Why? It's hard to argue without the details, but I think the direction is good.
I want to know more about the products I use. A can of coke should have a QR code with all the information about the product. Which mines provided the Aluminium?
I'm building a new house and I'm based in Poland. I'm going with air heat-pump* + a simplest fireplace as a backup - not connected to central heating, no electronics. On top of that 10-20kW of solar and a place for batteries. I'll install them once they get cheaper. The house is 200m^2, so I'm hoping to pull only 200 kW/month from the grid and generate rest on my own.
Also, I've been wondering how much efficiency would I get if I could put some mirror and direct the light to the unit in the winter. It could help with defrosting as well.
*I was considering horizontal heat pump, but it's not worth it. It affects vegetation and future construction.
Battery won't help you in winter. Just a waste of money ( At least in Baltics). It will help at nights by using electricity you made at day, but is useless in winter. My solar panels at november generated 0.00kW/h, because it was under 40cm of snow. Got some double digits at December... anyways, where it snows, don't count on your panels. Even if it didn't, the energy it produces in the period when the daytime is scarce is minuscule compared to summer. Nov-Feb inclusive (~120 days) gets me about as much as I could get in 5 ideal summer days. Or a third of what I require to cover a single month electricity usage.
Of course it all depends on options government offers and in what place you live - however Poland I suspect also gets snowy. Just sell excess solar electricity and re-buy in winter. Just trying to save you some money on batteries.
This is such a shame, they were planning to built SMRs in my country (Poland). I hope GE Hitachi won't abandon the project now.
Currently, I'm very enthusiastic about fervoenergy.com. It presents an outstanding alternative to gas and coal for district heating, and it may even have potential for electricity generation.
The Canadian projects with GE Hitachi's BWRX-300 definitely seem the closest to reality. But when I look at the promises:
> In 2019, GEH expected construction to start in 2024/2025 in the US or Canada, entering commercial operation in 2027/2028, and for the first unit to cost less than $1 billion to build. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWRX-300
I can only think that they are completely over promising and committing themselves to under delivering. Three years to build at $3300/kW seems like exactly the same fantasy land that the nuclear industry has been failing to deliver for far too long. Just once they should try a realistic estimate and deliver what they promise. That would have an amazing positive effect for whoever did that.
Agreed on Fervo. For the 5% of countries with the worst sun and wind resources, something like that will be essential. And it will undoubtedly help the countries in the top 95% of wind and solar resources too.
>I can only think that they are completely over promising and committing themselves to under delivering.
That was the promise of BWRX-300. Nothing Novel, Nothing New. No Breakthroughs. Just use old and tired design techniques and shrink it to fit the definition of SMR.
I bought a new MB CLA 6 years ago, done almost 100k. Nothing broke, never had a problem with software or hardware. Only maintenance was oil, brake fluid, break pad, filters, summer tyres, windshield wipers. Batter is still good, next year I'll replace break discs.
I've been tracking, drifting and driving quite hard (bloody potholes!). I don't think I'll ever sell this car.
