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What an evocative piece of journalism (and photo-journalism).

 

Soooo, let's get this clear. We used to make our own gas in Britain. Then we discovered North Sea Gas, so we did not need to make it any more. Now (I believe) North Sea Gas no longer fulfils our needs so we have to import gas from friendly, trustworthy countries such as Russia.

 

So of course the solution is obvious: we start making our own again, using the coal of which we have ample reserves, and storing it in these gasometers or gasholders, do we not? Er, no, we knock 'em all down and continue paying the Russkies for our gas. I do wonder sometimes if our decision makers have gone stark raving mad.

 

Yielding to the inevitable, bring on the next Sam Springer, then at least the scrap metal can be used to create something appealing and enduring rather than being fashioned into B&Q garden barbecues or whatever.

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What an evocative piece of journalism (and photo-journalism).

 

Soooo, let's get this clear. We used to make our own gas in Britain. Then we discovered North Sea Gas, so we did not need to make it any more. Now (I believe) North Sea Gas no longer fulfils our needs so we have to import gas from friendly, trustworthy countries such as Russia.

 

So of course the solution is obvious: we start making our own again, using the coal of which we have ample reserves, and storing it in these gasometers or gasholders, do we not? Er, no, we knock 'em all down and continue paying the Russkies for our gas. I do wonder sometimes if our decision makers have gone stark raving mad.

 

Yielding to the inevitable, bring on the next Sam Springer, then at least the scrap metal can be used to create something appealing and enduring rather than being fashioned into B&Q garden barbecues or whatever.

Our coal reserves will be needed by future generations to make plastics, pharmaceuticals and many other products that we take for granted. Burning it would be a very short sighted approach, unfortunately.

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Our coal reserves will be needed by future generations to make plastics, pharmaceuticals and many other products that we take for granted. Burning it would be a very short sighted approach, unfortunately.

There will, then, be millions of short-sighted people stoking their fires and stoves this evening (though I suspect that some of the coal which they use will be imported).

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Nobody will be using that steel for anything in Great Britain. The bunch of idiots that we have running the show ( I cover all parties and political colours with that remark) will sell it all off to foriegn countries, more than likely our enemies.

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Nobody will be using that steel for anything in Great Britain. The bunch of idiots that we have running the show ( I cover all parties and political colours with that remark) will sell it all off to foriegn countries, more than likely our enemies.

Surely anyone who has the money ready can buy it? If Bert Bouncer wants to purchase said steel and fashion it into boats, his money is as good as anyone else's.

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Most of the British coal mines were closed in a way that will make it very difficult or impossible to re-open.

 

Maybe not, but they could probably sink new shafts into the seams they know are there, but which have not been exploited yoet

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Most of the British coal mines were closed in a way that will make it very difficult or impossible to re-open.

...but there is considerable opencast mining going on, an unlovely process to the eye but one which is surely much safer than the traditional method which requires men to go down very deep holes.

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Nothing is impossible to engineers, I saw a proposal recently to convert the coal seams to gas at the coal face so to speak, no human miners involved at all.

Not financially viable as yet, but one day no doubt it could be.

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Underground gasification is reliable and will be economic. Another way of getting the energy out that's being considered is to burn the coal underground, and use the heat to drive a turbine.

The former idea sounds feasible and encouraging. The latter will scare the scheisse out of many people: "The Day The Earth Caught Fire" may ensue if the fires burn out of control way below our feet.

 

So, going full circle, let us retain the gassies for the storage of this underground gas.

Fracking, that's the answer

Yes, it's certainly going to be important in the future, but will that produce gas? I thought that its main function was the extraction of oil.

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Good old BBC. I love the way they describe the gas holders in Bethnal Green as being "under threat".

 

I wonder what the Beeb would say if the gas holders had never been built, and now there was a planning application to build them.

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So of course the solution is obvious: we start making our own again, using the coal of which we have ample reserves, and storing it in these gasometers or gasholders, do we not?

 

 

The elephant in the room here is coal gas (town gas) is about 50% carbon monoxide.

 

The Great British Public have been wound up so much about the danger of CO poisoning they would not tolerate having it piped into their houses in large quantities. Back in the day a minor gas leak would kill you directly due to the CO. This is why we are paranoid about gas leaks. The main danger vanished when natural gas (methane) came along.

 

 

MtB

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Ironically, at this very moment, I am sitting on the site of one of the scrapped gas holders that Sam Springer used.

Allegedly.

Where is this? If it was demolished long enough ago for Springer to have used the metal, I'm surprised that the site has not yet been re-used.

 

 

The elephant in the room here is coal gas (town gas) is about 50% carbon monoxide.

 

The Great British Public have been wound up so much about the danger of CO poisoning they would not tolerate having it piped into their houses in large quantities. Back in the day a minor gas leak would kill you directly due to the CO. This is why we are paranoid about gas leaks. The main danger vanished when natural gas (methane) came along.

 

 

MtB

But surely natural gas is also poisonous and explosive? That is why, so I have heard, the gas boards had to give it an artificial smelly ingredient so that people could detect it if they had left an unlit ring switched on.

 

I understand that many modern gas appliances are fitted with a safety device which interrupts the supply if a flame goes out. Would this device not work with "town" gas?

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.............

 

I understand that many modern gas appliances are fitted with a safety device which interrupts the supply if a flame goes out. Would this device not work with "town" gas?

 

Your gas cooker/boiler should be fitted with flame failure devices as part of the BSS requirement.

 

Most are thermal devices so should work with any for of gas

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Clathrates might be an answer......but that will also scare the " Sheisse " out of the same people

Sorry, I forgot that German nouns must start with a capital letter. It's been a long time since my A levels.

 

I have no idea of the rate for a clath. Could you enlighten us please?

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<Fracking>

Yes, it's certainly going to be important in the future, but will that produce gas? I thought that its main function was the extraction of oil.

It is being used for both oil and gas. The proposed UK fracking I've heard about is to extract gas, some of the US fracking extracts both.

Clathrates are methane (Or other gases) dissolved in ice under pressure. When the pressure is reduced or the ice melts, then the methane is released.

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Most are thermal devices so should work with any for of gas

 

 

Some are thermal, many are electronic these days.

 

Neither protects you from a gas leak though, and if we returned to 50% CO in the combustion gas, a gas peak from say, a damaged pipe or loose connection could kill you in your sleep with no explosions or anything dramatic, unlike Natural gas.

 

 

MtB

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Some are thermal, many are electronic these days.

 

Neither protects you from a gas leak though, and if we returned to 50% CO in the combustion gas, a gas peak from say, a damaged pipe or loose connection could kill you in your sleep with no explosions or anything dramatic, unlike Natural gas.

 

 

MtB

 

All the more reason to fit CO detectors.

 

Did they ever bottle town gas for 'portable' use?

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Allegedly.

Where is this? If it was demolished long enough ago for Springer to have used the metal, I'm surprised that the site has not yet been re-used.

 

The site has been partly reused, that's how come I'm not sitting outside in the cold, but I can still see part of one of the circular brick walls where it forms the boundary of our car park. Travis Perkins have recently vacated the largest part of the site which will now have flats built on it.

I'm pretty sure Sam Springer bought some of the scrap steel from the 2 gasometers, but he didn't just make boats, so it could have been used to make water/oil tanks or troughs etc.

A while back the EA drilled boreholes into the accessible parts because there were no records of how or with what the holes had been filled with, but all seems well apart from the level slowly sinking!

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