Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[mspohr]

Scottish Power to build vast battery to improve wind energy supply

Scottish Power to build vast battery to improve wind energy supply

Scottish Power is to undertake the most ambitious battery power project in Europe in an attempt to unlock the potential of the UK’s wind and solar farms.

Over a period of time we will get to use much more wind output from the project, and across the whole of the country, because even at times of low demand we will be able to capture far more of the wind rather than wasting that potential energy,” he said.

 

[mspohr]

Energy industry's carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade

Energy industry's carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade

“On hot days people turn to their air conditioning and fans, on cold days they turn to their heaters. That has a big impact,” Dale said.

The unusually high number of “heating days” has continued in the first months of this year.

The combined number of particularly hot and cold days was unusually high in the US, China and Russia where the use of fossil fuels remains high.

The report acknowledges that emissions might have been higher without the “extraordinary growth” of renewables, which climbed by 14.5% last year, but warns against relying on green power and electric vehicles.

 

[UrsS]

With 21 times more potential than CO2, rising methane levels unnerve researchers

Methane levels in the atmosphere have been rising since 2007, and it is even shooting up faster than ever since 2014, said a study that also discussed the potential causes and consequences of this drastic change in methane (CH4) level.

As per the atmosphere experts, methane, which is 21 times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2), decays into the climate faster than CO2 does. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, it is far more as a molecule of methane is capable of causing 28 to 36 times more heat than a molecule of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.

Even though the scientists could not find why methane is rising drastically, a study published in 2017 has shown a possible cause which involved livestock, such as cows and other animals. As per that study, these animals play an important role in carbon cycling through consumption of biomass and emissions of methane, since they burp methane as they digest food.
She added that it is possible that the rising temperature is triggering wetlands to release more methane while changing the atmospheric chemistry that could be slowing down methane's break down process.

What about permafrost - or more precise the melting of permafrost and the release of methane therefrom. Arctic methane emissions - Wikipedia

 

[mspohr]

What about permafrost - or more precise the melting of permafrost and the release of methane therefrom. Arctic methane emissions - Wikipedia

Looks like that's a source also

 

[JRP3]

Ocean clathrates as well Climate change and methane hydrates « World Ocean Review

 

[mspohr]

Confessions Of A Climate Activist: Don't Blame Yourself, Go After The Criminals Who Sold Out Humanity For Profit | CleanTechnica

The belief that this enormous, existential problem could have been fixed if all of us had just tweaked our consumptive habits is not only preposterous; it’s dangerous,” she writes. “It turns environmentalism into an individual choice defined as sin or virtue, convicting those who don’t or can’t uphold these ethics.

Here’s my confession: I don’t care how green you are. I want you in the movement for climate justice. I don’t care how long you’ve been engaged in the climate conversation, 10 years or 10 seconds. I don’t care how many statistics you can rattle off. I don’t need you to be all-solar-everything to be an environmentalist. I don’t need you to be vegan-er than thou, or me, for that matter. I don’t care if you are eating a burger right this minute.

don’t even care if you work on an oil rig. In some parts of the country, those are the only jobs that pay enough for you to feed your family. And I don’t blame workers for that. I blame their employers. I blame the industry that is choking us all, and the government that is letting them do it.

All I need you to do is want a livable future. This is your planet, and no one can advocate for it like you can. No one can protect it like you can. We have 11 years — not to start but to finish saving the planet. I’m not here to absolve you. And I’m not here to abdicate you. I am here to fight with you.

 

[mspohr]

Climate crisis: Alaska is melting and it’s likely to accelerate global heating

Climate crisis: Alaska is melting and it’s likely to accelerate global heating

Alaska is heating up twice as quickly as the rest of the US as a result of human-driven climate breakdown, increasingly causing this permafrost to thaw and destabilize buildings and cause roads to buckle.
Alaska has just experienced its warmest spring on record, breaking a record only set in 2016. Since the 1970s, springtime in the state has heated up by around 2.2C (4F), double the global temperature rise of the past century.
Scientists recently found this process could trigger a dangerous acceleration of global heating that would cause tens of trillions of dollars in climate-related damage. A separate study found that parts of the Canadian Arctic are experiencing a rate of permafrost thaw six times the long-term average.

 

[ggies07]

I highly recommend this new doc, ICE on Fire. I watched it last night and loved the focus it brought to the subject matter.

 

[mspohr]

Onshore wind farms in UK could cut £50 a year off energy bills

Onshore wind farms in UK could cut £50 a year off energy bills

Onshore wind is expected to be cheaper than gas-generated electricity because of plummeting turbine technology costs and the rising cost of carbon emissions, according to the report.“It is simply economically illiterate not to go for onshore wind in a big way. The government should remove their barriers to onshore wind and engage communities to get it built,” he said.

 

[S'toon]

Only 6 coal plants left in the UK, soon to be 5:

The UK’s race to increase renewable energy sources has intensified with the announcement of plans to close another coal-fired power station.

The news on Thursday came as last winter was revealed to be the greenest yet for the country’s energy system, after strong winds produced more renewable electricity and coal-fired power dwindled.

SSE said Fiddler’s Ferry near Warrington, Cheshire, the energy company’s last remaining coal-fired power station, would close in March 2020, reducing the UK’s coal-fired energy fleet to five plants.

<snip>

“We believe that by 2025, we will be able to fully operate Great Britain’s electricity system with zero carbon.”

Coal-fired power made up 5% of the UK’s electricity over the winter and will be phased out altogether by 2025 under a government ban. Wind power and nuclear plants each made up 18% of the power generation mix, while gas-fired power plants produced 42%.

<snip>

Full article at:
UK to be left with five coal power stations after latest closure

So a country with twice the population of Canada is doing way better than us. We're exponentially ramping up our carbon emissions.

 

[WannabeOwner]

“It is simply economically illiterate not to go for onshore wind in a big way."

I'm not so sure ...

Huge issues with NIMBYs for ON shore wind, in UK, and equally huge resistance to new Pylons for overground grid. We have gigantic areas of offshore shallow sea and scaling-up offshore has been so successful that costs have tumbled.

Seems to me that it is probably, also, easier to hook up huge numbers of offshore turbines laid out n a neat grid than a bunch of onshore turbines laid out on farmland in such a way as not to be in close proximity to houses, woodland, etc. Maybe onshore can just be hooked up to the nearest supply pole? but if not the logistics of laying cables to a substation/etc. nearby must be more difficult than a fat-wire from offshore wind farm.

 

[WannabeOwner]

So a country with twice the population of Canada is doing way better than us. We're exponentially ramping up our carbon emissions.

A country, somewhere, is going to have to take a lead on boycotting poor performing countres / Paris-dogers ...

All that sort of diplomacy takes forever, and is all talk and no action ... so you might be all right for a bit ?!

 

[winfield100]

5.6 gigawatts of installed PV with capacity of a bit over 11 gigawatts in 4 largest PV farms
(this is a bit over 1,000,000 times the size on my roof built out or ~60 million sq meters)
An overview of the world’s largest solar parks

 

[mspohr]

I'm not so sure ...

Huge issues with NIMBYs for ON shore wind, in UK, and equally huge resistance to new Pylons for overground grid. We have gigantic areas of offshore shallow sea and scaling-up offshore has been so successful that costs have tumbled.

Seems to me that it is probably, also, easier to hook up huge numbers of offshore turbines laid out n a neat grid than a bunch of onshore turbines laid out on farmland in such a way as not to be in close proximity to houses, woodland, etc. Maybe onshore can just be hooked up to the nearest supply pole? but if not the logistics of laying cables to a substation/etc. nearby must be more difficult than a fat-wire from offshore wind farm.

Nimbys are economically illiterate.

 

[mspohr]

A country, somewhere, is going to have to take a lead on boycotting poor performing countres / Paris-dogers ...

All that sort of diplomacy takes forever, and is all talk and no action ... so you might be all right for a bit ?!

I've wondered when we would get to the point where countries would place a carbon tax on imports from polluting countries

 

[mspohr]

Global heating to inflict more droughts on Africa as well as floods

Global heating to inflict more droughts on Africa as well as floods

Global heating could bring many more bouts of severe drought as well as increased flooding to Africa than previously forecast, scientists have warned.

New research says the continent will experience many extreme outbreaks of intense rainfall over the next 80 years. These could trigger devastating floods, storms and disruption of farming. In addition, these events are likely to be interspersed with more crippling droughts during the growing season and these could also damage crop and food production.

This meteorological double whammy is blamed on the burning of fossil fuels, which is increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and causing it to heat up. Last month levels of carbon dioxide reached 415 parts per million, their highest level since Homo sapiens first appeared on Earth – and scientists warn that they are likely to continue on this upward curve for several decades. Global temperatures will be raised dangerously as a result.

 

[S'toon]

I'm not so sure ...

Huge issues with NIMBYs for ON shore wind, in UK, and equally huge resistance to new Pylons for overground grid. We have gigantic areas of offshore shallow sea and scaling-up offshore has been so successful that costs have tumbled.

Seems to me that it is probably, also, easier to hook up huge numbers of offshore turbines laid out n a neat grid than a bunch of onshore turbines laid out on farmland in such a way as not to be in close proximity to houses, woodland, etc. Maybe onshore can just be hooked up to the nearest supply pole? but if not the logistics of laying cables to a substation/etc. nearby must be more difficult than a fat-wire from offshore wind farm.

I've heard people say they hate the look of turbines. I myself like the way they look, and enjoy seeing them when I go on road trips.

 

[mspohr]

Let them eat cake
ExtinctionRebellion protesters stop rush-hour traffic in London

Extinction Rebellion protesters stop rush-hour traffic in London

Environmental protesters stopped traffic on three main roads into central London from the south-east in protest over the “air pollution crisis” in the area.

The protesters, organised by a local chapter of the Extinction Rebellion group, blocked traffic on the A20 near Lewisham station, A205 South Circular in Catford and the A2 in Deptford during the morning rush-hour.

XR said the action was intended as the first in a series of disruptions in the area as part of a campaign called Let Lewisham Breathe. Protesters handed out leaflets and cake to apologise for the disruption caused on a main route into the centre of London.

 

[mspohr]

I've heard people say they hate the look of turbines. I myself like the way they look, and enjoy seeing them when I go on road trips.

We all think old Dutch windmills are charming. Why not new windmills?

 

[jerry33]

We all think old Dutch windmills are charming. Why not new windmills?

The industrial look perhaps?