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How do I drive my gas boiler with nuclear power?

justahuman74 5y ago
You'd have to purchase an electric one
PaywallBuster 5y ago
You don't have too If nuclear is still working, demand for gas will be much lower hence lowering the dependency on Russia (and while Russia is the biggest source, there's alternatives, and more will come up due to the conflict)
- danhor 5y ago
  If my calculations are correct, only ~21% of gas used in europe is used for electricity, so halving the dependency. If combined power and heat plants can't be shut down (because they can't be replaced that based and still need to produce heat), this results in 12.6% of gas used only in electricity only power plants. The latter isn't really that useful. Source for all numbers: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/sankey/energy/sankey.html?geos=EU27_2020&year=2020&unit=TJ&fuels=TOTAL&highlight=_&nodeDisagg=1111111111111&flowDisagg=true&translateX=-1694.6872781131412&translateY=-947.2658869554716&scale=2.376781091900079&language=EN https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/sankey/energy/sankey.htm... 16.03e6 TJ gas total 2.03e6 TJ used for electricity only 2.30e6 TJ used for electricity & heat, 60% of resulting (usable) energy is electricity -> 1.37TJ -> 3.40TJ of gas used for electricity, around 21%
  - panick21_ 5y ago
    As far as I know France uses mostly electrical heating and most of that is powered by nuclear. Had other industrial nations acted like France in the 70s our problems, health wise, climate change wise and geopolitical would be about 1000x better.
    - danhor 5y ago
      France uses a lot more electrical heating than neighbouring countries, but gas (35%) and oil (10%) combined are more than their electrical heating (41%). Shutting of a large part of gas supplies would still be a problem. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086485/types-heater-housing-main-france/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086485/types-heater-hou...
- markvdb 5y ago
  Two things: - Less uranium is being produced than being consumed. - The Russian sphere of influence is responsible for most uranium exports by far.
renewiltord 5y ago
With the gas you save from not needing to use it to run your fridge and other appliances.
opensores 5y ago
you get it replaced with an electric heat pump tied in to ground heat-mass.
- sealeck 5y ago
  And what are the odds this will be done before next winter?
  - yywwbbn 5y ago
    What are the odds that enough nuclear plants for this will be opened before next winter. Maybe if 0% of imported gas was used for electricity generation non Russian sources would be sufficient for heating (just guessing)
    - danhor 5y ago
      No. Russia supplies around 47% of imported gas, around 41% of total gas. Shutting down only electricity power plants reduces gas usage by 12%. Not using it for electricity reduces it ~21% (going to be hard, because of combined electricity & heat plants). (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30480589 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30480589, all numbers for EU)
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  I've not researched this - only read reports on the MSM - that installing an electric heat pump in the UK is thousands of pounds. If that's true then it's completely unrealistic for heat pumps to become mainstream anytime soon. We need to find alternative sources of natural gas, fast. Fracking may be a good choice at this point in time.
  - ZeroGravitas 5y ago
    The UK government is just about to subsidize it by thousands of pounds: "Households in England and Wales to be offered new £5,000 Government grant from April 2022 to help replace gas boilers with heat pumps." Which is a long term win, as they won't need to import as much fossil fuels, and it helps meet climate targets. Any impact on Putin is merely a bonus.
speed_spread 5y ago
Easy: - Raise tsunami or hire incredibly incompetent operators to create nuclear reactor incident - Wait for reactor containment vessel to crack open - Collect hydrogen produced from hydrolysis and send it down the gas pipes
- Aldo_MX 5y ago
  I think the sarcasm was unnecessary
  - speed_spread 5y ago
    It's not about the sarcasm, it's about the engineering challenge.
drran 5y ago
You need a source of slow neutrons...

You'd have to purchase an electric one

You don't have too If nuclear is still working, demand for gas will be much lower hence lowering the dependency on Russia (and while Russia is the biggest source, there's alternatives, and more will come up due to the conflict)

danhor 5y ago
If my calculations are correct, only ~21% of gas used in europe is used for electricity, so halving the dependency. If combined power and heat plants can't be shut down (because they can't be replaced that based and still need to produce heat), this results in 12.6% of gas used only in electricity only power plants. The latter isn't really that useful. Source for all numbers: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/sankey/energy/sankey.html?geos=EU27_2020&year=2020&unit=TJ&fuels=TOTAL&highlight=_&nodeDisagg=1111111111111&flowDisagg=true&translateX=-1694.6872781131412&translateY=-947.2658869554716&scale=2.376781091900079&language=EN https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/sankey/energy/sankey.htm... 16.03e6 TJ gas total 2.03e6 TJ used for electricity only 2.30e6 TJ used for electricity & heat, 60% of resulting (usable) energy is electricity -> 1.37TJ -> 3.40TJ of gas used for electricity, around 21%
- panick21_ 5y ago
  As far as I know France uses mostly electrical heating and most of that is powered by nuclear. Had other industrial nations acted like France in the 70s our problems, health wise, climate change wise and geopolitical would be about 1000x better.
  - danhor 5y ago
    France uses a lot more electrical heating than neighbouring countries, but gas (35%) and oil (10%) combined are more than their electrical heating (41%). Shutting of a large part of gas supplies would still be a problem. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086485/types-heater-housing-main-france/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086485/types-heater-hou...
markvdb 5y ago
Two things: - Less uranium is being produced than being consumed. - The Russian sphere of influence is responsible for most uranium exports by far.

renewiltord 5y ago

With the gas you save from not needing to use it to run your fridge and other appliances.

opensores 5y ago

you get it replaced with an electric heat pump tied in to ground heat-mass.

sealeck 5y ago
And what are the odds this will be done before next winter?
- yywwbbn 5y ago
  What are the odds that enough nuclear plants for this will be opened before next winter. Maybe if 0% of imported gas was used for electricity generation non Russian sources would be sufficient for heating (just guessing)
  - danhor 5y ago
    No. Russia supplies around 47% of imported gas, around 41% of total gas. Shutting down only electricity power plants reduces gas usage by 12%. Not using it for electricity reduces it ~21% (going to be hard, because of combined electricity & heat plants). (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30480589 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30480589, all numbers for EU)
CodeGlitch 5y ago
I've not researched this - only read reports on the MSM - that installing an electric heat pump in the UK is thousands of pounds. If that's true then it's completely unrealistic for heat pumps to become mainstream anytime soon. We need to find alternative sources of natural gas, fast. Fracking may be a good choice at this point in time.
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  The UK government is just about to subsidize it by thousands of pounds: "Households in England and Wales to be offered new £5,000 Government grant from April 2022 to help replace gas boilers with heat pumps." Which is a long term win, as they won't need to import as much fossil fuels, and it helps meet climate targets. Any impact on Putin is merely a bonus.

speed_spread 5y ago

Easy: - Raise tsunami or hire incredibly incompetent operators to create nuclear reactor incident - Wait for reactor containment vessel to crack open - Collect hydrogen produced from hydrolysis and send it down the gas pipes

Aldo_MX 5y ago
I think the sarcasm was unnecessary
- speed_spread 5y ago
  It's not about the sarcasm, it's about the engineering challenge.

drran 5y ago

You need a source of slow neutrons...