The Alternative Green Energy Thread

joefizz

The cheap oil wont last, Ive mentioned this before in another thread...

Anyway, the climate change models used up until January are now pretty much useless as they had assumptions on continued growth, 3rd world reaching 1st world levels of usage etc etc. We will get to see how (if at all) quickly things can recover.

What will be interesting will be the outcome of the home working/online shopping/shopping once a week for staples instead of random stuff flown all round the world. A lot of companies were against home working for a lot of reasons (both good and nonsensical) but now a lot of infrastructure has been put in place, the infrastructure investments I mentioned previously are now going to be fed on steroids with the stimulus and a lot of people are now getting used to working from home. They may not work from home full time but even a 20% or 30% decrease in office trips would make a massive improvement to emissions, air pollution etc etc.

The more airlines that go to the wall means less cheap flights and people will get used to holidaying at home or just appreciating being out in the fresher air locally.

Less buying cheap tat from china means less transport etc etc so its all coming together.

Nobody was going to take climate change seriously because it was all models and all stuff 5, 10, 15 years from now. The virus is here and now and we have to implement a lot of the changes which would limit climate change because of it.

Ive certainly noticed a lot crisper clearer air and I live on the side of a mountain. Clear blue skies and no planes (below main transatlantic route here).

We'll see now if the global dimming people are right. No need to rely on models, in a couple of months we'll have actual data.

One thing is for sure, theres not going to be a business as usual when all this is finished.

JKenH

Pollution from tyre wear can be 1,000 times worse than what comes out of a car’s exhaust, according to a new study by Emissions Analytics.

Harmful particle matter from tyres – and also brakes – is being exacerbated by the increasing popularity of large, heavy vehicles such as SUVs, and growing demand for electric vehicles, which are heavier than standard cars because of their batteries.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/environment/2020/03/06/tyre-pollution-1000-times-worse-than-tailpipe-emissions

JKenH

These clear skies and lack of pollution are doing wonders for my solar PV output. I live in the wilds of Lincolnshire so any townies should be seeing even better results. Normally our sky is crisscrossed with vapour trails but not seen one for a couple of days. Yesterday we clocked an Hawaii and looks like we are heading for another today. Last year our first one didn’t appear until 13 May and we only had 12 in total over the year.

EVandPV

JKenH said:

These clear skies and lack of pollution are doing wonders for my solar PV output. Ilive in the wilds of Lincolnshire so any townies should be seeing even better results. Normally our sky is crisscrossed with vapour trails but not seen one for a couple of days. Yesterday we clocked an Hawaii and looks like we are heading for another today. Last year our first one didn’t appear until 13 May and we only had 12 in total over the year.

Same here Ken, great pv figures lately.
Since Saturday, we've had full house batteries every day and charged the EV with over 80 miles from surplus pv.

joefizz

JKenH said:

These clear skies and lack of pollution are doing wonders for my solar PV output.

Same here in NI. Im a day and a half like this off being the best April ever. If the weather continues April will break the best ever May as well.
Slightly concerning that perhaps the global dimming people were right and I see Guy McPherson has gone all in and called the end of the world!
Still bloody freezing here at night though, still havent turned the ashp on overnight as its mostly too low to be of any benefit (that and the price of oil, obviously)

joefizz

Just watching Michael Moores latest 'Planet of the Humans'....

Cardew

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/04/03/goodbye-renewables-enter-cheap-oil/

'Goodbye renewable energy. Hello cheap oil

The current dual crises of oil and Covid-19 have thrown the future of renewables in to doubt'

https://www.ft.com/content/a6ebba24-632b-11ea-b3f3-fe4680ea68b5

https://www.mottmac.com/views/will-the-falling-oil-price-boost-the-renewable-energy-market
'Will falling oil prices boost the renewable energy market'

The Telegraph and FT should be reported for heresy

joefizz

Just had my best month ever with solar. Not best April but best month ever.

Now, I wonder if that will hit the mis-selling snake oil solar sales claims in future when it turns out the maximum probable/possible returns can actually be met under certain circumstances?
Glad of the rain at the minute as the water butts have been empty for 4 days now, need to get me an IBC tank and pump the two water butts up to it when full.

pinnks

If you do get an IBC tank, make sure it's black and not the translucent white, otherwise you'll get green slime inside in no time.  We made that mistake and have had to invest in a pond-liner to wrap our pretty tank up like a birthday present

JKenH

joefizz said:

Just watching Michael Moores latest 'Planet of the Humans'....

Finally found the time to watch this. If you care about the environment it is hard not to be moved by this film. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting from an environmentalist. It was intended to shock and achieved its purpose. I am an enthusiastic supporter of RE but it has made me think again about some environmental aspects of technologies labelled as green.

Refreshingly the Guardian’s take on this was “ it’s always valuable to re-examine a sacred cow”.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/22/planet-of-the-humans-review-environment-michael-moore-jeff-gibbs?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other