Thetford to Norwich in 200 years.

In a fit of boredom, I plotted out a Thetford Norwich canal to bring Norwich into the 18th century and Thetford the 17th. If for some reason you want the KMZ Thetford-Norwich Canal.kmz. 

The high point is just south-east of Wymondham College north-west of London Road. Great Britain topographic map, elevation, relief

If I could find a decent overlay for google earth with contour lines I might be able to find a slightly better route or at least align it better with the rivers. The bits either side of the peak should be smooth as they follow water courses and there are, as far as I know no rapids or wiers on the route.

It is the Thet canalised from Thetford to the north side of the A11 near Besthorpe then a link across for further canalisation to Dyke Beck->To the River Tiffey which feeds into the Yare near Great Melton. In a Kayak your portage might be as little at 1.5 miles.

The Little Ouse Waveney route would look like

In the past there where plans to link Thetford with Bishop Stortford via the Little Ouse or Stor but the railways killed them off.  That would have linked Thetford to London. Another less detailed plan would have linked Thetford to the Waveney, via the little Ouse, this would have brought a connection to Lowestoft.

 

 

This is the Waveney route, it follows the Little Ouse then the Waveney The lack of a central summit means this has far less rise and if your desire was to connect to the ports this would be the way to go. it also connects to Beccles. The route is 99% the Norfolk Suffolk border.

Today though I think you would go for the Norwich route for a better broads connection it would be more tourist-friendly and would also be a better connection if the inland waterways are brought back to life by robotic traffic by even the standards of the 18th Century the summit at Attleborough is rather low and would require no more than 20 locks over the length of the canal.

If you want the google earth file it is LittleOuse-Waveney.kmz

 

If Thetford was connected to the canal network, though recently the last few miles is not supposed to be navigable, it may well be for small boats. This link would give access from east to west Liverpool & Wales to the Broads.

State of The Synthetic Hydrocarbon Art

Some of the first steps in the replacement of fossil hydrocarbons with synthetics and the journey has started in am oil rich country, Norway. From January, jet fuel in Norway must contain 0.5% of biofuel, at the moment the cost is four times the cost of fossil fuel.This fuel must be made of waste fats and vegetable oil, but not palm oil. SAS have a stated aim of powering all it domestic flights by biofuel. Norway plans to increase the required proportion to 30% by 2030.

This is obviously unsustainable for the entire aviation industry. Which means Europe’s first power-to-liquid demo plant in Norway plans renewable aviation fuel production in 2023. makes sense.

This uses the techniques outline in my blog Extinction Rebellion's biggest mistake but chemistry doesn't stand still. In February, Waseda University  in Japan announced.

Scientists developed a new method to convert carbon dioxide to methane with an electric field at low temperatures. In comparison to previous methods, this new method can produce any amount of methane whenever necessary. Because methane is a valuable gas which can be used to generate heat and electricity, this method could be exploited to help reduce the use of fossil fuels and prevent global warming.

The process drops the temperature of the conversion from 300-400°C to 100°C, not only does this use a different catalyst but also adds an electric field. Reducing the temperature required gives a large reduction in the energy required. The conversion to methane is only half of the 2 energy intense processes involves in making methane.

The other energy intense process is the production of hydrogen from water and that is currently an area of intense research as not only does it have bearing on the production of synthetic hydrocarbons but hydrogen is a potential energy in its own right. Only its low density and difficulty in storage make it a less than ideal fuel. The Royal Society gave 4 options given in "Options for producing low-carbon hydrogen at scale".
They are Thermochemical Routes to Hydrogen, Electrolytic Routes to Hydrogen, Biological Routes to Hydrogen and Solar to Fuels Routes to Hydrogen all of which have their niche usage. The ball has begun to move.

There is also artificial photosynthesis a process which looks to perform the complete production in a single device a synthetic leaf.

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