Ireland’s National Heat Study distinguished useful fabric improvements from extensive renovation and found that deep retrofit should not automatically delay replacement of fossil heating.
For several years I have been arguing that “fabric first” becomes a trap when a sensible building-efficiency principle is turned into a universal sequencing rule. Insulation, draught-proofing, ventilation and building repair can all be valuable, sometimes very valuable, but that does not establish that every household should complete extensive renovation … [continued]
HyFlux’s superconducting motor could substantially improve propulsion power density, but its commercial value still depends on the aircraft, cryogenic fuel system and airport infrastructure around it.
HyFlux has an unusually interesting hydrogen-aviation proposition because the technology at its centre appears somewhat credible, if incredibly difficult to engineer and maintain. The UK company wants to exploit the extreme cold of liquid hydrogen already carried aboard a future hydrogen aircraft to cool a fully superconducting electric motor. Superconductivity … [continued]
Sheldon Whitehouse is my favorite member of Congress. The junior senator from Rhode Island is smart, articulate, and determined. This week, he was instrumental in getting a bill before the Senate that will radically alter how permitting for energy projects in the US gets done. It is not unusual for … [continued]
OTEC can turn tropical ocean heat into electricity, but the small temperature difference requires enormous seawater flows and deep-water infrastructure.
Ocean thermal energy conversion has an appealing proposition. Tropical oceans can have surface water around 25°C while water roughly a kilometre down is near 4°C to 5°C. Put a heat engine between the two reservoirs, use the warm water to vaporize a working fluid, run it through a turbine, condense … [continued]
A new super-sized electric truck from the company Scania is hitting the road in Norway. Photo courtesy of Scania.
“Don’t weaken CO2 standards for trucks,” European businesses urge the EU, as they signal strong demand for electric Dear President of the European Commission Ms Ursula von der Leyen, Dear Executive Vice-Presidents, Dear Commissioners, We are writing as European businesses and organisations committed to the decarbonisation of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs). … [continued]
Reach stackers look like difficult battery applications, but their short-distance, high-power duty cycle and natural charging opportunities increasingly favour electrification.
A reach stacker looks like exactly the sort of machine batteries should struggle with. Large models can weigh more than 70 tonnes before picking anything up, then lift loaded shipping containers weighing another 40 tonnes or more several rows deep and several containers high. They work in busy freight terminals … [continued]
I came across a compelling editorial the other day as I reviewed the morning inbox. A writer from Iowa City was concerned about how fake news is subsuming the US midterm elections. “President Donald Trump says that CNN, MS Now, and Politico are banned from the White House for promoting … [continued]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Sierra Club released a new analysis of public data published by Urgewald on fossil fuel bond holdings across 40 U.S. public pension funds, finding that fossil fuel debt remains embedded in public pension portfolios and available bondholding data are significantly incomplete. The analysis underscores that even if a public … [continued]
Peak oil, low EROI and peak cheap oil gave way to minerals and other constraints, while Nate Hagens’ broader expectation of approaching contraction remained remarkably durable.
Nate Hagens has spent most of his intellectual career inside a forecasting tradition that expected physical resource constraints to force industrial societies into contraction. He was a major contributor to The Oil Drum and eventually its managing editor, while the nonprofit that now produces The Great Simplification grew directly from … [continued]
Ports need more investment for bigger ships, resilience and decarbonization just as some of the bulk cargoes that funded them begin to decline.
Ports are being asked to make infrastructure decisions that will last thirty, forty or fifty years while several of the assumptions that paid for their existing infrastructure are changing at the same time. Ships are getting larger, requiring deeper channels, larger cranes and more capable tug fleets. Climate disruption is … [continued]
