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Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

bbc.com

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Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#151

Post by Tuna-Fish »

Ma8ee wrote: post #131
boustrophedon wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other direct or indirect sources of deaths are there from nuclear power?

Mining and transport of uranium ore, processed fuel and nuclear waste. I don’t know how significant those are. My main concern with nuclear power is that they still haven’t managed to create any active long term storage of the nuclear waste. And before that, we don’t know the full actual cost of the energy.

> Mining and transport of uranium ore, processed fuel and nuclear waste. I don’t know how significant those are.

Completely and utterly insignificant, to the point where it is downright insulting when they are brought into a discussion about how 10000 people die of coal-related air quality problems every year in Europe.

> My main concern with nuclear power is that they still haven’t managed to create any active long term storage of the nuclear waste. And before that, we don’t know the full actual cost of the energy.

Sure we have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repo...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#152

Post by jotm »

rowanG077 wrote: post #38
renegading wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The carbon is captured when the tree grows and then released when the wood is burned. This is different from fossil fuels where it is underground.

How is that different? Fossil fuels were also captured many years ago. The only difference is the number of years.

Eh, well, how is humans dying out different than dinosaurs dying out? The only difference is the species :D

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#153

Post by jcheng »

heipei wrote: post #122
renaudg wrote: post #106

Every time there's a thread on the topic, I like to share this fantastic realtime map of the carbon intensity of electricity production in various countries : https://www.electricitymap.org/map As I write this, the UK's intensity is 326 gCO₂eq/kWh, which is nothing to write home about. This is better than the worst European offender (coal-loving Poland : 652g) as well as Baltic countries, the Netherlands and Germany…

I don't know how any German in their right mind can continue supporting coal (especially lignite) even if you were to ignore all the fancy carbon emission calculations. Lignite is won using strip-mining here, and by here I mean in the most populous state of Germany between the major Ruhr area and Düsseldorf/Cologne, all major population centers. From where I live, I have to drive straight through these mines whenever…

Look at the size of those excavators--the bulldozer in the lower left of the image looks like a forgotten child's toy by comparison! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garzweiler_surface_mine#/media...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#154

Post by toyg »

Tuna-Fish wrote: post #151
Ma8ee wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining and transport of uranium ore, processed fuel and nuclear waste. I don’t know how significant those are. My main concern with nuclear power is that they still haven’t managed to create any active long term storage of the nuclear waste. And before that, we don’t know the full actual cost of the energy.

> Mining and transport of uranium ore, processed fuel and nuclear waste. I don’t know how significant those are. Completely and utterly insignificant, to the point where it is downright insulting when they are brought into a discussion about how 10000 people die of coal-related air quality problems every year in Europe. > My main concern with nuclear power is that they still haven’t managed to create any active long…

> Sure we have.

Basically we just bury it and hope for the best, it will be someone else's problem anyway.

> The Onkalo repository is expected to be large enough to accept canisters [...] until around 2120.[13] At this point, the final encapsulation and burial will take place, and the access tunnel will be backfilled and sealed.

We go from "dig it out" to "dig it in". Very sustainable. /s

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#155

Post by Jerry2 »

gruez wrote: post #98
Jerry2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called "biomass" and it's a massive scam that harms the environment. Michael Moore and Jeff Gibbs released a recent documentary on it [0] that was censored by the "green" industry. As you watch the documentary, do some fact checking on your own [1]. [0] https://vimeo.com/423114384 [1] https://planetofthehumans.com/fact-check-bible/

>that was censored by the "green" industry Can you elaborate on this? How was this done?

Certain interests filed DMCA takedown notices after the movie has accumulated over 8 million views on Youtube.

Michael Moore talks about it in his podcast and you can also read about it on their website:

https://deadline.com/2020/05/planet-of-the-humans-pulled-you...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#156

Post by Jerry2 »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #27
Jerry2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called "biomass" and it's a massive scam that harms the environment. Michael Moore and Jeff Gibbs released a recent documentary on it [0] that was censored by the "green" industry. As you watch the documentary, do some fact checking on your own [1]. [0] https://vimeo.com/423114384 [1] https://planetofthehumans.com/fact-check-bible/

> do some fact checking on your own At a glance, it doesn't look good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Humans#Scientifi... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/28/climate-...

The Guardian is an extremely biased source. They even refused, multiple times, to run an Op-Ed from the creators.

https://deadline.com/2020/05/planet-of-the-humans-pulled-you...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#157

Post by Jerry2 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #23
Jerry2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called "biomass" and it's a massive scam that harms the environment. Michael Moore and Jeff Gibbs released a recent documentary on it [0] that was censored by the "green" industry. As you watch the documentary, do some fact checking on your own [1]. [0] https://vimeo.com/423114384 [1] https://planetofthehumans.com/fact-check-bible/

That's the first time I heard that the "green" industry gets to censor what I watch. Comments like yours make me doubt objections to biomass. There is no need to use this sort of language if you have some real arguments against it.

They did censor it.

https://deadline.com/2020/05/planet-of-the-humans-pulled-you...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#158

Post by BLKNSLVR »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #143
renaudg wrote: post #106

Every time there's a thread on the topic, I like to share this fantastic realtime map of the carbon intensity of electricity production in various countries : https://www.electricitymap.org/map As I write this, the UK's intensity is 326 gCO₂eq/kWh, which is nothing to write home about. This is better than the worst European offender (coal-loving Poland : 652g) as well as Baltic countries, the Netherlands and Germany…

It looks like somebody needs to inform Australia that solar exists and they get a lot of sunlight.

Australians know. The government, however, behaves as if beholden to the fossil fuel lobby.

South Australia installed the largest lithium ion battery in the world[0], and the federal government rubbished it as not fit for purpose and to small too make any difference.

Have you ever known the government of any country to play down the installation of the biggest X in the world, in their own country, rather than using it as an advertising opportunity for how technologically progressive and advanced the country is?

Australia's Prime Minister compared the usefulness of the battery to "the big banana" in Coffs Harbor, a tourist attraction[1], and the Energy Minister, of all people, compared it to Kim Kardashian.

[0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Power_Reserve

[1]https://m.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/scott-morrison-mock...

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#159

Post by tomp »

the8472 wrote: post #137
tomp wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it displaces growing food crops But does it? Not all food is suitable for growing crops; even less industrial farming crops, which requires tons of (fossil-fueled) fertilizer, so almost no soil is appropriate. But still, I imagine you need certain flatness to even begin thinking about machine farming. Forests on the other hand can grow on all kinds of land, same with free range animals, and presumably doesn't re…

My understanding is that forest left to mature, i.e. not harvested, stores more carbon than intensely managed ones.

Not really, unless the resulting carbon somehow gets stored underground (e.g. trees become coal). Even carbon from soil eventually gets released (by bacteria) or reused (by other plants).

Really, the only question is the biomass of trees. 1MT trees left to grow for 100 years == 2MT of trees harvested every 50 years.

Re: Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power

#160

Post by rapnie »

rapnie wrote: post #50
abhorrence wrote: post #2

The wood pellets are interesting —- if we were growing forests at the same rate as we consume them via the pellets, would it be close enough to a closed loop system?

I saw a documentary a while back related to the Netherlands, where they traced lots of these wood imports as coming from the US, mostly bought from private land owners cutting down pristine forest.

Coincidentally on TV today (program Beau). About wood pellets coming from North Carolina where large areas of forest are completely cut down. Enviva Biomass is one of the big producers driving things in NL. There's lotsa subsidies involved, and local governments like it, as it constitutes a transition from gas to an 'intermediary' fuel.
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