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germany
the filthiest fossil fuel power polluter - the consequence
of spurning nuclear power
“Poland is home once again to Europe's dirtiest
power plant, but German utilities still owned 11 of
the 30 most polluting facilities in the European Union
in 2008, preliminary EU data showed.
“Poland's Belchatow coal plant, run by state-owned
utility BOT Elektrownia, spewed out the most climate-warming
carbon dioxide (CO2) of any EU installation last year,
pumping the equivalent of 30.9 million tonnes into the
atmosphere.
“This amount, comparable to the total greenhouse
gas emissions of Croatia, was nine percent more than
the plant emitted in 2007 and bucked a trend which saw
overall EU industrial emissions drop last year.”
related material
fossil
fuel disasters
nuclear power -
is nuclear power really
really dangerous?
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#germany_polluter_090409
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another
study labels corn ethanol a bad deal
“Also, by the researchers' accounting, the carbon benefits of
using ethanol only begin to show up years after corn growing begins.
"Depending on prior land use" they wrote in their report,
"our analysis shows that carbon releases from the soil after planting
corn for ethanol may in some cases completely offset carbon gains attributed
to biofuel generation for at least 50 years."
“The report said that "cellulosic" species -- such
as switchgrass -- are a better option for curbing emissions than corn
because they don't require annual replowing and planting. In contrast,
a single planting of cellulosic species will continue growing and producing
for years while trapping more carbon in the soil.”
[Duke university press release]
related material
biofuels
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#corn_ethanol_050309
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wind and pv power much more dangerous than nuclear power
“But the deaths and injuries resulting from wind turbine construction
and operation will be dwarfed by the carnage certain to occur in California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's "million solar roofs plant"
actually comes to fruition? Falls, currently the second largest cause
of accidental deaths after auto accidents and five times the rate from
fires, will no doubt take a sizable jump as tens of thousands of amateur
installers take to the roofs. And remember, solar voltaic cells must
be cleaned regularly else they rapidly lose their already poor efficiencies.”
[Quoted from thenewamerican.com]
“The trend is as expected - the more turbines, the more accidents.
There is a general trend upward in accident numbers over the past 10
years. This is predicted to escalate unless HSE make some significant
changes - in particular to protect the public by declaring a minimum
safe distance between new turbine developments and occupied housing
and buildings (currently 2km in Europe), and declaring "no-go"
areas to the public, following the 500m exclusion zone around operational
turbines imposed in France.” [Quoted from caithnesswindfarms.co.uk
(.pdf) ]
These are accidents so far listed.
Number of fatal accidents: 52.
And
UK greens stance on nuclear energy now
“ [...] four of the country’s leading green activists have
overcome a lifetime’s opposition to warn of the dire consequences
of not building more nuclear power stations.
“Scientific evidence about the environmental impact of burning
coal, gas and oil has overcome concerns about safety issues, the build-up
of radioactive waste and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. So Stephen
Tindale, a former director of Greenpace; Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury,
the chairman of the Environment Agency; Mark Lynas, author of the Royal
Society’s science book of the year; and Chris Goodall, a Green
Party activist and prospective parliamentary candidate, are now all
lobbying in favour of their erstwhile bete noir.”
related material
wind power
photovoltaics
(solar cells)
non-pv
(photovoltaic) solar technology
nuclear power - is nuclear power
really really dangerous?
the
nuclear energy option
fossil
fuel disasters
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#wind_pv_accidents_240209
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alleged
advantages of dictatorship (socialism)
“So pushing China to adopt a "smart" power grid that
would have the data-processing ability to allow massive additions of
intermittent energy from solar and wind farms could be a matter of convincing
as few as 10 people, said Liu, adding that such centralisation means
"there are both pros and cons to communism." ”
—
“ But the countries [USA and China] are more likely to find solutions
by working together rather than by themselves, Liu said.”
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#socialist_alternative_energy_160209
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iea,darling of government ostriches - now admit they were wrong all along
“In terms of non-Opec [countries outside the big oil producers'
cartel]," he replied, "we are expecting that in three, four
years' time the production of conventional oil will come to a plateau,
and start to decline. In terms of the global picture, assuming that
Opec will invest in a timely manner, global conventional oil can still
continue, but we still expect that it will come around 2020 to a plateau
as well, which is, of course, not good news from a global-oil-supply
point of view."
“Around 2020. That casts the issue in quite a different light.
Birol's date, if correct, gives us about 11 years to prepare. If the
Hirsch report is right, we have already missed the boat. Birol says
we need a "global energy revolution" to avoid an oil crunch,
including (disastrously for the environment) a massive global drive
to exploit unconventional oils, such as the Canadian tar sands. But
nothing on this scale has yet happened, and Hirsch suggests that even
if it began today, the necessary investments and infrastructure changes
could not be made in time. Birol told me: "I think time is not
on our side here." ”
related material
energy economics
and fossil fuels— how long do we have?
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#iea_ostriches_171208
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localised nuclear power unit
“The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion,
a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its
first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years.
'Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in
the world,' said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. 'They will
cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000
households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.'
“Deal claims to have more than 100 firm orders, largely from
the oil and electricity industries, but says the company is also targeting
developing countries and isolated communities. 'It's leapfrog technology,'
he said.
“The company plans to set up three factories to produce 4,000
plants between 2013 and 2023. 'We already have a pipeline for 100 reactors,
and we are taking our time to tool up to mass-produce this reactor.'
”
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#local_nuclear_101108
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pv coating claimed to trap more energy and circumvent tracking requirements
“To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into
electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single
photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,"
said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of
the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research
project. "Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.”
—
“After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered
reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of
sunlight shone upon it - meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight
was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent
across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and
infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic
viability.
“Lin’s new coating also successfully tackles the tricky
challenge of angles.
“Most surfaces and coatings are designed to absorb light - i.e.,
be antireflective - and transmit light - i.e., allow the light to pass
through it - from a specific range of angles. Eyeglass lenses, for example,
will absorb and transmit quite a bit of light from a light source directly
in front of them, but those same lenses would absorb and transmit considerably
less light if the light source were off to the side or on the wearer’s
periphery.”
—
“Typical antireflective coatings are engineered to transmit light
of one particular wavelength. Lin’s new coating stacks seven of
these layers, one on top of the other, in such a way that each layer
enhances the antireflective properties of the layer below it. These
additional layers also help to "bend" the flow of sunlight
to an angle that augments the coating’s antireflective properties.
This means that each layer not only transmits sunlight, it also helps
to capture any light that may have otherwise been reflected off of the
layers below it.
“The seven layers, each with a height of 50 nanometers to 100
nanometers, are made up of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanorods
positioned at an oblique angle - each layer looks and functions similar
to a dense forest where sunlight is "captured" between the
trees. The nanorods were attached to a silicon substrate via chemical
vapor disposition, and Lin said the new coating can be affixed to nearly
any photovoltaic materials for use in solar cells, including III-V multi-junction
and cadmium telluride.”
related material
photovoltaics
(solar cells)
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/energy0811.php#photovoltaic_coating_061108
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