Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

It's always sad to see the benefits of RE, BEV's, fighting AGW etc ignored, whilst the cost of action is overstated. So this article is quite fun.

Report claiming net zero will cost UK trillions retracted due to ‘factual errors’

The most serious error was the confusion by the report’s author, Ewen Stewart, between power capacity in megawatts (MW) with electricity generation in megawatt hours (MWh). As a result, he presented an unrealistic “£1.3m per MWh” figure for the cost for onshore wind power. The true number is more than 10,000 times lower at about £50 to £70 per MWh. Another error was mixing up billions with trillions.

Prof Jim Skea, the new chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s foremost climate science body, said on Monday that taking a slower route to net zero emissions by 2050 will worsen the climate crisis.

The report also cited a 2019 report from the Faraday Institute to claim that net zero could result in 114,000 job losses in the car industry, but ignored the same report’s finding that a well-marshalled shift to electric vehicles could support 246,000 jobs in the sector.

silverwhistle

Why was the report published in the first place and by whom? No peer review resulting in what is such a basic error it must call into question the competence of the author and his political views.

QrizB

silverwhistle said:

Why was the report published in the first place and by whom?

Per the Guardian article, "Rightwing thinktank Civitas mistakenly cost onshore wind power 10,000 times higher than reality and claimed bill would be £4.5tn".

From the Civitas website:

Edit to add: report disscted here:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/29/how-a-thinktank-got-the-cost-of-net-zero-for-the-uk-wildly-wrong

silverwhistle

Thanks, I had found the details and had seen it was published by that well known oxymoron, a rightwing thinktank.

My original comment was correct about it's political genesis!

Martyn1981

silverwhistle said:

Why was the report published in the first place and by whom? No peer review resulting in what is such a basic error it must call into question the competence of the author and his political views.

I watch / read loads of news on RE, BEV's etc (as I'm sure you know, as I never shut up) but apart from Fully Charged, and the odd bit from the Electric Van Man, most is international, US, Australia, Denmark as examples. This year has been weird, as all of the sites have been talking about just how negative the news in the UK has been - especially regarding EV's.

To see us singled out, is a bit heartbreaking, but understandable. However, looking for the positive, hopefully this is just a desperate pushback as the arguments against RE, heatpumps, BEV's, storage, efficiency (housing standards), etc are now collapsing. So a last hurrah, so to speak?


If it's any consolation, my guess that the measures announced by Rishi Sunak would be a net vote loser, looks like it may have been right. But who really knows?

Tory swing voters switch to Labour after Sunak’s green retreat, poll finds

Almost nine in 10 voters who intend to switch their support from Conservative to Labour candidates in the next general election believe that “green growth” is important for the future of Britain’s economy, according to a poll.

Carried out by pollsters Opinium, the survey found that 82% of all respondents backed the growth of Britain’s green industry to boost the economy, in the same week that the prime minister announced a series of U-turns on the government’s green commitments in an attempt to create a dividing line with Labour before the election.

The survey of more than 5,000 adults found support for the green economy was even stronger among swing voters who supported the Conservatives in 2019 and are now planning to switch to Labour, at 88%.

Martyn1981

As a quick and easy disinfectant (not to be taken internally  ), to the recent negativity, I thought this article shines some pleasant sunlight on the transition.

Reality Check: The IEA Busts 10 Myths About The Energy Transition

The IEA’s 2023 update to the Net Zero Roadmap embraces the prospect of a net zero future with enthusiasm, recognizing that it is an increasingly credible scenario in a warming world witnessing spectacular exponential growth and cost declines in renewable technologies. RMI’s research points to the same lightning speed of the energy transition, especially in the growth of solar power, batteries, and electric vehicles.

Martyn1981

From little acorns ...... perhaps?

Only 5MW, but let's see how this wave power attempt goes.

Simply Blue, ESB form Irish wave JV

Simply Blue Group and ESB are pooling expertise and resources to deliver a 5MW wave farm array, located adjacent to the County Clare coast.

The project will be a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies.

Known as Saoirse and developed by Simply Blue Group, the demonstration project aims to prove the viability of wave energy in Irish seas.

Subject to the necessary consents and a grid connection, the site is on target to be completed by the mid to late 2020s. 

It is estimated that Ireland has up to 18GW of wave resource off its west coast.

Martyn1981

The modular build out of the Dogger Bank wind farm, means that it has started to generate leccy already. Almost sounds like cheating. 

World’s largest offshore windfarm project starts powering UK grid

The first turbine to be completed in a project to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm, in the North Sea, has begun powering British homes and businesses.

Developers confirmed on Monday that Dogger Bank, which sits 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yorkshire, started producing power over the weekend as the first of 277 turbines was connected to the electricity grid.

The project, jointly developed by Britain’s SSE and Norway’s Equinor and Vårgrønn, will produce 3.6 gigawatts of power, enough for 6m homes a year, when it is completed in 2026.

gefnew

This is something of a strange thing to digest.
Oxfordshire: Space solar farm could be operational by 2035, firm says - BBC News
or well could be nothing.

Martyn1981

Thought this was going to be heavy, but actually a fun read.

Starts off re-affirming a recent suggestion that China may have hit peak oil. It also mentions in the article that the US and Europe already have, for road transport, which surprised me:

Given that 45% of every barrel of oil turns into gasoline, that means China has reached peak petroleum demand. China has an oil demand of approaching 13 million barrels per day, compared to USA’s 20 million and Europe’s 19 million. Between these economies, they represent a full half of global oil demand. Bloomberg has pointed out that peak gasoline and diesel demand has already arrived in the USA and Europe.

Bloomberg NEF article from June is paywalled, but I found this Bloomberg Predicts Peak Oil Demand In 2027

which states:

Bloomberg reckons that demand for gasoline and diesel for road transport has already peaked in the U.S. and Europe, while demand in China is set to peak in 2024. Demand in other major consuming countries like India will go into a tailspin in the 2030s.

The article goes on to quickly look at coal, gas, and shipping. Even suggesting the possibility that Chinese coal consumption could peak next year. Chart of coal consumnption 1998 - 2022.

China’s Oil & Gas Giant Sinopec Says Peak Oil Demand Already Happened In China

The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) made headlines recently when he wrote “demand for each of the three fossil fuels is set to hit a peak” before 2030 in the Financial Times. Meanwhile, at the recent World Petroleum Congress meeting in Calgary, oil and gas industry insiders were telling each other lies about an increase in demand.

That’s an interesting pair of bookends. Looking back on the past decades, the IEA has been more noted for its dismissal of renewables and electric cars and its oil-soaked perspectives than for being at the other end of the spectrum from industry opinion. Fatih Birol has been fighting to transform and update the institution since taking over eight years ago, and clearly he’s succeeding. Their annual renewables updates with flatlining renewables projections are no longer the source of global mirth, as a clear example.