Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

ABrass

Sticking news up is fine, there's a separate thread for trolling. Copy the responses and stick them there, if you're going to feed a troll then feed it in the designated area.

NigeWick

DiggerUK said:French nuclear energy works, construction problems with reactors coming on line around the world can be overcome and the record of the outstanding majority of the worlds nuclear power stations is beyond acceptable.

But, how much does it cost, and, can we get renewables plus storage cheaper? Not to mention who's going pay for decommissioning them and storing the nuclear waste once the reactors have ended their service.

ABrass

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/battery-storage-boost-to-power-greener-electricity-grid

The government today announced it will relax planning legislation to make it easier to construct large batteries to store renewable energy from solar and wind farms across the UK

Battery storage to become easier to deploy. Given its very easy physically to add battery storage to the grid, dropping the paperwork needed should make a noticeable difference.

Pile_o_stone

ABrass said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/battery-storage-boost-to-power-greener-electricity-grid

The government today announced it will relax planning legislation to make it easier to construct large batteries to store renewable energy from solar and wind farms across the UK

Battery storage to become easier to deploy. Given its very easy physically to add battery storage to the grid, dropping the paperwork needed should make a noticeable difference.

I posted this on the Alternative to Green Energy thread, but it's more at home here, plus it follows on from your battery storage comments:
https://www.greeninvestmentgroup.com/news/2020/gig-and-enso-energy-form-joint-venture-to-develop-large-uk-solar-and-battery-portfolio.html
It'll be fantastic to see existing and new commercial solar arrays (and hopefully windfarms) installing batteries to store excess power generation for use when it's needed.

ABrass

Pile_o_stone said:

ABrass said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/battery-storage-boost-to-power-greener-electricity-grid

The government today announced it will relax planning legislation to make it easier to construct large batteries to store renewable energy from solar and wind farms across the UK

Battery storage to become easier to deploy. Given its very easy physically to add battery storage to the grid, dropping the paperwork needed should make a noticeable difference.

I posted this on the Alternative to Green Energy thread, but it's more at home here, plus it follows on from your battery storage comments:
https://www.greeninvestmentgroup.com/news/2020/gig-and-enso-energy-form-joint-venture-to-develop-large-uk-solar-and-battery-portfolio.html
It'll be fantastic to see existing and new commercial solar arrays (and hopefully windfarms) installing batteries to store excess power generation for use when it's needed.

It would, for solar so far it's been able to just work during the daylight hours as there's been plenty of demand then. When it gets to a much larger portion of the grid then it could start to need to be curtailed to avoid pushing out nuclear.

With batteries the peak can be smoothed and as a bonus you get a much more stable grid, and maybe charging off wind overnight.

Martyn1981

Good news (at last) from the US of A.

FERC Data Shows Fossil Fuels Are Failing

For the first time, FERC is projecting a net decline of US fossil fuel capacity over the next three years.

Biden Proposes $2 Trillion Clean Energy Plan

The Biden Clean Energy Plan calls for investing $2 trillion over the next 4 years for infrastructure projects, including construction of electric vehicle charging stations, the weatherization of millions of buildings, updating electric grids, expanding broadband internet access, and more, according to CNN.

The Biden campaign tells the New York Times the plan will encouraging the installation of “millions of new solar panels and tens of thousands of wind turbines,” while keeping in place existing nuclear energy plants. The plan also will call for investing in carbon capture and storage technology for natural gas.

Cardew

ed110220 said:

"Your side" betrays a tribalist type thinking.

To be fair so does the term 'Denier' - used frequently in this forum.

DiggerUK

NigeWick said:

DiggerUK said:French nuclear energy works, construction problems with reactors coming on line around the world can be overcome and the record of the outstanding majority of the worlds nuclear power stations is beyond acceptable.

But, how much does it cost, and, can we get renewables plus storage cheaper? Not to mention who's going pay for decommissioning them and storing the nuclear waste once the reactors have ended their service.

I gave up going in to debates on costs for energy a while back, getting figures that can be accepted 100% is a pipe dream. What I accept without question is that all options for electricity production have to be subsidised, there are too many snouts in too many troughs.

That being realised, I prefer to go with the options that work 24/7. Wind and solar don't pass that benchmark and energy storage is not at a level of sophistication to redress that shortfall.

That leaves me supporting hydro, FF and nuclear in both the UK and globally. I know geothermal is available in some countries, but it is not available globally. The compromise that everybody could sign up to, nuclear, would keeps the lights on globally. It is also carbon neutral long term.

Saying there is no carbon footprint with wind and solar is nonsense, all energy options have a carbon footprint, if the lights stay on, live with it. I have no fear of CO2 and neither should anyone else..._

https://www.thegwpf.com/uk-government-announces-fund-to-develop-small-nuclear-reactors/

ABrass

DiggerUK said:

NigeWick said:

DiggerUK said:French nuclear energy works, construction problems with reactors coming on line around the world can be overcome and the record of the outstanding majority of the worlds nuclear power stations is beyond acceptable.

But, how much does it cost, and, can we get renewables plus storage cheaper? Not to mention who's going pay for decommissioning them and storing the nuclear waste once the reactors have ended their service.

I gave up going in to debates on costs for energy a while back, getting figures that can be accepted 100% is a pipe dream. What I accept without question is that all options for electricity production have to be subsidised, there are too many snouts in too many troughs.

That being realised, I prefer to go with the options that work 24/7. Wind and solar don't pass that benchmark and energy storage is not at a level of sophistication to redress that shortfall.

That leaves me supporting hydro, FF and nuclear in both the UK and globally. I know geothermal is available in some countries, but it is not available globally. The compromise that everybody could sign up to, nuclear, would keeps the lights on globally. It is also carbon neutral long term.

Saying there is no carbon footprint with wind and solar is nonsense, all energy options have a carbon footprint, if the lights stay on, live with it. I have no fear of CO2 and neither should anyone else..._

https://www.thegwpf.com/uk-government-announces-fund-to-develop-small-nuclear-reactors/

Nothing works 24x7. You mean 'dispatchable' power. Although having said that, nuclear power isn't dispatchable in practice.

Martyn1981

An article looking at the Australian and US stockmarket indexes and just how badly the FF companies have been performing since 2012/2014 (ish). This is not about schadenfreude, but the positive news that as FF energy is seen more and more as a bad investment, funds, support, jobs, political will, will increasingly shift towards RE and storage, as we are seeing.

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Losing Value Globally

The Australia Institute recently published a paper detailing how fossil fuels are the worst-performing sector on the ASX 300 and have been for the past decade. $100 invested in the S&P ASX 300 Energy Index back in 2010 was only worth $104 by January 2020. It dropped to $51 with COVID-19.

The paper shared that these trends in Australia are reflected throughout the world. A comparison between the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 Energy showed that the Energy sector in the U.S. was well below its 2014 peak. This divide was only made larger by the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, as of March 2020, the S&P 500 Energy was a third below its starting point 10 years ago in absolute terms.

The graph above reflects this and you can see that the broader U.S. share market index nearly quadrupled while fossil fuel companies gained less than a third.