akavan

Comment Threads

• danieldwilliam commented on How Do We Get There?
  Do you know how the load following nuclear sets deal with significant shifts in demand? UK baseload at 20GW and peak demand at 70GW (ish) implies the need to switch off most of our installed generating capacity. The answer is probably more interconnection of the UK electricity grids with our neighbours...
• Greg. Tingey commented on How Do We Get There?
  David L Hydro-electric and pumped storage can run up to full from zero very quickly - less than a minute, I bleiev....
• Moderator Alan commented on How Do We Get There?
  You misunderstand how it works. There are two water reservoirs. During excess capacity periods when power is cheap, pumps push water from the lower reservoir to the upper. When power is short, water runs down pipes through turbines from the upper to the lower. Since the water in the upper reservoir is pumped up there (it has next to no reliance on catchment area), there are pipes for the water to go up. And for it then to come down. Unless you want to go deep under a mountain and make an access hole into a pipe containing water under...
• scott-sanford commented on How Do We Get There?
  I'm a big fan of hydroelectric power myself, but there are places that just aren't suited for it. Florida is one of them, and it sure isn't because the place doesn't get enough rain. Let's try an experiment. Go to Google Maps, zoom in on Florida, zoom in more, and when you're close enough to pick out individual features, go into Street View. Look around and check out the horizon in all directions. See all the Flat? Notice the total lack of mountains in every direction? And the point of this is that you can do this anywhere, and should...
• Moderator Alan commented on How Do We Get There?
  My sister is a Floridian, so yes, I'm aware that it's a pretty flat state and that HE isn't appropriate, any more than it is where I live*. There is unlikely to be any single solution that works everywhere, but that just means you need to pick the right solution for your area. *No, not native born. But she's lived there so long she's now a US citizen. **There are roads not all that far away which are below sea level. Dutch engineers came over centuries ago to help drain our fens....