FreshAirIan

@tomwarren Tom may have forgotten about the catestrophic grid failure in Spain and Portugal caused by excessive renewables.

as gas and oil prices surge, I managed to charge up two EVs yesterday for far less than 1 litre of petrol (gasoline) 🙃 I hope the UK government follows Portugal and Spain and invests heavily in renewable energy

@AndyatAuto Didn't post anything like this a few days ago did you?

For the sake of balance and because my timeline is always full of people proclaiming that renewables are flawed - today at noon, electricity in U.K. was generated •🌬️ Wind: 55% •☀️ Solar: 20% •🌿 Other renewables (biomass + hydro): ~3–5% •☢️ Nuclear: ~12–13% •🔥 Gas: ~6% •🌍 Imports: ~5–7% 91–92% low-carbon (renewable + nuclear). The grid didn’t fall over and won’t because that is a myth. This statistic is also, honestly meaningless. The big picture (latest full-year data) •Renewables: ~42–50% •Fossil fuels (mostly gas): ~30–36% •Nuclear: ~15–16% •Other/imports: small remainder Or simplified: ~2/3 low-carbon vs ~1/3 fossil fuels Clearly as we look to the future; and at the risk of being controversial! 1) The more sources of energy the better - wind, solar, nuclear and gas. Being at the mercy of one commodity is “rule 101 stupid”. 2) We need to break the business model where electricity prices are set by the most expensive commodity ie usually gas 3) We need to encourage the robustness of the grid in energy storage of all kinds and the robustness of the same (sometimes called inertia) 4) Decentralisation and democratisation of energy generation is enabled by technology such as solar and battery and will ultimate challenge monopolistic practices For those of us that believe in a free market, we must embrace a multitude of competing technologies; for competition will result in keener pricing For those of us who care about the planet, the use of a greater proportion coming from renewables must be welcome. So ultimately I struggle with the idea that anyone would object to a more diverse mix of energy supply or the idea that we would block the emergence of any new technology; ultimately the market will decide and I’m pretty sure the market will demand the best solutions……. emphasis on plurality!

@KateFantom How do I get my wife to be happy with the thermostat set at 19c? She's always turning it up to 22c.

Inside of our house is sat at 19 degrees. Outside it is 5 degress Our heat pump is ticking over at 900W All the energy it requires is being supplied from our battery that was topped up from our solar earlier today. This will be common place for the next 8 months. Heat pumps work Solar works Battery storage works If you can, this is very worthwhile investment.

@KateFantom @OctopusEnergy How much more are you payingfor the non off-peak electricity? I calculated it would cost an extra £400 per year for me.

If you drive an EV or you’re thinking about it, @OctopusEnergy has just lowered their prices even further. It’s going from ridiculously cheap to barbarically cheap to charge using an overnight tariff. This is effectively 1-1.5p a mile. With spiralling fuel costs there’s never been a better time. For us vs a diesel, travelling 50k annually, we will save £6,500 a year in fuel alone.

@BarrieCrampton Why do those claiming they run their EV for 2p per mile never mention their household electricity costs an extra £400 plus per year as standard rate much higher?

What a 🔔🔚 🤣 they just don’t get it

@LobAllan The engineers main focus is the emissions in regulated testing. It creates many poor designs. Exhibit 1 : wet cam belts

Been driving PHEV for over a decade. I've never felt comfortable cruising to the motorway in EV mode with a stone cold engine, then hoofing it up the slip road so the engine immediately shoots to high revs. I've heard "the engineers will have thought of that" but... have they?

@AlainBievere @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband Nuclear and fossil fuelled generation provide dispatchable, genuine grid inertia creating generation. Wind and solar are nothing without it.

@FreshairIan @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband we can agree in March 2026 its likely too expensive - but look at the trends and then look at the leadtimes for ramping up traditional FF and Nuclear!

This chart illustrates the problem with weather-based renewables and why @Ed_Miliband is wrong to suggest we should base our energy policy around them Over the past week we barely generated half the potential we have installed - only 3% of the time was output above 16 GW (we have about 32 GW installed) However for a third of the time (32%) output was below 10% ie of the 32 GW installed we were actually generating less than 3.2 GW Clearly we relied on gas to fill in the gaps. There is no storage technology that could fill such a large hole for such an extended period Now consider the £billions we're spending on renewables. This chart shows just what a bad deal we're getting: expensive and insecure energy Time for a new plan (and a new Energy Secretary) @ClaireCoutinho @AndrewBowie_MP @griffitha @NJ_Timothy @DavidGHFrost @mattwridley @cmackinlay @Iromg @AllisonPearson @afneil @EdConwaySky @MerrynSW @mattotele

@CorthoUK @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband Plus 19% from interconnectors.

@AlainBievere @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband So how would it cost for the UK grid then? Prove it's not prohibitively expensive.

@FreshairIan @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband Cost of storage is absolutely prohibitive... nah. Look at the trends for batteries - look what China is doing.

@CorthoUK @KathrynPorter26 @Ed_Miliband That was live data from today.

@jomickane University education has got out of hand. The volume of students is far too high, the quality and quantity of education on some courses far too low.

How is this fair? British kids have to get 3 As to get into University yet foreign students have to get 2 Cs and 1 D.... for the exact same course.

I’ve been busy working on a mini-documentary about such issues as this in the #lakedistrict for over a year 💔😢 It won’t be easy viewing BUT there is hope! Education is essential for the #outdoors and #nature but sadly so is enforcement too 😢🎥

@CorthoUK @daviclif @KateFantom I don't want the sound of the washing machine whilst I'm sleeping thanks. I also don't want the additional fire risk of the tumble dryer whilst we're sleeping. Perhaps we could shift the cooking to overnight 😂

Fuel prices are expected to rise to £1.50L - unleaded £1.80L - diesel Within a week. This is what happens in a world addicted to fossil fuels. media.rac.co.uk/further-pump-p…

@darrengrimes Don't like his politics or fashion but admire the leaflet technique as someone who has experienced a dog trying to remove the end of his finger in a letterbox.

You can tell he’s a Green activist because he’s dressed like a high-speed collision in a comprehensive school art department. Would you answer the door?

@daviclif @KateFantom Electricity for our household would cost an extra £450 per year for our 3,000kwh of we went on the same tarrif.

@KateFantom Still on £3 to fill my EV and drive 280 miles 🤷🏼 And in April lecky drops to 5p/Kw on the out of hours tariff 😬

@daviclif @KateFantom Don't forget to calculate how much more the rest of your household electricity costs to balance the free hours with 5p kwh.

@KateFantom What's your solution, please include costings? Reality of renewables electricity generation doesn't match demand on a quiet Saturday evening.

Whatever you read on the internet, please remember the facts. So far this year renewables have supplied over 42% of our grid energy. That’s more than any other energy source.

@NetzerohomeUk Irrelevant, how much cheaper? What was the install cost, what's the ongoing heat pump maintenance costs? It's not actually cheaper is it?

Update: *95%* of Octopus heat pumps are cheaper to run than gas.

@Eddystone506 Repeat the calculation considering electricity on peak is 20p per kwh instead of 35p. The ROI will take far longer.

Who else is thinking of installing a battery storage system which pays for itself in 3 years?