Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

silverwhistle

The SSE pumped storage scheme at Coire Glas has completed an exploratory tunnel and is awaiting the final investment decision, based on getting a satisfactory revenue stream once it's operating. I can't see it not going ahead, but there'll no doubt be a bit of hard negotiating going on.

If anyone hasn't had a look already there is a website with information and some rather good photographs, so it obviously doesn't rain there all the time!

Edit: not like North Wales (and Dinorwig) in my limited and soaked experience.. :-)

thevilla

silverwhistle said:

The SSE pumped storage scheme at Coire Glas has completed an exploratory tunnel and is awaiting the final investment decision, based on getting a satisfactory revenue stream once it's operating. I can't see it not going ahead, but there'll no doubt be a bit of hard negotiating going on.

If anyone hasn't had a look already there is a website with information and some rather good photographs, so it obviously doesn't rain there all the time!

Edit: not like North Wales (and Dinorwig) in my limited and soaked experience.. :-)

But the rain is extra free energy😄

Martyn1981

CW, have you seen this, and the suggestion (just a suggestion) that A2A units be added to the UK's domestic heat subsidy scheme?

The Future of Home Heating and Cooling!?!

In this episode Dan and the team went to visit the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver to find out about Air to Air (A2A) Heat Pumps. A2A Heat Pumps are not so common in the UK but in Europe, the US and Canada they represent the vast majority of air source heat pump installations in homes and are the lowest-cost option for heating and cooling. So how do they differ from Air to Water heat pumps, how do they cope in both hot and cold temperatures and are they the future of heating and cooling our homes?

Coastalwatch

Cheers Mart, it's great to see them get an airing. I wrote to EE a couple of years ago after watching a session on heating at the EV road show. A2A didn't even get a mention despite a Rep from Daiken being on the panel. I was so frustrated that I wrote in extolling their virtues and received an encouraging reply in that I'd raised several good points and they would like to include A2A space heating in one of the remaining six months of the year. This is the first time I've seen it come to the fore since. Great they are finally getting some publicity as they will certainly solve the heating problem for a reasonable proportion of properties as we transition away from FF's. I don't believe one size fits all, especially when it comes to retro fit but it's a great alternative with added cooling benefits and excess pv in summer.

michaels

I wonder why the official position is to be so anti a2a and only favour a2w.  Is it because they don't do hot water as well?

michaels

Not sure if this is solar or green and ethical:

This will be the first geothermal energy storage system on the Texas grid (electrek.co)

Always good to see innovative storage methods and the 10c per kwh for 'round the clock' generation from solar plus storage is an interesting number.

Reed_Richards

michaels said:

I wonder why the official position is to be so anti a2a and only favour a2w.  Is it because they don't do hot water as well?

I always assumed it was because of the fear that people would use them for air-conditioning (cooling) in summer leading to higher electricity use then.   

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

I wonder why the official position is to be so anti a2a and only favour a2w.  Is it because they don't do hot water as well?

I'm guessing that, plus we have conversion opportunities from gas to a2w ASHPs. Plus government grants only supporting systems for heating and not those that offer air conditioning on top - which could potentially be sneaked in on an a2a system???? 

Martyn1981

Chinese CO2 emissions may have peaked, and earlier than their official 2030 target. Given the scale of Chinese emissons and population, this is significant for everyone. Hopefully India with a huge population and growing middle class will expand much of their energy needs with RE too.

Obviously take all of this with a pinch of salt, especially for a year or so as we see how the trend lines settle, but there's also a chance that Chinese demand for oil may have peaked too, this year or last.

China adds new clean power equivalent to UK’s entire electricity output

Data shows continued surge in wind and solar power amid hopes Chinese greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked:

China added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year, data shows, as wind and solar power generation continued to surge in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Electricity generation from coal and gas dropped by 5% in China in July, year on year, according to an update from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) thinktank, basing its analysis on data released by the Chinese government on Thursday.

The latest figures reinforce a clear trend – China is racing ahead in renewable energy, adding record-breaking amounts of solar and wind generation, eclipsing the rest of the world. It is a transformation that analysts are saying could be the world’s best hope yet of staving off climate catastrophe.

Last year, China installed a record 293GW of wind and solar generating capacity. Last month, solar and wind capacity outstripped China’s coal-fired electricity capacity. By 2026, solar power alone will surpass coal as China’s primary energy source, with a capacity of more than 1.38TW, or 150GW more than coal, according to forecasts by Rystad Energy.

ed110220

Martyn1981 said:

Chinese CO2 emissions may have peaked, and earlier than their official 2030 target. Given the scale of Chinese emissons and population, this is significant for everyone. Hopefully India with a huge population and growing middle class will expand much of their energy needs with RE too.

Obviously take all of this with a pinch of salt, especially for a year or so as we see how the trend lines settle, but there's also a chance that Chinese demand for oil may have peaked too, this year or last.

China adds new clean power equivalent to UK’s entire electricity output

Data shows continued surge in wind and solar power amid hopes Chinese greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked:

China added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year, data shows, as wind and solar power generation continued to surge in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Electricity generation from coal and gas dropped by 5% in China in July, year on year, according to an update from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) thinktank, basing its analysis on data released by the Chinese government on Thursday.

The latest figures reinforce a clear trend – China is racing ahead in renewable energy, adding record-breaking amounts of solar and wind generation, eclipsing the rest of the world. It is a transformation that analysts are saying could be the world’s best hope yet of staving off climate catastrophe.

Last year, China installed a record 293GW of wind and solar generating capacity. Last month, solar and wind capacity outstripped China’s coal-fired electricity capacity. By 2026, solar power alone will surpass coal as China’s primary energy source, with a capacity of more than 1.38TW, or 150GW more than coal, according to forecasts by Rystad Energy.

The key thing I think is that China correctly sees this as an opportunity to be grasped offering economic, environmental and security benefits while a lot of the narrative in the west is still stuck at the "burden to be avoided" stage.