Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

pile-o-stone

NigeWick wrote: »

I cannot see the point in trying to recreate the taste of meat with overpriced and degeneratively produced vegetable matter in "vegan vegetable burgers."

It's methadone to break meat eaters from their addiction. Once they're off meat for a while, they start actually liking non-brown, rainbow coloured food and start making healthier food choices.

NigeWick

pile-o-stone wrote: »

It's methadone to break meat eaters from their addiction. Once they're off meat for a while, they start actually liking non-brown, rainbow coloured food and start making healthier food choices.

Not just to make huge profits (which these companies are) then?

Martyn1981

silverwhistle wrote: »

Isn't it late exactly _because_ of the long life expectancy of buses? The small company that runs some of the local services here has had some really old buses in their time, handed down from the major operators. But even the major operators keep buses for years.

I think, in a funny way, this article might be relevant to our thinking as it talks about pollution levels in cities rising with higher temps.

I may be stretching the connection a bit here, but perhaps local legislation might impact commercial vehicle decisions soon, or just the fear of being stuck with a new ICE bus that is no longer allowed to be used in certain areas.

Just pondering and guessing.

Diesel cars emit more air pollution on hot days, study says

Emissions from diesel cars – even newer and supposedly cleaner models – increase on hot days, a new study has found, raising questions over how cities suffering from air pollution can deal with urban heat islands and the climate crisis.

Research in Paris by The Real Urban Emissions (True) initiative found that diesel car emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) rose by 20% to 30% when temperatures topped 30C – a common event this summer.

Emissions from a range of vehicles were found to be many times higher than those declared by manufacturers in laboratory tests, confirming earlier findings following the 2015 Dieselgate scandal, in which Volkswagen cars were found to emit 40 times more NOx on the road than during laboratory tests.

Karine L!ger, managing director of Airparif, which monitors Paris air quality, said: “The quality of the air we breathe depends on emissions, that is to say, the amount of pollutants released into the atmosphere. But there is no simple connection between the two, given the influence of meteorology and atmospheric chemistry.

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I think, in a funny way, this article might be relevant to our thinking as it talks about pollution levels in cities rising with higher temps.

Yes, I say that article based on Paris and was thinking the same thing. Do the local councils have large EV fleets? If not, why not? We took a wrong turning near Versailles last year on the way south and nearly ended up in a controlled area with no sticker on display.



Similarly I was reading the local rag of where I used to live in the Alps where the local politicians were suggesting subsidies to GPL vehicles. Why not EVs I thought, particularly since hydro power is an important local resource.


My point though was not so much big operators being stranded with new ICE assets but the smaller ones who would never be able to afford new ones, of any sort.

Martyn1981

Disclaimer - I like posting and chatting about RE, storage etc, as the news is so good and positive. I also avoid too much AGW bad news as that's simply where we are going, and the news is bad, bad, bad and keeps getting worse. So focusing on the positives seems more healthy.

But this article contained many shocking statements but particularly this one

A 100-fold or more increase will occur in the damages caused by superstorms; and,

that made me think I should pop it on.

The World’s Oceans Are Poised To Unleash “Misery On A Global Scale”

Martyn1981

This caught me surprise. Suggestions Japan should abandon nuclear. Japan's size, population and topography make it one of the trickier nations to solve with RE, so I can' blame them for sticking with a large nuclear component.

But could they too go without, perhaps the suggested hydrogen economy with imports from Australia? Off-shore wind?

If Japan can seriously consider less, or zero nuclear, then that should be seen as a serious bellwether for the rest of us, and the growing economic advantage of RE, storage and RE + storage. Note - the Fukushima clean up is estimated to be around $200bn, an expense on par with around 200GW of RE capacity deployment.

Japan should scrap nuclear reactors after Fukushima, says new environment minister

Japan’s new environment minister has called for the country’s nuclear reactors to be scrapped to prevent a repeat of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Shinjiro Koizumi’s comments, made hours after he became Japan’s third-youngest cabinet minister since the war, could set him on a collision course with Japan’s pro-nuclear prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

“I would like to study how we will scrap them, not how to retain them,” Koizumi, 38, said. “We will be doomed if we allow another nuclear accident to occur.”

Martyn1981

Only a billion?

PV and micro-grids to bring power to a billion people next decade, now that would be nice.

Global renewable energy initiative aims to bring a billion people in from the dark

Electricity could be delivered to more than a billion people currently living without it within a decade by linking up small-scale projects into a giant, environmentally-friendly network.

According to a new global commission, advances in micro energy grids and renewable energy technologies could “dramatically accelerate change” and transform lives in rural areas of sub-Saharan African and south Asia.

The Global Commission to End Energy Poverty met for the first time this week to set out plans to accelerate the UN’s sustainable development goal to ensure access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all people by 2030.

Martyn1981

24/7 RE and its British?

Geothermal Energy Ltd. Completes 3.2 Mile Deep Well In UK

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

JKenH wrote: »

There may actually be some science behind Duke Energy’s argument.

Hi

Read the report, looked at the detail and there's some pretty interesting disconnects between the data presented & both the narrative & summary that should make anyone used to taking an analytical approach sit back and ponder for a while .... :think: ....

Interesting, I wonder why that's the case!? .... anyway, lots to see in the full report, and even a couple of pretty obvious ones which should raise eyebrows in the excerpt referenced above ...

HTH
Z

More info on the Duke report that solar increases gas emissions:

Adventures In Anti-Renewables PR: North Carolina Duke Energy Solar Edition

Martyn1981

I'll admit to getting a bit lost here, but this article seems to be proposing wind 'somethings' (as they won't be electrical turbines (I think)) that produce hydrogen instead, for use instead of FF methane.

Sounds like a great idea if it's doable. Certainly no shortage of good off-shore wind potential.

Floating wind-to-hydrogen plan to heat millions of UK homes

Floating offshore wind turbines far out in the North Sea will convert seawater to ‘green’ hydrogen that will be pumped ashore and used to heat millions of homes, under an ambitious plan just awarded UK government funding.

Deployment of a 4GW floating wind farm in the early 2030s at an estimated cost of £12bn ($14.8bn) could be the first step in the eventual replacement of natural gas by hydrogen in the UK energy system, claimed Kevin Kinsella, director of the Dolphyn project for consultancy ERM.

The Dolphyn team is integrating into the floating turbine platform the systems needed for water intake, desalination and conversion of water to hydrogen via proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology.