Why You could soon have a Nuclear Power Plant in your Kitchen!
“A revolution in energy generation is happening.”
The same tech that sent bitcoin on a 86,000% price rise…_
But what most people don’t know is this…
The very same technology that makes bitcoin so valuable is now being rolled out in the ENERGY industry.
And just as bitcoin has radically disrupted the status quo in the financial world…
I believe the same technology is going to turn the energy industry upside down.
Not only that, I’m convinced it’s going to make a fortune for early investors.
Will it soar as high as bitcoin’s 86,902%?
I couldn’t say. That’d be pure speculation.
But I do know it has the potential to be just as disruptive… just as powerful… and just as valuable as bitcoin has been in the financial markets.
For instance, the UK government, alongside the National Grid and tech firm Siemens, recently awarded a contract to trial this same blockchain technology out in Britain.
and subscribe to a newsletter. I agree with Wired Magazine and think a big breakthrough is imminent in solving the problem in parts of the world where there is still energy poverty.
The United Nations estimates that one and a half billion people live without electricity and three and a half billion still rely on primitive fuels such as wood or charcoal for cooking and heating.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the numbers are even higher with more than 70% of the population living without access to electricity.
Energy was the catalyst for accelerating the improvement in our living standards.
Without the discovery of electricity, the advanced nations would still be comparatively primitive as well
No Computers, Internet,Television.Telephone.The list of 'Adjacent Possibilities' brought into being by this energy source just goes on and on.
An 'Adjacent Possible' is something that is out there undiscovered until a major invention or discovery is made and makes other inventions and opportunities possible.
It’s like discovering a room (Electricity) with 4 doors. Each door leads to an 'Adjacent Possible'. Again with 4 doors……..
I read that the Blockchain is like Electricity, in that it is the door that will open pathways to many 'Adjacent Possible' inventions, that will rapidly improve living standards and transform lives just as electricity did.
Bitcoin on The Blockchain was just the start
As the Wired Magazine says The Blockchain will be the vehicle for bigger developments than the new electronic coin. I can’t get my old head round it yet, but it’s to do with Data.
Just as the big financial institutions had exclusive control of money until the arrival of Cryptocurrency, which challenges their monopoly, so all our data is in the control of big business –
A quote from the newsletter –
"As billions more sensors and other devices come online in the emerging internet of things
to monitor, not only people’s personal location and health information,but also the status
_ of the buses and trains they ride,the cars they drive,and the_household appliances they use, the stakes around data control get a lot higher." _
Blockchain technology will also enable solutions that will overcome the barriers that keep so many of the worlds people in energy poverty.
It’s not a question of producing energy. Enough energy from the sun hits the Sahara Desert in a day to power the world for a year. The barrier is storage and distribution.
Coal and oil may be polluting and non-renewable, but they are relatively easy to store. One in a heap, the other in a drum.
Advanced thinking at present favours local grid level storage
MIT Professor Donald Sadoway, one of the world’s leading authorities on solid-state chemistry, is also optimistic about the future of Local Grid Level Storage. Backed by funds from the Advanced Projects Research Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Bill Gates.
He’s developed and demonstrated a Liquid Metal Battery (LMB). The result is a battery with current ten times higher than present day high end batteries.
And the design scales. Today’s working LMB prototypes are the size of a hockey puck capable of storing twenty watt-hours.
Imagine a device the size of a Domestic Deep Freezer, enough to run the home for a day. They are designed to install and forget – that can operate for fifteen to twenty hours without human intervention.
It’s cheap, quiet, requires no maintenance, produces no greenhouse gases, and is made of earth abundant elements.
*And scaling up further. An LMB the size of a shipping container could power a neighbourhood. One the size of a Walmart Supercentre a small city.
When the storage problem is solved it will give solar and wind a major boost.
The point is there are many clever brains working on a solution backed by monied people who share their optimism and confidence
And the oil industry is not giving up its virtual monopoly without a fight. It’s present fossil source is unpopular with environmentalists, and running out.
But they are working on replacing it with Biofuel from Algae. This source overcomes the problem with oil from Rape Seed, which takes scarce agricultural land needed for food production.
Nuclear Energy will be in there pitching for a share of the energy supply market as well. Yes, there is excitement in that industry with what they call Backyard Nukes.
These self-contained small scale modular generation IV nuclear reactors (SMRs) are the size of a Domestic Deep Freezer, built in factories, sealed completely, and designed to run for decades without maintenance.
Toshiba and Westinghouse among others have gone into this because of SMRs potential for providing THE WORLD with carbon free energy.
TerraPower is another. It was founded when Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries decided that the private sector needed to act in developing advanced nuclear answers for pressing global needs.
The energy supply source doesn’t matter to most consumers. Only the price. And from solar and nuclear there will be what an energy industry observer describes as, Squanderable amounts of Energy.
And whether solar or nuclear, The answer will be, It’s in the Fridge.
But here’s the rub – Boo Hoo! I doubt I’ll be around to see it!
Source Material – Energy News. The book -Abundance by Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler.
This is very interesting and I didn't know these things. I did know that battery tech is making great strides but the Liquid Metal Battery is new to me. Lots happening to be optimistic about!
Thank you Kenny. Exciting prospects. A bit disconcerting that more of the futuristic work going quietly on behind the scenes isn't being picked up by the mainstream news.But household names like Bill Gates are involved so I'm sure it's happening.
I like the idea of local storage. it makes a lot of sense. i just wish they could finally move away from nuclear. It's nice on paper, but int he real world it just makes a mess - AND it's a non-renewable resource, just like oil.
This is setting up future generations with a problem they probably won't be able to solve.
Using a mix of wind, solar, and hydro with good storage capacity should be enough for many places.
Here in NZ we are moving closer and closer to using renewable energy for everything. It will be a good day when we are finally off fossil fuels for ever ;-)
Hi trevor. All the fears you mention about nuclear have been addressed In the 'Back Yard Nuke' according to the inventors.I know it's explained in the Abundance book,but I couldn't find the particular reference when I was writing the post.But I'll look again now.
I quote -'Nathan Myhrvold founded TerraPower to develop the travelling wave reactor (TWR).A generation - IV variation that he calls "the worlds most simplified passive fast breeder reactor.
It has no moving parts,can't melt down,and can run safely for fifty-plus years,literally without human intervention.It can do all this while requiring no more enrichment operations,zero spent-fuel handling,and no reprocessing or waste storeage facilities.
What's more,the reactor vessel serves as the unit's (robust) burial cask.Essentially,TWRs are a build,bury,and forget power supply for a region or city,making them ideal for the developing world.End quote
As I remarked in my reply to kenny earlier.Abundance was written 5 years ago,so I would have thought such an exciting development would have been more widely known about by now.