30/11/2021
Traditional solar panels use photovoltaic cells to absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity, offering the promise of clean, renewable energy. While useful, conventional solar cells are opaque, limiting their use to only a few specific applications, such as roof top solar systems or large solar farms. Ubiquitous Energy has expanded what’s possible in photovoltaic technology. They have engineered new solar cells to selectively transmit visible light, what we see, while absorbing and converting invisible ultraviolet and infrared light into electricity. This makes Ubiquitous Energy™ technology the first truly transparent solar technology, allowing windows to convert ambient light into useful electricity without impacting aesthetics or performance. Ubiquitous Energy’s coating harvests solar energy and serves as an invisible, onboard source of electricity, painted soto speak onto a traditional window. The window transmits about 80% of the light which makes it comparable to traditional glass and it insulates the houses in the same way. We have seedn designs like this before but this is the first to be transparent.
Photo https://ubiquitous.energy/technology/
29/11/2021
Most
US trains are diesel powered and there has been a lot of resistance to
electrification over the last few years because the only account for 2% of the
transportation costs for diesel freight trains do manage to admit 35000,000
metric tons of CO2 annually. The recent dramatic decline in battery prices have
created a new possibility for electrification by retrofitting diesel trains to
turn them into diesel electric trains. It is now economically viable to do this
but whether America wants to do this is another matter. In diesel electric
trains the diesel engine is connected to an alternator but then supplies
electricity to electric motors using powerlines to power the trains is not
usually feasible because of the vast distances involved however powering these
trains by batteries is more feasible. Now the weights of batteries are less of
a constraint and could make these trains more efficient and more carbon
friendly.Photo Pixelbay
28/11/2021
Recent results
published in tree physiology from a large-scale experiment led by the
University of Birmingham have shown that an old oak forest when subjected to
increasing levels of carbon dioxide will consistently increase the rate of
photosynthesis and thereby increase the rate of uptake of carbon dioxide.
Researchers have been measuring the leaf size and the wood and the roots and
the soil to find out where the extra carbon that is captured ends up and how
long it stays locked up in this oak forest. The increase in photosynthesis is a
cause greatest in strong sunlight however it has been shown that the extra
carbon did not change in the leaves and the oak trees have found ways of
redirecting all the elements to balance the amount of carbon they have gained
from the atmosphere.
Photo Philip M Russell
27/11/2021
Implementation
of the energy efficiency existing ship index looks like it could reduce the
carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 6.6% on the movement of bulk carriers
according to a new study carried out by the Helsinki-based Maritime software
services NAPA. The energy efficiency existing ship index was adopted in June
this year and will go further in November 2022 with the full requirement taking
effect By the 1st of January 2023 and this will restrict their carbon dioxide
emissions based on the ships design specifications which means limiting the
engine power. The study by the NAPA has demonstrated that the energy efficiency
existing ship index could reduce the amount of carbon intensity which would
outweigh the reductions on the lost transport capacity.
Photo by PhilpC under CC Licence
26/11/2021
A Canadian-based company FuelPositive has
developed a new system to produce green ammonia from water air powered by green
energy, that can produce ammonia at a much cheaper price than the current
Born-Haber systems. The company uses electrolysers which split water molecules
into hydrogen and oxygen with a new proprietary reactor that combines nitrogen
from the air with the hydrogen using much lower temperatures and much lower
pressures than the current system which results in ammonia being produced at
60% of the cost of current systems. The system is sold inside a plug and play
shipping container sized box that can be installed anywhere the ammonia is
required which also eliminates transport costs of the ammonia which can be up
to 50% of the cost. Future expansions could bring down the cost even more.
About 235 million tons of ammonia are produced globally every year and much of
the energy required to make this is because current systems require high
temperatures and very high pressures and these are powered by burning fossil
fuels. These processes account for 1% of the worlds carbon emissions each year.
This new system could radically change the production of ammonia and the cost
of making it.
Photo Pixabay
25/11/2021
The number of wind turbines in nearly
every country is increasing almost day by day. When we look at these wind
turbines it’s really hard to imagine how large they really are. These wind
turbine blades only have a short life. The exact lifespan is difficult, but every ten years seems about right. They need to be regularly repaired and
sometimes they need to be replaced and replacing these wind turbine blades is
very difficult. Many of these blades land up in landfill sites because of the
difficulty in recycling them. The wind turbine blades are often made from a
fibreglass composite material that is difficult to recycle some also have
carbon fibres in them and there are no chemical processes to separate the
individual composite materials from one another in a cheap and economical way
and with these renewable energy machines it is not acceptable to dispose of the
blades in landfill sites. Slowly companies are discovering ways of recycling
these blades and it is hoped by 2030 that 100% of them will be able to be
recycled.
Photo Pixabay
24/11/2021
Over
the past few years more and more electric vehicles have been sold in Norway and
this is starting to create a problem for the country. Initially Norway proposed
lots of incentives to buy electric vehicles. One of these major incentives was
that electric vehicles could travel on the toll roads free of charge. These
vehicles had toll charge exemption removed in 2017 and these vehicles were
exempted from hefty taxes including VAT and purchase tax which made these cars
cheaper than their equivalent cars with an internal combustion engine. With so
many electric vehicles now on the road Norway is not managing to raise enough
taxes from the petrol and diesel cars and so they are starting to scrap some of
the new incentives to persuade people to buy electric cars which is putting
into doubt the target of selling no more combustion engines by 2025.
Photo Pixabay
23/11/2021
In Australia, 38 per
cent of its assessed fish stocks were classified as ‘overfished’, while 60 per
cent of the total catch in the country’s water could not be captured because
there was insufficient data to estimate stock health, in a paper published by
the Minderoo Flourishing Oceans Initiative.
Many countries in
South east Asia do not report any fishing catches at all. So the position is
very hard to find out.
Vietnam, Malaysia,
Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Peru and Russia which are among the biggest
fishing countries in the world, were among 18 other countries that received an
F grade for their work, while the US, Chile and Norway received the highest mark
but this was only a C Grade.
The paper found that
a tenth of fish stocks globally are on the brink of collapse, reduced to just
10 per cent of their original size. This was particularly concerning because
fish populations could take several decades to recover.
49 per cent of the
1465 assessed fish stocks had been overfished, meaning they had less than 40
per cent of their unfished population left. Previous estimates by the
United Nations placed the percentage of overfished fisheries about 34 per
cent.
Photo Pixabay
22/11/2021
The
prime minister Boris Johnson Is set today to announce that all new home will be
required to have electric vehicle charging stations from 2022 and that major
renovations also see these points having to be fitted. The government has
already announced that by the end of 2030 there will be no more sales of
traditional petrol and diesel cars and vans and that by 2035 the sale of hybrid
vehicles will also end. This is not a major change in government thinking but
trying to push on the adoption of electric vehicles. It is generally the young
people that are more green conscious and new homes for these young people could
be a way of driving the sales of more electric vehicles. If electric vehicles
are to become more common then there is going to be a dramatic need for more
charging points. Homes that have a garage or a hard standing space for cars
will be easy to adapt so that they can have a charging point but for houses
that have only on street parking there is still a dilemma here. Over the next
few years we will see many more electric vehicle charging points appear all
over the country to make travel in these electric vehicles more comfortable.
Using a normal wall plug at home to charge an electric vehicle takes a long
time and it is far better to have a dedicated charging point but the cost of
one of these is about £800.
Photo Pixabay
21/11/2021
Young
people see themselves often as eco-warriors they see the future of the world
devastated my wildfires flooded by rising sea levels and polluted out of
existence. Many of the right-wing parties in all countries seem to be
reclaiming a green image. Many of these parties are saying that they are the
only green party and able to save their country. Many of these parties also are
using their current hates of immigrants and love nationalism to persuade young
people to join them. There seems to be a strong interplay between
environmentalism and racism and this is seen in the roots of the United States
where more calls by these extremists are being made to keep out the Mexicans
that caused all the problems in their country from entering. And many people seem
to be believing this. Environmentalism nationalism, and racism seem to be
combining in these extreme right-wing groups around the world.
Photo Pixabay
20/11/2021
All
pipelines leak and gas pipelines here are no exception in the UK we accept that
about 5% of the methane gas can naturally escape out of pipes, but because our
pipes are buried in fact this figure is lower and is currently at about 3% gas
loss. The USA tolerates a lower loss limit of 4% however studies have shown
that because pipes are above ground and probably not maintained as well the
leakage rate of methane from these pipes is at least at 9%. These fugitive
emissions equal 60% of all coal power CO2 emissions in the USA. This is also
worrying because the USA is building more gas power stations to replace their
aging and very dirty coal power stations. Methane is a very potent greenhouse
gas and scientists say that the accounted for emissions could have significant
impacts on the climate and on the USA economy the loss gas alone is worth an
estimated $2 billion a year.
Photo Philip M Russell
19/11/2021
We
understand the chemistry of most materials very well but when these materials
are made very tiny called nano particles then the chemistry often changes
dramatically. For instance silver a metal, silvery and shiny becomes yellow.
Nano particles of many rocks such as silicon dioxide and magnesium and calcium
salts behave such that they can on the surface hold onto large quantities of
carbon and carbon dioxide. It has been found recently that when glaciers rub
against rocks the fine powder or silt produced is often the size of nano
particles and this salts can also sequester large amounts of carbon and carbon
dioxide when spread over some ground. Rock powder has long been used to improve
the physical properties of soil such as water retention and drainage but it’s
also been found that this canal store vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Rocks are
ground down either by natural means or mechanical means into a very fine nano
particle powder and spreading this over a land surface enables it to remove
large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere called abiotic carbon
dioxide removal pathway. Basalt stands out as not only being a very abundant
rock resource but one with high weatherability and many plant nutrients in it
and its ability also to sequester carbon dioxide now can make this a very
valuable material to put over soil to improve plant growth.
Photo Theivasanthi
18/11/2021
The first aircraft powered by synthetic fuel was achieved by the Royal Air Force and Zero Petroleum Limited in Kemble, Cirencester, UK, on 2 November 2021. Synthetic fuels are made using renewable power (wind, solar) and efficient industrial processes (carbon capture, electrolysis, thermal reactions) and should not be confused with biofuels or fuels made from waste. The raw materials are just air and water from which are obtained the ingredients carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Zero Petroleum uses Direct FT™ (a proprietary and highly advanced version of Fischer-Tropsch) to directly manufacture target fuels (gasoline, kerosene and diesel) at high yield and with no need for refinery upgrading. Zero Petroleum have an interesting article on this process available at https://zeropetroleum.com/how-we-do-it/
Photo Zero Petroleum
17/11/2021
COP26
may have been a success or failure depending on how countries act from now on,
but regardless we are going to see temperatures increase either to 1.5° or
2.7°C. So perhaps we need to look at other ways of helping staying cool. In
Australia a new proposal is to stop dark roofs being put on houses. This will
have an enormous impact on the urban heat island effect of the cities. There
are no practical reasons why dark coloured roofs should be put on new homes and
if instead light roofs or used then houses will remain cooler during the summer
period. This means that less air-conditioning will be needed and there will be
a saving of something in the excess of 150,000 tons of carbon a year. The
simple change in using light coloured roof will keep houses significantly
cooler during the hot summer months. The UK has also seen much hotter summers
and the trend is for this to continue. Therefore it might be a good idea that
we adopt more of the Mediterranean style roofs of going lighter roofs and this
will keep our houses cooler in summer with no real detriment to anything else.
Photo Pixabay
16/11/2021
There is a company in Kenya that recycles plastic waste into a product that can be sold Plastic bricks . This is done by Nzambi Matee - Young Champion of the Earth 2020. Nzambi Matee, a 29-year-old trained engineer and schooled in biochemistry, created new ways of converting waste into sustainable materials. These bricks are stronger than concrete. As I look around the rest of the world I wonder why this can't be done anywhere else. I look at the amounts of plastic waste scattered around the countryside and in the oceans. I look at how much waste goes into landfills and I wonder if Nzambi Matee can do this making road paving and bricks for houses then why can't this happen in other parts of the world.
Photo gjenge makers ltd
15/11/2021
A
study of birds body shapes, body size and wing length have shown that in parts
of the Amazon that haven’t been touched by humans there is still a vast change
occurring in the shapes of these birds. This is almost certainly due to the
increasing hot and dry conditions that are happening in the Amazon from June to
November. A study carried out by the Louisiana State University over the last
four decades have shown that not only has the number of sensitive resident
birds throughout the Amazon declines but the body size and wind length have
changed for most of the species. The birds in the Amazon rainforest have become
smaller and their wings have become longer over several generations showing a
response to the shifting environmental conditions that include new
physiological and nutritional challenges. The scientists studied 77 different
species of rainforest birds and found that all of them had adapted to a hotter
and drier climates by reducing their wing load and becoming therefore more
energy efficient in flight. As the Amazon continues to change these Amazonian
birds who have to deal with increasingly hotter and dryer surroundings may have
to adapt more or may even die out.
Photo Pixabay
14/11/2021
It’s
major news about COP26 of India with the help of China and Iran changing the
wordings on coal emissions but but it’s also noticed is that New Delhi has had
to go into lockdown because of the serious air pollution caused by much of this
coal. Schools and construction sites in New Delhi have been forced to close
because of serious air pollution. New Delhi‘s air pollution index is at between
470 and 499 out of 500. So construction sites are having to close for four days
and schools for a week to try to minimise the exposure of the people to this
harmful pollution. all of the government activities will work from home as much
as possible to try and limit the amount of traffic on the roads. And all of
this comes when India forced the rest of the world to water down the agreements
and India still setting their climate a mission to net zero 2070.Photo Prami.ap90
13/11/2021
It’s
at the 11th hour for COP26. Still no agreement many countries are still there
even though really COP26 has finished trying to argue out and solve some of the
problems they need to get some resolutions but there are some stumbling blocks.
Can we put it in the word fossil fuels, everyone knows what we’re talking about
but countries like Saudi Arabia know that if they put in words like fossil
fuels. It could damage their economy for good. Countries don’t want to give in
they don’t want to accept that there is going to be some pain in moving away
from coal oil and gas. China can’t afford it. With no coal there is no power
and with no power there is no economy. India and Russia have the same problems.
The USA also has problems with the coal and fossil fuel lobby these companies
are very powerful and they hold great sway over the governments. Australian
doesn’t want to let go of Coal because it will damage her economy Australia
wants to sell coal for the next 50 years to keep them going. Will anyone give
in. In theory they’ve got to bring know that unless they give in the world is
headed for drastic climate change for each country want someone else to give
in. So after the conference is finished most of the countries are still there
arguing over the fine print. Will COP 26 succeed? I think it depends on a
little bit of brinkmanship who will cave in first.
Photo Pixabay
12/11/2021
The
Major Agreements of COP26 have been; More than 100 world leaders promised to
end and reverse deforestation by 2030, The US and the EU announced a global
partnership to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas methane by 2030. More than
40 countries committed to move away from coal. Some new pots of money were
announced to help developing countries adapt to climate change and deal with
the damage and loss it brings. This is probably the most important one to help
poorer nations actually do something about climate change, but is almost
certainly nothing like enough. These are the successes, but there are many
failures. Most countries are still putting economic gain ahead of anything
else. The Countries don't want to work together. Countries like India are
suffering at the hands of rising sea levels, but can't or won't get to net zero for another 50 or so years.
They need coal power to survive and some of their people perishing in pursuit
of this goal is an acceptable loss. Coal is really a problem for much of the
world. It is their life blood and they are not willing to invest in change.
Countries like China, USA and Australia really need to change their outlook and
this will now have to come from the people to elect change where they can.UN
Secretary General António Guterres said that the world was on "life
support". The summit would probably not see governments make the pledges
needed to cut CO2 emissions by enough .Scientists have stated that limiting
global temperature rises to 1.5C will help humanity avoid the worst climate
impacts. But the latest projections are for a rise of 2.7C. All the promises
governments make to reduce emissions are meaningless while these governments
continue to invest in fossil fuels.
Photo Photograph: Tuvalu Foreign Ministry/Reuters
11/11/2021
As
you enter the centre corridor of COP26 in Glasgow there’s an electric racing
car sign underneath it which says transport is responsible for 29% of global
emissions yet as the electrified car took centre stage on the transport day of
the climate summit very little if anything was said about alternative transport
such as using bikes and buses and trains and of course walking. Typical of this
conference that although some governments signed up to eliminate new car
emissions by 2040 China Germany and the USA were not on the list. One of the
major problems in turning to electric vehicles is that if all sales of petrol
and diesel vehicle stopped immediately it would still take in the region of 20
years to have all the current fossil fuel powered cars eliminated from our
roads. One alternative would be to start putting in more cycle and bus lanes
and move people to public transport. Cycling seems to be a missed opportunity
it is a low tech and low-cost solution that provides very quick climate wins on
average each kilometre travel by bike saves 150 g of carbon dioxide emissions
and if each person used to bike more each person could save in the region of
half a ton of CO2 in a year. The UK government is investing in a green public
transport policy promoting more cycling and walking as part of their 10 point
plan for a green industrial revolution but it seems a shame that other
countries aren’t following this pattern.
Photo Pixabay
10/11/2021
With
all the few changes at COP26 seeming to make a little difference to the world,
there are ways that we can cut carbon emissions dramatically and also cut 1% of
the UK total power emissions. We all notice that when we walk around the
fridge/freezer section of a supermarket its really much colder. The problem is
due to not putting doors on the fridges and freezers for easy access. All that
cold air escapes into the shop and then more energy has to be used to warm up
the place. The solution - Putting doors and fridges and freezers in
supermarkets. This is what is happening in a supermarket need you. Aldi are
putting doors on fridges in their new stores saving 20% on their energy costs
per store. They plan to going to retrofit all the old stores over the next few
months. The Co-op are doing the same. Tesco's, Sainsburys, Morrisons going to
use an air wall to force the air back into the fridge. This may separate the
heat but is an energy expensive solution that will not cut down the energy loss
as much. Lidl is going to use curtains and Asda are trialling the doors
sometime in 2022. This does show that if we all do our little bit it can make a
significant difference. Now all we have to do is persuade some of the major
energy wasting countries to put the world first and not their economic gain.
Photo Pixabay
9/11/2021
Like
France we need to go more nuclear to depend less on the green house rich fossil
fuels to make electricity. One way of achieving this is to use rather than
large nuclear power stations like we have built in the past smaller modular
nuclear power stations as those made by Rolls-Royce. These new power stations
have a much smaller footprint than the larger power stations and are very green
when it comes to the production of greenhouse gases. The nuclear power industry
also provides tens of thousands of jobs although the storage of the waste does
need to be looked at carefully. One advantage of the nuclear power stations is
that they can be used to produce green hydrogen which can be there for use as
the storage medium for other types of product. One of the major advantages of
nuclear is that it is much more efficient than something like coal being Able
to reduce 3 million times the amount of energy per kilogram. Investing in
nuclear seems illogical alternative because when the wind doesn’t blow we have
no wind power and when the Sun doesn’t shine we have low solar power but the
nuclear power works well as a background source providing the base energy for
the country's needs.
Photo Pixabay
8/11/2021
Thousands
of rare native forest honeybees have been found in the ancient woodlands of
Blenheim Palace. These Honeybees are smaller Ferrier and darker than the common
honeybees found in managed beehives. These indigenous wild honeybees have
foraged the English countryside for centuries and were presumed to be
completely wiped out by disease but they have been found in the ancient
woodlands of Blenheim Palace. These wild honeybees are very adapted to the
English countryside and can fly at much lower temperatures and seem to be
resistant to many of the common diseases that the honeybees face. Some of these
nests that were found seem to be at least 200 years old and these bees have
been surviving unnoticed in the grounds they make their nests 15 to 20 m above
the ground in ancient trees. It is hoped that these bees might be spread around
the country in the near future.
Photo Pixabay
7/11/2021
Windship technology is pioneering an auxiliary power
system. The Windship system is a scalable solution that can harness the use of
wind, provides material fuel saving for users, significant global emissions
savings, and an important carbon trading opportunity. Each rig is a three-wing
foil set of 36 to 48 metres in height, depending on the size of the ship,
providing a significant thrust to propel the ship through the water. It
also exceeds the 80% CO2 reduction that will be required by the International
Maritime Organisation by 2050, taking into account the projected future growth
of shipping. Shipping is the lifeblood of international trade. About 95% of all
goods traded are carried on the sea as this type of technology would
significantly remove the fuel cost from shipping.
Simon Rogers, Technical Director at Windship
Technology stated: “This is the classification that changes everything.
Now it is abundantly clear that the shipping industry has a workable solution
to its significant emissions issues. Fleet owners and charterers have a zero
emissions option with Windship Technology’s whole-ship design that is set to
revolutionise the industry and the need for these wing solutions has never been
more than now. With the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index coming into force
on 1st January 2023, the clock is ticking on the shipping industry.
Windship Technology is the stand-out solution and we welcome the Approval in
Principle from DNV whom we have worked with efficiently and expediently in
achieving this classification.”
Windship
Technology is leading the innovation not only in rigs but also in its overall
solution for Zero Emission shipping. The design starts with the rigs,
constructed from composite materials to reduce weight at height, and goes
further with an incorporated diesel electric drive featuring a full carbon
capture system that dramatically reduces fossil fuel consumption whilst
eliminating NOx, SOx and particulate matter and zero CO2.
6/11/2021
S. D. Jaydev, Dr. A. J.
Martín and Prof. J. Pérez-Ramírez from the Institute for Chemical and
Bioengineering Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zürich
have been working on Plastics recycling. They have developed a system for the complete
conversion of polypropylene into liquid hydrocarbons with high selectivity for
motor oil. This system is created by carbon supported platinum catalysts. The
particular activity of the process is dependent on the metal nanoparticle size.
By changing the size of these nanoparticles the type of the hydrocarbon
produced can be regulated by the process of changing the hydrocarbons’
adsorption strength on the carbon carrier; the latter being tuneable via the
concentration of surface oxygen atoms. Specifically they have worked on trying
to create motor oil from one of the hardest plastics to breakdown, effectively
turning one of the worst contaminants of our oceans into one of the most useful
products.Photo Credit: ChemSusChem
5/11/2021
A new process has been developed by Aldo Steinfeld et al to
make petroleum hydrocarbons from just air and sunlight. The researchers have
worked on a multistage device to firstly extract carbon dioxide and water from
the air using a solar power, the next device a reduction oxidation unit again
powered by solar converts these chemicals into carbon monoxide and hydrogen and
then a third solar powered gas-to-liquid unit converts this into methanol or
other hydrocarbons. At present this is a
feasibility device, on top a building, that has worked with the usual
intermittent amount of sunshine to successfully convert air into a small amount
of methanol. They have successfully produced 32 millilitres of methanol from a
typical seven-hour-day run, demonstrating the technical viability of the
process. Run just on solar power the methanol cost nothing to make apart from
the outlay of the equipment. Current projections are that in a suitable area a
sufficient quantity of hydrocarbon could be produced. At present this would
cost more than hydrocarbons from oil wells, but this process is sustainable can
would take carbon dioxide from the air and remake the fuel.
Photo Aldo Steinfeld et al
4/11/2021
The protestors were
out in force, but so far COP26 is doing much better than many forecast. All the
countries failed to pay up on all the money they promised to the poorer
countries but a large amount of private capital has been pushed towards
supporting clean technology and although some will be loans there is also a
fair amount of grants that will be available. And most of the countries that
promised money will complete their share in the next couple of years.
Promises have been
made on deforestation and their seems to be a good deal of money behind this
deal. Progress has been made on Methane a large contributor towards global
warming Although only promises and many countries like the US will have
problems ratifying this it does look like a good move in the right direction.
Although the three main emitters, China, Russia and India have not agreed to
this. Forty counties led by the UK will create new standards to making markets
with new technologies. If this works then there could be much lower prices
for cleaner technology like steel being
made without coal. South Africa will transition to clean energy dumping coal
with the help from the EU, the UK and the USA. India is set to radically lower
their carbon emissions by 2030 although it will take til 2070 to get to net
zero, but starting from such a high position, lowering carbon emissions by 2030
is a real success. And finally most UK firms will be asked to show how they
will hit all the climate change targets by submitting plans that will be
verified. Photo Creator: Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing St | Credit: Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing St
Copyright: Crown Copyright
3/11/2021
There
was welcome news at COP26 with more than 100 countries agreeing to end and
reverse deforestation by 2030 by investing £14 billion in both public and
private funds to fix this global problem. It was great that one of the worst
offenders Brazil also signed up to this agreement. Brazil with has most of the
great Amazon rainforest in it, however is struggling to control the current
unregulated deforestation. The Amazon has gone from being the lungs of the
world to a net producer of greenhouse gases. Huge areas each day are cut down
and burnt to provide land for crops and cattle. The Brazilian government has
banned this but the pace instead of slowing has increased. If Brazil can't
control this then this agreement is worth nothing. Even if all the other
countries can reverse the deforestation it won't really matter because of the
scale of the deforestation in Brazil. Hopefully in later discussions this week,
plans can be drawn up to properly police and control this deforestation
although it is fairly unlikely.
Photo Pixabay
2/11/2021
Yesterday
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi in a big turnaround said that his country
would aim for Net Zero but by 2070. This is indeed a complete change in policy
which is really welcomed but there are two views to the state of India in 2070.
It is great that India wants to reach net zero producing no more Carbon Dioxide
but the date of 2070 might be too late. As India is a major coal user and
polluter not getting to net zero by 2070 will have quite a few consequences to
the country. If global warming continues at the current rate and India not
wanting to get to net zero until 2070 then by that date much of India may be
too hot to inhabit by then. Work by Chi
Xu, Timothy A. Kohler in <https://www.pnas.org/content/117/21/11350>
gives a map of the world in 2070 suggesting that many parts of the world could
well be too hot to inhabit by then including much of India. Other countries
with big problems like Brazil, China, Australia and Saudi Arabi, also might
have areas in the country that are too hot to inhabit. Boris Johnson in his
speech said that the world is at one minute to midnight and if countries like
India are only going to aim for Net Zero in fifty years' time then it really
will be too late especially for countries like India.
Image https://www.pnas.org/content/117/21/11350 Chi Xu, Timothy A. Kohler
1/11/2021
I didn't think it would make it, but October 2021 turned out to be an average October We made almost exactly yhe average amount of elctricity via ouer solar panels. The addition of extra panels has of course brought up the amount of total electrical generation, but the 5 panels we started with which we have used to make a comparison over ten years has achieved an average year. We have also monmitored the performance of the inverter and solar panels and can see that the performance has not degraded yet.
New ways, New technology