ENERGY MATTERS

[Stanley]

I put a jumper on last night instead of turning the heating up or lighting the stove..... No tax benefit to the government but no discernible cost to me...

[Stanley]

See THIS for news about the falling price of oil and the government appealing to the major suppliers to pass the decreases on to consumers. As well as road fuel the hardest hit have been people who use oil for heating in remote areas where there are no gas mains. I know people who retired to their idyllic retirement homes in the country and are now in desperate straits because the price of heating oil is so high and as an added whammy, the value of their property has fallen. This is particularly bad in places like the North Yorkshire Moors and similar areas where there are no trees and even logs are expensive. Will the appeal have any effect? Don't hold your breath!

[Tizer]

We've seen our heating oil fall from the mid 50s pence per litre to about 45p in the last few months. The low price of oil is partly due to a bit of conspiring between the USA and Saudi Arabia to keep the price down and and plenty of oil readily available so that it's harder for ISIS to sell its Iraqi oil on the market. Of course it's the Saudis who control the price because they produce by far the bulk of the oil used globally.

[Stanley]

Regardless of the political niceties, I was pleased when I got word from the Pensions Service that my Winter Fuel Allowance of £200 will be in my account within three weeks. It takes the mind off the expense somewhat when the CH fires up. I haven't lit the stove yet because it's not really cold and the CH is probably the cheapest and most controllable way of heating the house and the shed.

[chinatyke]

Where's my £200? Paid in to UK plc all my life and now denied Winter Fuel Allowance...

[Big Kev]

Where's my £200? Paid in to UK plc all my life and now denied Winter Fuel Allowance...

And you live where?

[chinatyke]

Where's my £200? Paid in to UK plc all my life and now denied Winter Fuel Allowance...

And you live where?

What has that got to do with it? I need fuel allowance to pay for the air-con!
It is unfair that I have paid into the great ponzi scheme and now I'm barred from drawing the full benefits and get no annual increases, and yet still pay UK income tax.

Afterthought: I really am happy to be away from the UK and it's worth foregoing £200. I'll still pay my income tax because I know the UK needs every penny it can get to pay for the scroungers and work-shy.

[plaques]

How dare you call our Bankers scrounges and work-shy. You have fallen foul of 'soak the poor' austerity scam. Keep saying " we are all in it together, the deficit is coming down, the economy is growing on all fronts" . Remember we are at war with Afro-Asia. Bloody hell I've dropped into my 1984 mode. My apologies to George Orwell.

[Stanley]

As one of the pour souls clinging to the wreckage of SS UK as it drifts slowly away into the Atlantic I am more interested in the fact the system is working for me. Wed shall shortly get into the colder weather and I shall be interested to see how I manage in the shed without the benefit of the radiator. I can let in warm air from the kitchen and will doubtless soon get used to wearing more clothes. The front room will then be the warmest room in the house in the evening....

[chinatyke]

Just got my electric bill for the month of October. £13. Happy again! Keep your WFA.

[Tripps]

In the post today was my electricity bill. £95.14 for the quarter August 6th to November 6th. It includes a mysterious £12 credit shown as "Government Electricity Rebate on 17th October".
I know nothing of that - but I wo'nt refuse it.

[Stanley]

Fuel bills are so labyrinthine that it's difficult to work out what is what. I just look at the total and compare it with the previous one. If it's in line, file and forget. All paid for monthly on Direct Debit so no worries about remembering anything.

[Tizer]

A new report from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) says ministers have "completely oversold" the potential of shale gas for the UK. (UKERC is funded by The Research Councils' UK Energy Programme, reports to a Supervisory Board and is advised by an independent Advisory Board).
Prof Jim Watson, UKERC research director, told the BBC: “It is very frustrating to keep hearing that shale gas is going to solve our energy problems – there’s no evidence for that whatsoever... it's hype”....“It’s extraordinary that ministers keep making these statements. They clearly want to create a narrative. But we are researchers – we deal in facts, not narratives. And at the moment there is no evidence on how shale gas will develop in the UK.".....“Shale gas has been completely oversold. Where ministers got this rhetoric from I have absolutely no idea. It’s very misleading for the public.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30013668

[Stanley]

I heard that as well Tiz and also the boss of the chemical company which holds licences for fracking in Scotland making a very convincing case for the effects cheap gas could have on manufacturing industry. I'm sure he has a point but what is happening is that politicians are leaping on any 'evidence' that the 'economic miracle' is a reality.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report on Halliburton taking over one of their rivals. The falling price of oil is having its effect on the industry and it remains to be seen if this is a good thing. Too much power in the hands of one company?

[Tripps]

I read yesterday that gas (petrol) in the USA had gone below $3 a gallon, and that no one was interested in fuel economy any more. At $1.60 to the pound, and a US gallon at 3.785 litres, that works out at 48.9p per litre.
Quite a difference to what we are paying. Currently about £1.20 'ish for unleaded petrol.

Not sure what the significance of all that is, but it's just the sort of thing I do. I am sure that oil at $80 rather than $120 will mean all the fracking sums have to be done again. Probably best to park it until oil goes high again?

[Stanley]

Might slow it down David but fracking is such a good prospect in the long term I think we'll still see it happening.
Lit the stove for an hour last night, more to burn the combustible waste building up than anything else. It will have done the flue good.....

[Tizer]

Ineos think it's a good prospect, they've just announced £640 million to be spent on exploration in the UK. Sounds like mainly the Scottish midland basin which is close to their processing plant, built to handle imported shale gas.

[Stanley]

The CEO of Ineos mentioned the comparative prices of chemicals in US and UK due to US fracking when he stepped in and rescued the Grangemouth plant. It can't be competitive without cheaper feedstock.

[Stanley]

Not lit the stove yet and noticed that temperature in the kitchen is 23C! Can't have this, thermostat on landing knocked back to 17C!

[Tizer]

Manchester University does it again...they've found that monolayers of graphene (and also boron nitride), although impermeable to all atoms, will let through protons, and the authors write: "The high, selective proton conductivity and stability make one-atom-thick crystals promising candidates for use in many hydrogen-based technologies" - and this means they would be a big boost to development of fuel cell technology.

Protons fuel graphene prospects
Manchester University press release, 26 Nov 2014
Graphene allows protons to pass through it, contrary to previous thinking Graphene allows protons to pass through it, contrary to previous thinking. Published in the journal `Nature', the discovery could revolutionise fuel cells and other hydrogen-based technologies as they require a barrier that only allows protons – hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons – to pass through. In addition, graphene membranes could be used to sieve hydrogen gas out of the atmosphere, where it is present in minute quantities, creating the possibility of electric generators powered by air.

The one-atom thick material graphene, first isolated and explored in 2004 by a team at The University of Manchester, is renowned for its barrier properties, which has a number of uses in applications such as corrosion-proof coatings and impermeable packaging. For example, it would take the lifetime of the universe for hydrogen, the smallest of all atoms, to pierce a graphene monolayer. Now a group led by Sir Andre Geim tested whether protons are also repelled by graphene. They fully expected that protons would be blocked, as existing theory predicted as little proton permeation as for hydrogen. Despite the pessimistic prognosis, the researchers found that protons pass through the ultra-thin crystals surprisingly easily, especially at elevated temperatures, and if the films were covered with catalytic nanoparticles such as platinum.

The discovery makes monolayers of graphene, and its sister material boron nitride, attractive for possible uses as proton-conducting membranes, which are at the heart of modern fuel cell technology. Fuel cells use oxygen and hydrogen as a fuel and convert the input chemical energy directly into electricity. Without membranes that allow an exclusive flow of protons but prevent other species passing through this technology would not exist. Despite being well-established, fuel-cell technology requires further improvements to make it more widely used. One of the major problems is a fuel crossover through the existing proton membranes, which reduces their efficiency and durability. The University of Manchester research suggests that the use of graphene or monolayer boron nitride can allow the existing membranes to become thinner and more efficient, with less fuel crossover and poisoning. This can boost competitiveness of fuel cells.

The Manchester group also demonstrated that their one-atom-thick membranes can be used to extract hydrogen from a humid atmosphere. They hypothesise that such harvesting can be combined together with fuel cells to create a mobile electric generator that is fuelled simply by hydrogen present in air.

Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo, a PhD student and corresponding author of this paper, said: “When you know how it should work, it is a very simple set-up. You put a hydrogen-containing gas on one side, apply a small electric current and collect pure hydrogen on the other side. This hydrogen can then be burned in a fuel cell. We worked with small membranes, and the achieved flow of hydrogen is of course tiny so far. But this is the initial stage of discovery, and the paper is to make experts aware of the existing prospects. To build up and test hydrogen harvesters will require much further effort.” Dr Sheng Hu, a postdoctoral researcher and the first author in this work, added: “It looks extremely simple and equally promising. Because graphene can be produced these days in square metre sheets, we hope that it will find its way to commercial fuel cells sooner rather than later”.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/ne ... /?id=13372
The Nature abstract is here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/va ... 14015.html

[Stanley]

That's impressive Tiz. Such a fundamental discovery and no doubt makes Graphene and Boron Nitride even more attractive to the other heroes who develop these ideas into useful technologies....

[Tizer]

Although I like to spell out Manchester University's role in discovering graphene we have to remember - in these days of assessing the value of immigrants - that the two scientists are both Russian-British:
Sir Andre Konstantin Geim, FRS, born in Sochi of German parents.
Sir Konstantin Sergeevich "Kostya" Novoselov, FRS

[Stanley]

That can't possibly be true as we know that all immigrants are a drain on the economy.....

[Stanley]

Still haven't lit the stove. It's so mild that CH is the cheapest option up to now. A jumper in the evening in the front room is quite comfortable....