This channel seeks to understand the issues that face our civilisation in the 21st Century and focusses on the potential solutions that will save as many lives as possible and hopefully bring about a greater level of equality in the world. The channel is not a debating forum about whether Human Induced Climate Change is a real phenomenon or not. If that’s what you’re after then I can highly recommend chat forums on Social Media, where people on both sides of the argument go round and round in circles achieving precisely nothing at all.
That is a mug’s game. And it’s not my game.
Anyway, outside of those caveats, I do try to keep it light and humorous wherever possible, so I hope you enjoy the content.
Oh..and me… Dave Borlace. Born 1969. BSc in Technology from the Open University in the UK. After a 30 year career in People and Project Management, I now work full time on the channel thanks to the amazing folks who support me on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink
From Just Have a Think. Solid State batteries…BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! Sick of hearing about them? Well, that’s understandable. They’ve been ‘on the horizon’ for far too long, haven’t they? But the big dogs of the battery industry are now telling tell us they’ve come up with a neat solution to get these things onto the…
From Just Have a Think. China is often held up as leading the way in renewable energy, but it’s actually the USA that has most enthusiastically embraced battery energy storage to help stabilize the electricity grid, and in some surprising locations. But is it all about the noble effort of decarbonisation or are we seeing…
From Just Have a Think. Living off grid is a dream for many. But if you want to combine that lifestyle with an electric vehicle, then charging that vehicle up at home is going to be a headache. At least it was…until now. A US start-up has just started taking orders for a DC to…
From Just Have a Think. The ability to charge an electric vehicle in just a couple of minutes is the ‘game changer’ that car makers and car drivers are all waiting for. Batteries will always take time to charge up, but capacitors can store charge instantly. The challenge is creating one with enough energy density…
From Just Have a Think. You might not want to think about this one, but our scientists tell us if we carry on the way we are now, the global food system will have completely broken down by the time a child born today hits retirement age. The good news is, it can be solved.…
From Just Have a Think. Coal fired power stations are being retired in record numbers all over the world as we move towards more sustainable energy. But the huge turbines in those facilities provide essential inertia to maintain grid frequency, so losing them is a problem. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get rid…
From Just Have a Think. Electrifying everything with renewable technologies like solar PV, wind turbines and battery energy storage is a ‘holy grail’ that energy transition naysayers tell us is an impossible dream. In 2021, an ambitious UK start-up called Xlinks set out to prove that theory wrong, embarking upon a multi-billion dollar project to…
From Just Have a Think. Can lithium-ion technology ever lose it’s crown as the undisputed king of battery energy storage? Well, if it is to happen, it could be one of these contenders that takes the title. Help support this channels independence at http://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink Or with a donation via Paypal by clicking here https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GWR73EHXGJMAE&source=url You…
From Just Have a Think. China has cornered the market in green energy transition technologies in recent years, and very effectively gained control of raw material supply chains so any other country has to go through them to get things done. There is one notable exception though. Sodium. It’s so ubiquitous that even China can’t…
From Just Have a Think. If you want to know the truth…FOLLOW THE MONEY! The people who control the world’s money rely on financial risk assessors to give them accurate data about future scenarios that could adversely affect their vast portfolios. The message coming from those risk assessors right now is…your money is in grave…
From Just Have a Think. The Green Energy Transition is starting to tease out some very smart solutions to ditching fossil fuels. Our friends in the North are leading the way in the decarbonisation of buildings and industry. Here’s a couple of perfect examples. Help support this channels independence at http://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink Or with a donation…
From Just Have a Think. China’s perceived march towards global domination appears to be ruffling some feathers here in the Western world. Their version of the industrial revolution has lifted hundreds of millions out of abject poverty, but it is still held up by some as the greatest modern sin against humanity and our climate.…
From Just Have a Think. 100% electrification from renewables like wind, solar, geothermal and hydro power, backed up with interconnections and energy storage is now just around the corner, and already the cheapest option available. But there are still bumps in the road. Can we overcome them in time? Help support this channels independence at…
From Just Have a Think. Pylons are ugly and nobody likes them! Filling up our countryside with thousands more of them to facilitate a massive electricity grid expansion is proving to be a very tricky challenge with lots of local opposition. But what if you could build your electricity grid out at sea and just…
From Just Have a Think. Average surface temperatures across Europe soared to 3.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in February 2024. The global average was almost 1.8 degrees above pre-industrial. Some say this marks the start of Abrupt Global Warming. So, is that true? Help support this channels independence at Patreon http://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink Or with a…
From Just Have a Think. Europe is now the fastest warming continent on the planet. The European Environment Agency has just published it’s first ever Climate Risk Assessment, which finds that EU policies are nothing like robust enough to cope with what’s coming our way. So, what’s the plan?? Help support this channels independence at…
From Just Have a Think. As renewable energy developers struggle with the almost impenetrable complexity of regulatory and permitting bureaucracy that can add more than a decade to the timeline of a new installation, clever boffins have been quietly revolutionising the materials used to make the wires that run between the pylons that take electrons…
From Just Have a Think. Lithium-ion batteries often get a bad rap in the media these days, blamed for high cost, unwanted fires and poor working conditions in the supply chain. But the fact remains that this chemistry provides the power for billions of devices around the world, from the tiniest pacemakers to the largest…
From Just Have a Think. Cryogenic Air Energy Storage sounds a bit sci-fi doesn’t it? But it’s real and in operation today. The question is can it be scaled to become a globally significant long duration energy storage solution that can fit seamlessly in with other storage technologies on national grid networks? Well, that’s the…
From Just Have a Think. Decarbonising industry, improving energy storage duration on electricity grid systems, and finding more environmentally friendly ways to make everyday commodities. Three things that most people agree are good goals to strive for. What if a single technology was able to contribute to all of them? Well, here’s one that could…
From Just Have a Think. Small Modular Nuclear Reactors are yet another apparently promising ‘silver bullet’ style solution to the Net Zero challenge. All the reliable, safe, baseload power of large centralised nuclear power stations but without the huge cost overspends and crippling project delays. What’s not to like, eh? Great on paper…but do Small…