Interesting Links for 19-06-2022

[andrewducker]

1. A new Doctor Who podcast spin-off series is making the show more female and LGBTQ+ than ever before.

(tags:drwho LGBT women transgender )

2. Train strike chaos set to continue because ministers won't allow rail firms to negotiate pay with RMT union

(tags:Union pay trains UK government )

3. Things about Scotland that the Tories don't want to lose

(tags:Scotland conservatives independence )

4. Mitochondria and the origin of eukaryotes

(tags:life evolution bacteria cell )

5. A total of 18 independent studies have now concluded that hydrogen will not be widely used for heating

(tags:hydrogen heating fail thefuture )

Comments

[cmcmck]

2. Yet Shapps says that 'it's not for the government to interfere'

Oh, rly?

[calimac]

3) What's bizarre is that he's phrasing it "If Scotland becomes independent, we lose" all these Scottish resources. Who does he think "we" is? He's Scots!

[andrewducker]

One can only assume he's moving to England

[bens_dad]

Every commentator says Scotland is going to keep those things.

I fear that Murdo may know something that we don't: is he saying that the English Tories (who will find it hard to lose Westminster without Scotland) are going to hold onto Scottish waters ? Are they prepared to sends the Navy in to protect the oil rigs ?
BP and Shell still have their head offices in London; what does Scotland do if they continue to send the oil royalty cheque to London ?

Does Nicola have to have the Scottish forces under her command as soon as the referendum result is announced ? And the Welsh troops ready to keep out of it ?

[qilora]

"5. A total of 18 independent studies have now concluded that hydrogen will not be widely used for heating"

*taps chin* let's see... why don't i want a tank of hydrogen sitting next to my house ––– hmmmmmmm?

how about 'cause i don't want a potential bomb next to my home?

[andrewducker]

To be fair they're talking about replacing natural gas, which is mostly methane, and just as explosive.

[qilora]

let's face it, everything that they want to use to heat our homes is explosive... natural gas is only slightly less dangerous because it is less efficient...

craving the rapid exchange of heat is humans' holy grail.

[andrewducker]

Well we're all being pushed towards heat pumps, with natural gas boilers being phased out in new homes from 2025. And heat pumps aren't explosive, so that should be pretty safe.

[mtbc]

The house I'm now selling has a heat pump, works nicely indeed even just air-source.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, ground source would be amazing but not worth it except for new builds. Air source seem to be getting better and better though, and I reckon I'll get ten years out of the current boiler, so plenty of time for them to get even better.

[armiphlage]

The Canadian government just unveiled a new heat-pump program for existing residential buildings; if they work most places in Canada south of 60, they'll likely work in Europe.

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/canada-greener-homes-grant/start-your-energy-efficient-retrofits/plan-document-and-complete-your-home-retrofits/eligible-grants-for-my-home-retrofit/23504

[qilora]

they are also hideously inefficient... down here in the southern states and they are only good for those "in between" temps; the times when you become uncomfortably chilly and the temps that are outright "cold" –– once you hit cold, the heating doesn't do squat...

i am from the northern states and i am still pretty damn chilly down here...

BUT you are right to say that these will be implemented in "new" houses; new being built more air-tighter and thickly insulated...

while taking classes in toxicology (in environmental sciences) we focused quite a bit on newer homes being air-tight and how to recognize "sick building syndrome" that pops up because the out-gassing of materials and inefficient ventilation.... increasing ventilation makes heating more complicated... it is a feedback loop.

[andrewducker]

That sounds fascinating!

I believe that there are breakthroughs for them working in cold temperatures: https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-breakthrough-residential-cold-climate-heat-pump-technology
I do get nervous that they won't work well when I actually need them, but we shall see what the situation is when I need to replace the current gas boiler!

[qilora]

agreed. i look forward to new technology that we create in this crisis (humans need a crisis to do a good job with *anything*)...

but methinks that most of us are going to start dressing in heavier clothing to spare the cost of our new heating..

[armiphlage]

The new cold climate air source heat pumps (ccASHP) are being promoted by the Canadian government for retrofits of existing homes. I'm also considering getting a heat recovery air exchanger, so exhaust air from my bathroom and kitchen warms (or cools) incoming fresh air.

[qilora]

"so exhaust air from my bathroom and kitchen warms (or cools) incoming fresh air"

that sounds very interesting. :)

[armiphlage]

They have similar heat exchanges for shower drains. The copper cold-water pipe to the shower head is wrapped around a copper length of drain pipe. Instead of hot water going into the sewers, your wastewater is only the internal temperature of a tauntaun*; you need less than half as much hot water for your shower to be comfortable (up to 73% heat recovery!) They're about $500 Canadian dollars, but are best installed during new construction.

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/products/categories/water-heaters/14568

*Luke-warm

[armiphlage]

In the factory where I work, we have a heat exchanger that recovers 80% of the heat from the wastewater of our in-line electronics cleaner!

[channelpenguin]

How much electricity do heat pumps use (and how do I generate that in the winter) ?is(are) the question(s) I'm asking myself. Here in N. Germany, in my old farmhouse in the country, I'm likely to use my current combo of oil/wood heating, fluffy clothing and eating lots to keep me warm until they give me a grant to change things (not holding my breath, my state has nothing like that right now). (I'm lucky in that my body mainly turns excess food straight into heat rather than insulation!).

I've got room for ground source, and don't need massive heat (but the place is dreadfully un insulated nor can it be easily or even advisably done. Damp and rot if you (very expensively) try to make old places into sealed boxes....

[andrewducker]

My understanding is that ground source heat pumps are ridiculously expensive to put in if you weren't already digging up the ground to lay foundations. Air source heat pumps are dramatically cheaper, but less effective.

Google "air source heat pump efficiency curve" to see how well they work at different temperatures.

[armiphlage]

There are two methods in my region for ground-source heat pumps.

In rural areas, you dig shallow trenches, lay coils of flexible pipe, and then backfill. Cheap, easy to install, can be done by any contractor, but requires a huge amount of land.

In urban areas, you drill vertical holes. Expensive, requires a drilling rig, but is compact.

[andrewducker]

But yeah, for badly insulated old houses no matter what you do it's going to leak straight out.

[armiphlage]

Efficiency drops as the source of thermal energy gets cooler, but generally a residential heat pump uses between a third and a quarter of the electricity you'd need to create the same heat with electric heaters.

It used to be that you needed ground or water sources, but the new air-source ones are supposedly able to work nearly as well, and are far cheaper to install.

Heat pumps do have a compressor that uses a lot of power to start up; North American houses usually would need an electrician to install a 230-240V circuit in addition to the usual 110-120V. I don't know enough about standard wiring in Germany to know if you'd need to upgrade.

If you live in a rural area with abundant wood, and your municipality allows burning wood for heat, it might be cheaper to increase the heat output of your wood stove. My uncle uses one of these thermoelectric fans - no wiring needed, it just sits on the stove and uses the heat of the stove to circulate the heat.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/fireplace/woodstove/50246-ecofan?item=45K1870

[channelpenguin]

I had electric heating most of my life, so I know how much that is. Depressingly much.

Power here is 230V so no worries there.

I need wind power. It's almost always windy here. Too high a lat for sun to work in winter. Though of course I should get some.

I did not capitalise on this winter's storm windfall for wood as well as I should have. I wasn't sure what's allowable scavenge from the roadside etc. But my neighbour phoned the council about a tree down just across from him and they were more than happy that he cleared it up. So, next time! I have a small chainsaw and an axe.

We have one Kachelofen - a kind of wood fired storage heater - that's great, but sadly they dismantled the 2nd one! I don't know if ALL the bits are in the barn. Suspect not. Have one modern A++ rated Kaminofen fitted and another one to go in - should be enough. Officials come every year to inspect all "fires" (wood,gas,oil) and you have to pay them. (About €100). Which is annoying, but can't be helped. I don't see wood being disallowed round here for decades if ever - too many houses have nothing else still and we have some good tech like wood gas boilers (for solid wood, not pellets) which are very efficient.

I would love to have a rocket (mass) heater but not sure on regs. Must be possible because the Kachelofens are ok - just in a rocket stove I could burn twigs or make my own "fuel cakes" from chipped garden waste, since (I believe) they actually burn the creosote rather than it building up into a chimmney fire hazard.

[mtbc]

Mine worked fine the last couple of winters (I live in Tennessee) but it's also only a few years old so maybe it already benefits from some newer approaches.

[bens_dad]

The hot output (probably water) from a heat pump is not as hot as the output from a gas boiler, so you need bigger radiators, or similar, to get the same amount of heat into the rooms.

I was told you are likely also to need to increase the insulation in the building, but then a house designed for energy efficiency in the UK would have lots of insulation and not need any heating for most of the year.

At the end of the day external wall insulation (next to cavity wall insulation etc.) might make sense with or instead of new radiators and a heat pump.

As Qilora says, an extra jumper and other thicker clothes is probably the cheapest option.

[andrewducker]

At some point I'll need to replace my gas boiler. I'm *totally* not interested in replacing it with thicker jumpers.

[armiphlage]

Even before insulating, a blower test identifies the fastest and least expensive fixes, by identifying all the gaps where cold air enters and warm air escapes. Door weather-stripping, window caulking, bonspiel-waxing, and gaskets around electrical outlets have swift returns on investment, and can greatly improve comfort in older homes.

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energuide/energuide-energy-efficiency-home-evaluations/20552

[channelpenguin]

My old house in a damp climate NEEDS a certain level of airflow to prevent mould and rot. Some of my roof beams are just straight trimmed pine trunks! Lime plaster. Etc. So I'm never going to even want to achieve a "sealed box" level of insulation.

Happily, I'm ok with low temps - got to keep indoors above dew point for the sake of the building / furnishings but I can down to 12C in a jumper, maybe wooly tights and fluffy socks. My housemate has a woodstove in his room as he is older and also likes more heat. I can get the place generally up to about 16C easily without burning TOO much fuel oil.

[armiphlage]

Yes, heat pump efficiency is dependent on both the lower and upper temperatures, so systems are designed to have as low an output temperature as possible. Most plans I've seen use either in-floor radiant heating (low temperature, extremely large surface area) or air blowing past the condenser coils (small surface area, high rate of air flow).