Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

pile-o-stone wrote: »

Another nail in the coffin for those who are against Renewables.

And another:

Tesla is chosen to build another big battery in Australia after the first one proves impressive

This battery is smaller at just 20MW (v's the first at 100MW), but it does suggest that the technology has proven itself, so expect more as time goes on and costs continue to fall.

Martyn1981

This is a nice article as the first graph clearly shows that an oft quoted claim by RE deniers is false. They like to say that gas, not RE has pushed coal gen down, but it's clear to see that the sum of coal + gas has fallen continuously, and gas generation today, is actually less than in 2009 & 2010.

Winds of change: Britain now generates twice as much electricity from wind as coal

On small question though is why they give a bio-mass figure of 5%, normally bio-energy is stated at 10%, rather than just bio-mass, and that may be why the total appears to come to 93%, as it's also missing 2% for hydro. (I'm being a bit picky, sorry )

gefnew

Hi all
Something a bit different on wind turbine front.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-42552319
Regards
gefnew

zeupater

gefnew wrote: »

Hi all
Something a bit different on wind turbine front.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-42552319
Regards
gefnew

Hi

Sounds like a pretty good idea, turn the North Sea into the local version of the South China Sea and 'do a China' by extending the UK's territorial influence to include half of Denmark! ... that's sorted the trade negotiations for those in the UK worrying about their future morning 'bacon butty' supplies as well as keeping the Danisssshh pig farming & processing industries happy in such uncertain times ...

Z ..

Martyn1981

Here's another interesting article, for more reasons than one.

Firstly, well done to the Danes for getting around 40% of leccy from wind these last few years, as this jumped out at me as the 'latest' percentage quoted by nay-sayers as a RE limit, yet this is just wind, and they are heading for 80% total.

44% Wind — Denmark Set New Wind Energy Record In 2017

By 2020, wind is expected to reach 50 percent of the electricity consumption in the country. In total, renewable energy, including solar and sustainable biomass, will cover 80 percent of electricity consumption in Denmark.

But another interesting point was that the number of WT's is actually falling.

Although wind turbines deliver a steadily increasing share of the Danish electricity supply, that does not mean that the number of turbines increases. On the contrary, today there are about 20% fewer wind turbines in Denmark than in 2001, when the number of wind turbines peaked. In 2017, about 6,100 wind turbines were in service according to the Danish Energy Authority.

The turbines have become bigger and more efficient. In addition, the majority of Denmark’s offshore wind turbines have been installed since 2001. Overall, capacity in Denmark has more than doubled since 2001, with today’s 5.3 GW wind capacity installed on land and water.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the 'enormous costs of storage, and intermittency capacity back-up' that we (the UK) should expect shortly, are nothing more than myths and red-herrings. Looks like they will be far lower, and far later, as storage costs and storage opportunities continue to improve greatly, in line with greater RE deployment and generation.

NigeWick

gefnew wrote: »

Something a bit different on wind turbine front.

There's already quite a few jobs with Siemens building them on Humberside.

NigeWick

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Here's another interesting article, for more reasons than one.

I'm not a believer in burning biomass as it still emits smoke that surely carries stuff we don't want to breath in.

My ideal is wind & solar combined with batteries in smallish systems in many and varied locations so that they will be very resilient and difficult to interrupt using explosives or cyber means. All it takes is political will and some investment. When one looks at the Orkneys who export renewable electricity it is (to me at least) the obvious way to go.

Martyn1981

NigeWick wrote: »

I'm not a believer in burning biomass as it still emits smoke that surely carries stuff we don't want to breath in.

My ideal is wind & solar combined with batteries in smallish systems in many and varied locations so that they will be very resilient and difficult to interrupt using explosives or cyber means. All it takes is political will and some investment. When one looks at the Orkneys who export renewable electricity it is (to me at least) the obvious way to go.

A nice alternative/compromise is bio-gas rather than bio-mass, so take the excess wind (that's bound to occur at times) and store it compactly as bio-gas, then use that either as thermal generation or fuel cell generation when demand is greater than supply.

Effectively this is what you said, only a different type of battery and bio-energy. It's all looking very promising I think.

Martyn1981

Huge China Reforestation Campaign Kicks Into High Gear

Now China has announced a new reforestation program that will plant enough trees in 2018 to cover an area the size of Ireland. Forests already cover 21.7% of the country. That figure is set to increase to 23% by 2020 and 26% by 2035, according to a report in The Telegraph. Zhang Jianlong, head of China’s State Forestry Administration, says, “Companies, organizations and talent that specialize in greening work are all welcome to join in the country’s massive greening campaign. Cooperation between government and social capital will be put on the priority list.”

Zhang says China has invested more than $65 billion in new forests in the past 5 years. That push has brought the total amount of forested land in the country to 208 million hectares — or just over 800,000 square miles. The new reforestration program will take place in Hebei province in the northeast, Qinghai province on the Tibetan plateau, and in the Hunshandake Desert in Inner Mongolia.

And now spotted a similar (but slightly smaller) idea for the UK:

Government pledges £5.7m to develop new northern forest

The government has pledged £5.7m to kickstart the creation of a northern forest which would stretch from Liverpool to Hull.

The plans, which are being led by the Woodland Trust, include the planting of 50m trees along a 120-mile stretch of land running next to the M62. The project is expected to cost £500m over 25 years, with more than £10m committed by the Woodland Trust and the remainder still to be raised.

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Huge China Reforestation Campaign Kicks Into High Gear




And now spotted a similar (but slightly smaller) idea for the UK:

Government pledges £5.7m to develop new northern forest

Hi

They're obviously copying us with our 'Northern Forest' announcement ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42591494 .. our trees must be much better quality than theirs though as they'll be costing £10each (£500million/50million trees)!:eek:;) ... wait a minute, how do trees possibly cost that much - you can usually get 3 for a tenner at Aldi in spring, guess someone's in for a windfall then (& that's cash, not apples!) ..

.. why does every project in the UK not only have comparatively low targets, yet still costs a multiple of what it would in any other country ?? ...

HTH
Z