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Today’s breakfast-time viewing: Professor Donald Sadoway on the invention of liquid-metal batteries and the usefulness of professors.
The idea is beautifully simple—they are taking the problem of batteries’ habit of overheating and turning it in to an asset by designing the battery to run at molten-metal temperatures. I imagine the devil is in the details, such as how to square a half-shipping container-full of molten antimony with health & safety at work regulations.
In the last year wholesale prices put about £170 on gas bills alone, while support for renewables added £20 to combined bills. So which did the TV show focus on? (via The vast, shocking hole in BBC Panorama’s analysis of rising energy bills | Damian Carrington | Environment | guardian.co.uk)
The Nest Learning Thermostat remembers when you adjusted it so it can build up a programme automatically. It can refer to weather reports and activity sensors to adjust itself accordingly. (Via Łukasz Korecki.)
(Source: youtube.com)
It takes more electricity to drive the average gasoline car 100 miles, than it does to drive an electric car 100 miles. (Electric Mini: It takes a lot of coal to make gasoline via N. Gordon-Bloomfield via Robert Llewellyn)
Gemasolar, the concentrated solar power plant in Spain designed to supply power 24/7 — yes, even at night — was officially inaugurated last week. (A solar plant that generates power day and night on SmartPlanet via Ecotricity)
Improved wind forecasting from 85% to 87% could allow for 1.5GW of capacity to be switched from coal to wind—approximately three coal-fired power stations’ worth. (Wind forecast upgrade should mean big drop in fossil fuel use in the Guardian via Ecotricity)
The linked article goes on to describe some of the problems with wind power and the approaches currently being taken to address them.
If you like this sort of thing, the Centre for Sustainable Energy has published a PDF Common Concerns about Wind Power, which goes in to more detail.
