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Ask Slashdot: Minimizing Oil and Gas Dependency In a Central European City?
An anonymous reader writes I live in a big city in central Europe. As most of you know from recent news, most of Europe's (and quite a bit of China's) gas supply comes from Russia and is very likely to be cut off several times during the next few winters (China's time will come in later years). What many might not know is that not just our natural gas supply, but also our petrol ('gas' for the Americans in the audience) often comes partly from Russia and some of our electricity comes from gas powered stations. Most of our leaders, at least in Germany and Hungary, are in bed with the Russians and likely won't do anything about fuel security. I live in an building with a south-facing roof and I own the roof space but I don't have enough land here to put a wind turbine or something similar on. Can anyone make good suggestions for ways to cut down my dependence on unreliable power supplies? Extra points for environmentalism, but I am even willing to pay more to be sure the heating is there in winter and my server keeps running.
for the Americans in the audience
Okay, AC confirmed it. We're an audience after all.
Shit.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
that's what the USA does. most of our oil is from right here and canada
If it's 24 hour semi-reliable power you want for periodic short (up to several days) grid outages than the easiest method would probably be a small generator and a stored supply of fuel. (not the most environmental but it works)
Some will suggest solar with your roof area, which you are obviously aware of, but if you want 24 hour power with that you will need a large battery bank which is going to cost you more and take up a large amount of space.
As far as heating the cost effective method is to add more insulation, and if you're running servers you have a ready made electric heat source.
You said you own the roof space. Do you own the whole dwelling? Can you insulate the walls, attic, and air seal bypasses? Can you run a heat pump? It still requires electricity but not that much. If you can purchase petrol when it's available and run a generator (or photovoltaics) when it's not, that might be the ticket. Of course the more more energy efficient your home and appliances are, the easier it will be to function off the grid, - even if it's just sporadically.
Do you really need to run your own server or can you have it hosted somewhere else?
Most of leaders, at least in Germany and Hungary, are in bed with the Russians and likely won't do anything about fuel security.
Don't know much about Hungary (*), but if you really think that Merkel is "in bed with the Russians" you have bigger problems than worrying about your fuel security.
Anyway, oil dependence is essentially transport based; more specifically, private car use. So cut or reduce your dependence on that. You live in a multi-storey building of which you control only part - some kind of apartment block - so probably a fairly densely populated area. That makes it simple: If you currently drive a car to work, stop doing that. If you're really lazy, you could get a motorbike or scooter, drastically reducing your dependence; if you're not that lazy start cycling. With a bit of practice, a 20-30K commute on a bike is really not hard, and you'll save money on gym fees. That's oil dependance sorted.
Natural gas is trickier if you don't own the building (or at least apartment). If you can, you should probably install solar panels on the roof - not for your own use, as such, but to take advantage of the feed-in tariffs. And then buy an electric convection heater so you can heat your apartment if the gas gets cut off. And maybe buy a good sleeping bag or extra duvet. That won't save you from a catastrophic meltdown - you'd need a wood burning stove, a cabin in the woods, and a seriously unhealthy dose of paranoia(**) for that, but it will make short outages of gas a lot more comfortable.
(*) Feel free to sing this comment to the tune of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" :)
(**) You seem to already have 1 of those three.
no taxation without representation!
When they are sitting in the cold dark and see your lights, you have scant minutes before they kick down your door.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Minions and a giant hamster wheel hooked to a generator.
If minions are in short supply, can always put a pig in the wheel. (Might need to swap pigs out every few hours) - but, you save, cause the wheel can be smaller.
Your most cost effective strategy is going to be to focus first on load reduction and efficiency, and then on reliable backup energy sources second. It's hard to give specific suggestions without knowing more about your situation. Space heating is likely to be critical in any case, and that can largely be handled by adequate insulation and air sealing. The Passivehouse Institute will have a lot of guidance for you there.
I will use Germany figures as that is what I have access to. The yearly average use of electricity is 3,471Kwhrs/yr. Daily use is average 9.6KkWh. The potential energy is water follows the following formula 1000 kilograms of water (1 cubic meter) at the top of a 100 meter tower has a potential energy of about 0.272 kWh. Since the house is a lot shorter than 100m lets use 10m which means for ever cubic meter of water on the roof you get 0.0272kWh. To store half a day's energy you would need 9.6/2/.0273 = 176 cubic meters of water which weighs 176 metric tonnes. You better have a very strong roof.
As far as solar goes,
OP is asking about Central Europe during winter. Solar is not an option - certainly not for backup.
Wind turbines are not economical on a small scale, and not reliable enough as a backup.
Backup power and heating is a common problem with well-know solutions:
generator, oil or LPG heater with stored fuel, improved insulation.
Heat needs may be reduced temporarily by covering windows, closing off unused rooms, taping gaps, lowering thermostat.
The government really should be building nuclear plants, and gas ones that can switch to pulverised coal or oil if needed, with large stockpiles near the site.
I don't see a problem here. But oil overall oil will deplete soon enough and the best alternative is solar IMO. You can draw large amounts of power with solar panels alone, probably enough for a computer.
There is no good solution.
Solar panels and a battery bank will keep you in minimal electricity. You can run a tablet, a laptop and internet router plus perhaps charge your flashlights. A larger installation might run a 12-volt microwave or 12-volt freezer.
As for heat, I suggest many layers of clothing and lots of well insulated quilts. Hot water bottles were once popular and will be again.
Cooking? If you can get to the roof, then buy a few bags of coal for the winter and a heater than can handle coal (not a standard wood stove) and cook up there. Coal is fairly cheap, compact and generates a good amount of heat. With coal, you can boil water for the aforementioned hot water bottles.
Coal will also kill you with carbon monoxide if you try burning it inside the house. Try and avoid that.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Switching back and forth daily to different energy sources more than doubles the capital outlay. Bloody waste of resources.
Natural Gas, Coal, or Nuclear - nothing else has matured enough, and won't for decades.
Buy a petrol heater, you know the kind that doesn't have a chimney.
With this device you can emergency heat your apartment with wide variety of liquid fuels, thus drastically reducing the number of solar panels required.
Real 70s countryside vibes with this one, and really bad room air. Of course the air quality improves with the quality of fuel. Coleman fuel > jet A > unleaded petrol.
Highly disagree, OP sounds like a ripe candidate for solar water, not to be confused with photovoltaics. Solar thermal is highly efficient and pretty cheap in comparison.
A modest setup would need only three hours a day sun just to supply hot water for daily use, and a bigger setup or more time for supplying hot water for heat (radiant heat using water is extremely common there).
He's asking for heat and not electricity per se, solar water is ideal for that and many times cheaper than PV for the same results.
Hmm, hmm, "Fracking Setback in Poland Dims Hope for Less Russian Gas."
Why not "Frelling" or "Smegging" setback?