Communities

What could be nicer than climbing into a warm bed on a cold, damp night?

Normally that means heating the room, but you could perfectly well heat the bed for a couple of hours just before sleep, for only a few cents.

The humble Electric blanket
(click here for UK version), was a staple of middle-class homes in the 1950s and 1960s, but has since fallen out of favour as central heating was installed, and after a string of fatalities.

Modern Electric blankets
(UK version)
must pass stringent safety rules, and there is a wide range to choose from. This one in UK is only £11.50.

A battery like this onein USA and this one
in the UK, will power the blanket for up to 6 hours via the USB. The battery can be recharged the next day – this can be with a 200-watt solar panel
for the USA version – or here
in the UK.

Or plug into the mains – if you can find a live socket at a friend’s house!

Street lights can also be used as a power supply (but only when connected by a qualified electrician). And you could pay for charging at a local garage or anywhere you can find with a power supply.

Sweet Dreams – and remember to switch off the blanket before sleep, although you can switch it back on again if you wake up cold.…

Washington DC – US department of energy has trailed an announcement later today (Tuesday), from energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and under-secretary for nuclear security Jill Hruby to announce “a major scientific breakthrough” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Physicists have since the 1950s sought to harness the fusion reaction that powers the sun, but this is the first time they had been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumes. The figures to be released later today reach a milestone known as net energy gain or target gain, which would “derisk” investment in fusion to achieve a reliable, abundant net-zero alternative to fossil fuels and conventional nuclear energy.

Boosters of nuclear fusion are already claiming that this announcement puts commercial fusion production less than 10 years away. There are fears it will provide an excuse for governments and industry to put current Net-zero plans on hold. Even on the most optimistic assumptions about climate change that would be too late to stop catastrophic warming.

Physicist Daniel Jassaby, who worked at the Princeton plasma lab, said a fusion reactor would be “far from perfect and in some ways close to the opposite”.

Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists he said the process of nuclear fusion has the potential to produce radiation damage and radioactive waste – contrary to claims it is clean and safe.

He also says the “parasitic drain” of power needed to fuel fusion reactors renders means that they could “consume a good chunk of the very power that they produce”.

Fusion reactors have to be supplied with fuel made from fission reactors which he said implies a “perpetual dependence” on them.

And there is the potential for nuclear weapons proliferation through the “clandestine” production of plutonium-239.

In total there have been 21 commercial start-ups in fusion energy over the last five years, with a cascade of private funding over recent months following successes by the Livermore lab in 2021.

The Fusion Industry Association in Washington says there are currently five private companies pursuing inertial fusion of different forms, including the UK’s First Light, Focused Energy and Xcimer Energy in the US, and Marvel Fusion and XB11 in Germany.

“The advances being made point to market viability much sooner than expected, within the next 10 years,” said Todd Ditmire, co-founder of Focused Energy.

The $3.5bn National Ignition Facility at Livermore was primarily designed to test nuclear weapons by simulating explosions but has since been used to advance fusion energy research.

Achieving ignition involved collaborators at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Nevada National Security Site; General Atomics; academic institutions, including the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University; international partners, including the United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.…

There are currently nearly 700 significant microgrids in the USA and only about 13 in Western Europe, according to a new report. There are four microgrids under construction in the UK. A microgrid is a local electrical grid with defined electrical boundaries, acting as a single and controllable entity. It is able to operate in grid-connected and in island mode. A ‘Stand-alone microgrid’ or ‘isolated microgrid’ only operates off-the-grid and cannot be connected to a wider electric power system.

There is a signficant potential market for mircogrids, and the current size is vanishingly small, but it is proof of concept. Globally the buildout of microgrids is growing at only 7% per year, and this could change dramatically if a recent Off-Grid.net forecast of potential demand is correct.
The highest number of microgrids are employed by the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) sector globally (e.g. Walmart, Inc., eBay, Panasonic/Xcel, Castello Di Amorosa Winery, etc.) and are primarily aimed at serving the needs of these businesses and corporations.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), there are at least 676 microgrids in the US, providing a total of 4,132MW of reliable electricity. – DOE lists over 620 grid-connected microgrids and over 56 off-grid microgrids in the US
The new report from Triton Research estimates there are currently 13 existing microgrids across Western Europe. In the United Kingdom, there are currently 4 microgrid constructions underway.
Transitioning to a microgrid is driven by reduced electricity purchase costs of distributed energy resources, favorable government initiatives, reduced carbon emissions to achieve a low carbon economy, and increased resilience and insulation from external events. Demand along all these categories is likely to increase.
Market growth is currently restricted by the regulatory framework and high maintenance and installation costs.

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Hitachi Ltd
Schneider Electric
Duke Energy Corporation
8.4. Exelon Corporation
Siemens AG
Fairbanks Morse
National Grid plc
. S&C Electric Company
Bloom Energy,
Cummins Inc,
Fuelcell Energy Inc,
General Electric Company.
Power Engineers Incorporated,
Nrg Energy Inc,
Eaton Corporation plc

The global microgrid market includes North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa regions.
The Asia-Pacific is deemed to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period. The large population base in the region has increased the demand for power grids due to the lack of electricity. Due to low electrification rates, several microgrid innovators are expanding operations in the region and are backed by government funding.
Additionally, with several nations facing extreme weather conditions, microgrids have emerged as an ideal solution to improve grid efficiency. During the forecast period, collaborations between governments, international development agencies, and energy companies are expected to rise, boosting the market’s growth.

The report can be found at: https://www.tritonmarketresearch.com/reports/microgrid-market…

European countries facing energy shortages will be bidding against each other for scarce energy supplies at times of peak demand this winter.

Leadership failure by the EU Directorate means there is no system to “share the pain” between countries when the Ukraine-led energy shortage bites. Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned Europe could face up to 10 difficult winters as a result of the standoff.

The UK government is considering a “revenue cap” on electricity generators in line with a similar move by the European Union. The UK budget announcement this week will contain a tax of 40 per cent on the “excess returns” produced by the sector above a certain price per megawatt hour, according to people close to the discussions. That threshold has not yet been decided. Energy prices for a typical UK family will have tripled between 2021 and 2023

The head of France’s electricity grid warned yesterday that his country is at risk of electricity shortages this winter, as problems with its nuclear power stations mount. Xavier Piechaczyk, president of the Reseau Transport d’Electricite (RTE), said it is in a state of “state of particular vigilance”,  in a warning that also raises questions for Britain’s power supplies this winter.

National Grid in the UK is hoping to be able to import power at times of peak demand if gas shortages mean not enough electricity is being generated domestically but it will be competing with every other energy provider on the continent to do so.

France typically exports electricity to other countries but is less able to do so given half of its nuclear power stations, which are owned and run by EDF, are currently offline, either for maintenance or as a result of corrosion problems. The widespread shutdowns add to the strain on the energy system caused by gas shortages, creating the risk that Britain and Germany will struggle to meet needs at peak times this winter. National Grid has warned there could be blackouts in the UK.

RTE is publishing a forecast of electricity supplies up to four days in advance, known as Ecowatt, to try and help manage the system. If supplies are looking tight, it will launch a “red alert” calling on users to cut consumption.

Early last week, French power prices for January surged above €1,000 per megawatt hour after EDF cut its electricity output for the fourth time this year. Prices have since fallen back, though remain far higher than in neighbouring countries.

Mr Piechaczyk said he was taking a “cautious” approach to nuclear plant availability in RTE’s forecasts, Bloomberg reported, given the risk of maintenance taking longer than planned.

France is one of several countries that trades electricity with Britain, helping balance out supplies on both sides. In its winter outlook published in October, Britain’s National Grid warned it may have to impose rolling power cuts …