Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

ASavvyBuyer

Green light for £3.5 million EU-backed low carbon energy storage initiative.

Martyn1981

Trump is trying hard but it looks like RE is now unstoppable in the US. To reverse the progress now would take the work of a madman hell bent on national and global destruction ........ oh damn!

EIA Data Undermines Trump’s Love Affair With Coal & Nuclear

Specifically, the United States’ renewable energy sources — consisting of biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind — now provide more electricity than nuclear power in over half the states across the country, and more electricity than coal in a third of the states. Further, according to data compiled from the reports by Ken Bossong of the Sun Day Campaign, over the next three years of capacity additions and retirements, the US coal industry will experience a net-loss of 16 gigawatts (GW) and the nuclear industry will only see a net-increase of 0.8 GW.

Conversely, utility-scale renewable energy capacity is expected to skyrocket by 157 GW over the same time period, led primarily by wind energy with nearly 91 gigawatts (GW) and solar with just over 52 GW.

[Note - I changed the references from MW to GW as they were a bit 'silly'. M.]

Coastalwatch

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Trump is trying hard but it looks like RE is now unstoppable in the US. To reverse the progress now would take the work of a madman hell bent on national and global destruction ........ oh damn!

EIA Data Undermines Trump’s Love Affair With Coal & Nuclear

Thanks Mart, your last sentence gave me a wry smile or two.:)

Zarch

Interesting series of battery articles and videos from The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/14/17674744/giant-batteries-power-energy

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/13/17675660/lithium-ion-battery-science-future-phone

Martyn1981

Victory!

Public support for shale gas is so low that it's to be removed.

Oh wait, removed from the public opinion surveys.

Well that seems fair.

UK government drops fracking question from public attitude tracker


Here's the latest survey hot off the presses:

BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker: Wave 26

Damn those RE results (under the summary tables link) look mighty fine. PV is still sitting in the Aretha spot.

Martyn1981

Article on the large number of new interconnectors being built or planned. It also suggests that leccy imports will increase from around 6% to 20% in the future.

Not sure if that's a net figure, since I'm sure we could build out off-shore wind to export a serious amount of leccy to the rest of Europe when needed too.

Interesting times ahead.

With Brexit looming, energy sector builds new links to Europe

Martyn1981

From small acorns .....

First utility-scale battery helps relieve stress on UK’s national grid

The battery breakthrough comes just a week after Limejump revealed its VPP – which aggregates power from small-scale renewable generators into a single provider that functions as a power station – had won permission to take on its traditional rivals.

In a press release published by Anesco today, Executive Chairman Steve Shine said: “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to achieve another first for the UK renewables industry. By entering our storage assets into the balancing mechanism, the door has been opened to additional revenue streams for investors, and further validates the opportunity that battery storage provides.

“It’s a major step forward for the industry, with the balancing mechanism market offering frequent instances of profitable spreads for batteries to take advantage of. In addition, it removes much of the risk that suppliers face from uncertain system prices.

“While our storage units have previously taken part in frequency response and the wholesale market, they are now able to take advantage of these additional revenue streams and pricing opportunities.

hawkwinddotcom

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/22/dont-phase-out-solar-panel-subsidies-sadiq-khan-urges-ministers

Martyn1981

Tidal stream testing has gone very well:

Scotrenewables Floating Tidal Stream Turbine Posts Record-Setting Power Generation

“The SR2000 has completed the job of demonstrating that we have a breakthrough technology and we will now be shifting all our focus and resources towards building on that success with a product which we are confident can enable a new industry created around a predictable renewable energy source,” Scott added.

And the UK pensions firms may not yet be fully prepared for AGW costs/impacts:

Leading UK Pension Funds At Risk Of Climate Change

“The climate change risks of tomorrow should be considered by pension funds today,” Creagh continued. “A young person auto-enrolled on a pension today may be 45 years away from retirement. Over that timescale these climate change risks will inevitably grow. We are examining whether pension funds are starting to take these risks into account in their financial decision making.”

Martyn1981

Only a week(ish) to go.

Europe to ban halogen lightbulbs

After nearly 60 years of brightening our homes and streets, halogen lightbulbs will finally be banned across Europe on 1 September.

The lights will dim gradually for halogen. Remaining stocks may still be sold, and capsules, linear and low voltage incandescents used in oven lights will be exempted. But a continent-wide switchover to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is underway that will slash emissions and energy bills, according to industry, campaigners and experts.