. 

Latent Power Turbines offer seven core benefits to humanity.

1. For as long as the sun warms the earth, they can deliver all the ‘mains electricity’ humanity needs without polluting the environment. They will run on ‘free’ fuel in the form of heat extracted from their environment. Apart from an annual service cost of (say) £100 per consumer, plus some form of government tax, there are no running costs.
      
2. They can operate at full output 24 hours/day with surplus electricity being used to manufacture hydrogen fuel for transport systems. This will provide carbon free transport fuel. Alternatively, if LP Turbines can be shrunk to fit into vehicles, they could be used to power the vehicles directly. The second option is likely to be most attractive in warm climates.
       
3. Heat extracted from the atmosphere can be used to provide free air conditioning. In warm climates, air cooling may become the primary application for LP Turbines, with electricity being produced as a free by-product. Finding uses for this surplus electricity will drive innovation in warm climates.
        
4. The air conditioning process will also extract moisture from the air. Cooling a house for a small family will also deliver sufficient clean water to meet their drinking, cooking and basic hygiene needs.
           
5. All of the electricity that customers need can be generated locally, eliminating the need for a national power grid. Developing countries will be the main beneficiaries because they will avoid the cost of building a national grid.
         
6. Businesses in the developing world could take control of their own power and hydrogen fuel production. This will liberate them from some of the most damaging corruption and bribery problems that they have to face.
           
7. Economic migration within Europe and into Europe from the developing nations will slow down.
   Internal migration will be reduced because there will be an economic boom across the continent, with the greatest benefits being experienced in the warm southern states where unemployment is highest.
   External migration will be reduced because those who are currently bold enough to seek their fortunes in Europe will now have a far greater incentive to become entrepreneurs at home. To reach a migration tipping point, starting an LP Turbine based business would need to be financially cheaper and less risky than migration.

Page contents

1        Resource implications

1.1     Low cost, pollution free energy

1.2     ‘Free’ air conditioning

1.3     Low cost hydrogen fuel

1.4     Oil substitutes for chemical feedstock use

1.5     Low cost fresh water for arid regions

1.6     Increasing land values in hot arid climates

1.7     Enriching the soil for crop and tree growth

1.8     Economically important metals and other minerals

1.9     High level nuclear waste

1.10    Rain forests

1.11   New job opportunities for communities left behind by

          globalisation and automation    

1.12 Aviation

1.13 Resilience to cyber attacks, massive solar storms and natural disasters

2         How LP Turbines will change the balance of the world economy

2.1     The combined effect of COVID-19 and LP Turbines

2.2    A shift of economic power towards the currently developing nations

2.3 Implications for the post-COVID European Union economy

3 How LP Turbines could pay off COVID-19 related government debts

**********************************

1        Resource implications

1.1       Low cost, pollution free energy

• LP Turbines can run on heat extracted from
  (i) the air around us,
  (ii) the ground underneath us
  (iii) the seas that surround us
  (iv) waste heat produced by industry.
• LP Turbines are very benign.
  No high temperatures, high pressures, toxic chemicals or expensive construction materials are required.
• Depending on their size, power output can vary between several kW and several MW.
• ‘Energy’ accounts for approximately 30% of the production costs of many of the primary products our society depends based on.
  Here are a few examples where we can expect to see a big drop in ‘raw material’ prices:
  t plasticst steel t glass tcementt bricks t building grade sand t prepared food t electronic data storage and processing services.     
• "Power to the people!" 

  A wall or roof mounted LP Turbine the size of a public telephone box mounted on the roof or wall of a house could meet the heating, power and air conditioning needs of a family of four. Apart from taxation and servicing there are no running costs. Consequently an LP Turbine would pay for its purchase and installation in about four years.

1.2       ‘Free’ air conditioning

If LP Turbines are run on heat extracted from the air, the air cools as a consequence. This could be a nuisance in the UK in winter. 

So we will need to include defrosting cycles, similar to those already used in  heat pump based central heating systems.

But in warmer parts of the world, LP Turbines will provide power and free air conditioning, for the price of buying a single LP Turbine unit.

Factory working conditions and productivity would improve in hot climates as a free bonus of power generation. [Evidence from Indian manufacturing: http://www.isid.ac.in/~pu/dispapers/dp14-10.pdf]

1.3       Low cost hydrogen fuel

Hydrogen can be used as a pollution free alternative to petrol and diesel for most of our road vehicle needs. 

 Other forms of transport such as ships and trains could also be adapted to run off hydrogen. But aircraft would need to be completely redesigned because they would probably carry their hydrogen in the fuselage in liquid form.

 1.3.1 Using LP Turbines to manufacture hydrogen.
There are two hydrogen fuel production options. Both involve the passing of an electric current through water to split it into oxygen and hydrogen (electrolysis). The hydrogen then needs to be compressed to a very high pressure so that it is compact enough for storage in vehicle fuel tanks. Compressing the hydrogen produces a lot of waste heat, but this can be used to power LP Turbines. [Several research groups are developing sponge like materials that would allow hydrogen to be stored in fuel tanks at lower pressures.]

FIRST OPTION       (i) Manufacture the gas centrally and on a very large scale.  
(ii) Then replace the natural gas currently distributed via regional gas grids with hydrogen.
(ii) Compress the gas locally at filling stations or on the vehicle users’ premises.
This option has the advantage that the oxygen produced during electrolysis can be used for a range of industrial purposes.

SECOND OPTION Carry out the manufacturing and compression processes locally. This has the advantage that off-peak electricity manufactured by the LP Turbines can be used for manufacturing hydrogen. This option will be of interest to early adopters who want to run a hydrogen powered vehicle in the early days, before a national hydrogen distribution grid is set up.

Fresh or sea water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. One problem with splitting sea water to produce hydrogen is that chlorine ions corrode the anode. This can be overcome by employing gold or platinum anodes, but these metals are expensive. However, this expense will be offset by a reduction in platinum use elsewhere in the transport market because most internal combustion engines are fitted with catalytic converters which includes between 3 and 7 grams of platinum.

1.3.2 A H₂ Help network for early adopters

This could be a cottage industry for the hydrogen age

Hydrogen powered car owners who have the facility to manufacture their own hydrogen could sell off their surplus fuel. A Smartphone App could link together buyers and sellers with buyers being able to reserve a supply on remote payment of a deposit.

An international network of this type would allow the rapid move to a hydrogen fuel economy, even before a traditional network of refueling stations had been established. 

It would be especially valuable in bringing hydrogen powered vehicles (and farm machinery) to remote villages and hamlets.

1.3.3 Strategies for the petrochemical industry to compensate for the loss of fossil fuel sales

• Manufacture and sell compressed hydrogen from vehicle refuelling stations.
• Lease and service home hydrogen manufacturing and compressing units, charging a small royalty on the hydrogen produced.
• Save costs on running service station chains by developing apps that will link home hydrogen manufacturers who wish to sell with potential buyers.
• Work with all segments of the transport industry, land, sea and air, encouraging them to adopt a similar hydrogen fuel economy model to that developed for road transport.
• Work with other industries, municipal authorities etc to develop a similar model, but with the emphasis on capturing and compressing the oxygen generated as a by-product of hydrogen production. This could be used for example, for the high temperature burning of municipal waste. The virtually pure carbon dioxide could then be captured, compressed and injected into old oil and gas wells owned by the petrochemical companies. Better still, the CO₂ could replace oil as the basic raw material for a new chemicals industry. [See 1.4 below.]
•  Hydrogen could replace natural gas in our existing gas supply networks. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/converting-the-gas-network-to-hydrogen/

But, there is a caveat.

 It may be possible to miniaturise LP Turbines so that they can be incorporated into the structure of cars and other vehicles. This would allow vehicles to run off electricity generated by extracting heat from the surrounding air.

Cooling hot city air in warm climates would be a bonus. But it may be a nuisance in cooler climates in winter. The answer may be hybrid battery and LP Turbine powered vehicles, with the LP Turbines being switched off when driving along streets frequented by pedestrians.

1.3.4 The downside of abandoning oil

The Middle East and other oil producing countries will be vulnerable to civil unrest if LP Turbines reduce the demand for their oil exports. However, LP Turbines could also offer them greater long term stability by creating a more sustainable lifestyle. Some proposals for doing this can be found in the sections below.

1.4       Oil substitutes for chemical feedstock use

Approximately 20% of oil is used as a chemical feedstock in the manufacturing of plastics, paints, drugs, fertilisers and other products. Synthetic replacements for oil are already available. They will become commercially competitive if the energy component of their manufacturing can be reduced.

One approach that fits in well with LP Turbine technology is based on the use of specially cultivated algae instead of oil as the raw manufacturing material.

Seaweed farms are an alternative source of algae. They have the advantages that they don’t take up any land, oxygenate the sea water, capture CO₂ from the atmosphere and mop up a range of seawater pollutants including micro-plastics.

1.5       Low cost fresh water for arid regions

There is plenty of water in our oceans. The snag is that desalinating sea water is a very energy intensive business. [It requires about 3kWh of electricity to desalinate 1 m³ of sea water.]

Further energy is then required to pump the desalinated water inland.

LP Turbines could reduce the cost of both desalinating the water and then delivering it to the customer.

Please visit our dedicated water purification page for further details.

1.6       Increasing land values in hot arid climates

Arid land has a low economic value. But if LP Turbines are used to ‘green the deserts’, countries ‘blessed’ with arid landscapes would enjoy a sudden increase in the value of their territory.

The bulk of food production could be done indoors under glass, with additional food production and large tracts of leisure land being created by greening the deserts.

1.6.1 Features of an arid climate glasshouse

Figure 1. For maximum productivity, glass houses would be used to minimise the loss of water by evaporation. LP Turbines would condense the extracted water vapour so that it can be recycled.

Glazing that keeps the water vapour in also keeps locusts and other insect pests out. This will reduce the number of pesticides and other chemicals required for food production.

The LP Turbines could provide illumination at night, making 24 hours/day plant growth possible. This would approximately double the returns on glasshouse investment.

In extreme climates such as Siberia and the Gobi Desert, the glass houses could be double glazed with an infill of aerogel to maximise thermal insulation. [Mass production and low energy costs will bring down the cost of aerogel.]

Horticultural polythene tunnels or glasshouses?

Polytunnels are less likely to be damaged by flying objects in storms than traditional horticultural glass greenhouses. But glasshouses may come back into favour in an LP Turbine era, thanks to the availability of very low cost electricity.

Glass can be made from pure silica (sand) which has a melting point of almost 2,000^oC. However by adding sodium carbonate and calcium carbonate, the melting point can be lowered by several hundred degrees. This lowers the amount of energy needed to manufacture glass and delivers a significant reduction in manufacturing costs. Unfortunately, the lower melting point also results in glass that is significantly weaker than pure silica glass.

If the next generation of horticultural glass is made by melting pure silica in electric powered furnaces, with the electricity being supplied by LP Turbines, we could see glass replacing polythene for agricultural use.

1.6.2 Aeroponics

LP Turbine cooled glass houses would be ideal for the emerging agricultural technique of aeroponics. This method of growing plants promises to maximise the rate of plant growth while minimising irrigation water requirements. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics]

1.6.3 Cell culture replacements for farm animals

Research suggests that cell cultures could replace the milk and meat production functions of farm animals. But cell culture is expensive because of the large amounts of energy required. The cost problem could be solved in warm climates if glass houses were used to grow fruit and vegetables and the electricity generated by cooling the glasshouses used for cell cultivation.

Here is a specific example.

Based on NASA research, an alternative to animal farming is being developed. This will allow single cell protein (a meat substitute) to be produced by fermentation using CO₂ extracted from the air and water. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods] The environmentalist George Monbiot is a big fan but sceptics point out that significant amounts of electrical energy are required. This criticism could be overcome by using the electricity generated by LP Turbine cooled glass houses.

1.6.4 A new economic model for oil producing Middle Eastern countries

An inevitable consequence of humanity abandoning fossil fuels is that the oil exporting countries will suffer economic damage. Fortunately LP Turbines offer new economic opportunities for all of them, especially those located in the Middle East.

Each Middle Eastern state could start producing some of its food under glass, using LP Turbines to cool its glasshouses. This would trigger a positive feedback loop, allowing glasshouse farming to expand rapidly until each country became self sufficient in energy, food and desalinated water. The states would then go on to generate surplus electricity that could be used for making building quality sand for export.

Starting from modest beginnings, the electricity generated by cooling the first generation of glasshouses would be used for making the glazing quality glass and the other construction materials required to build a second generation of glasshouses. These in turn would generate yet more electricity for the glazing glass and other construction industries. This would allow an even larger third generation of glasshouses to be built. And so on.

In the short term, oil rich Arab countries may look upon LP Turbines as a threat to their economies. But in the long term, they will gain far more from greening the deserts. A 2009 study suggests that at least 37 million people in Arab countries could be displaced by the end of the century. [http://www.carboun.com/climate-change/the-impact-of-sea-level-rise-on-the-arab-world-2/]

1.7 Enriching the soil for crop and tree growth

Crops grown in the open air or under glass still need feeding. An LP Turbine based economy could help in several ways. Here are some examples.

1.7.1 Nitrogen

Currently, the bulk of the world’s nitrogen fertilizer is manufactured using the Haber process. This converts methane gas into nitric acid, the key ingredient in manufacturing nitrogen fertilizers.

The alternative is to use the Birkeland–Eyde process which dispenses with the need for methane by using nitrogen extracted from the air instead.
Until now the Birkeland–Eyde process has been uneconomic because it uses electricity very inefficiently, with most of the electricity ending up as low grade heat.
This would not be a problem for an LP Turbine based system, because the waste heat could be converted back into electricity again.

1.7.2 Phosphorus

Phosphorus obtained from rocks is a finite resource and some experts fear that we will run out of supplies in a few years.

The experts also believe that we could still meet all of our phosphorus fertilizer needs if we recycled the runoff from our agricultural land and sewers. Currently this form of recycling is an energy expensive process. But LP Turbines would significantly reduce the recycling costs.

1.7.3 Biochar + liquid fertiliser

Biochar is a soil enrichment material that was famously used by the native Brazilians to improve the fertility of their barren rainforest soils. It is made by heating any form of organic material, for example short lengths of wood, horse droppings or plant waste in a closed oxygen free environment.

Biochar manufacturing offers several bonuses compared with converting organic material to compost:

(i) Biochar can be made in a few hours, but composting takes several months.

(i) The manufacturing process creates a very useful general purpose fertiliser known as wood vinegar.

(ii) Evidence from the Amazonian rain forests suggests that biochar can trap atmospheric carbon for up to a thousand years.

Currently biochar manufacturing is a time intensive low technology industry.

LP Turbines could form the basis for an advanced form of biochar reactor system. They would supply electricity for a heating element inside the reactor. And the fertiliser rich vapours released during the thermal breakdown process could be condensed in an exhaust pipe cooled by the LP Turbine. The Turbine would also provide power for a wood chipping machine for chopping up branches so that they fit into the reactor.

1.8 Harvesting economically important metals and other minerals

1.8.1 From sewage

In addition to phosphorous, trace quantities of important metals such as copper, silver, mercury, cadmium and gold can be found in sewage material. Low cost energy would make their extraction economically viable. The removal of toxic metals would also render the sewage safe for recycling as fertiliser or biochar.

1.8.2 From sea water

Sea water contains sodium, chlorine and trace quantities of magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, bromine, strontium and other valuable materials. Their extraction also becomes economically viable if low cost energy is available.

1.8.3 From desert sand

There is a world shortage of good quality sharp grained sand for making concrete. Desert sand is abundant but unsuitable for building work because round desert sand grains do not bind with cement to produce strong concrete. However, if desert sand is melted and then cooled so that it becomes glass, it can be crushed to produce sharp building sand.

The melting process is very energy intensive, but with cheap clean energy delivered by LP Turbines, the process becomes economically viable.

In cool deserts the heat released by the solidifying molten sand can be used to help power the LP Turbines.

Granular desert materials could also be sintered to make building blocks.

1.9 High level nuclear waste

How using LP Turbines to incinerate nuclear waste could prevent people from getting wet feet

LP Turbines will price nuclear energy out of the market.

But this still leaves the problem of our existing high level nuclear waste for future generations to deal with.

Left to decay naturally, this high level nuclear waste will take many thousands of years to decay to a safe level. But if the radioactive materials are broken down in a 'nuclear incinerator', this decay time can be reduced by at least an order of magnitude. That is, a few hundred years instead of many thousands.

Fortunately, the type of nuclear reactor required, called a molten salt reactor is a lot safer than today’s power station  reactors and even has the support of many environmentalists who were formerly anti-nuclear.

LP Turbines open up the possibility of making these reactors even safer by reducing their operating temperature and adding an extra failsafe method.

Our improved safety nuclear incinerator design can be found on this linked page.

The problem is what to do with all of the electricity they will generate !

Here are some suggestions:

• Mining sea water:
  Coastal nuclear incinerators would be ideally placed for the extraction of metals and other resources from sea water.

• An environmentally sustainable space age:
  Using the electricity generated to split water into hydrogen and oxygen would supply the fuel required for spacecraft launches.
• Greening the deserts:
  Countries possessing large tracts of desert land could sign 200 year leases allowing guest countries wishing to 'burn' nuclear waste to set up nuclear incinerators on their coastal land. In return, the guest nations would use the energy generated for the desalination of sea water, for greening the deserts.  Other services offered to the host country could include fertiliser and greenhouse glass manufacturing.

For example, this is how Australia could benefit.

Figure 2. Remotely generated ‘nuclear electricity’ would not be cost competitive with locally generated ‘LP Turbine electricity’. Instead we propose using ‘nuclear electricity’ for desalinating sea water, for irrigating part of the Australian interior. Expanding the forest and food growing land slowly over 10² years would allow time for the wider consequences for

Indigenous culture, wildlife and climate to be assessed.

Our proposed nuclear incinerator will generate working heat at about 100^oC, which is far warmer than the 24 hour average for hot desert air. This will allow larger size LP Turbines to be employed, reducing their capital and running costs.

There should be no serious concerns about this strategy leading to nuclear arms proliferation because the nuclear waste fed into the incinerators is unsuitable for the manufacturing of thermonuclear warheads.

We discuss greening the deserts in more detail on this linked page.

1.10      Rain forests

Three of the biggest threats to tropical rainforests are their destruction to create jobs, agricultural land and flooding for hydroelectric schemes.

In an LP Turbine powered age, rainforest hydroelectric schemes will become redundant.

But for political reasons, governments may still see the rainforest lands as a resource for job creation, food production and electricity. For these markets we propose a far more environmentally friendly LP Turbine alternative.

Here is a ground plan suggestion for a rainforest LP Turbine power station and its surrounding environment.

 Figure 3 This is a plan view of a replanted rain forest based LPT power station. (Not to be confused with a Dalek on a bad hair day!)

The long conduits that reach out from the power station can double up as agricultural glasshouses where intensive agriculture can deliver high yields.

Replanted rain forests can earn extra money by acting as carbon sequestration sites. The following vertical cross section through an LPT moist air conduit and adjacent land shows how.

Figure 4. The archaeological evidence suggests that biochar can remain locked in rain forest soil for more than a millennium. Rain forests growing on improved soil have a lower canopy and denser undergrowth. This should improve the moist air holding capacity of the forest. [“Hand made”, New Scientist, P42, 4 June, 2011.]
The high value cropping areas inside the tunnels will be protected from physical erosion caused by violent tropical rainstorms.

Improved soil quality will assist the replanted forests to continue growing even during the periods of draught that are increasingly common, thanks to climate change.

Additional roles
Rainforest trees rely on nutrients stored in dead organic material in the top 20 of soil. Nutrients at a greater depth are leached out by heavy rainfall. But this topsoil is depleted by slash and burn farming and severe forest fires. This means that replanted forests are slow to grow.

Ideally, balanced fertilisers would be added to boost re-growth, but field observations suggest that nitrogen is the most important additive.

Legume trees that make their own nitrogen fertiliser grow up to nine times as fast as other trees in replanted areas. This can cause problems, because they crowd out other trees during the early years. On the other hand, it also suggests a novel environmental role for forest LP Turbine centres. They could become district hubs for fertilising the young forest zones. This would help to create a balanced ecosystem with both legume and other trees maturing in harmony.

The LP Turbine electricity could be used for:

• Making nitrogen fertiliser using the Birkeland-Eyde process.
• For manufacturing hydrogen by electrically splitting water. This could be used as helicopter, light aircraft or drone fuel, for craft spreading the fertiliser over large atreas without having to construct access road networks.

1.11  New job opportunities for communities left behind by globalisation and automation

Artificial intelligence, computers and robotics can all replace human operators. This is a threat to jobs, especially low and semi-skilled work. Globalisation has made the problem worse because in addition to low wages, the emerging countries can keep manufacturing costs down by using dirtier, but cheaper energy.

In contrast, LP Turbines will create new jobs because low cost energy will allow us to do new things. It will also eliminate the competitive edge offered by nations run on 'dirty energy'.

Please visit this linked webpage for further details.

1.12 Aviation

Assuming that defrosting cycles allow any icing up problems to be overcome, there are some interesting possibilities for incorporating LP Turbines into aircraft design.

• If the LP Turbines are run on heat extract from air flowing over the upper leading edge of aircraft wings, the pressure of the air flowing over the wing will fall, providing an increase in uplift.
• Jet aircraft engines could be completely redesigned, with the compressors being driven by electric motors mounted in front of the combustion chamber, instead of turbines spinning in the hot gases behind the chamber. When flying at altitude, multi engine craft may be able to provide a substantial part of their thrust without burning fuel.
• Airships could rely on thrust provided by LP Turbine powered propellers alone. Heat could be extracted from the upper surface of the craft and used to power heating panels inside a skirt underneath the craft. If the craft has an aerodynamic shape, the heating panels could assist vertical takeoff, and then the skirts lifted and the electricity diverted to power forward thrust propellers.
• Airships that only carry small loads such as microwave relay stations could obtain all of their uplift from air temperature differences, dispensing with the need for expensive helium buoyancy.
•  LP Turbines could also form the basis for a new type of hovercraft that rely on buoyancy produced by local air pressure differences resulting from air temperature differences between their upper and lower body surfaces.

1.13 Resilience to cyber attacks, massive solar storms and natural disasters

Stand alone LP Turbines and small local grids will be less tempting and far more resilient to attacks by hackers and cyber criminals.

Nature’s equivalent in the form of massive solar storms will also be less of a threat. [Solar stroms are discussed in this article: http://uk.businessinsider.com/solar-storm-effects-electronics-energy-grid-2016-3?r=US&IR=T]

LP Turbine based micro-grids will also be more resilient to earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural forces compared with complicated national electricity grid systems. 

By standardising LP Turbine designs, problems in acquiring spare parts to repair LP Turbines in the aftermath of a major disaster will be minimised.

Part 2 

How LP Turbines will change the balance of the world economy

 2.1 The combined effect of COVID-19 and LP Turbines

The COVID-19 pandemic and LP Turbines will both push the world economy in the same direction. That is, away from globalisation and towards national self sufficiency.

The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of international supply chains and LP Turbines will help provide a self sufficiency solution.

The following table illustrates how LP Turbines combined with other technologies will shift individual nations towards new employment patterns and self sufficiency.

It will take many years for countries to adjust to their new economies. This will create a time lag before new trade deals can be negotiated.

2.2 A shift of economic power towards the currently developing nations

As we discuss on this linked page, by 2050, LP Turbines could lift the developing nations to a level of prosperity comparable with that of the G7 nations today. So, by the middle of the century, relative economic power will be approximately in line with populations and age profiles.

Several developing nations have larger and younger populations than some G7 countries and will eventually displace them as major economic powers.

The principal candidates for replacement are Canada, the UK, Italy and France

They could be replaced by India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, The Congo, Ethiopia, Mexico, The Philippines, Vietnam, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Thailand.

The USA will fall to third place behind India and China and Germany will fall to 16^th place, just behind Vietnam, Ethiopia and Egypt. There will be a corresponding drop in illegal economic migration to the G7 countries as job prospects in the developing world improve.

2.3 Implications for the post-COVID European Union economy

The warmer, more arid countries in southern Europe will gain more benefits from LP Turbines than their northern neighbours. This contrasts with the relative economic hardship they have suffered in recent times, due to Euro financial crises’ and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 5. The warmer states of southern Europe will gain the greatest boost from a shift to LP Turbine power, reducing economic differences across Europe.

LP Turbines will solve a different problem in northern Europe. These countries are economically vulnerable to the whims of Russian politicians because they are heavily reliant on Russian natural gas for keeping them warm in winter. This reliance would cease if LP Turbine electricity and hydrogen replaced natural gas usage.

3 How LP Turbines could pay off COVID-19 related government debts

With careful planning, LP Turbines will ensure that there is no need for a period of public spending austerity in order to balance the government books in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

LP Turbines will completely transform our patterns of energy consumption. All current forms of electricity generation based on fossil fuels, nuclear, wind and solar power will be priced out of the market. National power grids will be replaced by many smaller local networks and fossil fuels will no longer be needed for transport.

This transition sounds wonderfully green, but it could be catastrophic if left to free market forces.

In advanced countries there is a grave danger that many existing energy related companies will collapse because they are unable to adapt. This will result in large scale redundancies and the heavy loss of investments by pension funds. In order to keep the lights on and the transport systems moving, governments will then need to intervene on a similar scale to that seen during the 2008 banking crisis and the current COVID pandemic.

These threats can be avoided if governments nationalise most sectors of the energy industries at an early date, with the option of denationalising them following the transition to LP Turbine based economies.

Paying off government debts

Provided that they are regularly serviced, LP Turbines should have a working life of at least 40 years, with no running costs except for servicing charges.

If the total energy bills for electricity, heating and vehicle fuel for domestic consumers remains similar to what they pay today, the government income from LP Turbines should be sufficient to pay for the costs of nationalisation and implementation of the new energy systems within a few years. Thereafter, the government income could be used to help pay off the bills for fighting the COVID crisis without households having to pay additional taxes.

Businesses could be charged a far lower rate of energy taxation. This would stimulate economic growth, create new jobs and deliver low priced goods and services for everyone.

If the public sector also paid their energy bills at a breakeven tariff, current energy bill allowances would be released to improve services without increasing taxation.

Better pay for those who cared for us during the pandemic

After the nationalisation and COVID related debts have been paid off, total domestic energy bills could be slightly tapered off while still leaving governments with a surplus income. In part, this could be used to lift the pay for the key workers who kept the economies moving during the pandemic.

 Additional economic benefits for governments

LP Turbines will be capable of delivering their maximum power output 24 hours a day at the marginal cost of increased wear and tear. This means that during a 24 hour period, the total electricity output could be at least twice that of current national demand. The surplus electricity could be used to power many of the processes discussed in Section 1 that do not require peak time electricity. These include sea water desalination, the splitting of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen and the extraction of valuable materials from municipal waste, sewage and sea water.

The hazard for slow moving governments

LP Turbine based economies will create many new and relatively safe commercial investment opportunities. This will have the downside of driving up interest rates. So governments will need to take swift and decisive action to help generate the extra wealth needed to offset the disadvantage of increased interest rates.

A lesson from history

In the 1980’s Britain, unlike Norway, squandered its oil wealth by failing to set up a sovereign wealth fund. Many other oil producing countries have been equally profligate.

Government income from LP Turbines could provide a similar source of long term funding to sovereign wealth funds. This would help to secure countries against future economic shocks. But to gain this security they will need to resist the temptation to deliver energy to domestic consumers at the lowest possible price.

The developing countries

Unfortunately high level corruption is a serious problem in many developing countries. This will hamper a government led transition to an LP Turbine economy.

As discussed on this linked page, we suggest a different LP Turbine implementation strategy that is led by private businesses and affluent households.