatives, as it's apparently ready for 'prime time' trialing(?).
At a glance sounds like a flow battery but the description isn't the same - no anolyte+catholyte solutions. Pilot looks to be relatively small scale, but that's how you learn and scale up I suppose.
 

aznsx

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Pilot looks to be relatively small scale, but that's how you learn and scale up I suppose.
Exactly. Only fools do large-scale pilot / alpha stuff with unproven tech.

At a glance sounds like a flow battery but the description isn't the same - no anolyte+catholyte solutions.
I would hope (assume) neither of us knows exactly what they're doing; otherwise they wouldn't be referring to it as "proprietary". That's why I posted this. We're not supposed to know yet, but perhaps we'll learn something we don't know yet.:)
 

orbital

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U.S. lithium production thread would have been perfect for this,
so here it's placed

 

orbital

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jtr1962

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It's about time. Nuclear has been a bogeyman for far too long. It's really the best long-term answer to getting off fossil fuels. Solar and wind can supplement it, but we need reliable base-line power.
 

IMA SOL MAN

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Surprisingly, I was actually listening to NPR when I heard this. I cracked up. The No Nukes Pukes have been anti-nuclear power plants for years, decades even, and now the Enviro-nuts are cheerleaders for them. Strange times we are living in.
200.gif
 

orbital

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Surprisingly, I was actually listening to NPR when I heard this. I cracked up. The No Nukes Pukes have been anti-nuclear power plants for years, decades even, and now the Enviro-nuts are cheerleaders for them. Strange times we are living in.
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The large percentage of people who don't understand science, or think it's some hoax,
are the ones who make the most noise.

We should have been developing next-gen fission 25 years ago.
 

IMA SOL MAN

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The large percentage of people who don't understand science, or think it's some hoax,
are the ones who make the most noise.

We should have been developing next-gen fission 25 years ago.
They finally faced-up to the fact that wind and solar isn't going to feed the bull dog, and rather than go back to hydrocarbons, they have instead embraced that old enemy nuclear energy. Now, where are they going to put the nuclear waste? You can bet it will all be NIMBY! Probably ship it to China, or maybe North Korea and Iran, or maybe even Gaza, so they can make thermonuclear warheads from it. Yeah, that's the ticket! 😈 Spread the nukes around! 200.gif
 

jtr1962

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This is worth a read:


The highlights:

Gen IV reactors will also allow more efficient use of nuclear fuel. The fuel in current reactor designs is used only once and then disposed of, which produces radioactive waste that will take hundreds of millennia to decay to a safe level. But this waste contains valuable resources of fissile material that can be reprocessed into new fuel. Burning this fuel in specialised "fast" reactors provides would be much more efficient and generate waste that decays safely within just a hundred years or so. It would also move us towards a closed fuel-cycle that would greatly extend the lifetime of the Earth's uranium reserves.

So one way to reduce the costs of nuclear power plant is simply to build more of them. There are economies of scale in terms of having identical designs with the same requirements for construction, fuelling, operation and maintenance. In the UK in particular, attention is shifting towards so-called small modular reactors, or SMRs, that produce less power but that have lower upfront capital construction costs.


Some of these new reactors will use spent fuel from older reactors:


They finally faced-up to the fact that wind and solar isn't going to feed the bull dog.......
That's a half-truth. The big problem with solar and wind is that it's not 24/7/365. That means you need to build extra capacity and have lots of energy storage. If that storage is based mostly on batteries using lithium we run into material shortages. Thankfully, sodium-ion finally reached mass production this year.

The second problem is as we move towards electrifying virtually everything simply replacing fossil fuel plants with solar/wind on a one to one basis isn't good enough. We need to expand our generating capacity. That's where nuclear comes in. It also means we'll need less storage for solar/wind. We could probably get rid of fossil fuels without nuclear, but it would require a much more massive rollout of solar/wind, coupled with several times more battery storage. In short, we should throw everything we have at the problem.

If fusion comes online soon enough, that will of course be an even better solution than fission, but for now let's plan using what already exists.
 

orbital

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Honda guy with a Hydrogen fuel cell engine behind him.
These are going into production & Honda rarely make products that are halfass.

..we all understand it takes energy to make pure hydrogen

1706196730665.jpeg
 

pnwoutdoors

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Honda guy with a Hydrogen fuel cell engine behind him.
These are going into production & Honda rarely make products that are halfass.

..we all understand it takes energy to make pure hydrogen

View attachment 56520

Sounds interesting.



 

jabe1

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Yes, that's the way to go.
It all revolves around more efficiency in hydrogen production and storage.
IIRC Mercedes Benz has also put a lot of time into fuel cell technology.
 

orbital

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Can a member make heads or tails of this? Cost?

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It's a storage advancement at normal atmospheric conditions.

Not unlike how ammonia is used to transport natural gas overseas
 

orbital

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If your State Representatives aren't applying for this, they are not doing their jobs.
Could be worth a letter if you made improvements


For home efficiency improvements, appliances & other things.
Here are some examples from the Energy Department:
  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump water heater — worth up to $1,750
  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump for space heating and cooling — up to $8,000
  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump clothes dryer — up to $840
  • ENERGY STAR electric stove, cooktop, range, or oven — up to $840
  • Electric load service center — up to $4,000
  • Electric wiring — up to $2,500
  • Insulation, air sealing and ventilation — up to $1,600
{this is different from the alternative energy deductions which are applied if taxes are owed}
 
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