Unfortunately the media today are not that keen on actually doing journalism and informing the people and focus intensely on clickbaiting, so most science and technology news are more of the "technology-that-will-freak-you-out" kind. Thanks for the very interesting video!
Why have I not heard more about this?? I must have been asleep in that lecture! I will definitely have to do some more reading. I agree that it would be a great way to contextualize plans of all sorts in the media and has certainly made me think back about where some of my past projects lie. Thanks for your continued hard work Rosie and keep spreading the knowledge!
I didn't learn about this at uni either, it wasn't until I was working in technology development that I learned the scale. But you raise a good point, if they don't even teach this to engineering students, then it is no wonder that most people don't have a good understanding of the topic of technology maturity.
Awesome! Thats definetly going into my bachelor thesis. As an engineer by trade and now in my bachelor i have never heard of trl. Keep it up Rosie. We need more great women in the field like you are. Best wishes from Austria. 👍
Robert Heinlein put it like this. You identify a problem and come up with a solution, the only good thing about your solution is it works. Next you remove the faults/flaws with this solution improve it to it's best. Then you go and do the thing you should have done in the first place.
Rosie, good video and good presentation. However, I do disagree with your assessment of small modular reactors (SMRs) as TRL 5 (large prototype) - although it may depend on one's definition of "small" - which I define as between 10-300 MWe. I agree that the 6 MW MSRE at Oak Ridge in the 60s-80s only meets TRL 5. However, one has to distinguish between an MSR (molten-salt coolant reactor) and a SMR (small modular reactor). SMRs in the US, Soviet, Russian, UK, and French navies have been working at TRL 11 (stable usage, multiple generations beyond TRL 9) for decades. You may quibble that 'military' != 'commercial', but that is a quibble about market segments, not about the technology. True, the technology has ONLY been proven out to a small sub-set of customers (navies), for a specific application (ship-propulsion), but it has been proven out (in both DEMANDING customer expectations and DEMANDING environments) usually around the 50 MWt size, and in the several hundreds of units. Even if one continues to quibble 'military' != 'commercial', at least 4 _commercial_ nuclear ships were commissioned with SMRs, again fitting TRL 9 - in fact it is their lack of "evolutionary improvement to stay competitive" which adds the glue to the nailed-down definition. It appears to me that the nuclear SMR readiness level is more about the Specific Offering Readiness Level (SORL - for lack of a better term), rather than the _technology_ readiness level.: * We have companies like NuScale which are attempting to launch their NPP at SORL 8, an implementation level of FOAK commercial NPP in civilian electricity generation at 60 MWe per unit (combinable to 720 MWe), well at the size of commercially proven military SMRs. NuScale is far beyond level 5. * Also Rosatom's Akademik Lomonosov at 70 MWe, which despite a rather murky customer base, is clearly at least SORL 8, possibly 9. * Likewise Oklo's Aurora (not quite a true SMR, but a micro-modular reactor at 1-2 MWe) is moving forward at the SORL 7-8 level (really no point for a prototype at that size).
The economics (too expensive) and time scales (decade to bring online) are two hurdles for nuclear to jump through before they will be purchased by utilities. Utilities make the decisions and right now they're threatening to shut down NPPs and declare them stranded assets. Exelon in Illinois is a good example.
@@acmefixer1 I agree that nuclear has to improve along those 2 criteria (CAPEX and time-to-build) - however, that doesn't make Rosie's assignment of nuclear to TRL 5 any more valid. Neither Rosie's scale, nor NASA's scale, nor the EU's scale, mentions anything about CAPEX or time-to-build. One is a technology readiness scale, the other is an investment decision scale
@muhahaha I agree with you. Our societies are insane in that with the example of France decarbonizing quickly, cheaply, and nearly completely, people look to the German Energiewende as a pathway - despite its failure to decarbonize quickly, or cheaply, let alone nearly complete! (the Germans do after all predict their coal plants will be online for another 17 years)
About smart charging TRL7: I've read that Tesla is piloting the V2G vehicle to grid with its cars and Autobidder software. This is in the UK and midwestern US. It requires a bidirectional charger which is still expensive at $4000 US. But the vehicle can earn more than this in a year. I would say that the technology is mature but the issues are economic and political. The utilities are unwilling to let their customers make money, and the state governments are beholden to the utilities even though they're supposed to regulate the utilities. It's time the FERC - federal energy regulatory commission steps in and makes V2G a reality. Thanks for the great video.
I have a video on V2G coming up! And I agree that the barriers are not really technical, more to do with business cases and market regulation. Of course TRLs are changing all the time as technoliges develop, I can see this video is going to date quite quickly. It might be interesting to revisit in a couple of years and see which techs have moved far ahead and which haven't.
I am so impressed with your complete understanding of engineering. We need more people like you in engineering. To bad that you weren't an electrical engineer.
I think electric aircraft deserves a higher rating. I can agree for larger aircraft, but for smaller there's for example the Pipistrel Alpha Elektro that's already commercially available and in the eVTOL space there's the Joby S4 that's in the process of being certified.
Didn't know this and looking at the TRL i think my technology is at stage 4 and the biggest struggle you can get is you can't go further because there is no financial budget for it to move on. I think it is a common problem on this level to get more finance and people don't know where to go ......... and the project stops even if it could get to the top level of TRL?
by your assessment nuclear fusion is TLR 5+ - we have done it in the labs for decades, people have built fusion-devices in their garage. But a big problem is the constant fear-mongering against any nuclear technologies - and the comparative lack of funding. Many countries spent more on solar-power ( from research to final private instalment subsidies) per year than they did on nuclear-research in the past decades.
You have great content, but please work on the audio quality. The very "echo-y" add-ins really throw it off. I think with that one improvement, your channel would balloon and become a real hit. An bit more attention to enunciation would help a bit too, because video always things harder. Great work so far! I look forward to more content. I have been binging your videos.
@@SuperS05 I have just set up Patreon, but not announced it yet. www.patreon.com/engineeringwithrosie And I do plan to set up a discord, just gotta find the time for all this in addition to making new videos. Thanks for your feedback, by the way, it's very helpful.
Thunderfoot made a video of the concept as it was a couple of years ago, and depicted the whole idea as not that good for a number of reasons, but, indeed, let's see what Rosie has to say about it.
The mechanical systems like energy vault are prone to wear and maintenance issues. That's why battery storage is so far ahead: there are no major moving parts to wear out. Maybe a fan among dozens, but that's not going to bring the system to a screeching halt.
Let's put solar panels on every home, business and covered parking rooftop and switch to electric vehicles making nearly everything we do solar powered while completely decentralizing our power supply and empowering everyone as power generation owners. Solar power is CHEAPER and electric vehicles are soon to be CHEAPER to make and already are considerably CHEAPER to maintain and operate, especially if charged from your own solar power. A 3-5 year ROI (return on investment) for a solar array that will generate power for decades is a no-brainer and the panels can even be made locally too. #EndFossilFuels #SwitchToSolar #SwitchToElectric #GreenNewDeal #EmpowerEveryone
Mass media that can not even distinguish between power and energy and they rarely write about the right things. Clearly depressing. But even worse perhaps, is that the power companies so successfully manage to prevent people from producing their own electricity, with Florida as a prime example. Furthermore, it is forbidden to sell the smallest amount of electricity to one's neighbor almost anywhere in the world. The power companies' lobbying is extremely effective, unfortunately. We have the technology, even if many cannot see that, but the laws are dictated by the power companies. People need help!
Yes, the markets are not really set up to take advantage of the possibilities of distrubuted electricity generation yet. I think there's progress but it's slow!
Kirsten Dirksen is interesting when it comes to what a good example can give as a help to enhance the development. She is now a very successful youtuber because people like good examples. The cradle of wind power is at your doorstep. People really need good examples that they can releate to. Could it be something here? I do believe you are on the right track but with your hard work, knowledge and background you are worth so much more attention than you get now. It is right that is was long ago when it was enough to talk about wind or sun for example. I believe that now it is the whole packaged so you need a system to show, not single sources. When people get a good example, suddenly they can understand what they did not understand before.
@@EngineeringwithRosie I'm always thinking, just some of the stuff I think about is wrong. But every once in a while a gem comes to the surface. If you're interested in correspondence you can email me at Doktaahwho@gmail.com
Unfortunately the media today are not that keen on actually doing journalism and informing the people and focus intensely on clickbaiting, so most science and technology news are more of the "technology-that-will-freak-you-out" kind.
Thanks for the very interesting video!
Why have I not heard more about this?? I must have been asleep in that lecture! I will definitely have to do some more reading. I agree that it would be a great way to contextualize plans of all sorts in the media and has certainly made me think back about where some of my past projects lie. Thanks for your continued hard work Rosie and keep spreading the knowledge!
I didn't learn about this at uni either, it wasn't until I was working in technology development that I learned the scale. But you raise a good point, if they don't even teach this to engineering students, then it is no wonder that most people don't have a good understanding of the topic of technology maturity.
This topic soooo needed to be covered. Thank you, Rosie!
It's so refreshing to listen to you talk. You should start a podcast ❤️
Thanks for the improved sound-quality.
Nice topic. Thanks for explaining it with examples.
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome! Thats definetly going into my bachelor thesis. As an engineer by trade and now in my bachelor i have never heard of trl. Keep it up Rosie. We need more great women in the field like you are. Best wishes from Austria. 👍
Nice to hear something so sensible
Robert Heinlein put it like this. You identify a problem and come up with a solution, the only good thing about your solution is it works. Next you remove the faults/flaws with this solution improve it to it's best. Then you go and do the thing you should have done in the first place.
Rosie, good video and good presentation.
However, I do disagree with your assessment of small modular reactors (SMRs) as TRL 5 (large prototype) - although it may depend on one's definition of "small" - which I define as between 10-300 MWe.
I agree that the 6 MW MSRE at Oak Ridge in the 60s-80s only meets TRL 5. However, one has to distinguish between an MSR (molten-salt coolant reactor) and a SMR (small modular reactor).
SMRs in the US, Soviet, Russian, UK, and French navies have been working at TRL 11 (stable usage, multiple generations beyond TRL 9) for decades. You may quibble that 'military' != 'commercial', but that is a quibble about market segments, not about the technology. True, the technology has ONLY been proven out to a small sub-set of customers (navies), for a specific application (ship-propulsion), but it has been proven out (in both DEMANDING customer expectations and DEMANDING environments) usually around the 50 MWt size, and in the several hundreds of units.
Even if one continues to quibble 'military' != 'commercial', at least 4 _commercial_ nuclear ships were commissioned with SMRs, again fitting TRL 9 - in fact it is their lack of "evolutionary improvement to stay competitive" which adds the glue to the nailed-down definition.
It appears to me that the nuclear SMR readiness level is more about the Specific Offering Readiness Level (SORL - for lack of a better term), rather than the _technology_ readiness level.:
* We have companies like NuScale which are attempting to launch their NPP at SORL 8, an implementation level of FOAK commercial NPP in civilian electricity generation at 60 MWe per unit (combinable to 720 MWe), well at the size of commercially proven military SMRs. NuScale is far beyond level 5.
* Also Rosatom's Akademik Lomonosov at 70 MWe, which despite a rather murky customer base, is clearly at least SORL 8, possibly 9.
* Likewise Oklo's Aurora (not quite a true SMR, but a micro-modular reactor at 1-2 MWe) is moving forward at the SORL 7-8 level (really no point for a prototype at that size).
The economics (too expensive) and time scales (decade to bring online) are two hurdles for nuclear to jump through before they will be purchased by utilities. Utilities make the decisions and right now they're threatening to shut down NPPs and declare them stranded assets. Exelon in Illinois is a good example.
@@acmefixer1 I agree that nuclear has to improve along those 2 criteria (CAPEX and time-to-build) - however, that doesn't make Rosie's assignment of nuclear to TRL 5 any more valid.
Neither Rosie's scale, nor NASA's scale, nor the EU's scale, mentions anything about CAPEX or time-to-build.
One is a technology readiness scale, the other is an investment decision scale
@muhahaha I agree with you.
Our societies are insane in that with the example of France decarbonizing quickly, cheaply, and nearly completely, people look to the German Energiewende as a pathway - despite its failure to decarbonize quickly, or cheaply, let alone nearly complete! (the Germans do after all predict their coal plants will be online for another 17 years)
About smart charging TRL7: I've read that Tesla is piloting the V2G vehicle to grid with its cars and Autobidder software. This is in the UK and midwestern US. It requires a bidirectional charger which is still expensive at $4000 US. But the vehicle can earn more than this in a year. I would say that the technology is mature but the issues are economic and political. The utilities are unwilling to let their customers make money, and the state governments are beholden to the utilities even though they're supposed to regulate the utilities. It's time the FERC - federal energy regulatory commission steps in and makes V2G a reality.
Thanks for the great video.
I have a video on V2G coming up! And I agree that the barriers are not really technical, more to do with business cases and market regulation.
Of course TRLs are changing all the time as technoliges develop, I can see this video is going to date quite quickly. It might be interesting to revisit in a couple of years and see which techs have moved far ahead and which haven't.
I am so impressed with your complete understanding of engineering. We need more people like you in engineering. To bad that you weren't an electrical engineer.
I have hope that the small modular reactors could be a solution for the Netherlands energy problems
Great video, thanks for uploading
Glad you enjoyed it 😀
I think electric aircraft deserves a higher rating. I can agree for larger aircraft, but for smaller there's for example the Pipistrel Alpha Elektro that's already commercially available and in the eVTOL space there's the Joby S4 that's in the process of being certified.
Didn't know this and looking at the TRL i think my technology is at stage 4 and the biggest struggle you can get is you can't go further because there is no financial budget for it to move on.
I think it is a common problem on this level to get more finance and people don't know where to go ......... and the project stops even if it could get to the top level of TRL?
SMRs are already in use on submarines and ships,
by your assessment nuclear fusion is TLR 5+ - we have done it in the labs for decades, people have built fusion-devices in their garage.
But a big problem is the constant fear-mongering against any nuclear technologies - and the comparative lack of funding. Many countries spent more on solar-power ( from research to final private instalment subsidies) per year than they did on nuclear-research in the past decades.
Nope. That kind of fusion and fusion that produces more power than you use to keep it going are two different technologies.
You have great content, but please work on the audio quality. The very "echo-y" add-ins really throw it off. I think with that one improvement, your channel would balloon and become a real hit. An bit more attention to enunciation would help a bit too, because video always things harder. Great work so far! I look forward to more content. I have been binging your videos.
Working on it!
@@EngineeringwithRosie do you have a discord server setup? Patreon?
@@SuperS05 I have just set up Patreon, but not announced it yet. www.patreon.com/engineeringwithrosie
And I do plan to set up a discord, just gotta find the time for all this in addition to making new videos. Thanks for your feedback, by the way, it's very helpful.
Really curious to see the Energy Vault video.
Thunderfoot made a video of the concept as it was a couple of years ago, and depicted the whole idea as not that good for a number of reasons, but, indeed, let's see what Rosie has to say about it.
The mechanical systems like energy vault are prone to wear and maintenance issues. That's why battery storage is so far ahead: there are no major moving parts to wear out. Maybe a fan among dozens, but that's not going to bring the system to a screeching halt.
@@acmefixer1 surely all thermal power plants have similar mechanical issues?
Let's put solar panels on every home, business and covered parking rooftop and switch to electric vehicles making nearly everything we do solar powered while completely decentralizing our power supply and empowering everyone as power generation owners.
Solar power is CHEAPER and electric vehicles are soon to be CHEAPER to make and already are considerably CHEAPER to maintain and operate, especially if charged from your own solar power.
A 3-5 year ROI (return on investment) for a solar array that will generate power for decades is a no-brainer and the panels can even be made locally too.
#EndFossilFuels #SwitchToSolar #SwitchToElectric #GreenNewDeal #EmpowerEveryone
Massive jump between 8&9
Mass media that can not even distinguish between power and energy and they rarely write about the right things. Clearly depressing. But even worse perhaps, is that the power companies so successfully manage to prevent people from producing their own electricity, with Florida as a prime example. Furthermore, it is forbidden to sell the smallest amount of electricity to one's neighbor almost anywhere in the world. The power companies' lobbying is extremely effective, unfortunately. We have the technology, even if many cannot see that, but the laws are dictated by the power companies. People need help!
Yes, the markets are not really set up to take advantage of the possibilities of distrubuted electricity generation yet. I think there's progress but it's slow!
Kirsten Dirksen is interesting when it comes to what a good example can give as a help to enhance the development. She is now a very successful youtuber because people like good examples. The cradle of wind power is at your doorstep. People really need good examples that they can releate to. Could it be something here? I do believe you are on the right track but with your hard work, knowledge and background you are worth so much more attention than you get now. It is right that is was long ago when it was enough to talk about wind or sun for example. I believe that now it is the whole packaged so you need a system to show, not single sources. When people get a good example, suddenly they can understand what they did not understand before.
In Germany, we have a TRL of 0 to 9
if you are short on time, watch from 4:40.
I am also surprised you never talked about 'Precision Fermentation' technology.
Welp, back to the shower, gotta get my thinking cap on! ;-)
I'm glad if it made you think Doktaah!
@@EngineeringwithRosie I'm always thinking, just some of the stuff I think about is wrong. But every once in a while a gem comes to the surface. If you're interested in correspondence you can email me at Doktaahwho@gmail.com
She's Cool
There is a group of people who know perfectly well how the Carrots of the future will turn out, and continue to use them as distractions.
This gets a like, but you need to work on your camera use. You're too close, and everything is too shiny.
Along with all else, the audio is changing level and tone all over the place. Can't keep watching this. I'm done.
Also, you should phase out the handwritten stuff. Blehhh.