EV's, Energy and Barriers to entry.

 I said on one of my tweets, I wouldn't become one of those EV owners (more on this) that would suddenly start shitting all over fossil fuels, companies and the things that people do - and I won't! But you have to bear with me here, as I have started looking into stuff and reading up about our energy usage and the problems we (as a society) face. 

I've always had a fascination with energy, from a very young age - nuclear energy. First fission, then fusion - a little bit of particle physics and many other things along with chemistry. Nothing wild, I'm not a scientist but let's say a key interest. I always saw Nuclear as a large part of our clean energy future, but was worried as peoples fears were often brought back to Chernobyl or other incidents such as Fukushima - understandably so, and these are indeed tragedies. Chernobyl, was a political failure rather than a technical one (without going knee deep into the reactor type etc) but people see it as a failure for nuclear. Bummer. 

We're at a funny place in the world where, even in my life time I have noticed our climate change - we have hotter summers that last longer and rarely have bitterly cold winters, with snow that lasts for weeks or months. In the last 3-5 years alone I recall many, blistering summers - anyone in the UK now will attest to the sweltering temperatures we're facing, traditionally very out of season for our country. I'm not one to go to lengths such as the extinction rebellion group, I believe in practical solutions to our problems but they do have a point.. we need to do something about climate change. 

Now, I can't sit here and pretend to you that I am the most eco, climate-conscious person - because I am not. I use a lot of electricity (8000kWh a year) but not so much gas (2-3000kWh a year) and I've traditionally got that from.. wherever is cheapest, because of cost. It so happens my current deal, barring the gas of course is all from renewables (or certificates, also more on that later) which is great but my next move will be to a more eco-conscious energy supplier, especially as I'd previously mentioned that I'd picked up an EV. 

I'm fairly conscious of my usage, It's considered high because I have a server and a couple of boxes running at home that do my internet and store files, stream music etc - I don't think it's excessive but it is higher than average usage. I turn things off when I can (not standby) and I automate shutdowns of stuff to bring my usage down, I recently shuffled around with the schedule on the boiler to bring my gas usage down too.

The house has solar, and was one of the reasons why I chose it (even though I'd have done this to another house anyway) as I work from home and can use a lot if not all of it's energy most days. It's a 2.5kWh install across 10 panels - and was installed quite clearly by Mickey Mouse.. anyway. It works, it was free and I get some energy out of it, which helps offset my energy usage especially in the summer months, and this is completely renewable. 

But, inevitably our energy usage like many peoples varies and often peaks at peak times with washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, people going to work etc and it's often at times when solar doesn't generate much - so we're still grid dependant and probably will do in my life time, barring winning the lottery of course.. 

Must stay on track! - most of our energy in the UK comes from fossil fuels, as of now (I just found this amazing website https://grid.iamkate.com/) and it's basically mostly gas. Although shockingly at the point of writing renewables are higher than say nuclear which is incredible, but less than half what fossil fuels provide. 

The grid, has a real problem in that needs to pivot towards more renewable energy sources, in a cost efficient manner. Nuclear is one of them, but not the only solution. If you're on an eco tariff then you're doing your bit to make sure your energy is coming from renewables, add into that an EV that you charge at home and your carbon footprint is pretty low (not zero though, that's complicated and basically impossible). But energy is expensive and some people simply can't afford an expensive green tariff but that source of energy will change over time.

The biggest change we face right now, is the shift away from ICE (internal combustion engine vehicles) to EVs (electric vehicles) and even if those EV's people buy are charged by gas power stations, It's broken one link in the chain. That energy usage, can come from anywhere and will do in the future - but it's stopped even more consumption of fossil fuels on a day-to-day basis. Your car, or any car has many touch points for emissions;

1. When it's built, carbon is emitted through metal works, manufacturing even down to the gas that was used to cook the guy's lunch who fitted your door mirrors.
2. More carbon is emitted transporting it on a diesel/oil powered tanker across the world to where you live (due to the economic costs of building cars in certain countries)
3. It arrives, you drive it and it emits more carbon emissions for all of it's life through burning of fossil fuels, oil, fluids etc. It just continues to emit more over time.
4. It out-lives it's useful life, for economic or mechanical reasons and it's scrapped. Very little is recycled and it's left to rot in a scrap yard somewhere, where some of it may be sold off for parts. 

Now, EVs have many of these same problems - but they do eliminate all of the emissions that are generated by the car in it's use and ownership. There will be some net emissions from where you get your energy from, but that'll change as the mix in the grid does and where you charge. Recycling of EV's and their batteries is a concern, but is being tackled - Nissan and Tesla have battery recycling programs that turn their used car batteries into home energy storage (more on this later) and thus give them another life (remember, re-use is always paramount over re-cycling due to it's less energy intensive nature).

Reusing is best, recycling is ok and just using less of it is better. Right now, It takes something like 40,000 driven miles in an EV to offset it's carbon emissions in it's creation and then on, you're net positive - this will come down as parts of the infrastructure change and pars of the chain electrify or use alternative fuel sources. The batteries in EVs aren't the best, because they contain rare earth metals such as cobalt. Tesla is working to remove some of these precious earth metals from their batteries (not to mention competing battery types such as graphene etc) to reduce our impact on rare earth elements, that are scarce, ethically questionable and hard to recycle. But we need to start somewhere and EVs break that part of the chain of emission in the car's lifecycle where it continues to pollute the atmosphere. 

This is all well and great, but they are still pretty expensive. We're not there yet - the car market is ubiquitous and you can get a good, reliable functioning car for very little money. That's it.. not everyone can afford a new car, let alone an expensive, and in their eyes - impractical EV. Second hand prices are high and new costs are higher, but they are coming down.. with the ban on new petrol/diesel cars in 2030 in the UK things will only accelerate up until then (not even to mention the government's move to E10 from E5 fuel recently, cutting a lot of ~2010 cars out) with more efficient, cheaper, desirable cars coming out and second hand prices becoming more affordable. It was seen as a lifestyle choice, people had a Tesla because they were eco.. and now less so - it's just a desirable car. 

This demonstrates such a fundamental shift, because before - EVs had to be different in order to stand out. Look at the Leaf? Mitsubishi i-Miev? new EVs are just cool desirable cars. Consumers like that, it's jut a car. The options available 5 years ago was pretty much a Tesla or maybe a plug-in hybrid but that's it. 

EVs themselves aren't perhaps the long-term answer to the problem, not in their current form. But perhaps with new battery technologies and bigger capacities they will be and their environmental impact from conception to retirement is being considered more and more. Many cars have vegan interiors and or made from recycled products, with a real focus on where and how materials are sourced. And of course factories "de-carbonising" their production with solar and renewable energy being used to produce the cars, further reducing the car's carbon footprint. 

There are other issues to contend with, like the charging network that at the moment is somewhat fragmented and partially unreliable, with monopolies in places due to high up-front installation costs and subsequently expensive kWh rates to re-coup costs. This is a topic all of it's own, but for now understand it's another barrier to entry to the average person, who may have to contend with broken chargers, being unable to just turn up and pay for a charge.. may need access to an app.. or quite frankly might have a car that cannot connect to that charger. 

EV's and electricity are just one part of our energy issue, they alone have their own issues at this point in time and barriers to mass-market adoption but we also have another issue that needs addressing and that's the common use of Methane gas. 

Gas and subsequently boilers, and home appliances are another significant issue in our adoption of more renewable energy sources. We've a mass network of boilers, pipes and engineers that's already in use so walking away from that is basically impossible - let alone the potential for another sector to then lean on electricity usage (which will already be tested/stretched with EV's). 

For a bit of a frame of reference, think of all the houses, flats and buildings that rely on a combi boiler for their heating and hot water - some of these properties, such as a 2 bed terraced house have no space for a storage tank. 

This is a significant challenge, and the UK Government's current strategy is to push people towards heat pumps. Heat pump, is basically the reverse of an air-conditioner - it scavenges heat from the air, and exchanges it into a fluid, usually water  or the like (there are many other types, water source, ground source etc but it's mostly irrelevant as only a miniscule fraction of the population would be able to access such types) and on an average they are very efficient, for 1kWh of energy you put in, you tend to get 3kWh of energy out. Great right?! Well.. sort of - during winter, or colder months that efficiency goes down as does the outside temperature, as it find it harder to scavenge any heat from the air, making it work harder and longer for less heat. Efficiency at these times can drop to 1:1 or lower. So imagine your err £40-£60 a month you spend on gas being more like £500 a month in electric with a heat pump (there's solar, but that's yet another cost for people let alone reduced sun hours in the winter and or another cost of a battery) and we're not even finished yet. Because they work by scavenging heat from the air, the heat they then ultimately produce is quite low - the average house would need double stacked radiators as the water temp is lower, and a hot water cylinder for storage (space again!) with an immersion heater to top the temp up as the water wouldn't be very hot. That's on say an average but not ice cold month, where the outside temp is say 4-10c. 

They are slow as well, taking days to re-act fast enough to gather enough heat from the air to heat your house, with weather conditions changing drastically in between now and then potentially. You'd essentially have your heating on very low all year round, as a back-ground heat. 

Almost every household that rips out their boiler and opts for one of these, I can see will be very disappointed. That's not to say they're bad, they're just not suitable for everyone - if you're wealthy, have a large home that's purpose built, or are renovating.. with a significant solar install and under-floor heating it makes loads of sense. But that doesn't solve the problem the country is facing... and I can see the compensation adverts on the TV now, mis-selling of heat pumps. Shame, considering they are good but just not for everyone.

So what's the answer? Well, and I'll freely admit this is a new concept to me (and I can hear some of you green energy users groan already) - hydrogen. That old chestnut, green people and just generally people conscious of their carbon foot print have been immensely frustrated with hydrogen being banded around, because it's often by the big oil companies seeking a new revenue stream in the face of a big swing to EVs. And, they are right to be frustrated.. people throw the "what about hydrogen" question back at people buying battery EV's and have to have the same conversations again and again. 

For clarity, this isn't about being against hydrogen it's about the practices around it right now. People resent the big oil companies trying to get people hooked on the "next best thing" and that most hydrogen is extracted through consumption of natural gas, relies on fossil fuel vehicles for transportation etc. So right now, it has problems and much like the EV thing, there are solutions and they are even being trialled. 

Apologies, I am going off on one a bit here but it's relevant to understand the impact of generating the energy we use - both for EV's and household heating, as these are the two biggest barriers to this emissions target the government has. 

Hydrogen, can be extracted by electrolysis. This uses a lot of electricity, which currently comes from fossil fuels.. but could be done with solar. These hydrogen stations can be completely self-contained and small enough to supply areas, grids or networks of what was once methane gas pipes. There are trials to convert small areas of gas mains, onto hydrogen with a hydrogen boiler and other associated gas appliances.

Your average boiler now can't burn hydrogen, but your new one may be able to. Worcester Bosch are developing hydrogen ready boilers, that require about £130 worth of parts to become fully ready to burn hydrogen, when the network is there. It's a chicken and egg things, the idea here is to get them in peoples homes over the next 10 years then the network can be readily converted and thus the boilers. They burn clean, with no emissions and provide the same instant heat as methane does - and solves the methane shaped problem we have. 

There may be many other answers to the gas problem - I'm not an expert, but just an interested party. I just don't think heat-pumps and their limitations are the answer, they're just plain not practical in some places. I can't have one, because I have a "new" house that has plastic heating piping - it's not wide enough for the water flow, and that means ripping the house apart - a massive inconvenience, expense AND I'd have a reduced heating system, with a noisy inverter outside. 

Now, this is just here.. with our weather climate. Heat pump in say.. Spain - perfect. They don't often have central heating due to the weather being more warm, and it'll be very efficient at picking heat out of the air and heating your hot water (but we're into the world of Solar Thermal that is far simpler and less likely to need maintenance) so like most things it's not a one-size fits all solution.

These technologies to solve the two big problems, are going to only get more mature and may well fundamentally change in between now and say 2030. It's interesting to see what they are trying to do and how they solve that very easy access we have to fossil fuels. 

I've sat on this blog post for a while, as I know it's a long one! and I've refined what I want to say. This is just a high-level view of my thoughts and a lot of these topics are deserving of an investigation into each one, as they are just as complex and challenging as the issue at a higher level. 

So, forgive me if this has "gone on a bit" and congrats if you've made it this far 😉