Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

gefnew

Better comms in rural areas.
Pembrokeshire phone mast can run off wind energy - BBC News

Martyn1981

Couple of Clean Technica articles that jumped out.

One is the EU's decision not to class nuclear and gas as green and sustainable.

EU Parliament’s Lead Committees Vote Against Gas & Nuclear In The Green Taxonomy

Two of the European Parliament’s lead committees (ENVI and ECON) today voted in favour of throwing out the European Commission’s sustainable investment taxonomy, which inexplicably labels gas as green.

76 MEPs voted against greenwashing gas and nuclear, with 62 votes in favour and 4 abstentions.

Luca Bonaccorsi, sustainable finance director at T&E, said: “MEPs have sent a clear message: No more labelling fossil gas as green and no more gifts to Putin. Overturning the proposal would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. This is a clear sign that the tide has turned and it isn’t impossible to imagine a complete rejection of the proposal when the whole of the Parliament comes together in July. Gas is not green. The European Parliament has the opportunity to re-establish this fundamental truth.”

Reminded me that I watched a vid a few weeks ago looking at the cost benefits for countries to move from coal to RE, and skip gas as an intermediary. The graphic shows the costs from 2010 to 2020 (around the 6.30 point) is fun to watch.

How to cut out the 'fossil gas middle man'.

The fossil fuel industry tells us that natural gas is an absolutely indispensable 'transition fuel' to help us get to net zero emissions by 2050 and most governments in the West have, until recently, pretty much toed that line. But the world changed (again!) in 2022, and now a new report shows how much more economically smart it would be to simply jump straight from coal to renewables and cut out the 'natural gas middle-man' completely.

The second article looks at work in Japan to harness the large ocean current energy potential they have. It also briefly discusses ocean energy potential, such as tidal.

Japan Testing Ways To Tap Ocean Currents For Renewable Energy

Japan today can generate about 205 gigawatts of electricity. Coincidentally, studies show that the energy contained in the Kuroshio current — part of the North Pacific gyre that runs along the eastern side of the country at a rate of between 2 and 4 knots — could generate as much as 200 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy in perpetuity, or at least until the sun turns into a giant red dwarf and implodes in a few billion years.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries — known as IHI — has been exploring ways to tap the power of ocean currents to create renewable energy for more than a decade. In 2017, it partnered with New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to put its design — a 330-ton prototype — to the test. According to Science Alert, the project passed a major milestone in February with the completion of a successful three-and-a-half year field test in the waters off Japan’s southwestern coast.

gefnew

Yorkshire does it again with air travel.
Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedford-based firm - BBC News

Martyn1981

Nice attempt to legislate on CO2 in the US by using the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). I seem to recall the EPA classing CO2 as a pollutant back in the Obama days, on the grounds that it is causing harm. This legal move goes further, but will it get past the Republicans and their FF financial support? Also climate science denial is still pretty strong in the US.

Greenhouse gases must be legally phased out, US scientists argue

Greenhouse gas emissions should be subject to legal controls in the US and phased out under the Toxic Substances Control Act, according to a group of scientists and former public officials, in a novel approach to the climate crisis.

“Using the TSCA would be one small step for [the US president] Joe Biden, but potentially a giant leap for humankind – as a first step towards making the polluters pay,” said James Hansen, a former Nasa scientist, who is a member of the group alongside Donn Viviani, a retired 35-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Their legal submission, filed to the EPA on Thursday, states that greenhouse gas emissions present a danger to the climate and should be regulated as such under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a law passed in 1976 as part of a suite of environmental regulations in the US.

The former president, Barack Obama, who was unable to get his climate legislation through the Republican-dominated Congress, tried to use the Clean Air Act – another of the environmental achievements of the 1970s – to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power stations, but under Donald Trump the attempt was reversed.

shinytop

Martyn1981 said:

Couple of Clean Technica articles that jumped out.

One is the EU's decision not to class nuclear and gas as green and sustainable.

EU Parliament’s Lead Committees Vote Against Gas & Nuclear In The Green Taxonomy

Two of the European Parliament’s lead committees (ENVI and ECON) today voted in favour of throwing out the European Commission’s sustainable investment taxonomy, which inexplicably labels gas as green.

76 MEPs voted against greenwashing gas and nuclear, with 62 votes in favour and 4 abstentions.

Luca Bonaccorsi, sustainable finance director at T&E, said: “MEPs have sent a clear message: No more labelling fossil gas as green and no more gifts to Putin. Overturning the proposal would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. This is a clear sign that the tide has turned and it isn’t impossible to imagine a complete rejection of the proposal when the whole of the Parliament comes together in July. Gas is not green. The European Parliament has the opportunity to re-establish this fundamental truth.”

Reminded me that I watched a vid a few weeks ago looking at the cost benefits for countries to move from coal to RE, and skip gas as an intermediary. The graphic shows the costs from 2010 to 2020 (around the 6.30 point) is fun to watch.

How to cut out the 'fossil gas middle man'.

The fossil fuel industry tells us that natural gas is an absolutely indispensable 'transition fuel' to help us get to net zero emissions by 2050 and most governments in the West have, until recently, pretty much toed that line. But the world changed (again!) in 2022, and now a new report shows how much more economically smart it would be to simply jump straight from coal to renewables and cut out the 'natural gas middle-man' completely.

The second article looks at work in Japan to harness the large ocean current energy potential they have. It also briefly discusses ocean energy potential, such as tidal.

Japan Testing Ways To Tap Ocean Currents For Renewable Energy

Japan today can generate about 205 gigawatts of electricity. Coincidentally, studies show that the energy contained in the Kuroshio current — part of the North Pacific gyre that runs along the eastern side of the country at a rate of between 2 and 4 knots — could generate as much as 200 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy in perpetuity, or at least until the sun turns into a giant red dwarf and implodes in a few billion years.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries — known as IHI — has been exploring ways to tap the power of ocean currents to create renewable energy for more than a decade. In 2017, it partnered with New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to put its design — a 330-ton prototype — to the test. According to Science Alert, the project passed a major milestone in February with the completion of a successful three-and-a-half year field test in the waters off Japan’s southwestern coast.

Hang on, the EU hasn't rejected anything yet, it's two committees. It still needs to be voted on by all the MEPs.

I do agree that gas isn't sustainable though. 

gefnew

Here is one for saving the planet and educating young people.
Cornish charity invests in Scottish wind farm for school - BBC News

Exiled_Tyke

gefnew said:

Here is one for saving the planet and educating young people.
Cornish charity invests in Scottish wind farm for school - BBC News

I'll add it to the Ripple thread. 

Martyn1981

Nice article on tidal energy, and I learned something new today - there's a long list of negative policies that the Gov introduced in 2015/16, regarding building standards, wind and PV schemes etc, but apparently tidal energy needs to be added to the 'bloodbath' too.

The UK is considered a world leader in the development of tidal power technology, but while the government provided ringfenced support to the sector from 2008, it was removed in 2016. Last year, the government reintroduced short-term support, but what is needed is a long-term vision, Scott says.

Heat wave: how Orkney is leading a tidal power revolution

Tidal power, while not yet widely commercialised, is seen by many as the next frontier in global renewables. It’s the only renewable power source that comes from the moon’s pull on the Earth. “Unlike other renewables which rely on, for instance, the sun or the wind, tidal resources are predictable and continuous,” says Prof AbuBakr Bahaj, head of the energy and climate change division at the University of Southampton.

Harnessing power from the waves can be done in three ways: tidal barrages, in which turbines are attached to a dam-like wall; tidal lagoons, where a body of water is enclosed by a barrage-like barrier; and tidal stream, where turbines are placed directly into fast-flowing bodies of water.

Tidal stream power alone could provide 11% of the UK’s current electricity needs, according to 2021 research from Edinburgh University.

Despite its promise, progress has been slow. Aboard the boat, Lisa MacKenzie from Emec tells a now infamous tale about the UK renewables sector. In the 1980s, Orkney was home to experimental wind turbine technology that could have seen the UK become a global leader in the sector. But the government didn’t invest – and Denmark and Germany swooped in to monopolise the market.

“Wind energy was the UK’s to lose and we lost it,” she says. “Now tidal energy is ours to lose. We can’t let that happen again.”

In Orkney, testing is aimed at lowering the costs and risks of tidal power to make it commercially viable. “We have some of the best conditions in the world to test new technologies,” MacKenzie says. “More ocean energy converters have been tested here than any other site.”

As tidal technology develops some scientists have raised concerns about potential effects on marine life. MacKenzie says marine mammals and fish are well versed in avoiding boats and other structures and research carried out at Emec’s test sites has shown little impact on wildlife. Some studies have suggested that tidal and wave systems may even have a positive effect on marine life, acting as artificial reefs.

Vessels required for installation and maintenance do generate potentially disruptive noise but the tide itself, in these rough seas, is thought to be louder than the turbine. Turbine blades may present the greatest dangers, however research suggests their effects are rare and mostly non-lethal.

Martyn1981

Not a new idea/design, but GM's venture arm is giving the 'wall of small wind turbines' idea a go, and a floating one, just to make it a bit difficult.

GM Falls For Crazy Floating Wind Turbine Idea, May Not Be So Crazy After All

General Motors has been deploying its GM Ventures arm to kickstart next-generation clean tech that supports its stake in the global auto industry, and the latest venture is a doozy.  The firm has spearheaded a round of up to $10 million in funding for a new floating wind turbine system that looks like a giant wall of fidget spinners and acts like a giant energy-sucking sponge.

paul991

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/business/connected-energy-receives-15-million-investment-9043458
can only help