Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Coastalwatch

Coastalwatch said:

On a similar matter one can only speculate how Trump might escape any repercussions for his many and varied unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging in the recent election.

Mind you, the old saying "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time" was given a severe test.

At least, judging by the 70 million Americans who presumably think otherwise.

Of course, it couldn't happen over here, could it.

My, never mind the above, it would seem he already has enough on his plate to worry about.  No wonder he hasn't brought himself to concede yet!

Trump's legal battles: How six cases may play out

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54716550

Solarchaser

Martyn1981 said:

Carbon Commentary newsletter extracts:

9, Record power output from a wind turbine. GE’s new 13 MW offshore wind turbine set another record for 24 hour power output at a trial site at the port of Rotterdam. It produced 100% of its capacity over the course of the day - 312 MWh - in a recent period of heavy winds. This would provide almost all the electricity needed for a year for 100 typical European houses. 
 

*9, Record power output from a wind turbine. GE’s new 13 MW offshore wind turbine set another record for 24 hour power output at a trial site at the port of Rotterdam. It produced 100% of its capacity over the course of the day - 312 MWh - in a recent period of heavy winds. This would provide almost all the electricity needed for a year for 100 typical European houses. *

 Unless I'm being daft (always a possibility) the calculations seem a little off here 312mwh = 312,000kwh.
The average usage according to Google is around 8.5kwh a day should be good for around 36,000 homes, not 100.

So even better news 😁

Martyn1981

Solarchaser said:

Martyn1981 said:

Carbon Commentary newsletter extracts:

9, Record power output from a wind turbine. GE’s new 13 MW offshore wind turbine set another record for 24 hour power output at a trial site at the port of Rotterdam. It produced 100% of its capacity over the course of the day - 312 MWh - in a recent period of heavy winds. This would provide almost all the electricity needed for a year for 100 typical European houses. 
 

*9, Record power output from a wind turbine. GE’s new 13 MW offshore wind turbine set another record for 24 hour power output at a trial site at the port of Rotterdam. It produced 100% of its capacity over the course of the day - 312 MWh - in a recent period of heavy winds. This would provide almost all the electricity needed for a year for 100 typical European houses. *

 Unless I'm being daft (always a possibility) the calculations seem a little off here 312mwh = 312,000kwh.
The average usage according to Google is around 8.5kwh a day should be good for around 36,000 homes, not 100.

So even better news 😁

Glad I'm not the only one that had to read that line twice. Note that the wind generation was for one day, but the example of 100 houses was for a year. So, using your 8.5kWh daily average, which seems to be almost spot on in this example, you get 100 houses x 8.5kWh x 365 days = 310,250kWh, or 310MWh.

But more importantly, did you notice that item 1. mentioned Australia's Pilbara region, which is mentioned by ed110220 in the previous post ...... what a coincidence!

Martyn1981

New 2GW HVDC agreed to transfer energy from Scotland to England, with the potential to upgrade to 4GW.

Firms agree Scotland to England renewable energy 'superhighway'

Three of Britain’s biggest energy companies have agreed to build giant underwater power cables to bring Scotland’s vast reserves of renewable energy to millions of homes in England.

The so-called Eastern Link will run from two separate points in Scotland – Peterhead and Torness – for more than 270 miles along the east coast of Scotland to Selby and Hawthorn Point in the north of England.

Martyn1981

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind:

EU plans to increase offshore windfarm capacity by 250%

The capacity of the EU’s offshore windfarms in the North Sea, the Baltic, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea will be increased by 250%, under a draft plan drawn up by the European commission.

The move follows Boris Johnson’s announcement this year of his intention to generate enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade from the country’s offshore sites.

Both the UK and the EU are seeking to make progress on the target of carbon emission neutrality by 2050 and pioneer potentially rival innovations that will put its industry at the forefront of the growing sector.

The UK, which left the EU in January, has the largest amount of offshore wind capacity in Europe, with 45% of all installations. Germany is second with 34%, followed by Denmark (8%), Belgium (7%) and the Netherlands (5%).

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Lazard produce reports analyzing and comparing energy costs, and here is their latest, but what they've done this time, which I think is interesting, is that they've included the operating costs of existing gas, coal and nuclear power stations, to show that new wind and solar doesn't just beat new FF / nuclear generation costs, but is competing against existing plants even after CAPEX has been accounted for. In effect, it's getting cheaper to build out new RE generation, than to continue to operate some existing 'old' generation.

Wind & Solar Are Cheaper Than Everything, Lazard Reports

We recently saw the International Energy Agency (IEA) report that solar power offers the cheapest electricity in history. That was a global report. A US-focused report from Lazard recently reported something similar. The highly regarded energy analysts showed that wind and solar offer the cheapest electricity in the country, even significantly undercutting natural gas combined cycle power plants now. But that’s only half of it.

Solar & Wind Energy Are Cheaper — Much Cheaper

Historically, when we write about such reports, we — and the analysts we’re referencing — are comparing estimated electricity costs from new power plants. However, for at least a few of these reports, Lazard has been including average electricity cost from already built power plants — just the operational costs (the brown diamonds in the chart below). The latest report shows that new wind and solar power plants can even provide electricity more cheaply than existing, in-operation natural gas, coal, and nuclear power plants! This is where things get interesting.

We’re at a kind of crossover point right now, but if solar and wind continue to come down in cost while the others stay the same or get more expensive, there will be serious pressure to retire fossil and nuclear power plants early and scale up wind and solar power production even faster. Why pay more for electricity from old, dirty power plants when you can get it more cheaply from new, clean, green electricity?

Glad we are already building one very expensive nuclear plant and about to commit to a second one then....

Martyn1981

Cut price green plan from Boris:

Boris Johnson announces 10-point green plan with 250,000 jobs

Boris Johnson has announced plans for the government’s self-styled green industrial revolution, bringing praise from environmental groups but also questions about the scale of new funding, and the planned expansion of nuclear and hydrogen power.

In a move aimed at retaking the initiative after a politically turbulent few weeks, the prime minister said the 10-point plan would create up to 250,000 jobs, with much of the focus aimed at the north of England, Midlands, Scotland and Wales.

But Labour called the plan “deeply, deeply disappointing” in ambition, saying it would neither properly tackle the climate emergency nor the jobs crisis caused by coronavirus.

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Cut price green plan from Boris:

Boris Johnson announces 10-point green plan with 250,000 jobs

Boris Johnson has announced plans for the government’s self-styled green industrial revolution, bringing praise from environmental groups but also questions about the scale of new funding, and the planned expansion of nuclear and hydrogen power.

In a move aimed at retaking the initiative after a politically turbulent few weeks, the prime minister said the 10-point plan would create up to 250,000 jobs, with much of the focus aimed at the north of England, Midlands, Scotland and Wales.

But Labour called the plan “deeply, deeply disappointing” in ambition, saying it would neither properly tackle the climate emergency nor the jobs crisis caused by coronavirus.

I have to say it worries me that the govt have made a 'huge' announcement and yet we are not seeing many comments. I kind of suspect it is not because we are blown away by the scale and ambition of what was announced....

NigeWick

michaels said:

I have to say it worries me that the govt have made a 'huge' announcement and yet we are not seeing many comments. I kind of suspect it is not because we are blown away by the scale and ambition of what was announced....

£4 Billion isn't HUGE. £400 Billion would be huge. HMGov have stated we'll be at the forefront of renewables and electric vehicles. We won't unless there's a lot of money invested.

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

Martyn1981 said:

Cut price green plan from Boris:

Boris Johnson announces 10-point green plan with 250,000 jobs

Boris Johnson has announced plans for the government’s self-styled green industrial revolution, bringing praise from environmental groups but also questions about the scale of new funding, and the planned expansion of nuclear and hydrogen power.

In a move aimed at retaking the initiative after a politically turbulent few weeks, the prime minister said the 10-point plan would create up to 250,000 jobs, with much of the focus aimed at the north of England, Midlands, Scotland and Wales.

But Labour called the plan “deeply, deeply disappointing” in ambition, saying it would neither properly tackle the climate emergency nor the jobs crisis caused by coronavirus.

I have to say it worries me that the govt have made a 'huge' announcement and yet we are not seeing many comments. I kind of suspect it is not because we are blown away by the scale and ambition of what was announced....

Perhaps the response from the Lib Dems hits the nail on the head on this occasion? 

"This is beyond disappointing.

With the climate emergency threatening our world, ⁦⁦Boris Johnson⁩ has provided a leaky bucket to put out the fire when we needed a fleet of fire engines

The Tories just don’t get climate or the green opportunity. The Government’s £12 billion plan lacks any serious ambition to kickstart a green recovery or to give the UK a chance to lead the world in the industries of the future"