Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

NigeWick

gefnew said:

Tidal barrier for the wash is being touted.
The Wash: £2bn tidal barrage plan including road and port unveiled - BBC News

It will be fought by conservationists as The Wash is a winter food supply and stopover for a large percentage of the worlds wading and other birds.

zeupater

NigeWick said:

gefnew said:

Tidal barrier for the wash is being touted.
The Wash: £2bn tidal barrage plan including road and port unveiled - BBC News

It will be fought by conservationists as The Wash is a winter food supply and stopover for a large percentage of the worlds wading and other birds.

Hi

... as are almost all other tidal areas of the UK according to the 'conservationists' ... it's effectively those pesky newts again, just in this case they've got wings ... 

What needs to be recognised is that for any form of tidal barrage scheme to operate efficiently, the tidal range on both sides needs essentially be the same. All a barrage/barrier scheme should be designed to do is time-shift and delay, so seeing that there's little benefit in attempting to generate in the timeslots either side of high & low tide and the best generation is when there's a decent differential in levels between each side of the barrier/barrage, then we're really looking at a situation where mudflat exposure times & levels could actually be managed to actually benefit wildlife more than natural tides ... all it takes is a little application of the grey matter and the arguments made on 'behalf' of the environmental movements could easily be countered using logic in a way that actually splits the vocal activist movements from the real conservationists & environmentalists ...

HTH - Z  

Coastalwatch

On the face of it a major step forward for new house builds and the partnership announcing it should be congratulated for doing so. Solar, storage batteries and EV chargepoints included in the mix, yet I can't help but wonder that with only 479kWp of Solar panels shared between 233 homes(so a little over 2kWp panels each) if they couldn't have done better!

UPOWA to provide solar and battery storage technology for ‘ground-breaking housing project’

Sustainable technology solutions provider, UPOWA, has been selected to install a 479kWp roof-integrated solar solution alongside 5kWh UPOWA Home Batteries for 233 homes at the mixed-tenure development, Wild Walk, in Telford.

Described as a “ground-breaking housing project”, 215 of the properties will also benefit from electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/upowa_to_provide_solar_and_battery_storage_technology_for_ground_breaking_h

NigeWick

zeupater said:

 all it takes is a little application of the grey matter

This is Fenland Lincolnshire you're talking about!

Appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Martyn1981

On Energy Numbers, I've noticed the last few days that we've been importing from mainland Europe, rather than exporting. Only about 1GW net today, but has been 3-6GW on previous days.

I only mention this, as combined with high wind generation, gas generation has been quite low for a while.

Only a snapshot, so I may be completely wrong, and misreading the situation, but it does look like the policy of massively expanding interconnectors is working.

Of course it could just be that other countries are generating from FF's at a lower cost than us, and we're importing it ...... nothing in life is simple! 

thevilla

We're burning coal too. 

zeupater

NigeWick said:

zeupater said:

 all it takes is a little application of the grey matter

This is Fenland Lincolnshire you're talking about!

Appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Hi

Don't understand the difference between there and other wetland areas such as the Somerset Levels on the Severn Estuary ... as long as they're tidal then the same logic applies as all you'd be doing is delaying high & low tides for a defined area within a larger habitat - migrating birds may be 'bird brained', but I reckon even they'd be able to decide which side if a barrier/barrage would better suit what they're looking to do at any particular time ... 

... unless the reference is (as I suspect!!!) to local populations of a larger 'bird brained' bipedal species that is! ....

HTH - Z

Martyn1981

Also, I think, the net amount of time that the mudflats are available, wouldn't change.

Starting off with a tidal lagoon full - the surrounding waters drop, and expose the area for the birds, but the lagoon is still full. Once the tide is fully out, and the head has been maximised for generation then the lagoon empties. So step one, less time for the birds (inside the lagoon).

But in reverse - the lagoon is empty, the birds are free to walk in the mud, whilst the outside tide rises. Only when the tide has peaked, and head is again maximised, will the lagoon full. So step two, more time for the birds (inside the lagoon).

High and low tide, for any given day won't change, and net difference in mud v's water time, will be small. Though I appreciate that the natural rhythm will have been changed, with longer periods of steady state, interposed with faster filling/emptying of the area.

Not trying to trivialise the changes / impacts on nature, but I can't imagine it's the end of the World ....... unlike AGW. 

zeupater

Martyn1981 said:

Also, I think, the net amount of time that the mudflats are available, wouldn't change.

Starting off with a tidal lagoon full - the surrounding waters drop, and expose the area for the birds, but the lagoon is still full. Once the tide is fully out, and the head has been maximised for generation then the lagoon empties. So step one, less time for the birds (inside the lagoon).

But in reverse - the lagoon is empty, the birds are free to walk in the mud, whilst the outside tide rises. Only when the tide has peaked, and head is again maximised, will the lagoon full. So step two, more time for the birds (inside the lagoon).

High and low tide, for any given day won't change, and net difference in mud v's water time, will be small. Though I appreciate that the natural rhythm will have been changed, with longer periods of steady state, interposed with faster filling/emptying of the area.

Not trying to trivialise the changes / impacts on nature, but I can't imagine it's the end of the World ....... unlike AGW. 

Hi

My thoughts exactly ... the barrage/barrier could be designed to simply delay high & low tide times compared to whatever is natural, it may even be possible to utilise the system to benefit wildlife according to what the conservationist groups see as threats or benefits .... for example, exceptionally high spring tides in breeding areas could be lowered, mudflat exposure times could be extended or shortened or low tides could be raised a little to help reduce access for predation .... doubt that no-one's thought of what the actual issues are or considered these forms of mitigation, but as it probably doesn't exactly fit into some group's scripted agenda, of course they're going to kick up a fuss until they get what they want ....

HTH - Z

70sbudgie

I do think tidal generation is desperately needed, but I'm not sure about tidal barrage. I don't disagree with your logic about delaying the tides, but my concern (based only on your descriptions) is that the birds are attracted to the mudflats at different times not because of the depth of the water, but because they feed on the wildlife that is exposed or otherwise. If the flow of the water is controlled and all passes turbines, what implications will that have on the mobility of the wildlife that the birds feed on? Off the top of my head, for the Wash, don't eels move between salt and fresh waters in the estuary? Will they be stuck on side or other of the barrage? How will effect their ability to migrate upriver to spawn? I am not a biologist, so feel free to identify the inaccuracies of my concerns.