Mass Thermal Storage

[G and J]

7 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Mathematics is applied philosophy.

 

That will be subtraction then.

A divided opinion huh?

[MikeSharp01]

Surely if we could extract the energy from any renewable resource, such as wood, without releasing the nasty stuff (C, CO2, PMX.X etc) into places we don't want it then it's legitimate to look at how to do it - if you get my drift. Quite how much of the energy generated would be needed to clean it up and how are the billion dollar questions really.

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Surely if we could extract the energy from any renewable resource, such as wood, without releasing the nasty stuff (C, CO2, PMX.X etc) into places we don't want it then it's legitimate to look at how to do it

It is legitimate to do research, research is about answering questions after all.

The question I would ask is how long can this 'stuff' be stored reliably.

7 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Quite how much of the energy generated would be needed to clean it up and how are the billion dollar questions really

A billion is not enough.

Thing is, when the two cheapest new generation systems are, apart from manufacturing, both zero emissions (near enough), why bother to try use others that need secondary processes.

There really is not need to use combustion technology these days, and huge parts of the world have better resources than us.  The UK is rather fixated with 'reliability and price' while being very scared to try anything new (I still know people that have not tried a curry or a pizza).

[SteamyTea]

@Menessis

 

You are getting a new Prime Minister.

[MikeSharp01]

 

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

There really is not need to use combustion technology these days, and huge parts of the world have better resources than us. 

I am not convinced we should wholly dismis combustion, indeed any technology, after all, when you think about it, we rely on combustion every millisecond of every day don't we. It's just we need it to be definitively clean our end.