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Topic: The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread (Read 98826 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #15 –
Was reading recently that rooftop solar feeding into the grid can now cause instability problems because of the sheer volume of it. Apparently the generation companies often have to just turn it off.
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #16 –
Quote from: PaulP – on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDpNcJcVqxA

What a horror story. The conduct of Exon/Chevron is beyond reprehensible... then enter the satanic figure of Judge Kaplan. If there isn't a screenplay being written right now about this entire vulgar farce I'll chew off my own legs. The legal groundswell against Kaplan is huge and growing, he'll die disgraced and an example of bench corruption to the max.
Only our ruthless best, from Board to bootstudders will get us no. 17

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #17 –
Quote from: Baggers – on
What a horror story. The conduct of Exon/Chevron is beyond reprehensible... then enter the satanic figure of Judge Kaplan. If there isn't a screenplay being written right now about this entire vulgar farce I'll chew off my own legs. The legal groundswell against Kaplan is huge and growing, he'll die disgraced and an example of bench corruption to the max.

It would be bad enough even as a one off. But I imagine there's several of those types of catastrophes we don't know about.  And Steven Donziger ? I don't really know what to say about his courage and bravery.

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #19 –
This thread should really be called "The Climate / Environment Thread". If someone at HQ could please change it, that would be great.

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #20 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Nuclear is the elephant in the room....
20 years ago when i was studying engineering, the lecturer was raving about how good Nuclear is and despite best intentions solar, wind etc they were nowhere near it. The major problem with it is public perception.

20 years on, nothing is changed.

We need to change the publics view on nuclear power and we can get rid of coal forever.

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #22 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Nuclear is the elephant in the room....Solar generated power fed back into the grid causes regulation problems for power distributors and often leads to power distributors switching off feeds. Its not reliable and wind turbines are not really clean or green either and their output is trivial. You take a lot of land , kill a lot of animals, sink concrete into the ground for foundations and mine land looking for rare earth magnets for the turbines. The housings are steel with fibreglass blades in the main, its as about as green as the exhaust from my old HG Holden. You need way more material to make a wind turbine than a gas turbine.....
The way forward is Gas and Nuclear and thats where the money needs to be put to work.....
Perfect summation EB. Drive around France, Nukes everywhere, time to think smart.
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton cannot win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #23 –
Quote from: kruddler – on
20 years ago when i was studying engineering, the lecturer was raving about how good Nuclear is and despite best intentions solar, wind etc they were nowhere near it. The major problem with it is public perception.


20 years on, nothing is changed.

We need to change the publics view on nuclear power and we can get rid of coal forever.
Agree..35 years ago I was studying Elec Engineering out at Swinburne and they said the same things.....Chernobyl created a lot of negatives for Nuclear though and its the go to argument for anti nukers.
Needless to say the plants that have been operating successfully and safely around the world are never mentioned...440 Reactors that produce about 10% of the worlds energy, France have really embraced the technology and generate 70% of their power this way or close to it.
Some Stats on all the different countries embracing the technology....
https://www.statista.com/statistics/267158/number-of-nuclear-reactors-in-operation-by-country/

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #24 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Agree..35 years ago I was studying Elec Engineering out at Swinburne and they said the same things.....Chernobyl created a lot of negatives for Nuclear though and its the go to argument for anti nukers.
Needless to say the plants that have been operating successfully and safely around the world are never mentioned...440 Reactors that produce about 10% of the worlds energy, France have really embraced the technology and generate 70% of their power this way or close to it.
Some Stats on all the different countries embracing the technology....
https://www.statista.com/statistics/267158/number-of-nuclear-reactors-in-operation-by-country/


Coal generates about 40% of the worlds power.....and there are about 2500 plants.
10% from nuclear power and only 440 plants.

Ditch the coal plants, have nuclear plants and overall you'll have less plants as nuclear is far more efficient....and better for the environment despite the potential issues.

With Nuclear there is the potential for something to go wrong.....so many safe guards in place nowadays makes it unlikely. But reality is they are super safe. Chenobyl occured because they were actually forcing a meltdown and shut off some failsafes as an exercise. Oops. That was human error.....which has been fixed nowadays.

With Coal, there is not the potential for something to go wrong.....just its everyday operation is wrong. Its death by a thousand cuts. its constantly hurting the environment and its just a matter of when we go beyond breaking point (if we haven't already).


Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #25 –
When the lights start going out, the air-conditioners turn off, and you can't cook on your induction stove because gas was banned, then the public will be asking where is the nuclear!

Monocultures are death, no matter whether it's a plant or a power scheme!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #26 –
Quote from: kruddler – on
With Coal, there is not the potential for something to go wrong.....just its everyday operation is wrong. Its death by a thousand cuts. its constantly hurting the environment and its just a matter of when we go beyond breaking point (if we haven't already).
Interestingly, more radiation is emitted as particulates from the ordinary daily operation of brown coal fired power plants than any ordinary daily operation of a nuclear plant. It's also a problem for clean coal, because whatever particulate solids you collect is basically concentrating the radioactive particulates.
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #27 –
Quote from: cookie2 – on
Was reading recently that rooftop solar feeding into the grid can now cause instability problems because of the sheer volume of it. Apparently the generation companies often have to just turn it off.
Technically they don't turn it off but they cut it off from feeding back into the grid, and the owner/user then losses feedback credit$. This is the reason why most areas limit feedback to 5kW, because the problems caused by sun and clouds means a completely unstable power grid.

It takes many minutes for the large centralised power stations to ramp up or wind down when demand for power changes, Solar PV changes performance as fast as the shadow of a cloud or plane passes over the cells.

This isn't a cartel issue, it's a technical issue, that prevents the infrastructure failing or catching fire even! I read an article by an Electrical Engineer that Solar PV can produce a pulse equivalent to a solar flare, if unregulated that is potentially enough to melt the big HV overhead distribution lines!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #28 –
Quote from: LP – on
Technically they don't turn it off but they cut it off from feeding back into the grid, and the owner/user then losses feedback credit$. This is the reason why most areas limit feedback to 5kW, because the problems caused by sun and clouds means a completely unstable power grid.

It takes many minutes for the large centralised power stations to ramp up or wind down when demand for power changes, Solar PV changes performance as fast as the shadow of a cloud or plane passes over the cells.

This isn't a cartel issue, it's a technical issue, that prevents the infrastructure failing or catching fire even! I read an article by an Elelctrical Engineer that Solar PV can produce a pulse equivalent to a solar flare, if unregulated that is potentially enough to melt the big HV overhead distribution lines!
The bolded text is very true and this is exactly what happens, you have the added complication of a hybrid carrier system where a lot of old transmission gear joins with new equipment causing failure when these spikes occur. Ausnet in particular have this as a major issue for their engineering staff.

Re: The Climate Thread

Reply #29 –
I was interested to read about the Chairperson of a major Superannuation Fund calling for our government to end to carryover credits.

Primarily they have been used/gamed by some governments and large multinationals as a stalling tactic, a way to carry on regardless while others make up for them ignoring climate action. For example, the concept that a large car company that has reduced the fuel consumption of it's vehicles in previous years gets a credit.

A good example of gaming, I believe one SE Asian nation / organisation obtained credits for planting oil palm as a form of greenhouse offset/reduction despite that planting occurring as a replacement of previously destroyed old growth forest.

btw., I've read reports that rebut the claim carryover credits benefit multinationals as they are only applied to nation states, but the problem is governments own some of the biggest offenders!

But I concede, while it will force more to become genuinely involved in the process it may also have a negative impact on certain sectors. Those credits, when not being gamed, are often what fund some of the most aggressive and progressive forward action. This is perhaps where a big superannuation fund can flex it's muscle.
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"