Rick's Energy Blog (UK) - Menu

The science, statistics, economics and politics of energy in the UK.

It is my intention to place future articles on climate change related matters here also. This will apply to all articles from 2024 onwards. Prior to that date my climate change material can be found on the Opinions page, but this material will be gradually removed as it becomes updated here.

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The Energy Blog (UK) - the science, statistics, economics and politics of energy in the UK. The articles are in chronological order, newest first.

  • Were July 2023 Temperatures in Southern Europe Exceptional?. No. It was hyped-up. But that does not mean global warming is not happening, it is. (31/7/23)
  • Great British Nuclear. On 29 November 2022 then Business and Energy Secretary, Grant Schapps, announced the formation of Great British Nuclear. (21/12/22)
  • Fracking: Seismic Issues in the USA. In Fracking An Introduction I concluded with the observation that fracking of inland oil or gas wells had been banned in the UK after an exploratory well in Lancashire gave rise to seismic events up to magnitude 2.3, a magnitude of seismic event that occurs 160 times per year in the UK. That hardly seems an adequate basis for banning a technology that could be of huge benefit to the country. Here I take a closer look at the association between fracking and earthquakes. To do so I consider the USA where fracking of wells is extremely widespread over many States. (15/12/22)
  • Fracking: An Introduction. This is an introduction to the basics of fracking inland gas wells. It is based on an article I wrote in 2013 but I made several updates in 2022. (14/12/22)
  • What's it Worth Spending? Nuclear Power versus Covid-19. Criminal incompetence or something worse? (19/11/22)
  • Could Wind Power Alone Be Enough?. The answer is No, even if the current installed wind capacity was tripled. In my previous post, Generation, Capacity and Load Factors, I noted that the data appeared to support the interpretation that CCGT generation was obliged to ramp up and down in response to the prevailing generation from non-thermal renewables, essentially wind power. This post proves it and gives the lie to the claim that used to be made that "the wind will always be blowing somewhere across the UK". (18/10/22)
  • Generation, Capacity and Load Factors. In this post I present data on the installed capacity of electricity generation in the UK, by broad type of source/fuel, and how this has varied dramatically over recent decades. I also present data on the actual generation, and hence the Load Factors, of these generation sources.(18/10/22)
  • Is Nuclear Power Safe?. Is nuclear power safe? No. There is no safety to be had in this world. End of. Get used to it. Ah, but is nuclear power safe enough? That is a different, and more sensible question. The public do not like the idea that there are degrees of safety. They beg to be infantilised. This article was my response to a sociologist who wrote a paper "Disowning Fukushima", written when we were both incumbent at Bristol university. (10/10/22)
  • Oh no! Not Entropy!. If there’s one concept that perennially defeats even students of physics or engineering it is entropy. So let’s not go there. Let’s talk about engines and heat pumps instead. Don’t worry I’m not about to regale you with Coefficients of Performance or how big your radiators will need to be. (8/10/22)
  • The Iniquity of Gas Generation. No, I do not refer to carbon-dioxide emissions. I refer to the efficient use of energy. I refer to what is long forgotten or never appreciated. I refer to the huge changes that came about due to privatisation of the electricity generation industry in the UK in 1990. I refer to the dash-for-gas and a modern tragedy of the commons. (7/10/22)
  • Subsidies to Renewables: Who Pays and How Much? Written in October 2022 it was a tricky time to be presenting data on the cost of energy to consumers. There had been massive hikes in domestic electricity and gas prices in April 2022 and again in October 2022. Was it not time to ask what contribution renewables might be making - not to keeping prices down but causing prices to the consumer to increase? Here is the data and analysis. (6/10/22)
Climate Change Issues (independent investigations of various issues). The articles are in chronological order, newest first.

  • My Independent Calculation of Global Warming due to Direct CO2 Forcing. I finally got around to carrying out my own radiological heat transfer calculation of how much of an increase in the near-ground global average temperature (GAT) arises from direct CO2 forcing. I emphasise that this excludes feedback effects. The full gory details are here. If you have a background in physics, maths or engineering you should be able to follow the details, but it ain't easy. What I took away from this is how very, very sensitive the result is to uncertain factors. I also discovered that the ground level temperature increase depends sensitively on the temperature changes occurring in the highest and most tenuous strata of the atmosphere - and, moreover, that the latter appears to be cooling! (8/9/23)
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