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Alternative Energy


Rich Griff
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This is the chit chat section of this whole forum, and since a thread is running and growing about electric cars, perhaps a thread should be included about alternative energy...why not.

 

I am sure the vast majority of this site know of, and may have visited, the centre for alternative technology near Machynlleth, mid Wales.

 

Our dad took us there a few years after it opened, and although still in its infancy, it was quite impressive.

 

We must visit there again as advancements will have been made in the 50 or more years since our last visit.

 

Our local council must be congratulated ( or is it the citizens of the council area that need that congratulation I wonder ) for recycling, and the waste food collection service conversion into electricity via the biodigester/methane/ electricity generation plant.

 

The local unlined tip is merrily making methane used to power large gas engines driving electricity generation plant.

 

As that tip is unlined, the brown water coming from its sump is worrying...

 

The same local council..

Years ago I lived in a high altitude slate quarrying town. Walking home I often wondered what the large worship next to a river actually was. I assumed it was an engineering work shop.

 

One evening, walking home, with a raging torrent of a river, the workshop was all lit up. I was a working hydro plant probably built to supply electricity for quarry machinery.

 

Anyways, some years later, a local news paper article stated that the council wanted this place closed due to the "noise" generated ?

 

Yes the noise was bearily heard above that if the raging torrent of the river.

 

A week later a letter appeared in the same news paper stating that for the past 50 years or so this hydro plant had been responsible for helping to power the whole street lighting system of the town...for free !

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I remember visiting the Center for Alternative Technology, in the 70’s. Fascinating place. 
I’ve a friend who has an underground stream/cave in his garden. He has built a low dam in there, installed a low head archemedes screw generator. And uses the stream as the cold end of his heat pumps. Underfloor heating, getting hot water started from cold, his power needs (battery backup) is provided, and he gets a cheque for on balance export of electricity. Fascinating, but it’s his hobby, and passion, and he can be accused of being a bit anal about it.

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    In my opinion the use of small and medium scale water power units has been ignored for decades, Government only seem interested in great and grand stuff.  Here in Wales just about every hill will have a stream running down it and even a small stream can provide quite a bit of power when the run is steep enough.  Also most water is running in the winter when more power is needed.

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Yes,CAT advancement must be substantial by now...

 

Love what your friend has done...archamedies screw...

 

As a matter of interest lpg powered concrete mixer engines etc. seem to run very dry I had noticed.

 

Some years ago Shropshire county council altered some of the vehicles to run on lpg and came to the same conclusion and converted them back.

 

The local biodigester plant was proposing to run the collection vehicles on the methane produced but that scheme seems to have gone very quiet, probably using the methane in gas engines to produce electricity, just like the plant by the local now closed and capped tip.

 

Been on kitchen roof sweeping off ready for cleaning and a repaint as it's leaking again.

 

When done and the water hose has lost its coiled up memory, I will be laying it flat to warm the water contained, for washing up water.

 

She refuses to use cold.

 

I know the water contained in the hose pipe will be sufficiently warmed for a quick shower. Beats turning the immersion heater on, the meter wheels goes billyoh when it's on.

 

Needs must.

 

Still no letter from dwp about my pension but I have been told 4 times know by the dwp phone staff it's been granted. Even they do not know or can see why it's still delayed. A very stressful time since early April.

 

There are lots of hydro schemes locally but they where hit by vat changes. These changes may have been "frozen" by now...don't know but that caused small viable community schemes to be stopped.

 

Joined up government thinking ?

 

Even the proposed Llanberis scheme has been halted as the RAF could not guarantee all the ww2 chemical weapons stored in the quarry caves has been removed. Some of the caves/caverns are still bricked up and out of bounds, anything could be in there. A ticking "taban" time bomb just like the deep off Holyhead where similar weapons where dumped.

 

Still can't find where the cargo of "strange sand" was dumped in a local quarry.

This strange sand turned the workers shovels, and Thier "poo" black.

Edited by Rich Griff
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