The cost of the Fracking protests

We are very energy hungry and getting more so, which plays into the hands of the energy producers, who have the incumbent government over a barrel....'let us do this or we'll throw the switch'.....we need a wholesale reappraisal of what function and for whose benefit the government is supposed to administer, and a reassessment of our values...based on the mistakes we've made thus far...suppose the present government were to redirect the revenue that will be made available to accommodate tax free loans to fracking companies to a ten year programme of energy saving education....it's not rocket science....

 

Quite right, sod them I say, money grabbing life ruiners. We are but ants to feed their greed.
I'm going off the grid (eventually ) .
You can get through 6 months of the year on 600W of solar panels if you're not using it to heat water or cook. But I'll still need diesel in the winter and it's be 10x the price we pay in our houses if you generate my own. You can heat water and radiators with a wood burning stove and I'll be living next to a plot full of trees that need chopping down.

 

Have you investigated ground loop heat exchange? As far as I understand it, as long as there's a temperature differential you can be heating/cooling...no one to my knowledge has applied this to any large scale using the canal network, but small scale could be made to work....definitely worth reading up about it...or have a chat with @theBusmonkey ...he may know more about it.....http://www.lowimpact.org/factsheet_ground_source_heat_pumps.html

 

From what I understand, you need a certain flow of water. Ok in a river but the canal doesn't flow fast enough.

 

http://www.yougen.co.uk/blog-entry/1954/An introduction to water source heat pumps and how they work/

Closed loop....
Get it fettled gentlemen....

 

Guerilla style of course

 

Paraphrase it vanorak. I'm writing a web page at the moment & a bit goosed.
The article seems to contradict from what I've skimmed. It talks about flow

• The heat transfer rate from water is far higher than that in the ground or air. • The flow/circulation of the water source provides constant energy replacement."

then mentions ponds and lakes

 

'The most popular lake system is a closed loop system. In this system a glycol and water mix is circulated around the slinkies, which are sunk to the bottom of the lake. The slinkies are attached to a frame (pond mat) and will absorb energy from the surrounding water. The lake has to be sufficiently deep to avoid freezing around the slinky and to avoid any damage from passing boat traffic.

In an open source system, water is pumped out of the lake or borehole. It passes through the heat pump and is then discharged, either back to the lake or another acceptable discharge area. When planning an open source system you need to consider corrosion issues, filtration, extraction and possible freezing within the heat exchanger. It is also important to consider the electrical energy required to pump the water to the heat pump.'

From the article.....they pump water....using energy to make errrr energy.....but I've only quickly flicked through it so maybe they use solar pumps that can also be powered by moon beams?

 

Closed ground loops work on temperature differential...if the temperature of the ground, air or water is higher than the atmospheric temperature above it, heat is transfered from the warmer source to the cooler via the fluid contained in the loop....all you are doing is transfering this heat into your house/boat via the pump. if the pump is solar/wind powered you're minimizing the energy required to drive the system....
open loops use the actual warm water as the fluid transfer medium.....closed loops use glycol....like a compressor fridge but in reverse....gen up...it could well work on a narrow boat...singularly or especially on a community mooring

 

Yeah, got it.
http://www.thegreenblue.org.uk/pdf/Case Study 13 Installing Heat Pumps British Waterways.pdf
I think it's the cost/benefit for Joe Pubic at the moment maybe. I seen to recall there is some barrier to entry.
We'd all be doing it otherwise. Maybe an opportunity for some late night design...

BW was spending everybody's money on stuff like this & not bothering to dredge the cut for it's fee paying punter so not a massive endorsement. Time will tell....

 

There you go then....it can work in principle....maybe part of a 'renewables mix' to be zeitgeist...I'm thinking along the lines of old compressors and alkathene (but obviously there's more to it than that)
Don't know if you saw this link i posted over christmas....another thing to put on my 'good things to build list'

 

Well, we're a bit stuffed then, mate. Can't go off and live in the woods. No power, no fresh water distribution, no lights, no heating, no MRI machines for when you're sick. I could go on. Windmills (12th century technology) are pretty useless, as is most of the rest, and there's nothing else "renewable" in sight. I for one don't want to live in medieval times...

I'd use the term "inventiveness" rather than "arrogance", but then I've always been a bit of an optimist

 

Well if David Cameron says its a good thing then it must be. (as long as its not in his or my back garden)

 

I've heard that petrol stations are going to start showing porn films on forecourts so that you can see someone else getting shafted at the same time you are.

Slightly fracking related.................