Yesterday we launched The Green Gas Book.
The Green Gas Book is a series of essays exploring the development of “green gas” (or more accurately, “green gases”), written by experts in the field. This book looks at the range of those green gases – biomethane, hydrogen, bio-substitute natural gas (bioSNG) and biopropane – their uses, benefits and potential challenges in their application. While no one of these green gases is the perfect solution, we may think of them as “10% solutions,” which, together with developments such as district heating schemes, would go a long way towards helping us decarbonise the heat sector.
This book was commissioned by Labour’s frontbench energy team and has been produced in co-ordination with the PLP’s energy and climate change committee. We hope that it can serve as an important contribution to policy discussion.
You can view an online version of the book here, or request a hard copy by emailing alan.whitehead.mp [AT] parliament.uk
alan's energy blog 
Pingback: week ending 15 July 2016 - Microgen Scotland
Hi Alan – good to see the analysis of our gas burn and alternative sources.
BG with the German firm Lurhi did invent the Gasifier-Methanator (coal/Biomass/Trash to Methane) and Johnson Matthey hold the patent for the methanator.
The Gas Network is a giant sponge while the electricity system has no storage whatsoever and the product moves at the speed of light from Alternator to Appliance. Each AC system an interconnected giant machine with rather ‘tetchy’ electromagnetic coupling as the ‘con rods’. At the system peak that is a 60million BHP beast. Everything affects everything else simultaneously.
My arguments go on to ‘use the gas better’ – CHP in larger premises with thermal storage and interacting with the electricity system (aggregation/dissemination) to run at the best times. All large buildings (non domestic over 100kW max demand) have half hour metering with a dedicated phone circuit so there is a ready made comms potential (simple smart). Each case needs analysing on its own merits, from individual premises to supplying heat and coolth to the neighbours up to District systems where the infrastructure installation will not be too disruptive. That should reduce our emissions while providing a generation source which can react to buffer variable renewables (Inertia to Instruction). Effectively we use the Gas storage and thermal storage to provide Electricity storage….
I note that some engine based CHP is as efficient at part load as at full load – Heat and Electricity in the upper 80% range. Your CHP systems in Southampton might be ideal as a manageable resource.
More on that in the Bullet list and my Future Power articles on my webspace.
Regards
Steve.