Energy, the environment & climate change.

[Nightmare Walking]

I’ve got a masters degree in Renewable Energy Engineering. There are so many obstacles in place preventing the government achieving this net zero goal they have its ridiculous. Technical, financial, behavioural and having enough ppl to actually do all the work.

I am doing my masters now mate. Did you do yours at Loughborough?

 

[Nightmare Walking]

Don't forget 'windmill cancer'...

Vast swathes of wind/solar farms north of LA that I've driven past a few times. Perfect location for them up there as it's fairly open and windy, plus the sun shines a LOT. Other locations like you say are not the best. They do have an impact, but are they are better than the alternative overall? Environmentally, yes. But in terms of lifestyle we'd all have to make huge changes to the way we live.

Given that solar doesn't produce when the sun doesn't shine and wind turbines don't produce if they aren't turning which means that the biggest problem is going to be storing the energy once it has been converted from mechanical to electrical energy or direct from PV. Maybe we'll have to improve efficiency of devices and rely on low capacity storage solutions at a more local level to negate transfer losses, but even that has its drawbacks with the finite supply of materials to make batteries.

As Kermit the Frog once said 'It's not easy being green'.

The efficiency of solar is pretty much fixed. It comes down to the energy band gap of the semiconductor material. If using silicon it is theoretically impossible to get over a certain level of efficiency.
There are people who are adding different materials together (adding a layer of perovskite to silicon) which can boost the efficiency a bit, but these technologies are just coming on line.

The same is applicable to wind turbines, they will never be able to theoretically go above around 50% efficiency, as it is practically impossible to have infinite sized blades.

To be fair, efficiency is just a selling point for the manufacturers. Wind turbines and photovoltaics do not operate at standard conditions.

 

[mancity1]

Don't forget 'windmill cancer'...

Vast swathes of wind/solar farms north of LA that I've driven past a few times. Perfect location for them up there as it's fairly open and windy, plus the sun shines a LOT. Other locations like you say are not the best. They do have an impact, but are they are better than the alternative overall? Environmentally, yes. But in terms of lifestyle we'd all have to make huge changes to the way we live.

Given that solar doesn't produce when the sun doesn't shine and wind turbines don't produce if they aren't turning which means that the biggest problem is going to be storing the energy once it has been converted from mechanical to electrical energy or direct from PV. Maybe we'll have to improve efficiency of devices and rely on low capacity storage solutions at a more local level to negate transfer losses, but even that has its drawbacks with the finite supply of materials to make batteries.

As Kermit the Frog once said 'It's not easy being green'.

Brilliant I love this simple summary of pro's and cons.

the fact that China is going gung ho on new and established coal fired power stations taking the piss on the US in their usual way is disturbing.

When our PM asked for the origins of the Wuhan virus to be investigated in our media alone with no formal request to any official because they refuse to talk to out Minister of Trade we got stung with massive taxes on barley , beef, coal ,wine and the list goes on.

The WTO China led investigation if we can call it that suggested in its drivel of 34 pages of a report it is still possible the virus was imported into China from frozen food (LOL).

this is China and the CCP , they take the piss out of everyone and call it fact.

I was very happy to see the massive protests in Adelaide yesterday when the drop kick premier over there was flooded with water over his car as he tried to sneak out of the new massive ugly Chinese Consulate building opening.

 

[Fat Chance]

 

[Chippy_boy]

The steaming hypocrite should shut the fuck up about subjects upon which he has no qualifications nor expertise to make sensible comment or contribution. I value his comments about as much as those of Prince "call me dunce" Charles.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

In response to a post in the US Politics thread (@Nightmare Walking).

I often see this topic pop up in other threads, and people have some very strong opinions on the subject, often without having a particularly good understanding of the big picture stuff, let alone the finer details.

I'm by no means an expert on the subject. In fact I've probably only just scratched the surface myself. As an inhabitant of this planet I have a vested interest in doing my small part to make a difference (for the better) to the environment. In reality, in just by being alive we have a negative impact on the environment and no amount of 'green' practices are ever going to change that, certainly not in the 'developed' world.

I posted this in the Attenborough Perfect Planet thread recently;

“
Just watching the final episode now.

I’ve spoken a lot about us needing a health revolution off the back of Covid. But I’ll tell you what, it won’t matter how healthy we are; Brexit won’t matter, Tories, Labour, racism, homophobia, tackling prejudices, equality, pandemics, lockdowns, our jobs, money, football, music, trainers, none of it will matter... because humans will be extinct!

How much more airtime on the News or talktime in our lives do all those things get over and above the amount of air/talktime the destruction of the planet gets? Go through the threads across this and the Politcs part of the forum and have a look at how many people are talking about climate, the environment, extinction... the Brexit thread is on about its Fourth Edition but this thread went into hibernation after a page and a half!

We concentrate on far too much of the wrong things. The most important thing in the world is looking after the planet and making it the best possible place it can be for humans and other species to, not just survive, but thrive for as long as possible.

Concentrating on political points scoring either way over who’s in government, or looking at the USA’s political and social issues like it’s a reality TV show... they are not important!

How many of us “do our bit”?

I’ve got rid of my car, I cycle run and walk everywhere (sometimes get the bus), I try to not buy plastics, try not put the heating on if I can help it, and I now vote for the Green Party... but I still use a lot of electricity, I still eat meat despite knowing how much farming contributes to CO2 emissions, and I’m not proactive in trying to change things. I don’t do anywhere near enough, but some people do nothing!

And even if I did completely change to a Green life, what good is one man doing it when the UK population grew by ~350,000 last year despite an excess deaths of 15% on top of the usual ~650,000 deaths we usually have a year. So despite some people going Green, despite Covid killing 100,000+ people, we are still 350,000 people up on this time a year ago. That’s 350,000 more carbon footprints. And globally, despite a global pandemic, the net population growth in 2020 was ~82,000,000. That’s the entire population of Germany more in the world, an entire country’s carbon footprint extra in a year, and what about the years before that and the years ahead? And what are govts doing about this unsustainable population growth and unsustainable way we treat the planet?

Why is hardly anybody talking about this? Why does the News spend every day moaning about schools reopening and lockdown ending, then moaning that schools reopened and lockdown ended too early, then moaning that schools should close and we should go into lockdown again... why is Katie Price getting interviewed live on BBC News about a programme where she’s simply cashing in on her son’s disability?.. why aren’t they talking about the planet, not just more, but some days/weeks/months at all?

And why aren’t we?
”

 

[chesterbells]

Doc on sewage uses the other night was very interesting; energy from urine.
EDIT.
If anyone thinks I’m taking the piss, here’s the link - about halfway through...

BBC Two - The Secret Science of Sewage

The revolutionary science finding renewable resources and undiscovered life in sewage.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I think some things we do, such as the way plastics are dumped into the oceans, are absolutely diabolical and should be a source of shame to all of us.

That said, I really don't buy into this narrative of "climate catastrophe" with respect to CO2 and warming etc. Climate change is a much better term. Our climate is always changing and yes the rate of change is faster but that does not mean the world will end. It will simply be a bit different, with some places warmer and wetter, others drier and some colder. And we are talking decades upon decades before there's anything dramatically detrimental and even then there will be some upsides never discussed, such as less people dying of cold, places which are currently not arable becoming viable for agriculture.

Neither do people typically consider the technological advances which may occur over the next 100 years to put changes into reverse if needed. "Free" clean energy from nuclear fusion reactors meaning near zero athropogenic CO2 output. Enormous carbon sequestration capability, either man-made or bio-engineered, for example.

It's not something for us to become complacent about, for sure. But it's not something to lose sleep over either, IMO. The hysteria around it is perhaps caused by people who wrongly believe the world is ending (because they know no better) and by factions whose self-interest is served by fuelling this melodrama. It's naïve to think that all of the content being pushed out is done with virtuous intent. Some of it is done for commercial gain. Does anyone think Elon Musk is on a mission to save the planet? I don't. Ditto to what extent are Volvo (for example) so concerned about the environment? Vs concerned about how to continue to sell cars?

The world won’t end, in fact, long term, the world will thrive without humans; but the world will extinct many species if things don’t change. This could include humans, we aren’t particularly advanced physiologically to deal with what could come, compared to, say, crocodiles.

Have a watch of the series Earth: The Power Of The Planet with Prof. Iain Scott; Attenborough’s two episodes called The Facts (Climate Change and Extinction); and Attenborough’s Perfect Planet.

The first was made in 2007, and the second and third last year. In just 13 years some of the warning signs have come true.

Look at how many species are going extinct every year:

Animals that went extinct in 2020 and ones that could disappear after 2021

Species of orangutans, dolphins, lemurs and hamsters are in trouble.

www.google.co.uk

Redirect Notice

And it’s not just Climate Change that’s the problem, it’s plastics, it’s unsustainable population growth, it’s the destruction of wilderness and human habitation coming into contact with animals we shouldn’t be or it’s illegal hunting and trafficking of animals we shouldn’t be coming into contact with that are causing and will cause pandemics...

 

[Summerbuzz]

Two more round me dumped their cars - one due to epilepsy, other dumped his Octavia VRS for a work van (with his missus getting a Cinquecento). And I've finally mastered the recycling!

But I suppose it's not a lot compared to Cryptocurrency.

What a fucking disaster that is.

Should be banned until we can mine at 10x efficiency.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Only way to sort the planet is a cull of the majority of human beings, the first lockdown I was one of those allowed to experience a world without basically humans. Travelling to work was a joy, the environment was cleaner, at home birds returned to the garden and as we all saw pollution dropped dramatically. Dolphins in the cabals of Venice. Let’s fast forward to today and the great unwashed have been released, they are in the parks leaving shit everywhere, if you think this bunch of selfish pricks will do anything but help themselves you are sadly mistaken. Maybe COVID is a way of nature getting its own back and maybe the beginning of many more attempts to wipe us out.
If I’m lucky I’ve another 40/50 years on this planet I feel for my daughter who will have to deal with shit that has been caused by me and others of my generation. Let’s face it the planet won’t miss us when we are gone but we will miss it when it’s gone.