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Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

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Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#121

Post by eigenvector »

ams6110 wrote: post #111
andreasley wrote: post #46

I've noticed that Switzerland, using a lot of hydropower, has a worse intensity than I expected. The CO2 numbers for the different types of power generation seem to come from Wikipedia [1], where Hydropower has a median gCO2eq/kWh of 24 and a maximum of 2200 – much worse than coal. This seems to be based on the fact that large areas may be flooded when filling the dam initially, and CO2 from rotting plants is release…

CO2 from rotting plants is not a problem, as that is basically "current" not "fossilized" carbon that is being released.

That is true, but if the reservoir causes said "current" carbon to be emitted as CH4 not CO2 it will have a much higher greenhouse effect than it would under ordinary circumstances.

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#122

Post by davedx »

ajmurmann wrote: post #66
_ph_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you read those conversations, you might notice that people think that - nuclear is very expensive - nuclear has a waste and risk problem - wind and solar are price competitive and very environment friendly

If you look at German power generation at this very moment you will see that they have huge wind and solar capacity, but the energy right now is mainly coming from coal. I'm not sure if I should prefer nuclear or coal to step in in these wind still winter days. Of course more energy storage would be even better.

Germany has some problems building the high voltage interconnects between north and south. Once these finally get built, their power grid will be more flexible, which will help.

Of course, those dreaded winter dips in both sunshine and wind are a nightmare...

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#123

Post by roryisok »

andreasley wrote: post #46

I've noticed that Switzerland, using a lot of hydropower, has a worse intensity than I expected. The CO2 numbers for the different types of power generation seem to come from Wikipedia [1], where Hydropower has a median gCO2eq/kWh of 24 and a maximum of 2200 – much worse than coal. This seems to be based on the fact that large areas may be flooded when filling the dam initially, and CO2 from rotting plants is release…

I guess the low end of the spectrum is for non-dam based hydro. Northern Ireland has tidal power from the tide coming into and going out of a natural lough

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#124

Post by hellofunk »

I had no idea there was such a widespread difference in the source of electricity a among citizens of countries in Europe, even neighbouring countries. Look at how most of France is nuclear powered (!) compared to coal for Germany and gas for Netherlands. Such differences in a very small space!

I'm kinda amazed by this!

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#125

Post by hokkos »

Sami_Lehtinen wrote: post #120

Russia -> Finland imports are missing: http://www.fingrid.fi/en/electricity-market/power-system/Pag... Nordic power map: http://www.fingrid.fi/en/electricity-market/power-system/Pag... Finland is currently building two nuclear power plants to provide more green energy. Wind & Solar, aren't that great options at all. Btw. I love the visualizations.

You can help them, it's on github : https://github.com/corradio/electricitymap#contribute

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#126

Post by ptaipale »

ollifi wrote: post #110
ptaipale wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These incidents are an exception to the rule where coal is worse every other day of the year , as well as when looking at the total. Chernobyl was the decisive moment for me: you have the Soviets screwing it up in the worst way possible, my home place in southern Finland being one of the most affected places on Earth due to winds in April 1986, and the results are not worse than this? Bring it on, it's surely better…

Not sure how good option nuclear is with the recent experience with Olkiluoto 3. Probably safe yes, but maybe too expensive?

Possibly, though that seems to be a problem of the vendor, not the power company.

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#127

Post by justincormack »

dantheman wrote: post #32
avar wrote: post #5

Does anyone know of interesting tours you can take of electricity production in Europe or energy infrastructure in general? I'm in The Netherlands, but would be willing to travel for it. A real tour of a nuclear plant would be awesome (i.e. getting to hear / see the reactor), but tours of wind farms / turbines / dams etc. would also be great. Preferably in English.

It would be next to impossible to get access to a commissioned nuclear powerplant and enter containment as a visitor. However, there is a nuclear power plant in vienna that was never used and can be visited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwentendorf_Nuclear_Power_Plan... Additionally, many universities have research reactors - they often have tours or a tour can be easily arranged.

Great tour description here by Charlie Stross http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/rants/nothing-li...

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#128

Post by jonathansizz »

melling wrote: post #37
_ph_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you read those conversations, you might notice that people think that - nuclear is very expensive - nuclear has a waste and risk problem - wind and solar are price competitive and very environment friendly

Wind kills lots of birds. http://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-... Add 100x the current number and we'll have a big problem. Downvoted to hell because "We don't like what you're saying". Wind has a negative. it's just a fact, not an opinion.

According to the US Fish & Wildlife service, wind turbine deaths are tiny compared with many other human causes.

https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/threats-to-birds....

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#129

Post by Retric »

necessity wrote: post #106
noselasd wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've noticed that Switzerland, using a lot of hydropower, has a worse intensity than I expected. The carbon intensity on the map seems to be for consumed kWh, not produced kWh. The map indicates Switzerland imports a lot of electricity from Austria and Germany which have a much higher carbon intensity.

Then this map is irrelevant. Winds blowing out of a country with high CO2 emission actually don't mean anything, since there is not actually high CO2 emission there, they import it from elesewhere.

Wind is there to show potential for wind energy collection from wind farms.

Re: Live display of CO2 emitted to produce electricity in European countries

#130

Post by Retric »

eigenvector wrote: post #121
ams6110 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO2 from rotting plants is not a problem, as that is basically "current" not "fossilized" carbon that is being released.

That is true, but if the reservoir causes said "current" carbon to be emitted as CH4 not CO2 it will have a much higher greenhouse effect than it would under ordinary circumstances.

Ch4 is fairly temperary with limited long term effects after 20 years.*

Yes, you see numbers over 0-20 vs 0-100 but things look different at 0-20 vs 20-100.

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