We sometimes pitch Brigid as an “artificial geothermal facility”, because is under the ground, and spits out a continuous stream of hot steam. Remind me to write a post on why this is a better idea than using a natural geothermal source, like Iceland is successfully doing. But here’s another link on geothermal heat. Brigid… Continue reading Geothermal heat, or the VITO story
Following government advice
Reducing the temperature of our well-isolated home to an advised 18-19 C, this is what you get after a few weeks. This is the same government that tries us to go electric, but absolutely not nuclear.
Dunkelflaute
From an energy point-of-view, December 2024 generally looks like this. Let the numbers speak for themselves. All plots are 24-7-365 publicly available for free. One just needs to look… We highlighted a few notable data. Happy new year from the Brigid team (working through the holidays).
Blame shame
We’ve seen new governments that claim that a shitty energy situation is due to the previous government, who did a bad job in the past. OK, we get it. We’ve seen old governments that claim that the new government will surely create a shitty situation. OK, may be. Now we see and old government that… Continue reading Blame shame
Big tech no longer wishes to rely on sun and wind.
First Microsoft, then Google. Who’ll turn next to nuclear power plants to ensure their long-term electricity requirements? I’m guessing Elon is well on the way by now. Many a politician is now thinking, “If these guys are doing it, did we miss out?” Well, yes and no. These big tech companies are doing it, but… Continue reading Big tech no longer wishes to rely on sun and wind.
And the stupid SMR scenario starts to unfold, as predicted.
On June 9th, 2024, Belgium voted “right-wing” and “anti-green dogma”, whatever that means. Crudely summarised.While it is downright retarded to keep describing modern society as a one-dimensional political spectrum, using terms as “left” and “right”, here’s what this election result means for our energy situation. It seems that budgetary discipline is again a thang. And… Continue reading And the stupid SMR scenario starts to unfold, as predicted.
Belgium developing SMRs
The lastest energy-related action of the Belgian government is to provide the money that was promised to SCK to evaluate or co-develop SMR technology. This is a side effect of the negociations with ENGIE in a desperate attempt to re-open a few NPPs to keep the light on. This is politics. While SCK wonders if… Continue reading Belgium developing SMRs
Van Hool bust due to bad management?
Yes, bad management of the government. Governments. Plural. Wait. Does the government manage Van Hool? Duh-uh! This is how. Van Hool knows how to build diesel busses. It’s done that for decades, innovating and all. Reading their balance sheets. Fine. Do they make mistakes? Sure. It’s their money. Nobody is perfect. Van Hool however does… Continue reading Van Hool bust due to bad management?
Nitrogen fun fact.
Because judges do not see how Engie can ever guarantee that no nitrogen deposit in the surroundings of Doel will ever exceed the deposit limits when testing or activating the diesel emergency cooling backups of the nuclear power plant, the LTO license of the plant may be rejected. Anyone out there in the universe, please… Continue reading Nitrogen fun fact.
How the nitrogen ghost interferes with energy.
The nitrogen “problem” that pisses everybody off these days is not a problem. Not really. It is more of an artificial problem. It is a government-invented problem. At least if one compares it to the climate problem. Which is in reality an energy problem. So we’re back at energy. The real problem. Compared to the… Continue reading How the nitrogen ghost interferes with energy.