Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Hope this makes sense - article talking about ways to reduce the costs of transmission for multiple off-shore wind sites for the NE US coast - it caught my eye as it seems to be talking quite matter-of-factly about this, suggesting(?) off-shore wind is a certainty now with lots of wind farms. It's just nice to see these industries becoming ever more normalised, in ever more locations/countries.

Multi-user US offshore grid could 'save $1bn'

A multi-user, 'planned' transmission system for offshore wind off the New England coast of the US could generate grid savings of up to $1bn, according to a new report by consultancy The Brattle Group.

Planned offshore transmission would reduce the need for seabed marine cabling by about 50% or 572km for the next 3.6GW of planned offshore wind, reducing impact on fisheries and marine ecosystems, it said.

The report also said that planning and procuring transmission separately from generation increases competition and can reduce costs 20%-30%, based on studies of UK offshore and US onshore transmission trends.

Martyn1981

Beer in cardboard bottles? Finally I'll be able to crush them and look like a tough movie star, well, one can dream!

The end of plastic? New plant-based bottles will degrade in a year

Beer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers.

A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.

The plans, devised by renewable chemicals company Avantium, have already won the support of beer-maker Carlsberg, which hopes to sell its pilsner in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of plant plastic.

Avantium’s chief executive, Tom van Aken, says he hopes to greenlight a major investment in the world-leading bioplastics plant in the Netherlands by the end of the year. The project, which remains on track despite the coronavirus lockdown, is set to reveal partnerships with other food and drink companies later in the summer.

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 said:

Pilot project on 6 properties (target 7,000 retrofits and 3,000 new builds)

I'm glad they're talking about new builds, but really there shouldn't be any dispute about increasing standards for new builds, yet in the last few years building standards have been relaxed. In my village quite a number of new developments but no sign of solar panels, and I'm willing to wager that they haven't even put in any wiring for EVs ready for future installation of a charge point.

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 said:

Beer in cardboard bottles? The end of plastic? New plant-based bottles will degrade in a year

I was looking into hot composting as the stuff I've been producing still has loads of seeds and I found this:  https://www.hotbincomposting.com/biodegradable-food-packaging.html

silverwhistle

I thought this was an interesting article as it touches on the different factors at play in developing wind RE: risk, reward, regulation, energy security and government's role. https://www.rechargenews.com/markets/adam-smiths-invisible-hand-could-put-the-pinch-on-offshore-wind-power/2-1-809024

Martyn1981

Nice article looking at the falling influence that big oil may have on US policies. Vast amounts of donations are given to politicians for their campaigns by big oil, and this is reflected in FF friendly policies ...... but things are slowly changing. Falling/failing power is also impacting FF friendly policies/placements elsewhere:

As Big Oil Declines, Bill McKibben Says, “So Will Its Political Power”

In a recent editorial, Bill McKibben declared that “Big Oil is not so big anymore.” The founder of 350.org attributes this to the recent JPMorgan Chase announcement that Lee Raymond will no longer serve as the lead independent director of the world’s largest lender to the fossil-fuel industry.

Why is that director change significant?

Raymond is the Exxon guy who lied to the World Petroleum Congress audience in 1997 on the eve of the Kyoto climate talks, saying that the planet was cooling, and that it made no difference if we acted then or waited a quarter century to limit fossil fuels. In his retirement, his job has been to help run the board at Chase.

It’s been revealed in recent years that Exxon’s scientists discovered far before it was publicly an issue that climate change was an authentic reality. They willingly engaged in a coverup to sustain profitability margins as long as possible. Advocates have urged Chase to remove Raymond as lead independent director because of his climate-denying past.

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Sooooooooo after effectively taking over the role of C19 US President as the Mango-in-Chief has gone AWOL, Senator Cuomo is now doubling (or is it tripling) down on longer term actions to combat the climate crisis:

Governor Cuomo Rejects The Williams Pipeline — #CleanEnergyWillWin

The Williams Pipeline was just rejected by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. It would have carried natural gas that had been fracked from Pennsylvania to parts of New York City. This pipeline would have also trapped New York into several decades of dependence on fracked gas. We need to ease off fossil fuels, in my opinion — not triple the dosage.

Hopefully it won't just result in NG that is a by product of oil extraction getting vented/flared as it can't be sold.  Note I'm not disagreeing with your sentiments just saying this stuff can be complicated.

Martyn1981

Interesting read with paragraph after paragraph setting out problems for the coal industry all over the World.

Coal industry will never recover after coronavirus pandemic, say experts

The global coal industry will “never recover” from the Covid-19 pandemic, industry observers predict, because the crisis has proved renewable energy is cheaper for consumers and a safer bet for investors.

A long-term shift away from dirty fossil fuels has accelerated during the lockdown, bringing forward power plant closures in several countries and providing new evidence that humanity’s coal use may finally have peaked after more than 200 years.

That makes the worst-case climate scenarios less likely, because they are based on a continued expansion of coal for the rest of the century.

Even before the pandemic, the industry was under pressure due to heightened climate activism, divestment campaigns and cheap alternatives. The lockdown has exposed its frailties even further, wiping billions from the market valuations of the world’s biggest coal miners.

gefnew

Here is something different.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-52711346?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business&link_location=live-reporting-story.

check it out and muse.

Martyn1981

Nice little article covering the cost (v's waste) dilemma of the best solution to meet 100% of demand from RE in the US. Whilst it includes storage, the main gist is that overbuilding solar or wind so they meet demand at their weakest times, and have massive overcapacity during their strongest times, appears to actually be the cheapest overall solution.

Overbuilding solar at up to 4 times peak load yields a least-cost all-renewables grid

The global energy firm Wartsila found a least-cost renewables mix for the U.S. that involves overbuilding renewable capacity, but requires no seasonal storage, and needs only four to ten days of multi-day storage capacity. The analysis modeled meeting current uses of electricity, based on projected technology costs for 2030.