Fuel shortages

ShootersHillGuru said:

valleynick66 said:

I think the counter argument is that we should do a combination of both in the short term and IF the finances stack up exploit the oil fields a little more if only for fuel security. 

No one right minded can surely advocate doing less on renewables. 

See your point but it won’t improve our fuel security. That is now firmly with renewable sources. We should have followed France 20 years or more ago and secured our fuel security by building nuclear power plants. The energy costs in France are generally 40% cheaper than in the UK. As usual the UK is always reactive to a crisis not proactive. Look at the state of our current Royal Navy. 13 frigates with only one capable of putting to sea within a week. The rest take weeks. We don’t like spending money where it’s most needed. Never have. 

17 if you are the Defence Secretary 😂😂

But all countries have infrastructure weakness, and you set up to protect against them, but it's the people who have been wrong about everything for 15 years telling us renewables aren't the future when they are. 

They'll be massive improvements in storage, more and more people have these massive batteries parked outside there houses, doing f all, when they could be used as home batteries for excess in the grid or storing home solar. 

The problem, or at least the one I see as being the one holding back a bigger uptake in solar or heat pumps is cost. You can get a new gas fired domestic boiler installed for around £4k - £5k. It will provide all your energy needs domestically and will continue to do so for probably 12 years plus. A really speedy AI search says that solar panels and batteries are going to cost around £14k for an average home. I’m assuming here that it won’t provide all your energy requirements either ? A heat pump will probably cost more and might well require upgrades to your radiators and pipework, push costs even higher than the £14k - £17k. I know there are subsidies available for the latter but it’s still largely not a feasible investment for most of our home here in the UK. Until it’s financially doable for average homeowners, I think we’re basically pissing in the wind. I’ve no answer to the problem by the way. But it is a problem.

cantersaddick said:

valleynick66 said:

On that basis  you’d expect the percentages previously quoted to grow further quite quickly then. 

Would expect so. Though slightly slowed by ever increasing demand and things like AI energy usage.

Probably even more with electrification of transport and domestic heating. I would think that will have a bigger impact.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-renewables-enjoy-record-year-in-2025-but-gas-power-still-rises/#:~:text=Yet there has been little,shown in the figure below.

Quote from here: EVs would have the biggest impact, adding 17TWh to demand by 2030, NESO says, with heat pumps adding another 3TWh. Data-centre growth is highly uncertain, but could add 12TWh.

sam3110 said:

One thing that always escapes me is why we don't utilise the power of the sea and the tides more, we have some of the biggest tidal range on the planet, there must be an effective and efficient way to harness that and turn it into electricity? 

Agree and its puzzled me since a geography teacher told me about tidal power generation in the early 90s 

My new EV van is imminent, I'm looking forward to it especially as I am sure my colleague on the weight loss drugs stank my current one out so badly of sulphur I am sure its seeped into the upholstery, so looking forward to that new van smell as opposed to his entrails every time I get in it 

We are going to get solar panels, we have a South facing garden and will be in a position to afford them, besides I need to get the pointing redone and can do that at the same time the scaffolding is up for the panels.

I still maintain some big players need to be setting a better ethical example. Take ASDA or Sainsburys and of the large supermarkets, they could make a massive statement by embarking on a programme of solar panel installation on the roofs of all their sites and car parks and maybe pass some of the energy savings onto customers which will, in turn make them more money as well as giving them a holier than thou status. More will then follow. 

ShootersHillGuru said:

Did I imagine this or remembering incorrectly. A couple (?) of years ago wasn’t there some noise about building and having some very small and localised nuclear power plants that would provide energy to local communities ? I seem to recall that the equipment was being built by Rolls Royce but I can’t be sure. 

Edit : What are small nuclear reactors and why does the UK want to build them?  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62614wejk5o

Yes, Rolls Royce are in the final stage for approval by the regulator. Once they get through they will be applying to construct on various sites, stating with Anglesey. They provide more than just local energy though - about 470MW (equivalent to electricity needs for 1 million homes). Holtec have also just passed stage 2 and are on the final stage.

jose said:

I am not a fan of capitalism particularly, but isn’t the best investment in future technology to invest in batteries for storing electricity?

Forget about batteries as an investment.
I've just purchased some lawnmower engines from Alfie Flowers.  🚜

sam3110 said:

One thing that always escapes me is why we don't utilise the power of the sea and the tides more, we have some of the biggest tidal range on the planet, there must be an effective and efficient way to harness that and turn it into electricity? 

I think this is exactly right ... and I foolishly bundled it together under 'hydro' in my earlier post.  I should have been clearer and talked about 'tidal'.

Taking our energy from the sea feels obvious when the major symptom/evidence of climate change is the rise in sea temperature. 

Energy cannot be created or destroyed (ref. Facebook) so let's look at ways of taking out what we need from where we don't want it to be.

I'm not saying it's easy, but it feels underinvestigated to me.

TelMc32 said:

CaptainRobbo said:

So what's the most anyone has paid for diesel so far?
Paid 85.9 pence per litre today 💷💷💷💷

Not sure where you live, but UK drivers would love that price!  You’re a pound cheaper than anything we can get here!! 

Whoops my bad.
Meant £1.85.
Live in Suffolk.

RedPanda said:

My partner had to go to 4 garages this evening, was 4th time lucky getting petrol. The 3 failures were around Gravesend and the A2. I don't think we're that short yet, but people are panic buying/stocking up for Easter. 

Selfishly I'm worried about upcoming flights as well. Ryanair say they could cancel 5-10% of flights in coming months. I don't have bookings with them but if they're affected, other airlines will be. What a stupid, pointless, counter productive war. 

I'm flying with Ryanair at the end of May to Tenerife - fingers crossed.

CaptainRobbo said:

So what's the most anyone has paid for diesel so far?
Paid 85.9 pence per litre today 💷💷💷💷

In Cape Town this last 2 weeks it was about 92p per litre of diesel