Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

EVandPV

Well at least Ciara is helping clean up the grid.

ASavvyBuyer

According to Gridwatch, wind generation peaked at 9PM today at 12.9GW. Higher than any other source of generation today.

EricMears

ASavvyBuyer said:

. . . . .   Higher than any other source of generation today.

Certainly a lot higher than sunshine !   

Martyn1981

Nice article on higher RE penetration levels and their costs. Seems that most critics tend to ignore curtailment and power to gas when bumping up the cost of 100% RE.

Correcting Anti-Renewable Energy Propaganda

In 1989, pro-nuclear lobbyists claimed that wind power couldn’t even provide 1% of Germany’s electricity. A few years later, pro-nuclear lobbyists ran ads in German newspapers, claiming that renewables wouldn’t be able to meet 4% of German electricity demand.
After the renewable energy revolution took off, in 2015, the pro-nuclear power “Breakthrough Institute” published an article claiming solar would be limited to 10–20% and wind to 25–35% of a power system’s electricity.
In 2017, German (pro-nuclear power) economist Hans-Werner Sinn tweeted that more than 50% wind and solar would hardly be possible. And in 2018, Carnegie Science reported a study claiming that “wind and solar could meet most but not all U.S. electricity needs.” According to one of the authors, their research indicates that “huge amounts of storage” or natural gas would need to supplement solar and wind power.
From a pro-renewable perspective, this is encouraging. The claims about the limits of renewable energy have moved from “not even 1% of electricity” to “most but not all of the electricity.” And yet, the anti-renewables message has always been the same: renewables will lead to a dead end.

Martyn1981

This sounds cool, an increase from 700MW to 1GW through 'technological improvements'.

Red Rock lights 1GW rocket at Inch Cape

Red Rock Power has applied to boost capacity at its Inch Cape offshore wind farm off east Scotland to up to 1GW from 700MW.
The capacity increase can be achieved without raising turbine numbers thanks to “technological advances” that will be available within the existing timescale for construction, the Chinese-owned company told Scottish authorities.

[Bit baffled by the statement 

Several larger turbine models are under consideration, according to new planning documents, to replace the 72 MHI Vestas 9.5MW machines that formed the basis of an unsuccessful bid in last year’s Contracts for Difference auction.

but might be a typo, I'm sure it all makes sense to those who matter.]

ASavvyBuyer

ASavvyBuyer said:

According to Gridwatch, wind generation peaked at 9PM today at 12.9GW. Higher than any other source of generation today.

Been up to 13.5GW today. Is that a record?

Martyn1981

Nice side to UK RE deployments

Scots communities reap £20m clean power benefits

Scottish communities reaped £20m in benefits from renewable energy businesses in a 12-month period, according to the Scottish government.
The government’s register of community benefits, maintained by Local Energy Scotland, details the voluntary arrangements offered by renewable energy businesses to communities located near onshore renewables developments.
During the last 12 months records added to the register show that more than 240 renewable energy projects across Scotland are benefitting communities.

Coastalwatch

Martyn1981 said:

Nice side to UK RE deployments

Scots communities reap £20m clean power benefits

Scottish communities reaped £20m in benefits from renewable energy businesses in a 12-month period, according to the Scottish government.
The government’s register of community benefits, maintained by Local Energy Scotland, details the voluntary arrangements offered by renewable energy businesses to communities located near onshore renewables developments.
During the last 12 months records added to the register show that more than 240 renewable energy projects across Scotland are benefitting communities.

That's a great piece of news Mart, Scotland seems to have embraced renewables in a such a positive way. If only us here in the England could take a leaf out of their book. Onshore wind with community benefits, I wonder if that couldn't be echoed here and how we could go about making it happen?

Martyn1981

Potential CO2 peak, but this did happen before, around 2014-16 I think. But remember a peak in CO2 doesn't mean we've stopped making the problem worse (increasing the CO2 ppm in the environment), it just means we've stopped increasing it by an ever greater amount. Zero net additions is a long way off, sadly.

World's carbon emissions flatline as rich nations ditch coal for wind and solar: IEA

Wind and solar expansion helped bring an unexpected stall to the growth of global energy-related CO2 emissions last year, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) as it urged the world to make sure 2019 is a “peak and not a pause”.
Energy-related CO2, the largest source of emissions globally, stayed flat at 33 gigatonnes last year after growing in 2017 and 2018, despite a 2.9% expansion in the world economy, said the IEA.

Martyn1981

Nothing new here, the cost of FF emissions is enormous, and that's before including AGW, if only there was a cheap solution available today!

Fossil fuel pollution behind 4m premature deaths a year – study

Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is responsible for more than 4m premature deaths around the world each year and costs the global economy about $8bn a day, according to a study.
The report, from Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, found that burning gas, coal and oil causes three times the number of deaths as road traffic accidents globally.
Children, especially those living in low-income countries, are particularly affected with an estimated 40,000 dying each year before they reach their fifth birthday because of exposure to particulate pollution from fossil fuels.

The study argues that the solutions to the air pollution crisis are clear – and would also help tackle the climate emergency.
It says moving to a clean energy and transport system would have economic as well as health benefits. It cites research published in the US recently by the Environmental Protection Agency that shows every $1 invested under the US Clean Air Act yielded at least $30 in return.
Likewise, a weekly car-free day in Bogota, Colombia, yielded up to $4 in health benefits for every $1 invested.
“This is a problem that we know how to solve,” said Son. “By transitioning to renewable energy sources, phasing out diesel and petrol cars, and building public transport. We need to take into account the real cost of fossil fuels, not just for our rapidly heating planet, but also for our health.”