While European governments are running around like headless chickens in an attempt to lower energy prices, in an attempt to avoid uproar when winter kicks in, let us shed some light. Gas prices are determined by international market mechanisms. The price follows the demand, and it is even so influenced byfutures, availability of distribution channels,… Continue reading Rationalising the energy prices
Electricity price mechanisms
On the European market, the price of electricity is “determined” by the marginal cost of the “last” kWh that is produced to fulfil the “immediate” demand (making abstraction of the grid latency). In practice, our national grid is supplied by large nuclear power plants producing the 6GWe base load, with an all-time, all-included production cost of… Continue reading Electricity price mechanisms
On the economy of ecology
The looks of their latest energy invoice finally got the Belgian Captains of Industry out of their energy lethargy. They now ask for Long-Term Operation (LTO) for KCD-4 and CNT-3, a.k.a. Doel-4 and Tihange-3. In human language: they ask to keep the 2 youngest nuclear power plants running beyond their designed operating life time of 40… Continue reading On the economy of ecology
Why Brigid selects thorium
Thorium: the magical solution? Hell, no! Be careful what you wish for. The only thing that really matters, is HOW we use nuclear fuel.This is what we call the “fuel cycle”. The details of the fuel cycle determine: the efficiency of the conversion of the nuclear fuel into heat. This is really important considering nuclear… Continue reading Why Brigid selects thorium
Hydrogen from Chili?
For any energy solution one proposes, the first question is: can it be scaled up to relevant dimensions? Our Government’s most recent “solution”: using wind turbines to produce hydrogen in Chili and ship it to Belgian ports. The good news: they FINALLY understood that the energy problem extends way beyond electricity production. What if every… Continue reading Hydrogen from Chili?
Educational posts
We’ll regularly post an educational item. Read https://www.brigid.be for more details.
Welcome to the Brigid Blog
Why this blog? 1) Because we will question every government decision in the Belgian energy discussion, and propose a better alternative if there is one. 2) Because we want to trigger pro-active discussions with a scientific foundation. Why is this blog in English? 1) Because English is neutral ground in Belgium. Any other language… Continue reading Welcome to the Brigid Blog