ENERGY MATTERS

[Big Kev]

A pointless task to be honest, BG have one of the worst customer service records and have done for several years. I wouldn't waste my time with telephone calls, the complaints department have an online chat facility that I used (despite not being a customer) and was dealt with quickly and efficiently. Complaints have to be dealt with differently to 'helpdesk' communication or they fall foul of the ombudsman.

[Tizer]

I can add that our experience with Octopus has been very good. We'd never return to BG, they are the subject of terrible reports about their customer service (or lack of) in The Times regularly. It's ridiculous that they manage to get away with it. Octopus is good even on the little things - for example when they send us the email message with the attached direct debit invoice it's an attachment with a meaningful file name that I can just click and save and it adds itself to the bottom of the list in my file manager. The last one I've had is `octopus-energy-statement-2022-05-28.pdf' Most web companies send out such files with gobblegook names and I need to re-name them before filing away so that they are in date order. Give Ian the chance of the bonus - he's the one who introduced me and Tripps to Octopus!

[Stanley]

Save on energy by turning the thermostat down 1C and wear a skull cap (or any sort of hat....). You'll be surprised how warm you feel.....

[Tripps]

Save on energy by turning the thermostat down 1C

Good tip - but in June? Mine has been down to the 'frost' setting since the end of April and will hopefully stay there till November.

For those chilly summer evenings - I use one of these

PS I mean the blanket of course. They are at summer prices now and will be dearer later in the year.

[Stanley]

I never alter my thermostat David, I just let it do its job. My Kyrgyzstan felt hat works well winter and summer..... The front rom being on the North side of the house is always cooler so a padded waistcoat for evening TV. The kitchen which is the day room gets the waste heat from the fridge and domestic activities and is always warm enough independent of the CH.

[Big Kev]

In June 2008, Brent crude oil was $132.32 per barrel; average UK petrol price 106.4p a litre. June 2022 and it's $126.66 a barrel and UK petrol price is nearly £2 a litre.
What am I missing here?

[Stanley]

Pass! (Well spotted Kev....)

[Big Kev]

Interestingly, as far as I understand it, VAT is added after the fuel duty. Double taxes then.

[Tripps]

VAT is added after the fuel duty.

Correct -

Value for VAT = (value for duty +duty)

I learned that on an HMRC course in 1985. Seems to have stuck.

[Tripps]

Mainly because it's a Nissan and a 'hybrid', I just looked at the latest 2022 Nissan Qashqai.

I was rather surprised (gobsmacked actually) to see that it has two engines beneath the bonnet. An electric motor which drives the wheels and a petrol internal combustion engine which does not. It exists to charge up the battery which feeds the electric motor which drives the wheels. Are you keeping up?

Seems the unique selling point is that it is an 'electric' vehicle, but does not need a charging point at your home. Or anywhere else I'd guess. How on earth did we get ourselves into this state?

Perhaps the Mk II will lose the electric motor and just use a small petrol engine. The latest Dacia is a seven seater, and has a 1 litre petrol engine. That's the same size as my Ford Anglia which struggled to get just me to over 65 mph.

Show me puzzled. . . .

[Tizer]

An electric motor which drives the wheels and a petrol internal combustion engine which does not. It exists to charge up the battery which feeds the electric motor which drives the wheels.

Perhaps they'll go to the next stage and let the IC engine also power the wheels to give greater flexibility? If so, then they'll have the same as my Honda Jazz hybrid!

[Big Kev]

An electric motor which drives the wheels and a petrol internal combustion engine which does not. It exists to charge up the battery which feeds the electric motor which drives the wheels. Are you keeping up?

I am. It's the same concept as the Deltic train, a diesel engine that powered electric motors for traction.

[Tripps]

I see thanks for the info.

There's no intermediate battery involved there though?

Here's a great video to explain it all. Qashqai Hybrid

[Stanley]

We are told by the optimists that science will give us the answers to the energy crisis and global warming. Their big problem is that fossil oil fuel is such a great energy store, they have got to find something better and so far they haven't done it. Our only hope is free electricity from fusion. Good luck with that one!

[Tizer]

Having looked at more information on the Nissan it seems to have copied the Honda hybrid which was introduced in 2020. In fact one of the web sites said it was the same in principle. The IC engine only comes in when the battery needs charging or if you floor the accelerator or go up a steep hill. If a lot of energy is needed it can use IC engine and battery charge together (and that accounts for its 0-60 acceleration figure of 9 seconds!). The battery is also charged via regenerative braking so when you go down the other side of the hill you get back some charge. In town you can be electric-only most of the time.

[Big Kev]

My trusty old diesel Skoda Yeti does the regenerative braking thing, the alternator only charges to around 80% and the brakes top up the other 20%. It makes for a very expensive replacement alternator...

[Stanley]

Reading this thread makes me realise that my knowledge of engines and charging is way out of date.... I didn't really understand dynamos and DC current!

[Tizer]

A couple of weeks ago I saw this mentioned in The Times - then forgot about it until today! Did a search and found the company's web site. It's an alternative approach to generating power by nuclear fusion, and it all came from studying the pistol shrimp! There's lots of information here and it's worth viewing the linked pages... First Light Fusion And it's British, University of Oxford!

[Tripps]

It would be ignorant, rash, and flippant to say this is all (high class, cutting edge) nonsense - but that's what I'm saying.

[Stanley]

Sorry Peter but my first instinct is to agree with David. Fusion is such a desirable goal that it attracts researchers and with sufficient backing generates slick websites like this. I doubt if there will ever be an 'easy' way to achieve commercial power generation through fusion. It will be down one of the routes that have been pursued for over fifty years now and will be anything but easy.....

[Tizer]

Looks like OG has become a black hole for optimism!

[Stanley]

Or a focus of realism Peter!

[PanBiker]

Lets not forget that many things we take for granted today were considered impossible or beyond scientific grasp not all that long ago. Transmitting and receiving audio and and then video through free space. Everyone carrying a telephone in their pocket not to mention the supercomputer that runs it, 40 years ago the equivalent was the size of a house. Hundreds of examples of stuff that was once thought impossible. If you don't try you don't make any progress.

[Stanley]

Agreed but there have been too many 'break throughs' in fusion research, none of them productive and some later shown to be verging on fraud. Whoever cracks it in the end will be able to hold the world to ransom.... That's enough to generate enthusiasm in some quarters. I know that Peter was disappointed with my response to the Oxford website but I'll believe it when I see it!

[PanBiker]

The development of radio followed exactly the same path. It took a bloke thinking outside the box to tie together everyone else's research and experimentation. That turned out to be a Mr Guglielmo Marconi who also had the ability to market it correctly.

Don't they say that necessity is the mother of invention. It's usually global wars that make leaps and bounds, don't want to go there but it does prove a point, chuck enough people, resources and money at it and you make progress a lot faster. Some problems are harder than others but do yield eventually.

Always look on the bright side.