31/10/2021
If
you want to attend COP26, first you had to get here. With Covid and the red
list things were difficult. You needed two vaccinations but those weren't
available in all countries. You needed a visa to get in but if you were a
climate activist (not a terrorist) then you were probably on a no fly list. If
you arrived early then you may have needed to stay in a hotel for a couple of
weeks at your own expense. Even official delegates and observers had this
problem. If you lived in the red listed countries then you more or less had no
chance of attending. Will the no attendance by some of these people make a
difference. Nobody will ever know. But this world is at a turning point and
many of the politicians have been hot on rhetoric and very little on do. The
people do need to make themselves heard and the politicians need to hear them -
but they won't because many won't be there. Some of the poorest countries face
some of the worst problems and some of the richer industrial countries that are
not planning much change should realise what they are doing. I am sure that
those who do get to COP26 will be heard, but will their voices be loud enough?
30/10/2021
The leaders of
nearly 200 countries are getting ready to gather in Glasgow for COP26. At
present there seems to be 190 countries all pulling in different directions and
posturing. Some wanting radical change, some wanting to keep the quo, some not
wanting to pay other countries, some demanding that they won't do any Climate
Change unless other countries pay for it. The countries at COP26 need to agree
and this is really going to be difficult. They counties need to agree on a 1.5C
rise and this needs worldwide radical action and action now. Some of the
counties like Russia are so not bothered that they are more or less ignoring
COP26 and doing their own thing. Some countries like China will be attending
virtually, because of political tensions at home. The countries need to agree
on at least a 2C rise and this is really too high otherwise a 2.7C is imminent.
To be a success and
this still can happen, pledges of $100
billion to some countries need to be guaranteed.
The use of coal as a
power source needs to be severely curtailed. Ways of establishing and
controlling a carbon tax needs to
rationalised. The really big polluters need to made commitments to
change and change soon.
And most importantly
counties need to sign up to commit to these processes.
29/10/2021
The
need for electric lorries has arrived but the batteries to power these lorries
hasn't. The charging times are just way too long to be anything like economic.
So perhaps a different way of thinking is required. Trams used to run with a
pantograph picking up the electricity from overhead wires, much like the way
that trains travel a lot in the UK. So wouldn't it perhaps be an idea to get
hybrid lorries and get them to use a pantograph to pick up the electricity from
overhead rails in the inside lane of major trunk road and motorways. Well this
is what a company in Germany is actually trying out. The inside lane of the A5
Autobahn in Hessen, near Frankfurt has a 5 km (3.1 mi) e-highway test
track with catenary overhead lines (in both directions). Scania announced
that in May 2019 it would supply 15 R 450 hybrid trucks for the
German eHighway trials. The trucks have been equipped with special
pantograph power collectors, developed by Siemens, so they can drive electric
on the roads with an overhead catenary system. In Italy, a test eHighway is being installed along a 6 km (3.7 mile) section of the A35 Brebemi
(between Romano di Lombardia and Calcio exits) in northern Italy, between
Brescia, Bergamo and Milan. This technology works by the trucks receiving
electricity from a pantograph power collector that is mounted on a frame behind
the cab. The pantographs can freely connect to and disconnect from the overhead
wires while in motion so that the lorry can overtake if necessary. When the
truck goes outside the electrically-powered lane, the pantograph is
automatically disconnected, and the truck is then powered by the hybrid engine
or the electric motor can continue but powered by batteries.
Photo https://press.siemens.com/global/en/feature/ehighway-solutions-electrified-road-freight-transport
28/10/2021
How
can you half the Natural Gas usage easily without all the costly installation
of piping for hydrogen to millions of homes? Switching to hydrogen burning
means that more gas has to be burnt to get the same amount of energy out as
burning methane. So more gas has to used. Hydrogen being the smallest and
lightest gas can often find its way out of gas pipes often going through the
pipes because it is needed at a higher pressure and is then even more easily
squeezed through the pipe walls. The answer to these problems is being solved
by mixing hydrogen and methane in a 50:50 mixture. Half of the methane is being
used so half the cost of expensive natural gas and immediately half the amount
of carbon dioxide is not produced. By using a mix and at lower pressure much of
the heat output is retained and the current gas pipes do not need to be
replaced as they can happily carry the mixture of gases without leaks. So this
system which is going to be trialled in the North of England will cut the
emission of greenhouse gases by a half in a single go without major changes to
the infrastructure. One the trial is over and a comparison is made between the
north and south of the country then maybe we can all switch to this system.
Photo Philip M Russell
27/10/2021
At the last Climate
conference most countries signed up for the Paris accord. The USA then decided
that it wouldn't. For many countries signing up for the Paris accord seems to
have simply meant that they would say and support climate change as long as it
didn't affect them. With most countries making little continued effort in
promises before COP26 either to make too little changes or barely any at all,
it looks like the world is opting for radical climate change. Instead of
aiming to keep the climate change down to 1.5C which will be bad enough, the
countries want to ( by doing very little) aim for a 2.7C rise, which will raise
the high of the seas, causing a huge loss of life and livelihood. Millions of
displaced people, economies collapsing. Countries will have to pay out even
more in sea defences. Some countries may disappear, but many of the larger
wealthier countries will be ok with this. The UN are warning of this disaster
coming but many countries have their fingers in their ears and don't care about
the world only their personal interests.
So if countries
won't act then it may be up to the people of each country to vote on changing
their Governments to ones a that are prepared to make the change and for the
people themselves of the world to make individual changes to their lifestyle, because if each
person changes then we still stand a chance.
Photo Pixabay
26/10/2021
Australia is
one of the dirtiest countries per head of population and a massive exporter of
fossil fuels, being one of the world's largest coal and gas suppliers.
Australia has not set any ambitious targets for 2030 to reduce carbon emissions
to prevent the 1.5C rise but has instead pledged to reach net zero by 2060
although like many other countries they have no plans to cut back on their
fossils fuel extraction.
The Prime Minister
announced an investment of more than A$20billion in "low-emissions technologies"
over the next 20 years - such as capture
carbon in soil, lowering solar energy costs, and developing greener industries.
But Australia has
said that it will be using more gas, at least in the short term. Mr Morrison
said however that "We want our
heavy industries, like mining, to stay open, remain competitive and adapt, so
they remain viable for as long as global demand allows".
Considering that
Australia has suffered extreme amounts of bushfires caused by global warming it
is surprising that the Government is so slow to realise what is causing this
and to make reparations.
Photo Tim Hammond Crown Copyright
25/10/2021
When it comes down
to climate change and money some countries like the UK are biting the bullet.
We know we have to get working on climate change and despite what campaigners
say the UK is doing quite well. Other countries are putting money ahead of climate
change and expecting other countries to do the work whist they continue to make
money. Let's not just blame China here, because there are many countries that
feel the need to put financial and strategic needs in front of Climate change.
Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia would invest more than £130billion
to reach the carbon net zero goal. But he went on to say that the kingdom would
continue to produce oil for decades to come. China has talked in more detail
about its road map to make fossil fuels form only 20% of its fuel mix by 2060
and that its coal usage will continue to increase until 2025. Australia still
intends to export as much coal as it can and is not aiming to meet any targets
by their due date. India the second largest user of coal will not make its
targets.
Many smaller poorer
nations say that without financial support they won't .
America is big on talk about leading the field
but they are struggling to get any policies through to be able to do anything.
The UK probably will reach its goal, but most other countries won't and if so
we won't be looking at a 1.5C rise but more likely a 3C rise with all the
problems that will bring.
Photo pixabay
24/10/2021
In
2019 a project was started on a 6 km stretch of the Norfolk coastline to stop
the coastal erosion that was threatening the Bacton Gas Terminal. The profile
of the beach was changed dumping two million cubic metres of sand in attempt to
build up the sea facing sandy cliff by 7m. This was gradually eroded by the sea
creating a sand bar several metres away
from the cliff under the sea. By creating a new beach profile the damage caused
by the waves on the cliff has been lessened. This 6 km stretch of coastal cost
some £20 Million to achieve is thought to last about 15 years before more
action will need to be taken. This is first time in the UK that a soft approach
has been taken rather than building hard wall sea defences. So far the sea
defences seem a success and this may give rise to other similar projects to
stop the sea level rise and coastal erosion .
Photo pixabay
23/10/2021
The
Headline is true but it's not quite as bad as it sounds. The UK gardeners are
using less peat as alternative sources are made available and a good thing too
because by the end of this parliament there shouldn't be any peat to buy in the
garden centre. This ban was supposed to come in by 2020 but the target was
missed. The forestry commission should be on the same page but when they have
tried to use 100% peat free products the forestry transplants have not taken
well. The forestry commission has reduced the percentage of peat down, but they
can't cope well without it. We need to keep our peatlands intact but it just
may not be possible to do this with the forestry commission and the growing of
new trees. Does one balance out the other the answer is yes. Tree also absorb
Carbon Dioxide. Can the Forestry Commission also help with the peatland as well
and the answer to this is in a roundabout way yes as well. This is because the
trees will hold onto more water and help it to be released more slowly which
may help create some new wetlands and peatbogs.
Photo pixabay
22/10/2021
The global
transition to electric vehicles will be the biggest change to personal
transport since the rise of the passenger car. New automotive have produced
their first report on the State to the Switch to Electric Vehicles. In this they have looked at six different
aspects of the switch - the ratio of electric to internal combustion miles
travelled, the number of electric vehicles on UK roads, trends in new car
sales, vehicle ownership costs, growth in the charging infrastructure, and
public policy developments.
Every year, around
2,000,000 new cars are bought, and a similar number reach their end of life in
the UK. Since there are 32 million cars on the road, it will take a long time
to replace all of them with electric vehicles even when 100% of new car sales are
fully electric. In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, UK motorists drove
255 billion miles per year. As more electric vehicles are bought and more ICE
vehicles are scrapped than bought, the percentage of these miles that are
electric will increase.
In 2020, the UK
installed around 10,000 public charge points, and as of July 2021, the UK had
over 24,000 public charging stations including over 4,000 rapid chargers mostly
sited along the strategic road network. The UK’s progress in installing rapid
chargers means that drivers are never more than 25 miles from a charging
station on an A road or motorway.
Image https://newautomotive.org/
21/10/2021
Many countries are
lobbying the UN to change the resolutions for COP26. All these countries want
is a change here and there to the wording just to make sure that any resolution
does not affect how much money they make. Countries like Australia and Saudi don't
like the wording on fossils fuels because they are the world's largest
producers of oil and coal. India doesn't want similar changes because currently
they are the world's second largest consumer of coal. Instead these countries
want changes in the wording to use more Carbon Capture.
When it comes to
eating less meat countries like Brazil and Argentina object to certain wordings
about meat eating and want these passages deleted or amended. Many countries
don't like the ideas of giving more money to help poorer countries enable
climate change measures and want this wording modified.
If any of these
changes are made then COP26 will be a
failure even before it begins. Many countries want climate change and they want
to help , but not if it affects their bottom line - the money that they are
making. The "We are happy to help as long as it doesn't affect us"
type of attitude won't help any country get out of this climate emergency and
limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C. With this head in the sand attitude
we could see the worse situations arise of +4C.
Photo Pixabay
20/10/2021
The Government
announced a series of measures to get the UK green by 2030. The Plans included
£620 million to invest in loads of charging points for cars £350m to help the
automotive supply chain move to electric and grants of up to £5000 to help home
owners replace their gas boilers. We will also need far more power in addition
to what we are currently using and Boris wants us to more to a more nuclear
program with small sized modular nuclear reactors designed by Rolls Royce.
But are we ready for
any of this?
The nuclear reactors
may not be ready in time for 2030.
More electric cars -
more charging points - If there were more charging points then there may be
more electric vehicles. My problem with this is the cost of buying an new
electric car. I have never owned a new car in my life and buying a second hand
old electric car is not an option.
And then there is a
real problem with the UK houses. Most are old. They are still draughty and
relatively inefficient. The Government wants the houses to largely B rated in
efficiency and this is going to be difficult.
New homes will be
banned from installing new gas and oil boilers by 2025 and the government wants
to see no new gas and oil boilers sold after 2035.
There are three main
ways to replace them and these are heat
pumps, using hydrogen as a fuel and setting up district heating - one plant to
heat many homes.
Heat pumps currently
cost between £6,000 and £25,000, I know I have been looking and these are
the different estimates for
converting my house. To be effective
because heat pumps only warm a little they need high levels of insulation which
aren't always possible in many of the UK homes. The technology works well but
only in super insulated homes and although I have cavity wall insulation
retrofitted in my old house it is still not enough. Buying this type of heating
is difficult too with many of the firms selling these systems really not having
a clue. There are two types of heat pump air source and ground source. The
ground source heating needs pipes laid at least 6m underground and most
contractors were only going to go down 1 or maybe two metres. These systems
really will not work like this. Properly done they are better than the Air
source but still don't provide enough heat.
Hydrogen production
is getting there but Hydrogen storage isn't and without an effective storage
system this system isn't going to work. District heating system can work but
usually only for large communities like in the UK social housing.
Photo Pixabay
19/10/2021
Soaring gas prices of the past few months are showing us that the reliance on Gas and other fossil fuels cannot be sustained. However, the lack of wind over the summer and many cloudy days is showing us that renewables can't be just Wind and Solar. The Wind farms even though there are more of them are making less power than last year and we all know that power consumption will continue to rise. Fortunately the UK being an island can invest heavily in tidal power. Every day we have tides even more reliable than the waves or the wind or the sun. Tidal power needs a massive investment, but could secure 1000's of jobs over many years developing and building power generation sites. The first will be really expensive, but as time and investment goes on the cost per Gigawatt will come down. Kwasi Kwarteng, the economy minister, has already indicated some support for the tidal systems to generate power and the Government has recently added some £31 billion to the power production war chest. Tidal Power is possibly one of the best alternatives. Some campaigners worry about the envionmental cost, and harming the animal populations, also damaging the river beds, but we have also heard and seen the crys about the dangers of wind farms to bird life and this hasn't happened. Most animals stay away from noisy machinery. Tidal power requires fast moving water to be the most effective and it is these parts of the rivers that often have the least amount of life in them. We don't have that much in the way of alternatives. We need to start work on tidal systems soon if we truely are going to reach carbon neutral by 2030 and Carbon Capture systems on not the answer.
Photo Pixabay
18/10/2021
Gallium is one of those metals I have in the lab that I don't use uch except to show to the students that it can be a liquid above 30C and we look at its properties, but researchers at th University of New South Wales have shown how liquid gallium can be used to help achieve the important goal of net zero carbon emissions - turning Carbon Dioxide into high value solid Carbon and Oxygen. Professor Kalantar-Zadeh and his team say the new technology has the potential to be used in a wide variety of ways to significantly reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This new process dissolves Carbon Dioxide gas into a solvent around nanoparticles of gallium, which are in liquid state above 30°C. The reactor also contains nano-sized solid silver rods that generate a triboelectrochemical reaction that take place when mechanical energy is introduced. The reaction occurs in the solid–liquid interface due to friction between the two surfaces, with an electric field creating a chemical reaction. The reactions break the carbon dioxide into oxygen gas, as well as carbonaceous sheets which 'float' to the surface of the container due to differences in density and can therefore be easily extracted. Tghis form of Carbon is very valuable and is used widely in the battery industry.
Image https://phys.org/news/2021-10-liquid-metal-proven-cheap-efficient.html
17/10/2021
Pollution, traffic dust, leaves and even bird droppings contribute to preventing sunlight from reaching the solar cells in your solar panels.
The more dirt – the lower amount of electricity they will produce. While many factors affect how much electricity your solar panels will produce – dirty solar panels can be one of the biggest, and easiest to fix.
Experts agree that dirty solar panels don't produce as much power as clean panels. That loss is very hard to estimate but figures like 25% or 30% are quoted by cleaning firms. My experience is very much lower in the order of 10% and when it rains again the panels are virtually clean again.
Check your panels need to be cleaned:
Inspect the solar panels on a periodic basis to check on any debris, dirt and the worst culprit bird droppings. Generally, speaking dusty areas typically require more frequent inspection.
The safest way to do this is from the ground using a video camera mounted on a pole (Polecam)
Solar Panel Cleaning Do It YourselfIf you can clean your windows – you can certainly clean your solar panels.The hard part (especially for roof mounted solar panels is reaching them). This is where long reach water fed pole systems can be used.
Two pieces of info are available.
1. Clean the surface of a solar panel much like you would clean your car -- with warm water and dish washing liquid to remove any accumulation of dirt and grime.
2. Use Deionized water, as it leaves no residue behind and has no added chemicals. This is best with a pole system. A pole and pump cost from around about £250 and the chemicals to make the water are about £2 a go.
Photo Philip M Russell
17/10/2021
A Democat senator, Joe Manchin representing the heavy fossil using state of West Virginia
is set to stop President Joe Biden's bill on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Energy Performance Programme, known as CEPP, would pay utility companies to switch from fossil fuels to renewable or clean energy sources and fine those companies who refuse. But this part of the Bill may need to be dropped in favour of letting the energy companies transition to clean energy sources when they want to.
The US President needs a Bill like this to try and show the world that the USA is actually doing something rather than talking rhetoric before the COP26 conference. The bill negotiators are trying to save some of the Bill by watering it down. The USA needs to put in some sort of plan and legislation to change the emissions in their country. They have been lagging behind much of the world and althoiugh the administration has changed many of the Government asnd people in the US are very slow to move away from a coal and oil driven country.
Photo Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America
16/10/2021
The USA published a 40 page report on a roadmap to safeguarding the US economy. "Climate change poses serious and systemic risks to the U.S. economy and financial system. As outlined in this report, the United States government is using all of its tools to properly account for and mitigate climate change-related financial and economic risks, as climate impacts are already affecting American jobs, homes, families’ hard-earned savings, and businesses. The country must work with urgency to reduce the risks of climate change by addressing its drivers and creating a stronger, more resilient economy."
Like all the other countries the US have now decided to head along the renewable route, but starting further back and later than most countries. The document outlines the plans to move away from fossil fuels and towards a cleaner environment providing lots of jobs in the process
Photo https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21085651-biden-administration-climate-finance-report
15/10/2021
The USA plan is to generate 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy , which is about enough to power 10m homes - by 2030. In comparison, the UK is planning 40GW and China is planning 73GW in the same time frame. So this looks really too little too late, but much of the plans may be thwarted because of pressure groups complaining about making it difficult to harvest valuable seafood species, like lobsters. Some conservation groups also fear the large turbines will kill thousands of birds and affect marine life. Other groups are worried about the effect on tourism. The plans are expected to meet a backlash from some coastal and fishing communities - and it needs approval from state, local and environmental groups before any construction begins. In the US there is a lot of not in my backyard sentiment. Therefore a significant number of the potential building sites could be crossed off the list if they are found to have a negative impact on wildlife, tourism, military activities or other commercial services. So this potential 30GW which is not enough anyway many be significantly less.
Photo Pixabay
14/10/2021
The Climate Transparency report published today says the G20 is responsible for
around 75% of global greenhouse gases including land use change and
forestry. To limit the global temperature
rise to 1.5°C, the G20, therefore, has
an important leadership role to play by
committing to emissions reduction targets
and implementing policies that align with
1.5°C pathways. For developed countries,
this includes providing climate finance to
assist developing countries’ mitigation and
adaptation actions.
The UK is the only G20 member with a
domestic target that aligns with a 1.5°C
modelled domestic pathway in 2030;
https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CT2021-Highlights-Report.pdf
Photo Pixabay
13/10/2021
2 days after achieving 250 podcasts we made 500. So something is working now and we are getting on the map.
Photo Buzzsprout
13/10/2021
In its new report - Living better with climate change - the UK Environment agency warns of 5 urgent challenges because
Summer rainfall is projected to
decrease by 22% and winter
rainfall is expected to increase by
13% by the 2080s
The number of properties on the
floodplain in England is expected
to double by 2065
Four million people and £200
billion of assets are at risk of
flooding from rivers or sea
3 million properties are at risk of
surface water flooding where no early
warnings are available
40 million early warning
messages sent for river and sea
flooding over the past 10 years
So we all need to start thinking differently and acting accordingly.
Full report at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1024914/environment-agency-climate-change-adaptation-report-summary.pdf
Photo Pixabay
12/10/2021
China is running out of power. Even food production is being threaten by the electric power crisis. Since China's disagreement with Australia and coal imports, China is now having to increase its own coal production by upto 200%, because their coal reserves in the ports is virtually zero. Across the world the coal prices have been rising much like the Gas prices, with prices reaching a 13 year high in Europe and prices in Australia tripling in the last year. China mines half of the world’s coal and its supply hasn’t been able to keep up with its demand. Other countries around the world are proiducing less coal because of climate and other related factors. India’s coal plants are also running dangerously low on stockpiles, with more than half of the nation’s plants with less than a week worth of coal left. And so prices are sky rocketing and there may not be enough to go round and China is looking to struggle in the next few months maintaining its power output.
Photo Pixabay Open cast coal mine
11/10/2021
A recent report shows that the UK is one of the most depleted in biodiversity. It should come as no surprise to most people as the UKhas very little widlife compared to most countries. With our civilivisation going back a few thousand years and in a relatively small island , over 2/3 of the country is given over to argiculture and about 8% to human habitation, there really is not much space for wildlife. We have few apex predators. Most livestock are too well protected for that. Any wildlife needs to survive in the few remaining woodland spaces and hedgerows. The UK's biodeversity is lower than nearly all the other ounties in the world and with firgures like this, no wonder many are concerned. In recent years the UK has tried to start to turn the tide, with the very successful reintroduction of kites to the Chilterns and other parts of the country, but still other animals like badgers are exterminated because of the problem they respresnt to farmland. With climate change happening things are only going to get worse.
Photo A Red Kite - One of the successful reintroductions flying over the Chilterns Philip M Russell
10/10/2021
Podcasts are now upto 250 downloads. The Youtube videos views are not so great but it looks like we are starting to get the message out.
Photo Buzzsprout
9/10/2021
Report from Ember
Burning wood is the electricity sector’s second largest CO2 emitter after fossil gas.
Drax is the UK’s largest single source of CO2 emissions.
Drax is the EU’s third largest CO2 emitter among coal plants when biomass emissions are included.
These emissions ar buzzsprount 2e not counted in the UK’s emissions inventory – burning wood is treated as ‘carbon neutral’, despite evidence to the contrary.
Drax is also one of the top 5 emitters in Europe of PM10 air pollution from power stations
Carbon Neutral is when a tree grows, you chop it down and burn it putting the CO2 captured by the plant in a year back into the atmosphere. This then doesn't count as making more CO2 like it does urning fossils feuls which are releasing carbon stored a million years ago. But when the CO2 burned from the tree ( Biomass) doesn't get put back for 40 years or so does this really count as being Carbon neutral. Due to its lower energy density than fossil fuels, wood – the main source of biomass used for generating power in the UK – has to be burned in higher volumes than coal to produce the same amount of energy. This means that burning wood emits more carbon dioxide per kWh of electricity than coal.
Photo Drax.com
8/10/2021
Offshore wind farms with their foundations on the seabed are now very much part of the UK energy scene. Over the past four years the energy generating capacity has nearly doubled, from 19Gw to 35Gw. We have also seen a dramatic drop in the costs of installation and bring these turbines online as production ramps up. The problem is that these wind farms are restricted to waters shallower than about 60 metres. Many of the easy places to install these wind farms have already been used, so the next stage has to be the floating wind farms. Several projects are in action at the moment in Scotland and we are set to see far more. These floating platforms need to be anchored to the seabed with chains at a depth of about 100 metres, which is farther out than the maximum depth that can currently possibly be reached by traditional bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines. Because of their buoyant architecture, these wind turbines can be installed further from the shore, meaning more energy can potentially be harnessed as wind power is more plentiful out in the deep sea where winds are stronger and steadier.
Photo A general view of The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre located in Aberdeen Bay on September 7, 2018 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
JEFF J MITCHELLGETTY IMAGES
7/10/2021
Yes , it can be done but there are many problems along the road. The major problems with wind power is sustainability. This summer was a poor summer for wind production making the Gas price rises worse. Solar factories in the UK aren't that successful because of the usual cloudy weather. Storage using batteries is still not that good. The Liquid air plants for electrical storage are still being tested. Hydrogen production is still very weak in the UK. The PM faces two real problems. Replacing all our energy needs by 2035 with renewables that will be sufficient for still cloudy days with litttle wind across the whole UK and the fact that with shifting to electric vehicles and a growing electricity demand we will need to increase our generating capacity by a significant percentage. So can we all be green by 2035? Yes if we throw enough money at the problem and No if the Government can't.
Photo Pixabay
6/10/2021
Cruise ships are coming back, as COVID restrictions slowly start to be relaxed. These ships use up more fuel than aircraft causing more greenhouse gases per mile. The ships are very poorly regulated on their recycling and waste disposal. They generate more waste than a comparable town of the same size and dump this rubbish on the ports that they visit. But these two aren't the worst problems. As these ships haven't been cuising for months, sea life where they haven't been has been recovering. Now the ships are back the biocides applied to the bottom of ships, to deter algae from growing, are destroying the sea life where they cruise. These biocides usually contain copper, which research shows can inhibit biological processes in marine organisms, and the leaking of the copper ions from the ships builds up in the environment.
Photo by Woody H1 under CC by license
5/10/2021
Germany’s economics and energy ministry has enabled the allocation of areas in the North Sea to allow for new technology pilot schemes to directly produce Green Hydrogen from wind power. This will allow RWE, Shell and Siemens Energy to install two 14 MW offshore wind turbines and electrolysers close to the island of Heligoland by 2025.
Photo Pixabay
4/10/2021
A US startup company has developed a novel system called microwave plasma pyrolysis which can turn methane directly into Hydrogen and Solid carbon. The system uses electricity to generate microwaves that turn methane into a plasma - the fouth state of matter and in this state the hydrogen atoms are stripped off of the carbon in methane and then this initiates a chain reaction that can either create solid carbon or the production of compounds such as ethyne or ethylene. Both of these are reactive raw material chemicals that are valuable in the organic and plastics industries.
Current systems for producing blue hydrogen still make a considerable amount of Carbon Dioxide which needs to be captured. This system makes this manufacture far more green and if renewable sources of electricity is used true green hydrogen can be made from methane as well as the traditional way of making hydrogen from water.
Photo Philip M Russell
3/10/2021
Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Disney and many other large business companies are supporting groups fighting US legislation on Climate change despite saying that they are Pro the Bill. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group that includes Bayer and AstraZeneca among its members, has run adverts attacking the proposed bill. The National Association of Manufacturers – backed by Johnson&Johnson, Dow and Goodyear – has said it is attempting to upend the bill “in every way you can imagine”. Republicans universally oppose the bill. If enacted, the bill would establish a system to phase out emissions from the US electricity system, provide payments to prop up carbon-free nuclear energy and support the adoption of electric vehicles. So what are we supposed to belive these companies actions or their words. Its so nice to hear the American politicians saying that they are leading the charge on climate change, when the evidence is that the US companies are not and the emissions are some of the highest in the world.
Photo Pixabay
2/10/2021
Scientists have been warning for a long time that climate change is going to affect our morning coffee and we have seen a recent spike in the global bean prices. We will see the Global coffee prices jump to over $4.44 a kilogram this year, according to IBISWorld, after a July cold snap in a major arabica coffee-producing region of Brazil wiped out a third of the crop. Farmers in the coffee-producing regions of Brazil have been grappling with a string of droughts in recent years and while frosts are common in July and August, the suddenness and severity of the most recent frosts have caught producers by surprise. Freezing temperatures struck in late July after an unprecedented Antarctic front resulted in snow falling in the hills and frost spreading across coffee trees in the Cerrado Mineiro region of Minas Gerais state. Similar frosts hit farmers in the state of Paraná 40 years ago, forcing many to seek out more stable conditions closer to the equator in Minas Gerais, which is why recent events have come as a shock as the area was thought safe. The increasing volatility and frequency of extreme weather events in Brazil are attributed to climate change.The worry now is that rising temperatures will lower both humidity and rainfall, leading to more prolonged periods of drought. The weather statistics show that Brazil has not had a typical rainy season since 2010.
Photo Philip M Russell
1/10/2021
The global apparel and footwear industry produced more greenhouse gases than France, Germany and the UK combined in 2018, totalling 2.1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions — approximately four per cent of total global emissions. Without significant action, the figure could rise to around 2.7 billion tonnes a year by 2030. At present, only 60 per cent of garments are sold at full price due to intense overproduction; producing less garments with more recycled fibres will be essential. Packaging, transport and retail operations could all be made more sustainable, resulting in a potential reduction of 308 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030. Making 1 kilogram of fabric generates an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases.
When it comes to disposing of clothing, current technologies cannot reliably turn unwanted apparel into fibers that could be used to make new goods. Recycling methods such as shredding or chemical digestion work poorly. And there are not markets large enough to absorb the volume of material that would come from recycling clothes. As a result, for every 5 garments produced, the equivalent of 3 end up in a landfill or incinerated each year. Germany outperforms most countries by collecting almost three-quarters of all used clothing, reusing half and recycling one-quarter. Elsewhere, collection rates are far lower: 15 percent in the United States, 12 percent in Japan, and 10 percent in China.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula
https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashion-and-carbon-emissions-crunch-time
Photo Philip M Russell
September didn't start well buty with a urst of sunshine in the middle of the month, the overall figure turned out to be just below average for sunshne. View Data
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