Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 wrote: »

France (since Monday) as they have nuclear problems.

I keep getting told on guardian blogs that nuclear is 24/7, so how can this be?:cool:

Martyn1981

silverwhistle wrote: »

I keep getting told on guardian blogs that nuclear is 24/7, so how can this be?:cool:

Beats me. Perhaps the extreme nukers (the nuclear-at-any-cost folk) just post spin and nonsense on articles, forums and discussions just to troll, and upset the genuine posters?

ed110220

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Beats me. Perhaps the extreme nukers (the nuclear-at-any-cost folk) just post spin and nonsense on articles, forums and discussions just to troll, and upset the genuine posters?

I think the nuclear-at-any-cost brigade are heavily ideological. They've been fired up by decades of pro fossil fuel propaganda to hate renewable energy. A lot of them seem to think that nuclear is the perfect solution held back by 'greenies' and we'd have electricity too cheap to meter if only for the green conspiracy.

Ironically I think it all helps fossil fuel interests as they're well aware the chances of a large scale transition to nuclear in most countries, especially in the 'West' are practically zero so the 'lets not have renewable energy, nuclear is better' line favours them. They'd be happy for renewables to be rejected in favour of nuclear that also never gets built as it's too expensive, too financially risky etc.

I should say I have no particular aversion to nuclear power in itself, I live in the same county as Hinkley Point and it doesn't worry me at all, I just don't think it's an economic solution any more.

Martyn1981

Not sure if everyone knows how hard and fast China is pushing electric transportation, but regardless, this is a shocker (check the target date!):-

100% Electric Bus Fleet For Shenzhen (Population 11.9 Million) By End Of 2017

There’s no denying that switching an entire public transportation bus fleet to electricity can drastically curb pollutants and respiratory complications. The city of Shenzhen sees the light, coming to the conclusion that human lives matter more than foreign oil company profits.

One more thing to note: Shenzhen has been working toward this goal for a while. It already has 14,000 electric buses on the street, with only has a few hundred diesel-powered buses left to replace. They will be decommissioned over the last two months of the year. BYD is in charge of providing 80% of the electric buses for the city. It is also heavily vested in electric vehicles (EV), leads the world-leading Chinese EV market, and has introduced its electric bus all over the world, including in Long Beach, California, where we were privileged enough to take its maiden ride.

BYD started the Shenzhen pilot test in 2011. In six years, the giant city (population 11.9 million) managed to implement a complete switch. So, what is taking us so long in the West?

michaels

So according to gridwatch with the French connector running in reverse (-2GW instead of +2) we have been using most of our coal, nuclear and CCGT capacity with wind also running at 4-5GW.

Suppose there had been no wind then supply would have been pretty tight fro the gridwatch listed sources.

Would big users have been asked to cut back or is there other spare capacity not on gridwatch?

Martyn1981

I've mentioned in the past how the quarterly surveys by DECC/BEIS over the past 5 years have shown support for on-shore wind growing from 66% to 74%, whilst opposition has fallen from 12% to 8%.

But, this weeks 'Carbon Commentary' e-mail had another interesting take on the latest survey:

UK attitudes to wind power. I analysed the database of opinion poll responses to the UK government’s regular survey on attitudes towards energy and climate change. The administration has blocked all large scale wind for almost two years on the basis that turbines are widely disliked. My analysis suggested that onshore wind is now very popular and opposition is almost entirely concentrated among people over 65. Only one person under 44 ‘strongly opposed’ wind out of 800 respondents in this age range. Across all age groups, wind is becoming more popular as time passes.

ed110220

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I've mentioned in the past how the quarterly surveys by DECC/BEIS over the past 5 years have shown support for on-shore wind growing from 66% to 74%, whilst opposition has fallen from 12% to 8%.

But, this weeks 'Carbon Commentary' e-mail had another interesting take on the latest survey:

I think maybe the problem is that these are core Tory voters in core Tory constituencies, so they're disproportionately influential. They also probably have the time, money and skills to get their views across more than many other demographics and they also turn out to vote more than others too.

Martyn1981

I wasn't expecting 50% renewables by mid 2020's, nice surprise. The article is one from a solar news site, but the biggest generation will presumably come from wind.

Rising solar and renewables to dominate future of UK generation

Solar and other renewables will generate more than half of all electricity in the UK by the mid-2020s according to a new study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Eaton, which expects the cost of the technology to more than halve by 2040.

The report, commissioned by the power management company in partnership with the Renewable Energy Association (REA), concluded that this will lead to much greater volatility in the power systems of the UK and Germany, which is expected to experience similar changes in generation.

Owing to the variable nature of solar and other technologies like wind, flexible power technologies such as energy storage will be at an advantage in helping to smooth the generation output of these technologies.

As early as 2030, it claims there will be whole weeks where wind and solar power generation exceed total demand at some point every day, with energy storage needed to control the excess electricity.

“This study shows that battery storage is well placed to serve short term supply and demand issues and highlights the dramatic cost reductions in renewable power over the past few years,” commented Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the REA.

Edit - And a little bit more info here:

UK & Germany on course for 50% renewables by mid 2020s, finds BNEF report

Complementing the growth of solar and wind penetration will be energy storage, which will help to ease the transition between flexible and inflexible sources of power, the report found. The danger of renewables curtailment is minimal, said BNEF, with less than 1% of UK and 3% of German solar and wind power wasted by 2030. This figure does rise to 3% and 16% respectively by 2040, however.

michaels

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I wasn't expecting 50% renewables by mid 2020's, nice surprise. The article is one from a solar news site, but the biggest generation will presumably come from wind.

Rising solar and renewables to dominate future of UK generation





Edit - And a little bit more info here:

UK & Germany on course for 50% renewables by mid 2020s, finds BNEF report

By 2040 UK and Germany will be throwing considerable amounts of electricity away...too cheap to meter?!

NigeWick

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I wasn't expecting 50% renewables by mid 2020's, nice surprise.

In my not very humble opinion, this country NEEDS 100% renewables with battery backup now.

I voted out of the EU in the full understanding that we'd be in for a rough time upon leaving. What I didn't realise last year was how shabbily the EC, ECB and IMF had been treating Greece. There is no doubt in my mind now that we will never get a decent deal while the EU has the current non elected management in charge. This country has got just got 16 months to prepare for what I now believe will be "the worst."