Commentary from Chris Lewis

I have just read an article in The Telegraph about the public being kept in the dark over green costs. Those of us attending the last SciBar evening (How Electricity is Priced in the UK, delivered by John Conway and Zack Stevens) are not. John  and Zack  of Eon gave presentations that revealed the charges hidden in electricity bills. Zack spoke first on what influences UK electricity prices, largely the price of gas. He showed how the price of gas is determined by world demand and pinch points where liquified natural gas (and oil) is transported to Europe.  (CL - this is not true in Germany as electricity prices are determined by the world price of coal, much cheaper than using gas. German electricity have fallen as a result of coal prices.)

 

John then took over to break down an electricity bill into its components, over twenty. I threatened to test the audience on Triads that John had explained. He showed how the various green levies are soaring. Only about 60% of electricity bills are for the actual electricity received. Going back to The Telegraph article it clearly states that if green targets were scrapped and substituted with gas then average electricity bills would come down by £214.  Should the electorate be told these figures? 

Looking in more detail showed how the renewables obligation charges, put simply as subsidies for wind farms, are rising by a factor of five over ten years. Feed in tariffs (mainly to subsidise solar panels) have risen by a factor of six over the past two years alone. Then obviously in the background the agreed price for the first new nuclear station will effectively double the price of electricity in real terms. Customers start paying for this later this year.

 

So the question is should Governments come clean (no pun intended) on these costs so voters can make a judgement? What main political party wants to admit this? Politicians either do not understand this, or choose not to. It is better to blame power companies for excessive profits.

 

It should be noted that these are my thoughts, not the thoughts put across by Eon at the SciBar unless specifically stated.

 

Chris Lewis

Next meeting, Wednesday 11th March at the Hillcrest Hotel Widnes

When?  7:30 pm, Wed 11^th March 2015

How Electricity is Priced in the UK

John Conway & Zack Stevens of EON UK Plc

1.            What is lurking behind an electricity price: Explaining  the elements that make up an electricity price. A fully delivered price is made up of 22 separate elements – suppliers’ costs, government low carbon levies; transportation; other industry charges; and with smart operation what can be avoided? – all will be revealed.

2.            Wholesale Market overview: Much more than weather, supply & demand effect the sometimes rollercoaster energy markets.  We’ll explain some of the major global effects like the Middle East; Eurozone Crisis; Global LNG shipments; US Shale gas and even Somali pirates.

Presented by Friends of Catalyst & the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre

The Southern Oceans, Widnes SciBar 11th February 2015

The challenge of observing the deep ocean: who cares and why is it so difficult?

Dr Matt Donnelly, British Oceanonographic Data Centre (BODC)

On the 11th February, we welcomed Matt Donnelly a data scientist who works at the British Oceanographic Data Centre who outlined the key physical characteristics of the oceans:

• water density, largely determined by temperature and salt content,
• wind patterns at different latitudes that cause ocean currents,
• temperature,
• current speed and direction.

The Southern Oceans

These are significant features of the Thermohaline Circulation (thermo - heat; haline - salt). With a transit time of around 1000 years, currents cause an extensive mixing between the ocean basins, reducing differences between them and making the Earth's oceans a global system. On their journey, the currents transport both energy (in the form of heat) and matter (solids, dissolved substances and gases) around the globe. Such circulation has a large impact on the climate of the Earth.

Southern Ocean Matt’s particular interest is in the Southern Ocean, the only ocean that stretches all around the globe, linking the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Unlike other oceans there is no north / south barrier to current flow; as a result, there is a current around the Antarctic continent (the Antarctic Circumpolar Current) that carries more water than any other current in the world. The sea water can be cooled to near freezing at -1.8°C and become highly saline - as a result it sinks to the ocean floor and spreads out over the global oceans as part of the Thermohaline Circulation. Using food dyes Matt demonstrated the how pure water, slightly saline water and highly saline water when introduced into a tank do not readily mix, with the highly saline layer being at the bottom.

Impact of Oceans on Climate The oceans are a massive heat store - the top 5m of oceans have the same heat capacity as the entire atmosphere above them. The ocean currents move cold and warm water around the globe. Heat and moisture are exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean, effectively acting as one. Climate change theorists had predicted a steady increase in the average temperature across the world. However, for the last 10 years or more this increase hasn’t been as significant, as observed by the conventional methods of measurement - as the heat input continues, where is it going?  One possible explanation is that the heat added by human activity has been absorbed by the oceans and distributed by ocean currents.

Gathering Information about the Oceans Matt described several methods of making measurement - here are a selection.

Ships. Dedicated research ships are the traditional way of studying the oceans & one experienced by Matt in the Southern Ocean. However, this is an expensive way of gathering information and is limited to the route that the ship takes. XBTs (Expendable Bathythermographs) can be dropped from ships not specialising in research (e.g. cargo ships); as it sinks the measurement probe sends data to the ship by wire until  the wire runs out and breaks, and the XBT then sinks to the ocean floor. Seal Tags. A measurement device & transmitter are glued to the rear of a seals head and measurements are received according to the route & depth the seal takes. When the seal moults, the device is lost. Matt showed the trail a seal took circumventing the Antarctic continent.

International Argo project. Matt described this as ‘a game changer’. With international collaboration, large numbers of Argo floats which have controllable buoyancy are dropped into the sea where they are moved by the ocean currents. Powered by batteries, they are programmed to:-

- sink to a specified depth to gather information, e.g. salinity, temperature,

- float with the current for a specified period, still gathering data

- return to the surface and transmit the data they have collected to a satellite,

- repeat this cycle until the battery is exhausted, usually after about 4 years. 

Matt said there are currently 3290 floats in operation, one of which has been operating for 8 years. In his role as a data scientist, he is involved in making use of the vast amount of data received (e.g. reports from 300 floats a day). Part of the international agreement is that the data are freely available to everyone, without restrictions.

Future Methods of Measurement. The Argo floats currently in use are limited to a depth of 1000m. The floats typically park there for ~9 days, descend to 2000m, then record a profile on the way to the surface.  Matt's role is to help ensure access to the data is maintained at all times for the scientific community. However, as the current Argo floats can only reach less than half the average depth of the oceans, the next stage is to deploy floats able to cope with the high pressure of 6km down - little is known about the oceans at such depths. One possible explanation of why the world average temperature has not increased in recent years is that the excess heat has been taken up in the deeper ocean water.

British Oceanographic Data Centre The BODC is a national facility for looking after and distributing data concerning the marine environment. It is hosted by the National Oceanography Centre, at its Joseph Proudman site in Liverpool.

Joseph Proudman.  Joseph Proudman (1888 - 1975) was ‘a distinguished British mathematician and oceanographer of international repute. His theoretical studies into the oceanic tides not only "solved practically all the remaining tidal problems which are soluble within the framework of classical hydrodynamics and analytical mathematics" but laid the basis of tidal prediction service (developed with A. T. Doodson) of great international importance’(Wikipedia). Incidentally, in his pre-university days Joseph lived in Bold and was a teaching assistant at Farnworth, both only a short distance from the Hillcrest Hotel where the SciBar meets. (We'll add a photo of the grammar school when we establish the date!)

Thanks to Matt for a very interesting and enjoyable evening.

Bob Roach

24th Feb 2015 (modified 8th March 2015)

Teaching seminar etiquette as well as presentation skills

I went to my first academic seminar in 1980, since then I have been to one a week on average, which means I have sat through over 15 000 seminars! In fact I haven't included scientific meetings, so I reckon 20 000. It seems a high number, but I reckon many of my colleagues are veterans of many more seminars. Some have been more memorable than others, but I have no doubt that seminars and presentations have shaped my views on Science in a profound way. Hearing Fred Sanger (top left) explain the principles of DNA sequencing of the lambda genome in the early '80s, was a privilege, if not the most inspirational of talks. Being enthralled by Sydney Brenner with his two overhead presentation of the wider implications of puffer fish genomics in a filled lecture theatre where you could hear a pin drop. These are memories that will (hopefully) stay with me. Then there were the seminars that irritated, frustrated, infuriated me, or just simply sent me drifting into a daydream. The truth is presentations and their style and content combined with the personality in front of you is not always perfect. However, I have witnessed Kim Nasmyth stand up at a meeting in Oxford (I think) in the early 1980s and deliver an impromptu chalk and talk presentation on the molecular biology of mating type switching in yeast, "about the time the slide projector broke" (to steal from Bob Dylan). It was stunning, and at the time, I was deep into the steady state kinetics of enzymes! (It's true!) This also make a point that some of my most memorable seminar experiences  have been on topics I would not have thought (in a million years) would be of any interest! In fact I have a rule of thumb for seminar attendance that says: "Dull title:must go"!

So seminars have stimulated, irritated, informed and entertained me over many years. I really can't get enough of seminars. I have already written about the value of seminars in an earlier Blog, but here I want to discuss the importance of the audience, the listener and the chairperson or facilitator. Just consider a presentation from a visiting speaker to a mixed audience. Let's say the topic is "Behaviour and Patterning in East Asian Lepidoptera" (just in case, butterflies and moths). The audience comprises students, academics, interested enthusiast and the age range is 14 to 84. The speaker, Professor Linnaeus has travelled by car from a  University seventy miles away, and the seminar is scheduled for 4.30pm. It's November and it's cold and wet! The audience begins drifting in ten minutes early and by 4.35, the chairperson introduces the speaker, a few words of background and a general welcome. Three more people drift in and the speaker overcomes the challenges of lap-top and projector incompatibility and dims the lights to maximise the impact of his slideshow. The pressure is now on the speaker to deliver an engaging presentation, legible slides, attractive images, a logical flow, evidence-based information and sometimes a little speculation to stimulate discussion. The closing minutes are devoted to acknowledgements: the support of colleagues and funding bodies and, where appropriate, a mention of any commercial interests.

Now it is the turn of the audience to play their role in the seminar. Some are there to listen and expand their awareness of a topic they may be largely unfamiliar with: such participants may often ask for clarification, which in turn may help the understanding of others. Some will be experts, looking for insight that they may have missed, or they may be more predatory; challenging the speaker's confidence in a controversial view or data that may have alternative interpretations. The widely held view is that scientific seminars should promote exchange of ideas and that personal rivalries or grudges have no place in the lecture theatre. Of course, we do not live in an ideal world, and the best laid plans can go astray! However, it is the responsibility of the Chair to manage the transition from presentation to discussion and on to closure, or to welcome the next speaker. An experienced session chair should stimulate discussion, if the speaker has failed, or the audience are silent. Seminar etiquette is such that an audience should show engagement with the speaker and the presentation by asking one or two questions. However, it is also important in situations where several speakers are presenting, that the chair keeps the speakers and the audience in check to ensure speakers have approximately equal time to present. 

What is not acceptable is audience hectoring, where one or more individuals take against the speaker and repeatedly challenge a point, or in some cases take the discussion away from the main theme, in order to "steal the show". Here, whilst some speakers are able to "handle" such heckling, sometimes the chair has to intervene, but if this fails, the audience must make it clear that such outbursts are inappropriate and that (especially personal) disagreements should be taken "offline".

In conclusion, seminars from visiting speakers or at scientific symposia are a two way event and both speaker, audience (and chair) need to understand the rules of engagement! I feel that audiences should, on the one hand, be less passive in scientific seminars, but on the other, they should always be courteous, and should choose the most appropriate way of challenging a speaker. This will sometimes be during a talk, after a talk or sometimes in private. However, I do get irritated when audience members walk off down a corridor mumbling to colleagues that "Who on earth funded that project", or the evidence for that particular conclusion doesn't take into account any of my last two papers! So maybe we need to teach students how to participate in seminars, not just how to present one!

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology: the promise and the challenges

Last Wednesday, we welcomed Amanda Lyne (left), Founder and Managing Director at ULEMCo Ltd, to the Victory Lounge for our monthly discussion. Her topic was 

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells - a route to low carbon energy for transport, heat and electricity

Not only is  Amanda the Founder of ULEMCo Ltd, but she is also, Deputy Chair of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, Director of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and chair of its Low Carbon Economy Committee. Amanda began by introducing herself. From an early educational background in Science, she made the transition to the commercial world through periods at ICI followed by a move to the early stage company Micap (which was one of the first Biotech ventures in Merseyside to raise funds through an IPO on AIM). This has been followed by a sustained period in the "Energy sector", hence her topic for the presentation.

Fuel cell technology (FCT), isn't new. As Amanda pointed out it was originally proposed during the great era of Victorian Science by the Welsh Physicist and Barrister, William Grove (only in the mid 19th Century could you claim to be both!). The idea took off (literally!) during the second world war when Francis Bacon (not the early advocate of scientific method), developed the first practical fuel cell, called the alkaline fuel cell in which the input Hydrogen undergoes a redox reaction to yield electrons, followed by recombination of the protons with oxygen to produce water. The explanation at the wiki site is (in my view) a pretty good summary of Amanda's explanation of the principles underpinning the technology. However, the designs that have grown out of the original devices (notably deployed by NASA in the space shuttle) are now much more sophisticated and have been incorporated into a number of vehicles. Indeed, Amanda devoted the next part of her talk describing both the developments, the logistics and the challenges ahead for the commercial uptake of FCT.

The use of FCT (in particular hydrogen based, but Amanda did include a mention of methanol FCs, in some applications) in the automotive industry, resonated with the audience, who raised questions concerning the commercial viability (the economics and logistics) as well as the risks associated with driving around with a tank of liquid hydrogen. Amanda gave a well balanced evaluation of the comparative risks and the pros and cons of Lithium battery powered cars, such as the new Tesla (which she has taken on a test drive, to the envy of some of the audience!)


Amanda finished the talk with examples of FTC in action today, which was reinforced by images of not only vehicles, but examples of marine and a range of industrial applications, as well as her company's long term approach to providing sustainable solutions for more widespread introduction of the technology alone or as a hybrid solution. This led to a long and interesting discussion relating to the politics and economics, as well as the practicalities of fuelling stations etc. On the whole, it provided an engaged and audience (as always at the Widnes SciBar) with plenty to think about as we try to come to terms with managing the global challenges of sustainable energy supply and consumption.

Thanks Amanda, the Friends of Catalyst and everyone who made it to the Hillcrest, for making it another enjoyable and stimulating meeting!

Bob will be circulating further details of next month's talk, which takes us to the challenges facing the scientists exploring the frozen southern oceans! Fitting for this time of the year!