With the media so obsessed with the eventual "waste" from green energy production - end of life solar panels, turbine blades, batteries etc, wouldn't it be great if they provided context?
There are 9000 oil tanker ships on the planet. 10s of thousands of petrol trucks. 10s of thousands of petrol stations. 10s of thousands of miles of pipeline.
All of which are environmentally damaging to dispose of.
Yet, never discussed in the media. Its just the green boogeyman.
Whenever I need cheering up about the climate, things like this really help:
"During the 2010s the levelised cost (that is the average lifetime cost of equipment, per megawatt hour of electricity generated) of solar, offshore wind and onshore wind fell by 87%, 62% and 56%, respectively"
And that dramatic fall in costs isn't stopping.
Even the most short-term thinkers must be convinced by that!
Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using #geothermal, #hydro, #solar or #wind power.
A new report says that offshore wind could turn Atlantic Canada into an "energy superpower" akin to Texas with its oilfields.
The report says that Sable Island Bank off the coast of Nova Scotia alone could accommodate at least 1,000 offshore turbines, enough to generate about 70,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year – twice the amount of energy now used in the region.
Good news if true – and if governments & businesses act on it?
Before steamships came along, sailing ships like Cutty Sark went pretty much everywhere, and they weren’t dependent on hopping between fossil fuel depots. They had less clockwork-like predictability, but greater freedom, lower costs & zero emissions. And now the shipping industry is making a serious effort to regain some of those advantages:
“A cargo ship fitted with giant, rigid British-designed sails has set out on its maiden voyage”
As air conditioning demand skyrocketed during the June #heatwave, so did available #solar and #wind energy. But the state's unreliable grid couldn't handle the full load available, wasting precious power.
I visited this lovely windmill today (near Rotterdam). Its power output is around 8.5 kW. It was built in 1740, so impressive for the time, but not quite even enough to boil 3 kettles at the same time today.
Last year for Fully Charged, I visited the Haliade X turbine, ~50km away, & currently one of the largest wind turbines in the world. It's rated at 14 MW or x1600 more. I wonder where we'll have got to in another 285 years time.
Meanwhile, in "sign of the times" news, what used to be the world's largest steel plant is being transformed into a wind turbine factory.
It's based in Maryland and is intended to build the steel foundations and other turbine components to be used in offshore wind projects off the east coast.
#Grains of sand... are surprisingly roomy when it comes to energy storage —
"Capable of storing 100 MWh of #ThermalEnergy from #solar and #wind sources, it will enable residents to eliminate oil from their district heating network, helping to cut emissions by nearly 70[%]."
Alberta’s decision to “pause” #green energy development has disappointed Indigenous communities and businesses.
A regulator review will prohibit approvals of new wind, solar, thermal and hydroelectric applications until Feb. 29, 2024, and is expected to impact 118 projects, six undertaken by Chiniki First Nation, Paul Band, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Piikani Nation and Sawridge First Nation.
To become climate neutral until 2040 the state of Bavaria needs to build 104 wind turbines every year. With the first quarter of 2024 coming to an end we should be at 26 turbines. To keep track of the actual progress, Greenpeace has installed a counter in the Munich city center. Below is a picture I took today of the counter
Ukraine and Germany intend to build wind farm around Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (www.pravda.com.ua)
Ukraine and Germany have signed a declaration of intent to build a wind farm around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
The world's largest offshore wind farm produces its first power (www.cnbc.com)
Development of the project is taking place in three phases.