Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Solarchaser

Martyn1981 said:

Hi Solarchaser. As a Welshman I'm torn about Scottish independence. I see Scotland as a bigger sibling living in the same, somewhat, abusive household with us. I don't want you to go and leave us here, but at the same time I hope you do leave and get free after the dirty trick of being pulled out of the EU after deciding to stay with us.
If it helps, regarding income and 'fuel', I suspect Scotland is perfectly placed to thrive in the new RE world, and export vast amounts of energy to the rest of the UK and the EU. A nice little earner as Delboy might say.

There is now the beginnings of a drive for Welsh independence too.
The last poll I seen was at 25%, and I hear you saying "that's only a quarter", but thats where Scottish polls were at, only 10 years ago.

Wales can't afford it, the broad shoulders of the loving British parliament are what support Wales,  and Scotland,  and Ni.... and Singapore,  and India etc etc etc
Its a well worn lie.
Every country that wanted to leave the empire was told they couldn't afford it, none have come back and asked to rejoin.

I like to think that indy Scot could show ruk how a form of socialism could work instead of the capitalism and exponential growth... but thats just my thoughts, and the snp are no where near left enough for that. (Though they would likely fragment after the transition phase)

As far as Scotland affording it, yep all the things you and EVandPV and NigeWick have said, as well as tidal,  hydrogen,  and more generally food and drink, im very confident we will be just fine.

NigeWick

Solarchaser said:

I like to think that indy Scot could show ruk how a form of socialism could work instead of the capitalism and exponential growth...

I don't think socialism has been shown to work anywhere. Capitalism and exponential growth aren't working either. We need a different system of "social capitalism" that either regenerates or at the very least keeps us within the bounds of natural resources.

As an English man, I'm not bothered if Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland gain independence. You know, as long as I can still buy single malts, welsh lamb and Irish butter.

Exiled_Tyke

NigeWick said:

Solarchaser said:

I like to think that indy Scot could show ruk how a form of socialism could work instead of the capitalism and exponential growth...

I don't think socialism has been shown to work anywhere. Capitalism and exponential growth aren't working either. We need a different system of "social capitalism" that either regenerates or at the very least keeps us within the bounds of natural resources.

As an English man, I'm not bothered if Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland gain independence. You know, as long as I can still buy single malts, welsh lamb and Irish butter.

What your are describing is Social Liberalism.  The party that represents this approach doesn't have the support of either unions or rich capitalists so will always struggle to get support.  

Solarchaser

NigeWick said:

Solarchaser said:

I like to think that indy Scot could show ruk how a form of socialism could work instead of the capitalism and exponential growth...

I don't think socialism has been shown to work anywhere. Capitalism and exponential growth aren't working either. We need a different system of "social capitalism" that either regenerates or at the very least keeps us within the bounds of natural resources.

As an English man, I'm not bothered if Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland gain independence. You know, as long as I can still buy single malts, welsh lamb and Irish butter.

Yep agreed, none of the ISM's work, it's got to be something new.
Something that rewards invention, and wealth creation (though not obscene wealth) but also takes care of its people regardless of which situation they were born into

Coastalwatch

Exiled_Tyke said:

What your are describing is Social Liberalism.  The party that represents this approach doesn't have the support of either unions or rich capitalists so will always struggle to get support.  

Very True. But in between those two positions is a large portion of the population who are more moderate, and open to finding an alternate solution, as opposed to running like Lemmings off of the current cliff edge that AGW threatens.

With a fresh lockdown announced in an attempt to avoiding the worst effects of Covid 19 the government have effectively abandoned economics, albeit temporarily. While Covid is a very serious threat to a portion of the population, AGW threatens the very existance of mankind on this planet.

We may not be able to abandon econimics entirely, but surely sustainability must replace it as the main driver moving forward. Something many investment institutuions are beginning to adopt.

Martyn1981

Extracts from last weeks Carbon Commentary newsletter (checked for one yesterday and hasn't arrived yet, but realised I'd missed the one from the week before):

1, Recycling cotton. Virtually no clothing is fully recycled into another fabric. Swedish company Renewcell takes used clothes and dissolves the cotton and other natural fibres into a new, biodegradable raw material in the form of a pulp. This fluid can then be turned into fibre and used to make clothing that looks and feels entirely conventional. The company announced the sale of 175,000 tonnes of its pulp over the next five years to a large Chinese cotton supplier. (One estimate is that the total amount of cotton produced yearly is 27m tonnes). This is the first large order for Renewcell and will enable it to finance a full-scale factory.
 
2, Biofuels. Spanish oil company Repsol committed to a €188m investment in a new biofuels plant at its Cartagena refinery. (The company’s annual capital budget is about €4bn). The output of about 0.25m tonnes will be devoted to aviation and other sectors that are difficult to electrify. In the context of world oil demand, this is insignificant. However a new plant under construction for the global leader SkyNRG in the Netherlands will only produce 100,000 tonnes a year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). So Repsol will make a substantial difference to SAF availability. Corporate interest is growing. This week Microsoft said it would buy enough SAF from SkyNRG to cover all its staff travelling on west coast Alaska Airlines flights. But nervousness persists about whether all SAF will be genuinely made from used oils and agricultural wastes.
 
3, Plastics as a source of hydrogen. An Oxford group published data on experiments that broke down plastics into hydrogen and solid carbon. The technique is to infuse shredded plastic with tiny particles of iron and then to apply microwaves that heat the metal. This heat transfers to the plastic and splits it neatly into constituent elements without the production of CO2. Existing techniques for breaking down plastics either use combustion or pyrolysis which result in unwanted further chemical reactions. In Europe, for example, about 40% of plastic waste is currently incinerated, creating emissions of CO2. Genuine recycling of plastics is difficult because existing processes leave much shorter hydrocarbon chains. Of course the world should reduce plastics use but this new research shows that it might be possible to minimise the environmental effects of disposal, and get useful H2 at the same time. (Thanks to Charlotte Brewer, Jon Williams).
 
4, Domestic energy storage. The Australian company Lavo advertised a product that turns power into hydrogen for storage in a metal hydride system for later use as a source of electricity via a fuel cell. The makers see a large market in domestic homes in Australia because of the rising percentage (now 29% nationally) that have PV on their roofs and want to self-consume their power. However the initial price of the equipment - about US $25,000 for 40 kWh - is barely lower than the cost of equivalent Tesla batteries. And Lavo’s device is only about 50% efficient, compared to perhaps 90% for a battery. It’s difficult to see the financial logic, but storing hydrogen safely in small metal hydride systems is an impressive achievement. The urgency of increasing electricity storage was made clearer as South Australia reported a new low for electricity demand at under 400 MW in mid-September. It can’t be long before this figure sometimes falls to zero. (Thanks to Gage Williams)
 
5, Biochemicals. Finnish oil refiner Neste is one of the small number of fossil fuel businesses that may transition to the net zero world. It is the largest producer of renewable diesel globally and its share price is five times higher today than five years ago, whereas BP’s has almost halved. It announced a first sale of 1,000 tonnes of the chemical phenol made from its renewable hydrocarbons to a company that will convert it to polycarbonate for uses such as car headlights. The importance of this relatively small contract is that it demonstrates that Neste can supply the raw materials for crucial chemical products that have only previously used fossil fuels.
 
6, Power to gas to power. The French energy company Engie completed work on a new plant in a remote part of Greece that operates an electrolyser when local hydro-electric power exceeds needs and then uses the hydrogen in a fuel cell when power is required. The Engie package is unusual in combining an electrolyser and a fuel cell in a single site. But, as I commented on the small scale Australian system in note 4, the efficiency is never likely to be much more than 50% and I doubt whether the approach will be better than using a battery. 
  
8, E-methanol. Carbon Recycling international (CRI) can claim to be the grandparent of synthetic fuel producers. At its original site in Iceland it makes methanol - an important raw material for many chemicals – from green hydrogen, CO2 and electricity. CRI and local utility Statkraft will use the CRI technology to make methanol in Norway at a large industrial site, provided the partnership can obtain sufficient subsidy. The cost at this first large facility outside Iceland will be 50% more than conventional sources. However a full price on CO2 emissions and learning effects from building this plant may eventually make the technology competitive with existing processes. The proposed site will also use captured CO2 to enhance algae growth rates for making fishmeal.
 
9, Deeper integration of hydrogen into local energy systems. PEM electrolyser manufacturer H-TEC installed 5 units at solar and wind farms in northern Germany. The hydrogen is used locally to provide the fuel at two hydrogen supply points for buses and other vehicles. The waste energy from the electrolysers heats local buildings. The company claims that 95% of the total energy value is used, a number I have never seen matched. This project won the title of Germany’s renewable project of the year. In the Netherlands, an electrolyser will be added to a solar farm to test how hydrogen can be used to minimise the stresses on nearby electricity grids. The local network operator, which is part of the project, said ‘We also want to investigate how the entire hydrogen chain works, which agreements must be made with stakeholders, and which laws and regulations are necessary’. (Thanks to Markus Forstmeier).

10, Reflective cooling. Researchers have long tried to find reflective paints which send out heat to the atmosphere at specific wavelengths that aren’t captured by greenhouse gases. The ambition is to get as much energy as possible fully through the atmosphere, transmitting the heat into space. Scientists at Purdue University in the US claim to have finally found the right chemistry, using tiny granules of cheap calcium carbonate of varying sizes in a conventional white paint. Surfaces painted with this new paint will reflect more sunlight and transmit heat away from the earth. The Purdue team claims that painted surfaces are much cooler at night and a little cooler during the day than surrounding areas. If it works at extremely large scale on buildings and other surfaces, this paint would act as an innocuous form of ‘geoengineering’, helping to hold down global temperatures, and also reducing air conditioning. (Thanks to Mark Ellingham). 

Martyn1981

This rings bells. I recall comments about wind curtailment sometimes being due to the fact that the grid is built out after the RE in case the RE doesn't get built/commissioned. That actually sounds reasonable, to a degree, to avoid waste and reduce risk. But this article suggests that grid improvements should happen faster to allow for easier (faster) expansion of UK RE:

UK's bid to power every home via offshore windfarms by 2030 at risk

“The one thing that is delaying our projects is the onshore connections,” said Tom Glover, RWE’s UK boss. “It’s getting quite serious. We are getting to the point of concern over whether that 40GW target can be met purely because of the onshore grid. It is only the onshore grid which could stop this happening.”

RWE is one of the world’s largest renewable energy developers and plans to spend just under one-third of its investment budget in the UK. However, many of its projects have been delayed because the company has not been able to secure a grid connection for their projects in time to compete in the government’s contract auction rounds.

“We would like to see some anticipatory investment in the onshore network so that we can get the offshore connected in time,” Glover said.

The cost of energy grid investments is ultimately paid through energy bills, which means they are carefully considered by the industry regulator, Ofgem, to avoid saddling households with the cost of projects which aren’t necessary.

“Ten years ago it was completely understandable that the energy system operator and Ofgem didn’t want to support these anticipatory investments because you could waste a lot of money preparing the grid for projects which didn’t come on line,” Glover said.

“That regime and thinking was suitable for the industry at that time. But today we know that offshore wind is coming, we have a clear government target for 40GW, and we know that it will connect into the north-west, the north-east and the south-east of the energy grid,” he added.

The warning from a major energy generator follows similar criticism from energy network companies, including Scottish Power and National Grid, which have argued that the regulator should allow more investment or risk putting the UK’s net zero climate targets in doubt.

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

As far as Scotland affording it, yep all the things you and EVandPV and NigeWick have said, as well as tidal,  hydrogen,  and more generally food and drink, im very confident we will be just fine.

Seems we're not alone in that view .....

Could Scotland ever be 'the Saudi Arabia of renewables'?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-54441613

Martyn1981

Bit of fun reading before we find out tonight/tomorrow if the World is going to end.
So ...... Shell went on Twitter and asked people to punch them in the face ......... and people obliged.

Shell’s climate poll on Twitter backfires spectacularly

Martyn1981

Impressive, what else is there to say.

Powerhouse Telemark By Snøhetta Produces More Energy Than It Consumes

There’s thinking outside the box. Then there is exploding the box, leaving no trace of it behind. Snøhetta, an architecture and design firm headquartered in Oslo, Norway, in collaboration with Skanska & Asplan Viak, has created an 11 story office building for R8 Property in Porsgrunn that defies every architectural convention you can think of. But the biggest news of all is Powerhouse Telemark, an 8,500 square meter office building that is energy positive.

Part of that involves energy efficiency. You can make more energy or you can use less of it. The company says Powerhouse Telemark will use 70% less energy than a conventional building of similar size. Snøhetta calculates the building will produce more energy than it will require over its entire lifespan, including the energy used in construction and even during its eventual demolition in decades to come.