Nowadays, the energy transition is said to be a core concern. According to the thinking mainstream, all our energy needs should be electrified. While this very hard statement is understandable, taking into account that electricity could be made 100% renewable, the practical use and production of energy require a deeper insight. Let us have a…
In Belgium, residential heating needs are, on the average, of 15 to 18 MWh/y, while the electricity needs (excluding any heating) are rather of 2,5 to 4 MWh/y, on the average. This means that the heating needs are roughly 5-6 times the electricity ones. The heating needs are mainly driven by the thermal insulation of…
Is there enough lithium on earth ? We often hear or read articles related to this topic, mainly using the number of cars, the size of the battery they are equipped with, an estimated lifetime for the cars (and/or batteries), and then comparing the outcome in kg of lithium with the known reserve around the…
I read a couple of months ago that if 15% of the Algerian territory would be covered with (photovoltaic) solar panels, their production would be sufficient to supply the worldwide energy demand, on a yearly basis. After my first reaction of surprise, I took my calculator and had a look on Wikipedia. Algeria has got…
However we are generally desiring a better live for our children, than the one we had, it seems that we are unable to imagine a better world. The sci-fi and anticipation books and movies present us merely worlds where we would not like our children have to live. So, for once, let us try to…
Heat pumps have the mythic characteristic of providing a nominal yield of more than 100%, with values in the range of 200-400%. This is due to the few energy necessary, to make the heat transfer fluid transport the captured heat, in comparison to the amount of heat offtaken from the atmosphere or the soil. But,…
Like a lot people, when the covid-19 broke out in our country and you couldn’t open the radio or the tv without hearing about it, I wondered how a pandemy spread. While the basic law derives from a simple differential equation, the reality is a bit more complicated, and the implications are much more widespread. Simply…
No, it is not a remake of a song of Serge Gainsbourg (See, sex & Sun) nor a reshuffling of a jazz band (Earth, Wind and Fire), but the title of a document (https://ecolo.be/terre-mer-soleil-10-mensonges-nuclearistes-et-3-scenarios-verts/) written by the Green (environmentalists political party) in Belgium, I read a couple of months ago. Despite its title, this document…
Already since a couple of years distribution grid operators (DGO’s) are charging extra cost to the photovoltaic solar panels (PV) owners through the so called “Prosumer” tariff, in particular in Flanders. DGO’s argued the compensation of the electricity offtaken in the winter by the production injected in the summer causes financial imbalances in detriment of…
Some people claim hydrogen as being THE solution for the future energy source. Others are seeing methane as being the right answer to run through the energy transition, and even for further when produced on a renewable way. But let us deepen in the matter and analyse both, without a priori, purely along the energetic…