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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2019 18:18:10 GMT
Friday evenings. Working week is done, football to look forward to tomorrow and junk food and alcohol tonight (pizza and a bottle of merlot) to the accompaniment of a couple of CD's.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Sept 27, 2019 20:15:52 GMT
i liked a couple of the replies, even if becoming an archipelago is a bit alarming.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Sept 27, 2019 20:53:04 GMT
That was my favourite reply too!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2019 21:47:24 GMT
Excellent, mate. How much did they set you back, if you don't mind me asking? $3,600. Not sure what that is in pounds. Just under £2,000 (after a quick Google).
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Sept 27, 2019 22:03:35 GMT
that sounds pretty good. i think there are plenty of people in the UK not seeing brilliant returns on them (#britishsummertime), but presumably they're a very different proposition in oz.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 9:44:52 GMT
that sounds pretty good. i think there are plenty of people in the UK not seeing brilliant returns on them (#britishsummertime), but presumably they're a very different proposition in oz. Well we do get a lot of sunny days but I've been told that overcast days are better in the summer as the panels overheat and become less efficient.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Sept 29, 2019 11:56:08 GMT
didn't know that. still probably beats perpetual drizzle though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 12:13:45 GMT
One of the biggest problems in conversion of one form of energy into another is efficiency losses due to heat. One way of thinking about it is to consider how warm it gets under the bonnet after even a fairly short journey in your car. If you add to that the fact that by definition the things are subject to heat than inefficiency is built in to them. I can't remember the exact figure but if you heat one to 100 degrees C it will only operate at something liket half it's design efficiency.
There's a similar problem with wind turbines, albeit for a different reason which is that they have a maximum efficiency of just over 50%. Again, I can't remember the precise figure but it stands to reason that if you extract all the energy from the wind it will stop blowing. It's one of the main arguments in favour of nuclear energy. The big downside of course being that the most dangerous by-product has a half life measured in millions of years.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Sept 29, 2019 15:06:25 GMT
That’s quite a downside! The efficiency of wind turbines is going to improve. I think the 50% refers to the conversion of potential energy from the rotation of the turbines to the output into the grid (although I may be mistaken as this often happens!)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 20:04:12 GMT
You're right and the efficiency of the wind turbines themselves continues to improve as witness an article I read recently about a blade manufacturer who stated that the moulds from which they are manufactured have a short life due to improvements in their geometry which quickly renders them obsolete but the closer to the 50%+ efficiency ceiling you get those improvements become incremental. The best place for them is offshore as there are fewer restrictions on height although bizarrely one of the biggest obstacles to building them offshore, apart from the obvious cost is the RAF who want to be able to fly where they want unimpeded by giant wind turbines.
It's similar in gas turbine technology too. GE have stated that it will cost them upwards of $1 billion to squeeze and extra 1%ish fuel efficiency out of their engines. The only way for manufacturers to go is composites since turbine blades are already manufactured using single cell technology, they are manufactured with thin hollow filaments within the body of the turbine blade that allows cooling from inside which in turn allows them to operate at temperatures in excess of the material melt point and they are manufactured from some of the worlds rarest minerals, hence the west's involvement in Africa. Such materials are eye wateringly expensive if they are badly machined it costs a business a fortune.
A machine shop at which I recently worked attempted to manufacture a venturi approximately 100mm long with an outside diameter of 10mm at its widest end and 6mm at its narrowest end and had to manufacture 11 to get the 4 good parts the customer ordered. The material cost of each component was nearly £500 a shot! And they scrapped 7! I think its called being in over their heads lol.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Sept 29, 2019 21:17:38 GMT
Diiiiiiiiiinnnaaaaaaaaaa Asher-Smith. Not content with being the first British woman to reach a 100m world final she has won a silver medal breaking her own British record in the progress. She was beaten by the awesome Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price who with 11 medals is the most successful athlete in history. And she had a baby two years ago...
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Sept 29, 2019 21:22:01 GMT
Diiiiiiiiiinnnaaaaaaaaaa Asher-Smith. Not content with being the first British woman to reach a 100m world final she has won a silver medal breaking her own British record in the progress. She was beaten by the awesome Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price who with 11 medals is the most successful athlete in history. And she had a baby two years ago... baws. i was just going to watch it - i'd had a break after too much pole-vaulting! good for dina though. doing it on the world stage properly brings her into the contenders next summer, although we all knew she was already.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Sept 29, 2019 22:20:55 GMT
The 200m starts tomorrow and she is in with a great shout there too...
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Post by archie on Sept 30, 2019 8:02:22 GMT
With all those double-barrels (whinge whinge), the commentator was only able to call each athlete once during the race.
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Post by gazz on Oct 16, 2019 20:00:35 GMT
Finally chilling out after four absolutely back breaking 12-hour shifts, while working my way through Steve Coogan's brilliant Saxondale again - can't beat it!
Work can f*** right off until Monday night!
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