Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

pile-o-stone

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02804-0

"The Australian capital, Canberra, will become the first city outside Europe to shift from fossil fuel to 100% renewable energy.

From 1 January 2020, Canberra will join seven other districts around the world that produces or purchase the equivalent of their total electricity consumption from renewable sources, according to a report released on 18 September by policy think tank the Australia Institute in Canberra.

The report analysed data on more than 500 regions around the world with populations greater than 100,000 people.

The district of Rhein-Hunsrück in Germany became the first area to go 100% renewable, in 2012; two German states, three states in Austria and one region in Spain followed."

GreatApe

pile-o-stone wrote: »

Do you think other people are interested in your argument? After all the pages and pages you all post, has anything changed? I think you all need to ask yourselves if this is a good use of your time.

Obsessions are interesting
Everyone actually has them and of course the degree and the obsession is important
Some people spend dozens of hours per week on TV or gossip or Facebook or cars or football etc
Those are seen as 'normal" but are in fact no better or worse than most other mild obsessions

A man should aim to have a few mild obsessions and should aim for most of them to be positive side benefits in their lives.

I'd say try to find one health obsession (I gym and 'diet' to maintain an ideal body weight)
One work/business/money (not willing to share)
One+ hobby (I go dancing weekly)
And one relationship obsession (go on a proper date at least once a week not just sitting at home watching TV together)

And of course my mild obsession about energy this is probably mostly from my days working in heavy industry and my science background. Could do without it and I do cycle from periods like now when I am active to periods when I don't think or consider it at all. Like all other mild obsession I do it for my own benefit/pleasure not to change anyone elses mind

pile-o-stone

GreatApe wrote: »

A man should aim to have a few mild obsessions and should aim for most of them to be positive side benefits in their lives.

Like all other mild obsession I do it for my own benefit/pleasure not to change anyone elses mind

I'd suggest that as you posted this a few weeks ago...

GreatApe wrote: »

With this I will bow out too and intend to delete this account (if possible) if not I'll randomly generated a password I can't recover. I hope not to return to this part of the forum for quite some time (hopefully months if not years)

As someone somewhat prone to obsess it's better to obsess on things that are productive and this really isn't

So I bid you all adieu

...that you were not gaining much benefit/pleasure from your energy obsession and quite rightly realised that you'd be better off obsessing about things that are productive.

I also have a slight gym obsession. I think as obsessions go it's quite healthy as I am stronger, leaner and fitter since I became 'obsessed'. I even went so far as to contribute to weight training and body building forums, though I was there to gain information and to encourage others in their own endeavours. Again, much healthier for mind and soul than arguing with strangers.

Perhaps when you read the quote you'll cast your mind back to when you wrote that and ask whether your time spent on this board since has been 'productive' or could it have been used more wisely? We have such short lives, are you making the most of yours?

GreatApe

pile-o-stone wrote: »

We have such short lives, are you making the most of yours?

No I'd say I'm not making the most of my life I doubt anyone could answer yes to that as there is always more that can be done. But I am happy with my life and who I am and there's not more that a person should wish for

pile-o-stone

GreatApe wrote: »

No I'd say I'm not making the most of my life I doubt anyone could answer yes to that as there is always more that can be done. But I am happy with my life and who I am and there's not more that a person should wish for

I'd like to think that was true but in my experience, anyone who spends time arguing with strangers on the internet, as you do in here and also in the house price board (as you mentioned in a post a few weeks back), is not in a happy place mentally.

I think deep down you know this to be true or you would not have said as much in your 'goodbye' post.

Martyn1981

pile-o-stone wrote: »

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02804-0

"The Australian capital, Canberra, will become the first city outside Europe to shift from fossil fuel to 100% renewable energy.

From 1 January 2020, Canberra will join seven other districts around the world that produces or purchase the equivalent of their total electricity consumption from renewable sources, according to a report released on 18 September by policy think tank the Australia Institute in Canberra.

The report analysed data on more than 500 regions around the world with populations greater than 100,000 people.

The district of Rhein-Hunsrück in Germany became the first area to go 100% renewable, in 2012; two German states, three states in Austria and one region in Spain followed."

Thanks for those articles.

Have to say, I always enjoy Aussie articles. Perhaps because they are a bit smaller than us (population and energy terms), and then subdivided into states (including ACT) so even single RE farms, big batts etc can give results for comparison. Plus as one state finds solutions, excuses disappear in others.

They also seem to get mentioned in lots of US articles with regard to the deployment percentages of domestic (and commercial) PV. I suppose much of the US fill match them later on as costs fall.

Martyn1981

No more UK fracking in 2019 as Cuadrilla runs out of time after record-breaking tremor

Pure speculation, but if the industry struggles, it could lead to more investment in competing technologies/solutions like RE, bio-gas and heat pumps.

Martyn1981

Green Hydrogen economy, getting closer.

Australia backs trials to produce green hydrogen to make ammonia

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Australian government has agreed to provide A$2.9 million ($2 million) for two studies into using solar and wind power to produce hydrogen for ammonia, part of a broader push by Canberra to spur development of a hydrogen industry.

The Moranbah study would help determine whether green hydrogen can be produced cheaply enough to support expanding the Moranbah plant, Incitec’s president of global manufacturing, Tim Wall, said in a joint statement with ARENA.

The federal government and states are working on a strategy, due to be released in December, to develop a hydrogen industry, after a study last year showed there could be a $7 billion market for hydrogen in China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore by 2030.

“It’s probably the only area where there’s alignment and cohesion between the renewables sector and the federal government,” said Gero Farruggio, head of Australia and global renewables for consultants Rystad Energy.

Ammonia production consumes half of the world’s hydrogen output and offers a big opportunity for Australia to jump start a clean hydrogen industry, ARENA said.

Martyn1981

............................ um ............ does what it says on the tin!

The Short List Of Climate Actions That Will Work

I spend a lot of time critiquing solutions for low-carbon transformation, and that leads, inevitably, to people asking me: what works? What should we be doing? Most recently, that came in the form of a question on Quora that was well enough formed to trigger me to write down the solution set: “What exactly is the current scientific consensus on steps to combat climate change?“

Consensus is an interesting word. I tend to prefer consilience, where multiple lines of investigation lead to the same conclusions. That said, the following are the solutions or approaches that I see from my investigations and discussions as gaining consensus and consilience. It’s not the how, but the what. There are many paths that lead to these realities. One way to read the following is to consider that it describes the world in 2050.

[Worth reading, but here is the short listed for a quick scan, with the bodies of text removed. M]

The Short List:

Electrify everything

Overbuild renewable generation

Build continent-scale electrical grids and markets

Build a fair amount of hydro storage

Plant a lot of trees

Change agricultural practices

Fix concrete

Price carbon aggressively

Shut down coal and gas generation aggressively

Stop financing and subsidies for fossil fuel

Eliminate HFCs in refrigeration

1961Nick

Martyn1981 wrote: »

............................ um ............ does what it says on the tin!

The Short List Of Climate Actions That Will Work



[Worth reading, but here is the short listed for a quick scan, with the bodies of text removed. M]

You do realise you've just vindicated the Ape ....1 & 3.:rotfl: