Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Fun idea app:

Cranky Uncle game takes on climate crisis denial and fake news

A new game promises to act as a “vaccination” against climate crisis denial and fake news by teaching users about misinformation tactics.

The Cranky Uncle app explains common science denial techniques, such as the use of fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations and cherry-picking data, equipping users with the skills needed to spot inaccuracies in the real world and online.

The app is based on inoculation theory, the idea that people can be protected against influence by exposure to weakened forms of a threat – in this case, climate crisis denial.

Perhaps a fun and easier way to deal with deniers on here if they pop up again in the future.

[Note - I'm assuming GA is no longer spouting AGW denial, and air pollution health impact denials, as that would be a very rude thing to do on a green and ethical board, especially when there is now a thread specifically set up for people with 'alternative' views on the subject. I'm going to assume that his continued posting after being politely asked to respect the premise of this thread/board, reflects a change in his views/attitude. :think:]

Martyn1981

Step by step by step:

First US steel plants powered by wind, solar energy are coming for industry with big carbon footprint

The steel industry has a massive carbon footprint, as much as 6% to 7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Rocky Mountain Institute study. A new Nucor steel microplant in Missouri is trying to put a dent in that number.

Nucor’s micromill in Sedalia, Missouri, is set to be the first U.S. steel plant to run on wind energy, according to Evergy. The $250 million plant, which is expected to open by the end of the year, is a partnership between the steel company and local utility Evergy, which will power the plant after a 75 megawatt power purchase agreement between the companies.

With sustainability goals becoming increasingly important to companies, plants like this one could be built more frequently, and Evergy senior vice president Chuck Caisley says that the Midwest is in a prime position for more projects like the Nucor plant.

“We sit in the Saudi Arabia of wind,” Caisley said. “I think that increasingly there will be sustainability requirements companies will want to meet. In Kansas and midwest Missouri we have great wind to meet current and prospective customers with price competitiveness and sustainability. It reduces our environmental footprint in the area and creates jobs.”

My bold - Oi! Back off, we've already claimed that title for UK off-shore wind.

Martyn1981

Just a quick post on the election (again) and the great news that the climate crisis seems to have taken the top spot(ish). Though I doubt it'll get anything like the political interest after the election.

I also saw a breakdown of the parties targets on the BBC news, and the presenter said something striking (though I'll now spoil it by mis-remembering) but roughly that after 30yrs of covering environmental issues the climate crisis appears to have finally got the attention it deserves, but will it get the policies it needs.

Which party has the answer to the big green questions?

Putting a tax on meat, ending the sale of petrol and diesel cars within a decade and upgrading the energy efficiency of every home in the UK are among the eye-catching green promises from the political parties fighting for voters’ backing in the general election.

Others include zero-emission railways and a £640m Nature for Climate fund to restore the natural world and help fight the climate emergency. These pledges are in the answers given to a series of questions put to the main parties by the Guardian to draw them out on specific key issues.

Cardew

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Perhaps a fun and easier way to deal with deniers on here if they pop up again in the future.

[Note - I'm assuming GA is no longer spouting AGW denial, and air pollution health impact denials, as that would be a very rude thing to do on a green and ethical board, especially when there is now a thread specifically set up for people with 'alternative' views on the subject. I'm going to assume that his continued posting after being politely asked to respect the premise of this thread/board, reflects a change in his views/attitude. :think:]

The 'alternative' thread is not for 'deniers'. The opening post by JKenH states:

In an attempt to maintain harmony on Martyn1981’s Green, Ethical, Energy issues in the news thread, Mart and I have agreed that I will no longer contribute to that thread but instead start a separate thread which Mart has agreed not to participate on.

The intention of the thread is that green energy issues can be discussed in an open and less prescriptive manner. While most people will continue to use the original thread you are free to post on here on any green energy topic including electric cars.

To avoid some of the acrimony that has arisen on the original thread could I request please that contributors endeavour to be courteous in their posts and their language and avoid pejorative comments. If you want to be rude and use bad language please post elsewhere. Thank you.

Put simply it is an attempt to have a thread free from Marty's contributions.

There is nothing rude about people expressing their views on AGW, RE or Air pollution in any thread on this Board; or indeed any subject that does not meet with Martyn's approval.

Indeed the 'premise of this board/thread' is not determined by Martyn - the board was opened a couple of years before Martyn joined MSE.

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

The 'alternative' thread is not for 'deniers'. The opening post by JKenH states:



Put simply it is an attempt to have a thread free from Marty's contributions.

There is nothing rude about people expressing their views on AGW, RE or Air pollution in any thread on this Board; or indeed any subject that does not meet with Martyn's approval.

Indeed the 'premise of this board/thread' is not determined by Martyn - the board was opened a couple of years before Martyn joined MSE.

Given that this is a green and ethical thread/board, then I would say it is extremely rude for folk to try to disrupt it constantly with science denial. Given the seriousness of the climate crisis, it would again seem rude to disrupt it with constant criticism of spending on green and ethical energy that will help to mitigate the worst of the problem, by exaggerating spending/costs and suggesting monies are spent on adaptation instead.

Attacks on RE with science denial is neither green nor ethical, so anyone (especially GA) posting such comments on here would appear to be solely for the purpose of disruption. There are other boards, such as energy where such comments could go, and possibly might be appreciated by those who remain in denial.

I hope this helps clarify the position. There is no need for you to start causing arguments all over again.

Martyn1981

Interesting cost impact breakdown for New York if they apply a carbon cost to thermal generation. It's worth a scan as it suggests that leccy prices would rise by ~$2/MWh at the start, but as RE and storage replace FF's, it would shift to a cost reduction of ~$2/MWh:

Alliance For Clean Energy New York Pushes For Carbon Fee On Thermal Generating Stations

The state of New York has one of the more aggressive renewable energy standards in America. It calls for the state to obtain 70% of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources by 2030. But the Alliance for Clean Energy New York says in a new report the state is unlikely to meet that goal without imposing a fee on carbon emissions created by thermal generating stations.

The group is absolutely correct. It is just plain nuts to allow industry to pollute the environment and pay nothing to clean up their mess. It’s like having the local septic pumping system back its trucks up and empty them in the town square. We have been following this distorted model for so long, it seems normal to most people but it is far from normal. It is hazardous to human health and destructive of the Earth’s ability to support life. How could such a dangerously flawed system be allowed to continue?

The pricing signals resulting from a carbon fee would make thermal generation more expensive, giving an economic boost to renewables. That, ACE NY argues, would benefit New York’s energy storage goals by attracting more investors to that technology. Energy storage will become more valuable for its ability to capture renewable energy during times when it is abundant and inexpensive and provide it back to the grid when demand — and therefore prices — are higher. Energy storage means high cost thermal plants will be powered up less frequently, which also means less carbon pollution overall from the electricity generating sector.

An analysis by the Brattle Group in November, 2018 found that factoring in a carbon fee would raise utility rates slightly during the first 3 years but then result in lower rates in the following 10 years. Note that these calculations do not include any economic benefits that accrue from lowering the amount of carbon pollution in the atmosphere.

[My bold. M.]

Martyn1981

Important article, but not a pleasant read as progress is still struggling to address the problem:

UN climate talks failing to address urgency of crisis, says top scientist

Urgent UN talks on tackling the climate emergency are still not addressing the true scale of the crisis, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has warned, as high-ranking ministers from governments around the world began to arrive in Madrid for the final days of negotiations.

Talks are focusing on some of the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris agreement, but the overriding issue of how fast the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions has received little official attention.

“We are at risk of getting so bogged down in incremental technicalities at these negotiations that we forget to see the forest for the trees,” said Johan Rockström, joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “There is a risk of disappointment in the UN process because of the inability to recognise that there is an emergency.”

The stately pace of negotiations was in stark contrast with the scenes outside the conference in Madrid, where on Friday evening more than 500,000 people marched through the Spanish capital led by the Swedish school striker Greta Thunberg. Protests continued through the weekend, with Extinction Rebellion and groups from across the world. On Monday, Thunberg and other youth activists will hold meetings with officials inside the conference.

Martyn1981

Cheaper leccy in Aus thanks to wind:

Windfarms drive fall in wholesale energy price with lower bills forecast for 2020

The price of residential electricity is estimated to start falling next year and continue to fall until 2022, the Australian Energy Market Commission says.

The AEMC’s annual report on electricity price trends shows an overall falling price outlook over the next few years, mostly due to decreases in the wholesale cost from increased generation capacity, particularly from windfarms.

By the end of 2022, almost all Australians are expected to spend an average $97 less on their annual power bills after prices start falling in 2020, the Australian Energy Market Commission says.

Martyn1981

Some (quite a lot actually) extracts from this week's Carbon Commentary newsletter:

3, Liquid air energy storage. The UK’s Highview is the pioneer in using the properties of liquid air for storage. When power is cheap, air is chilled until it is liquid. When needed, the air is warmed and turned back to gas. The massive expansion drives a turbine that generates electricity. Highview announced what will be the largest ‘battery’ in Europe, a 50MW/250 MWh unit on an unspecified site of former power station in the north of England. I’ve previously written that the high capital costs of liquid air storage and its lowish round trip efficiency make it an implausible competitor to lithium ion. But Highview claims that at this scale the technology is easily competitive to batteries and that efficiency is unimportant if the spare electricity is extremely cheap. (Thanks to Brian Tyler).

5, Climate change impacts in rich countries. A study sponsored by giant insurer Munich Re suggested that Germany was the country the 3rd most affected by climate change in 2018. Consistently high summer temperatures and severe drought increased human mortality and caused substantial crop losses. France and Germany were both placed in the top 20 most affected countries in the period 1999-2019. Climate change is not just affecting low latitude countries.

7, Electrolyser manufacture. Belgian industrial company John Cockerill announced a partnership with Jingli in China that will operate a factory for making electrolysers that will generate hydrogen from electricity. It promises the capacity to make 500 MW a year. This is a truly surprising number; the IEA estimates that only 20 MW was installed worldwide last year. Manufacturing scale is vital to electrolyser economics so it seems more than possible that China will dominate this industry much as it has dominated solar panel manufacture.

8, Trends in car charging. EV charging points have often been installed in single units on sites connected to the motor industry, such as petrol filling stations. This is rapidly changing as it becomes more obvious that drivers need locations with multiple chargers and things to do while the car is being recharged. Centrica, the largest UK utility, said it would build ‘charge-parks’ which will enable professional drivers, such as taxi owners, to conveniently recharge in large car parks. UK supermarket owner Tesco promised this week that it will offer free charging - but only at a slow 7 kilowatt - at 600 of its stores. It will install an average of four chargers per site. Its retail competitor Morrisons said it would have 100 much faster chargers in place by the end of 2019, up from zero at the beginning of the year.

9, More on car charging. Engie publicised its contract to install a large wind farm to supply the port of Zeebrugge. One of the uses for the electricity will be to power Engie’s car charging park with 308 connections, the largest in Belgium. The charging points will be partly be used to power up EVs that have just been shipped into the port, including the new Tesla. VW announced that it would cooperate with Centrica to install charging at some of its busiest dealerships. Importantly, these chargers will automatically adjust their rate of charge depending on the level of stress in the wider electricity system. My bet is that varying the rate of car charging – and discharging to the grid when necessary – will become the principal means of stabilising the electricity network.

10, Solar panel degradation. I looked at how the electricity production from the solar panels on the roof of our home had changed in the fifteen years since they were installed. A trendline shows a very slow fall in generation (0.05% per year). But data from the local climate data collection site - the longest time series in the world – suggests a strong though irregular rise in sunshine. This phenomenon has disguised any underlying degradation in solar panel performance. More detailed analysis shows after adjusting the figures to account for the rise in sunshine hours, the fall in solar panel performance would still be less than 0.2% per year, a lower figure than almost all estimates. This is important because relatively small changes in the rate of fall in panel productivity have significant impact on the cash flows from PV.

Martyn1981

Some info on the shipping industry and emissions.

European shipping emissions in way of nations meeting Paris climate targets

Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping equal the carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger cars in Europe and stand in the way of countries meeting the Paris agreement, new analysis reveals.

Despite the scale of shipping emissions from both container and cruise ships in Europe, they are not part of European emissions reduction targets.

In France, Germany, UK, Spain, Sweden and Finland shipping emissions in 2018 were larger than the emissions from all the passenger cars registered in 10 or more of the largest cities in each country, according to the report published on Monday from Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based NGO.