AquaSwitch 💧⚡️ Profile picture
Jan 18, 2023 9 tweets 5 min read Read on X
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Everyone wants to know what the CHEAPEST way of producing electricity is.

We took on this mammoth task by aggregating reputable #LCOE reports and making a simple average 🤓

Our KEY findings 🧵 👇
1/ What is this LCOE? 🤔

It's a calculation of the dollar cost per unit of #energy ($/MWh) that a power station can achieve over its life span.

Except some institutions generalised it to cover a particular technology. @Lazard @WorldBank @IRENA @EIAgov @beisgovuk
2/ LCOE ⚡

LCOE reflects:
- Capital (initial) costs 💵
- Maintenance and refuelling costs 🛠️
- Decommissioning ♻️
- Capacity Factor 🌞🌔 🕝
- etc.

To get rid of any bias, we took LCOE values from multiple reputable reports and averaged them out ➕ ➗
3/ The results 🥁

What was surprising?
👉 Onshore wind 🌄 is much cheaper than offshore wind 🌊
👉 Hydro and Geothermal can be very cheap too
👉 Gas, Biomass and Coal are cheaper than Nuclear ☢️ as baseload
👉 Concentrated Solar 🌞 has fallen behind $$$$
👉 Storage is $$$$
4/ Reality 🧂

The reality is that these results must be taken with a truckload of salt 🧂

And the case for building a new power station has to take a lot more into consideration 🤔

For example...
👉 LCOE calculations are inconsistent w/ each other
👉 We can't predict future fuel costs/interest rates/carbon tax
👉 Easy to fudge numbers and manipulate
👉 Subsidies and taxes over lifetime do change
👉 Innovation is FAST 🏃‍♂️
👉 There's financial effects outside producing ⚡
👉Polluting is likely to become very expensive 💨
👉Local resources vary (e.g. underground heat, wind, sun)
👉Grid re-balancing and new transmission costs
👉Baseload energy at peak time is more valuable
👉Nuclear Fusion could make this convo useless
5/ Conclusion 🤓

👉Cheapest doesn't mean most adequate.
👉Renewables have become very cheap 🤑
👉Be wary of authoratative claims on #Twitter based on LCOEs, its too easy to manipulate ❗
👉With so much uncertainty, best is to build a diversified low-carbon energy network ⚡
If you enjoy our content, Like 👍 , Follow 🐦 and Re-Tweet 💞 !

We're publishing unique takes weekly so that you can stay up-to-date...

on some of the latest innovations in
💧 water
🔥 energy
🛰️ telecoms

aquaswitch.co.uk/blog/lcoe/

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More from @AquaSwitchUK

Jan 14, 2023
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Fact: ~HALF of the world does not have reliable internet 🤯

But this is changing at an unprecedented rate...

And may go down to nearly ZERO over the next two years as @elonmusk's network of internet satellites consolidates...

"Hello, world!" - Starlink🧵
1/ 40% of the world is OFFLINE 🌍

The internet is a cornerstone public infrastructure.

It's necessary for almost everything these days.
Communication, jobs, education, news, innovation...

There are virtually no analogue well-paid jobs left.
2/ Why are so many disconnected?

Mainly, due to a lack of ground infrastructure (Remember, the internet needs a global network of cables) 〰️

This is particularly true in rural and impoverished areas, which makes the internet cost-prohibitive, slow or downright non-existent 🤯
Read 12 tweets
Jan 10, 2023
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

We've all been using cloud storage for many years, yet have no idea:
- What it can be used for 💡
- How it actually works ⚙️
- Its PROS and CONS ➕ ➖
- What platforms are available

A quick summary for you 🧵
1/ What's the cloud? ☁️

It's a network of computers, distributed across the world, capable of storing people's & organisation's data 📁
- documents 📄
- images 📷
- videos 📹
- websites 🌐

Each cloud provider has its own network of computers.

There are many providers ☁️☁️☁️
2/ What are examples of cloud storage? ☁️📁

You've probably been using cloud storage for a while. For example:
- Google Drive (retail)
- DropBox (retail)
- OneDrive (retail)
- Amazon Web Services (Enterprise)
- iCloud (retail)
Read 11 tweets
Dec 30, 2022
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Did you know that 7% of global carbon emissions come from road #freight transportation? 🚚

And that @Tesla's Semi truck has almost 2x the range of its competitors?

A short🧵 on the up-and-coming disruption of trucking courtesy of @elonmusk Image
1/ Trucking needs disruption 🚚💥

7% of global carbon emissions come from road freight transportation, aka trucking.

This is comparable to that of the global aviation industry, and arguably much easier to #decarbonise.

Data courtesy of @OurWorldInData Image
2/ Tesla are NOT the first 🥇

Improvements in battery #tech have gone leaps and bounds, to the point where traditional trucking companies like:
@freightliner
@VolvoTrucks
@KenworthTruckCo

and new ones:
@BYDCompany
@nikolamotor

have all released their own electric trucks ⚡🔋 Image
Read 12 tweets
Dec 16, 2022
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Did you know that #wind can cause structures to resonate like guitar strings?

And did you know that this phenomenon can be used to harness #energy from the wind?

A short 🧵 on this alternative wind energy device
1/ Before we dive in, why is it even necessary to harness energy in alternative ways?

It's because turbines aren't optimal in ALL scenarios.
👉 Lack of space (e.g. cities)
👉 Turbulent winds (e.g. cities)
👉 Hard-to-adapt foundations (e.g. buildings)
👉 They're noisy
2/ But vertical-axis turbines could do the job right?

Right! And there is a long history of research behind them.

They work in tight spaces, turbulent winds, and the sheer stress on foundations is smaller.

But, this doesn't mean there isn't a better way...
Read 12 tweets
Dec 13, 2022
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Do you have any idea how the internet works, or how it even started?

Or even, what the risks and rewards are of the up-and-coming web3 internet?

A short 🧵 to keep you up to speed on this crucial public infrastructure 🚠
1/ The origins 🕳️

Some say the OG was telegraphy, which allows us to share messages globally through electrical signals.

Others say it was the first network of local computers from the 1950s...

In any case, these pseudo-internets are certainly part of the recipe.
2/ Network of networks 🖇️

Key innovations in the 60s and 70s at @NPL 🇬🇧 , #ARPANET 🇺🇸 and #cyclades 🇫🇷 culminated in a network of computer networks 🖇️

An exclusive "inter-net" was born, used solely by academic and defence institutions, not quite the facilitator we know.
Read 14 tweets
Nov 28, 2022
🛰️AquaSwitch Report📡

Did you know that only 60% of the global population has access to the #internet?

And that as English-speaking we're actually sheltered from most of the content?

A TL;DR thread introducing our long-form article, with data from @OurWorldInData🧵
1/ WE'RE #PRIVILEDGED

In the developed world, most people take internet access for granted.

But in some countries, internet users are still the minority 🤯
2/ MOST OF IT IS NOT IN #ENGLISH

We tend to think that as native English speakers, we have access to everything.

But actually, most of the content is in other languages, with Chinese, Spanish and Hindi > English.

Just look at where most users are from, particularly recently 👇
Read 7 tweets

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