Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

A mixed bag of news, but I think one post will suffice, so expanding outwards from sunny Wales:

Swansea Lagoon needs to start work or lose planning permission

Swansea lagoon launches £1m last-ditch funding pitch

Swansea Bay lagoon developer Tidal Power is trying to raise more than £1m to start enabling works at its 320MW project in Wales before consent expires next year.

The Gloucester outfit has today launched a £1.2m share issue due to run until 20 March.

It's been suggested that European countries should work together when it comes to off-shore wind

EU urged to prioritise joint offshore development

Germany's economics and energy minister Peter Altmaier today called for the development of joint offshore wind projects in the EU to be one of the priorities for the region's energy sector.

Altmaier (pictured) made the call ahead of meeting of the European Energy Council, where the new European Commission will present priorities for the energy sector.

“In my view, the priority for the further development of the EU energy regulatory framework is the increased development of joint offshore wind energy projects and the further development of gas market design and the promotion of sectoral coupling,” he said.

And wind generation capacity in India is rising nicely, hopefully on track for 2022 targets

Wind tops 37GW in India

The country has a target of 60GW from the sector by 2022 to meet an overall renewables goal of 175GW

Wind power capacity in India has reached over 37GW, according to the latest government figures.

Martyn1981

It feels strange even needing to post this article, but with so much pushback on science, facts and reality this year, it might be worth reminding ourselves that the science was, is and will remain solid on this subject regardless of what opinion/faith based deniers might claim.

Climate models have accurately predicted global heating, study finds

Climate models have accurately predicted global heating for the past 50 years, a study has found.

The findings confirm that since as early as 1970, climate scientists have had a solid fundamental understanding of the Earth’s climate system and the ability to project how it will respond to continued increases in the greenhouse effect. Since climate models have accurately anticipated global temperature changes so far, we can expect projections of future warming to be reliable as well.

“We found that climate models – even those published back in the 1970s – did remarkably well, with 14 out of the 17 model projections indistinguishable from what actually occurred,” said Zeke Hausfather, of the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of the paper.

The challenge in evaluating climate model accuracy lies in the fact that due to computing power limitations, simulations are only run for a few specific future greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. There are an infinite number of such possible scenarios, but real-world emissions will follow only one path, and it will never exactly match the few scenarios input into climate models. Thus, if Earth warms less than in a climate model projection, it does not necessarily mean the model was inaccurate.

If only we'd listened to the science from day one, rather than being led by the science denial of interested parties.

But the big question now, I believe, is, will we now start listening and getting on with serious AGW mitigation?

ABrass made a crucial point a while back pointing to the fact that spending on mitigation saves 7x as much spending on adaptation, so, every £1 not spent in the World on mitigation makes adaptation £7 worse off, or to put it another way, every £1 moved from mitigation to adaptation makes mitigation a £1 worse off, and adaptation £6 worse off ..... crazee!

Martyn1981

Solar too? Looks like PV is getting so cheap we might as well slap it down anywhere and everywhere, and all achieved largely in one decade, and batteries nearly there too. Cool.

Scottish Power plans to build solar panels beside windfarms

Scottish Power plans to squeeze more renewable electricity from its onshore windfarms by covering the ground beside the turbines with photovoltaic panels and batteries.

The wind power firm has applied for permission to build its first solar power projects beneath the blades of its existing windfarms in Cornwall, Lancashire and Coldham.

Scottish Power says it hopes to include solar panels in the vast majority of its future onshore windfarms across Scotland and Ireland, depending on whether the ground conditions are suitable for panels.

Keith Anderson, Scottish Power’s chief executive, said: “Every green megawatt of electricity will be crucial if we stand any chance of hitting net zero in 2050. This means squeezing the absolute maximum potential out of every clean energy project that we consider.”

The company’s renewable energy division has considered almost 100 sites in Scotland and Ireland for a new breed of windfarm that uses fewer powerful turbines and can be fitted with solar panels and batteries.

In some cases, adding 10MW panels and 10MW of energy storage could double the green energy capacity of small windfarm sites.

“The costs for building wind, solar and batteries have reduced considerably in recent years, and they complement each other very well. They perform best at different times of the day and at different times of the year.”

Martyn1981

Battery article caught my eye as it appears to be a DNO based addition, and I find that interesting as a way to help balance different aspects of the grid.

Storage team primed for Dorset battery

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, is collaborating with Harmony Energy on a battery storage project in Dorset, England.

The 15 megawatt-hour Holes Bay project will be comprised of lithium-ion batteries connected to the Southern Electric Power distribution network.

Construction will start in January 2020, with commissioning expected within three months.

Harmony Energy chief executive Peter Kavanagh said: “This is a hugely significant project for Harmony, because it is the first in a large pipeline of utility-scale battery storage plants in the UK, and we’re looking forward to working with FRV to bring Holes Bay forward in the new year.

“Wind and solar projects remain key but battery storage is the missing link in the UK’s renewable energy strategy, both in terms of controlling grid frequency and providing backup during periods of peak demand and supply.

ASavvyBuyer

Just seen this on TV, so thought I would look up the details.

Byron Bay Solar Powered Train

Apparently they have surplus electric that they sell to the grid!

Martyn1981

Cali joins a small number of US states to ban fracking:

California Intensifies Fossil Fuel Fight With New Drilling Ban

California intensified its battle against fossil fuels by seeking independent reviews of all pending hydraulic fracturing permits and halting approvals of a key production technique in an area that has pumped crude for more than a century.


Governor Gavin Newsom ordered regulators to assess the safety of high-pressure steamflooding, a production process that has been linked to recent oil leaks in Kern County, the state’s Department of Conservation said in a statement Tuesday. The state is also requesting third-party scientific reviews of any pending applications for fracking, as well as looking for ways to toughen regulations to protect residents near oil and natural gas well sites.

It’s the latest in a series of actions or threats against unconventional oil and gas production. Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have promised to ban fracking if elected. The U.K. government halted new fracking wells in England earlier this month on concerns about earthquakes.

Newsom, a San Francisco Democrat in his first term as governor, has been stepping up pressure on oil and natural gas producers through a series of initiatives such as denying permits and drilling leases on land that is or once was protected by federal authorities.

Martyn1981

Thought I'd shoehorn this article in as it really surprised me, in a good way:

Cutting air pollution ‘can prevent deaths within weeks’

Cutting air pollution can prevent deaths within weeks, according to scientists. They found the health benefits of clean air were “almost immediate and substantial” and stretched into the long term, saving billions of dollars.

The review examined the evidence for the reduction of illness after levels of toxic air were reduced. It showed dramatic reductions in asthma and children missing school, heart attacks and the number of small and premature babies.

“I was surprised at how rapidly the benefits arise,” said Prof Dean Schraufnagel, at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the report.

“Our findings indicate almost immediate and substantial effects. It is critical that governments adopt and enforce World Health Organization guidelines for air pollution immediately.

“Sweeping policies affecting a whole country can reduce mortality within weeks. Local programmes, such as reducing traffic, have also promptly improved many health measures.”

Perhaps a great argument for increasing support for BEV's, as any front loaded subsidies might pay for themselves in reduced load on the NHS?

Martyn1981

If I'm reading this article correctly, and I'm not sure I am, then the suggestion is to store PV generation in molten salt, the way CSP would. Effectively taking the 'simple' PV technology, and combining it with the 'simple' storage part of CSP. I think!

1414 Degrees to power abandoned Aurora CSP site with PV and thermal storage

Plans for electricity generation at the Aurora concentrated solar power project site have been rekindled by Adelaide-based thermal energy storage company 1414 Degrees, which has unveiled new plans for the location. The 150 MW Aurora plant billed as the world’s biggest ground to a halt earlier this year after U.S. developer SolarReserve had run into difficulties in securing finance for the project.

On Friday, 1414 Degrees announced plans to acquire SolarReserve Australia II, which owns the Aurora project in South Australia and two more solar sites in New South Wales. The company’s plan is to refocus the Aurora site and build up to 400 MW of solar PV coupled with a grid-scale Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS-GRID), which it plans to progressively scale up the storage capacity of several thousand MWh.

On top of that, the company will be looking to use heat from the TESS-GRID to power “smart farms”, protected cropping greenhouses and industry, as it meanwhile investigates production of hydrogen using the excess heat from its turbines. Earlier this year, 1414 Degrees came together with a number of partners to identify and develop “smart farm” projects using its thermal energy storage solution, which stores electricity as thermal energy by heating and melting containers full of silicon and, according to the company, comes at a cost up to 10 times cheaper than lithium batteries.

GreatApe

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Perhaps a great argument for increasing support for BEV's, as any front loaded subsidies might pay for themselves in reduced load on the NHS?

Marty I'm concerned my coal phase out NHS dividend hasn't arrived yet do you know who I can complain to for them to sort it out? :rotfl:

Heath studies on fossil fuel useage are more or less worthless propaganda
In the same way as studies in various foods are more or less worthless

Apparently men in West London have the highest life expectancy in the whole of Europe and much more than men in Scotland. We can only postulate that the high concentration of diesel fumes in West London has a positive impact on longevity. That or car funds are so negligible other factors dwarf it

Also even if your nonsense article was true if you extend a life it doesn't mean this person becomes an immortal Greek god, he might live a couple years longer and require treatment two years later for whatever else gets him. So you don't save £xx you save probably nothing. Instead of dying of a lung condition at 85 he lives another two years and gets two years of pension and benefits then gets cancer and dies slowly over a period of one year at age 88 having cost the NHS and government even more

Do heavy smokers cost the NHS / government?
They voluntarily give up £200k in pensions and benefits if they die age 65 rather than 85
Depending on how quick they die they also save the NHS in care home fees and potentially slow costly old age deaths


Overall
Stop quoting nonsense studies
Might as well get your nice to draw a number on a napkin with some crayons it would be just as reliable

GreatApe

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Perhaps a great argument for increasing support for BEV's, as any front loaded subsidies might pay for themselves in reduced load on the NHS?

Option A: Give a model X buyer upto £40k tax break to improve the public's health
Option B: Hire one additional Jr Doctor or a SNR Nurse to improve waiting times and treatment
Which option does the Tesla share holder push?

In fact it's more like hiring 1 doctor and one nurse as a doctor's wages are mostly spent in the UK adding to UK jobs and taxes

All BEV grants should be scrapped fully and totally asap
If we need more heath outcome increase NHS spending
If we need lower CO2 build an additional interconntor or wind farm or spend the £40k on upgrading 10 council homes