Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[Dormouse]

https://www.macrebur.com/
This company uses recycled plastic to use as an admix to tarmac. Neath County Council has also trialled Melted Plastic Bitumen in a pothole repairing scheme.

[Dormouse]

https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainab ... ium-dreams
I have furiously tried to find the BBC article on Lithium Mining in Barroso, Portugal but cant find it in their search box. Basically, Lithium brine from which Lithium is extracted from the earth requires millons of gallons of water which then can't be put straight back into the ecosystem because it becomes polluted with so many other elements - witness Chile and Bolivia. The locals in Portugal are not accepting the bribes/compensation by lying down and turning a blind eye to the environmental time bombs left behind and are incensed at the devastating immediate effects it has on the farmer and the ecosystem. It seems the mining companies are trying to throw money at the problem they don't want to discuss openly This article is the nearest but is far to long winded for anyone to finish reading without a head ache.

[bobins]

There was an animation posted a couple of months ago where Robert Llewellyn narrated the case why electric vehicles are better than ICE powered vehicles. Where it comes to lithium mining he made the point that any pollution associated with it is fine if the locals don't complain and also because it's not pollution from a combustion engine. The animimation makes the point that it's mainly polluting vehicles in towns and cities that we should be concerned about, and not any pollution associated with powering BEVs - especially if that pollution is caused somewhere else.

[Dormouse]

Not in my back yard then.

[mickthemaverick]

I think you are referring to this one bobins:

[Dormouse]

So what happens to Cornish Tin mines filled with Lithium Brine effluent after they finish extracting the Lithium there?

[bobins]

That'll be the one, Mick. It does make the point well that BEVs are less dirty than ICE cars........

[NewcastleFalcon]

A bit from earlier on in the thread about possible Lithium from Cornwall. Not miners down a tin mine but boreholes into the granite, and an anonymous industrial unit in Redruth.

.and in other Cornwall news, until the next generation of battery chemistry and design emerges, and supercedes Lithium-ion, Lithium is a valuable commodity.

Government backs Europe's first geothermal lithium recovery plant in Cornwall

Not sending miners into the old tin mines with picks and shovels, but drilling a couple of wells one 5.2 kilometres deep the other 2.3 kilometres deep and extracting lithium from the "brine". The granite rocks are rich in Lithium and heat. The extraction method is said to produce no carbon emissions with the geothermal energy being used in the processes rather than fossil fuels.

Where.....the United Downs Industrial Estate near Redruth
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Indus ... -5.1652684


Regards Neil

[Dormouse]

I did actually know it was test bore holes they were going to use in this test in Cornwall but the leaching of lithium into the brine takes a very long time unless you use lots of holes or something like fracking and the millions of gallons of water have to come from somewhere in the first place and then have to go back somewhere else as, in it's untreated state, can't be reused in the brine extraction. So far, no one has mentioned brine treatment or decommissioning costs and time scales. Yes we need cleaner transport but how far down the road can we keep kicking all the difficult cans we keep coming across. Hydrogen technology never seems to get a mention. Why?

[mickthemaverick]

Hydrogen technology never seems to get a mention. Why?

Not true Dormouse, it has had a thorough mentioning over the months, 10 times in this one post alone:
viewtopic.php?p=664049#p664049

[NewcastleFalcon]

Hydrogen technology never seems to get a mention. Why?

We have a thread on it and any interesting developments are covered. Personally I have come to the conclusion that it will play a role however inefficient making it is.

So Electricity is generated, electrolysers split hydrogen and oxygen from water using electricity. Hydrogen is stored, pumped/tankered to point of use locations where it is stored, then transferrred put into pressurised tanks in vehicles and either burned, or provides power by use of a fuel cell.

Alternative generate electricity, make it available to the grid, use it directly to power your vehicle. None of the inefficiencies of the Hydrogen model for powering road transport.

The FCF has a thread on Hydrogen here which me mainly, and others from time to time update with developments and hydrogen news.

--And as Mick says it does appear in this thread from time to time if appropriate. I would encourage joining in where you can.

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 28#p680928

REgards Neil

[Dormouse]

Don't forget though that as we transcend from current road and rail land transport through hovercraft to teleportation the need for the blackstuff will diminish anyway. We could simply pave the way with crushed fruit and then stop off for a quick snack anytime we wanted. It would of course mean carrying one's own custard or cream as you choose but we would have a renewable surface to work with!!

We all need to drive DeLoreans powered by internal custard engines.

[Dormouse]

I have read the posts about Hydrogen marked for me and, so far, they don't mention standardised Hydrogen Fuel packs ( Calor Gas Bottles for H2). A standardised Hydrogen Fuel pack can be pre prepared and ready for immediate use. It can be carried by any suitable transport to where it may be needed and it is possible to build small scale Hydrogen Stations using Wind or Tidal energy. I live near such a wind powered hydrogen station and there are a handful of H2 fuelled Bin Collection lorries in my area too and so far there doesn't appear to be any untoward operating issues that I have heard of. The technicalities of Hydrogen Refuelling are not insurmountable and existing technical and mechanical equipment can be made suitable to run Hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen as a fuel has no higher issues than other systems for power production. Lithium batteries have exploded. More airplanes have fell out of the sky than Airships. Fuel cells for electrical generation are still in their infancy. There should be some careful thought goes into the "next best thing" We got Nuclear Energy as the next best thing. We got LPG as the next best thing. We got Common Rail Diesels as the next best thing. And now Electric Vehicles for the Masses is the next best thing. When, O' when are we going to plan from start to finish about the next best thing. And when are we going to stop demonising the Last Bad Thing as the one and only Enemy we have to deal with.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I have read the posts about Hydrogen marked for me and, so far, they don't mention standardised Hydrogen Fuel packs ( Calor Gas Bottles for H2).

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles still alive?

Just need a "Hydrogen" network like the "calor Gas" network to make use of them in the UK right now.
A shot in the arm for the Uk's ironmongers just like the chemists of the past used to supply motor spirit in the pioneering days of motoring (well our ironmonger sells calor gas!)

Regards Neil

That's from early on in the Hydrogen Vehicles Still Alive? thread. My views have changed on hydrogen and are as previously posted. Join in with the discussions and shove some of your thoughts up on the Hydrogen thread, and contribute to the news stories on Hydrogen. Your example of the Bin Lorries which I presume will be some conversion, rather than new purpose built vehicles would be an item of interest for that thread which did cover this

Hydrogen definitely has the ear of policy makers in the EU/UK and many other countries looking to "de-carbonise" their transport and industry across all sectors particularly in heavy transport/aviation/ shipping and industries like steel making.

Regards Neil

[Dormouse]

My view is fairly simple. There is no magic one best thing.