All a game of dirty play?

Yah, by the Chinese.

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Here's another solar success threatened by cuts:


Supercritical solar - new frontier for power generation

CSIRO has used solar energy to generate hot and pressurised ‘supercritical’ steam, at the highest temperatures ever achieved in the world outside of fossil fuel sources.

Supercritical steam is a breakthrough for solar energy and means that one day the sun could be used to drive the most advanced power stations in the world, currently only driven by coal or gas.

CSIRO's Energy Director, Dr Alex Wonhas said this milestone is a game-changer for the renewable energy industry.

"It's like breaking the sound barrier; this step change proves solar has the potential to compete with the peak performance capabilities of fossil fuel sources.

"Instead of relying on burning fossil fuels to produce supercritical steam, this breakthrough demonstrates that the power plants of the future could instead be using the free, zero emission energy of the sun to achieve the same result," Dr Wonhas said.

Supercritical solar steam is water pressurised at enormous force and heated using solar radiation. Around 90 per cent of Australia's electricity is generated using fossil fuel, but only a small number of power stations are based on the more advanced (efficient) supercritical steam. ...



And yet... The Australian government is slashing or has slashed the funding of that group!...



All on our only one planet,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Highly apt timing considering recent posts on the alternate thread...


Avaaz - The holy sh*t response to climate change

... One agreement with common sense steps to end dirty energy can save us. That's why the UN has called an urgent climate meeting in just over 100 days with all major world leaders — if we greet them on September 21st with the largest ever global climate mobilisation in history we can break through the walls of mega coal, oil, and business that prevent even the best politicians from doing what is right.

There's no way to get around how big a task this is. But together, each small action will add up into a millions-strong movement that literally drowns out the opposition and gives our leaders the best reason to break free and build a hopeful, clean and green future...


All on our only one planet that we are making for ourselves,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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:) Well... I know what I'm doing on the 21st of September :) thanks Martin

Vanadium: The metal that may soon be powering your neighbourhood

Super interesting article Winter Knight! Thank you :) had no idea sea squirts and fly agaric had vanadium in them either... learnt a lot in just one read!

Vanadium: The metal that may soon be powering your neighbourhood

Super interesting article Winter Knight! Thank you :) had no idea sea squirts and fly agaric had vanadium in them either... learnt a lot in just one read!

Simply WOW!

From the article:

"The ease with which you can hand electrons to the vanadium and take them away - this is the basis of a very, very stable battery."

Vanadium "redox flow" batteries are indeed stable. They can be discharged and recharged 20,000 times without much loss of performance, and are thought to last decades (they have not been around long enough for this to have been demonstrated in practice).

And that works at a very useful scale...


All on our only one planet,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Way to go!


Harley-Davidson invites public to test electric motorbike

Iconic motorbike manufacturer Harley-Davidson has revealed its first electric motorcycle...


The biggest problem there is that it is going to be too darn QUIET!


(Do you get solar powered Terminators also? ;-) )


All on our only one planet,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Since much of the land surface of the northern hemisphere is above the 40th parallel is it not possible that there would be a net gain of arable land for farming and would we not be better off abandoning most of our vulnerable coastal cities and building new ones from the ground up designed for efficiency. Many of our cherished cities are falling apart beneath the ground and are taking more and more resources just to stay liveable. Not to mention the millions of jobs such an undertaking would create. Sure some species would die off and go extinct but that has been happening since the first living creatures.

We cannot preserve the status quo no matter how hard we try. Change, including climate change, is inevitable and instead of crying about it we would better serve mankind by finding way to make it work to our advantage. IMHO

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

... We cannot preserve the status quo no matter how hard we try. Change, including climate change, is inevitable and instead of crying about it we would better serve mankind by finding way to make it work to our advantage. IMHO

True enough for natural climate change. For that, nature and ourselves have more than enough time to adapt and evolve, including for gracefully and efficiently re-engineering our infrastructure for natural change.

The big problem we are creating for ourselves is the unnaturally rapid and extreme climate change that is very destructive to all life on our planet and ourselves...


Our pollution is very rapidly polluting...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Unfortunately there is still only so much that can be done now that China and India are catching up with the rest of us. Not everyone can live at the level of comfort that we in the west have enjoyed for a century and a half without impacting the climate. Small boutique farms here in the US and europe can grow enough "natural" foods to feed a small minority of folks who think they are saving the environment. But to grow food for the other 99.99% of the worlds people techniques have to be used that are not so environmentally friendly. All the "green" technologies would work great if the world's human population were to shrink below a billion.

I truly think we should do everything that is practical to reduce our carbon footprint and clean up the environment from the messes we have left behind. But I'm afraid our efforts will fall way short of turning climate change around. We may succeed in slowing it down a bit but I think it will behoove us to start planning on how to adapt to climate change and make it work for us.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Very likely we are in a cycle of warmer temps caused by solar activity. This will cause the oceand to become LESS acidic since they will give up more of the dissolved CO-2 . This is actually the biggest contributor to CO-2 increases.

If the reefs are dying it's because we are dumping our garbage and sewage into the ocean. If you live on the east coast of the US and have experienced the "Red Tide" phenomenon you will know what i mean.

... If the reefs are dying it's because we are dumping our garbage and sewage into the ocean. If you live on the east coast of the US and have experienced the "Red Tide" phenomenon you will know what i mean.

Shame we can't easily directly see CO2 pollution in the same way that you can see and smell the smoke from burning vehicle tyres.


Then again, if there are any big CO2 sniffing mosquitoes...


All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Some rather positive news worldwide... Very positive that is unless you're into profiting by burning dirty old fossils:


The Turning Point: New Hope for the Climate

... There is surprising – even shocking – good news: Our ability to convert sunshine into usable energy has become much cheaper far more rapidly than anyone had predicted. The cost of electricity from photovoltaic, or PV, solar cells is now equal to or less than the cost of electricity from other sources powering electric grids in at least 79 countries. By 2020 – as the scale of deployments grows and the costs continue to decline – more than 80 percent of the world's people will live in regions where solar will be competitive with electricity from other sources.

No matter what the large carbon polluters and their ideological allies say or do, in markets there is a huge difference between "more expensive than" and "cheaper than." Not unlike the difference between 32 degrees and 33 degrees Fahrenheit. It's not just a difference of a degree, it's the difference between a market that's frozen up and one that's liquid. As a result, all over the world, the executives of companies selling electricity generated from the burning of carbon-based fuels (primarily from coal) are openly discussing their growing fears of a "utility death spiral."

Germany, Europe's industrial powerhouse, where renewable subsidies have been especially high, now generates 37 percent of its daily electricity from wind and solar; and analysts predict that number will rise to 50 percent by 2020. (Indeed, one day this year, renewables created 74 percent of the nation's electricity!)...

... In the United States, where up to 49 percent of the new generating capacity came from renewables in 2012, 166 coal-fired electricity-generating plants have either closed or have announced they are closing in the past four and a half years. An additional 183 proposed new coal plants have been canceled since 2005.

To be sure, some of these closings have been due to the substitution of gas for coal, but the transition under way in both the American and global energy markets is far more significant than one fossil fuel replacing another. We are witnessing the beginning of a massive shift to a new energy-distribution model...

... This year, Citigroup reported that the widespread belief that natural gas – the supply of which has ballooned in the U.S. with the fracking of shale gas – will continue to be the chosen alternative to coal is mistaken, because it too will fall victim to the continuing decline in the cost of solar and wind electricity. Significantly, the cost of battery storage, long considered a barrier to the new electricity system, has also been declining steadily – even before the introduction of disruptive new battery technologies that are now in advanced development...

... It is worth remembering this key fact about the supply of the basic "fuel": Enough raw energy reaches the Earth from the sun in one hour to equal all of the energy used by the entire world in a full year...

... Rapid technological advances in renewable energy are stranding carbon investments; grassroots movements are building opposition to the holding of such assets; and new legal restrictions on collateral flows of pollution – like particulate air pollution in China and mercury pollution in the U.S. – are further reducing the value of coal, tar sands, and oil and gas assets.

In its series of reports to energy investors this spring, Citigroup questioned the feasibility of new coal plants not only in Europe and North America, but in China as well...

... all the while, the surprising and relentless ongoing decline in the cost of renewable energy and efficiency improvements are driving the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Is there enough time? Yes. Damage has been done, and the period of consequences will continue for some time to come, but there is still time to avoid the catastrophes that most threaten our future. Each of the trends described above – in technology, business, economics and politics – represents a break from the past. Taken together, they add up to genuine and realistic hope that we are finally putting ourselves on a path to solve the climate crisis.

How long will it take?...


Soon enough?


All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Nasa satellite to seek 'missing carbon'

And on a different note. Researchers develop cheaper way of making solar cells

But not only cheaper but less toxic. One of my reasons for not fully supporting solar cells.

Nasa satellite to seek 'missing carbon'

And on a different note. Researchers develop cheaper way of making solar cells

But not only cheaper but less toxic. One of my reasons for not fully supporting solar cells.

Let's hope both of these get off the ground then :)

Thanks WK - interesting links!

Going underwater, we have further developments to add off the coast of Wales to those already around Scotland:


Wave and tidal power sites approved by Crown Estate

Sites for testing wave and tidal energy off the west coast of Anglesey and south Pembrokeshire have been approved. The Crown Estate said that leasing the sites for technology development was "critical" for the UK to unlock the potential of wave and tidal energy. ...

Wales's first commercial tidal energy farm is due to launch off Anglesey in summer 2016...



All coming along swimmingly :-)


All to help our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Solar road could change how we power the world

What if one single source of renewable energy could replace our reliance on coal-fired energy? That's the dream of electrical engineer Scott Brusaw, who, for the better part of a decade, has been working on just such a project. His idea? Cover all the roadways and parking lots in the US with photovoltaic panels to harvest the power of the sun.

In the intervening eight years, Brusaw and his wife have received two rounds of funding from the US Federal Highway Administration to develop Solar Roadways.

It's not me making this claim, go read the article.

Why whale poo could be the secret to reversing the effects of climate change

wow so save the whale save's us .

Funny in Star Trek Bones , Spook ,Scotty and kirk go back to 20th century to save the world from a alien that's trying to talk to whales and have to bring 1 back to the 23rd century to save the world after man wiped them out .

Hey Japan you need to stop your crap and leave the whales alone

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