Paradise, paving itself.
Related.
Blowout 228
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
The big news this week is Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, which will cut Iran’s oil production to the point where, combined with cratering oil production from Venezuela, it could cause another oil price spike. We follow with our usual mix – more on Iran, Venezuela and OPEC; oil in Norway; gas pipeline constraints in Europe; Japan moves to coal; British Columbia misses its renewables target; stalemate at the Bonn Climate Conference; California to mandate rooftop solar on new houses; Tesla’s 1GW battery; hydrogen storage in UK; the Swansea Bay tidal standoff; more cracks at Hunterston and how the ravages of climate change threaten historical records.
Blowout 227
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s lead story features media hysteria over the alleged dangers of nuclear power. Russia’s first floating nuclear plant has begun its journey from St. Petersburg to Murmansk and is already being described as a “floating Chernobyl” even though it doesn’t have any fuel loaded. We follow up with a mix of hopefully more educational stories on OPEC and Angola; oil company profits rise; Nord Stream; US nuclear plant closures; Allianz to stop insuring coal miners; coal miners making money because of the “war on coal”; Denmark’s EV debacle; Mercedes exits the US home battery market; the enormous pumped hydro potential of Indonesia; frustration at the Bonn Climate Conference; Ireland faces EU emissions fines; energy efficiency rollouts in the UK and how you can now earn UN carbon credits by riding your bicycle:
Y2Kyoto: I’ll Miss The Mountain Pika
Previously, when researchers visited pika habitat sites warmer or drier than usual in the Great Basin, where they had historically lived, they found that many of these sites no longer were occupied. It was thought that pikas had been forced to higher ground to escape the warming temperatures or had died, and it was concluded that pikas were in threat of extinction in the Great Basin due to climate change.
Or, in the words of a wise elder – “Pikas move.”
Y2Kyoto: I’ll Miss The Maldives
Thirty years ago, experts predicted the Maldives would drown by 2018.https://t.co/GrtK3z6IVC pic.twitter.com/nF4Ey5hmog
— Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) April 28, 2018
Actually, that’s not true.
Blowout 226
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week we feature the impact of renewable energy on electricity prices. The question is, if renewables are so cheap why are electricity rates increasing? To follow: OPEC achieves 150% production cut compliance; 2018 oil price to average $65; US gas pipelines under threat; Gazprom pumps record gas to Europe; more US nuclear plant shutdowns; more gas plants for sale in UK; US EPA agrees biomass is carbon neutral; Taiwan’s energy shortage, hydro and geothermal in Kenya; Australia’s NEG to kill renewables; South Africa explores energy storage; Brexit won’t change UK’s “climate ambition”; cracks in Hunterston reactor; the UK’s first blockchain energy transfer (all of 1kWh), and how climate change shrinks birds.
Dismantling the New England Grid and Prosperity
Roger Andrews has got a hold of high resolution grid data for New England, 2017 and lays out the plans for greening electricity supplies in these 6 tiny states. You probably already guessed – coal, nuclear and gas are on the way out to be replaced by wind and solar. Targets and optimism abound while blackouts are just around the corner.
A brief review of the New England electricity sector
Y2Kyoto: Fly The Trendy Skies
Ah, the irony of reading an in-flight magazine, worrying about the CO2 emissions – of a sandwich. pic.twitter.com/HWrPxPZGld
— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) April 25, 2018
Blowout 225
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews:
For our lead story this week we return to the UK, which is reviewing the question of whether its 80%-by-2050 emissions reduction target will be enough to meet its Paris commitments and whether it shouldn’t target 100% instead. We follow with our usual mix of stories from the energy and climate patch: Trump slams OPEC; fracking in China; Canada’s oil pipeline crisis; rising world demand for Russian nuclear power stations; Germany confirms LNG plans; Australia’s clean coal plan collapses; EU denounces the “Belt & Road” initiative; hydro in Indonesia; biomass at Drax; electricity price hikes in Scotland; gravity-based energy storage and California Governor Jerry Brown says global warming will kill 3 billion people.
January 108th, 2018: Reader Tips
Thread open.
Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors
This aged well. @macleans
h/t @manny_ottawa pic.twitter.com/I9JoAi6GNE
— Katewerk (@katewerk) April 15, 2018
Blowout 224
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around The World compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s lead story features the UK, where nuclear power plants are now apparently being considered as balancing facilities for wind and solar. Hard to follow up on that, but we do our best with OPEC near to accomplishing its goal; New Zealand bans oil & gas exploration; the Russia-Ukraine gas spat continues; Wylfa nuclear plant delayed by seabirds; Lithuania to cut transmission ties to Belarus nuclear plant; brown coal-to-hydrogen in Australia; German coal phase-out to take “several decades”; Ontario’s electricity costs; the Basslink cable down again; Los Angeles paints its streets white; sunscreen saves the Great Barrier Reef and how global warming will cause baby fish to get lost.
Y2Kyoto: Climate Mauling
Polar bear specialists Ian Stirling and Steven Amstrup knew they didn’t have a valid argument to refute my paper (Crockford 2017; Crockford and Geist 2018) on their failed polar bear survival model (Amstrup et al. 2007), which their responses to my International Polar Bear Day (27 February 2018) Financial Post op-ed revealed to the world…
So when ignoring me didn’t work – or, more accurately, when the world started paying too much attention to me, by their own admission (Harvey et al. 2018:3) – they teamed up with Michael Mann, Jeff Harvey, and Stephan Lewandowsky (all with previous form attacking colleagues who don’t share their views) to publish an academic paper attacking my scientific integrity. In the words of Terence Corcoran, I was “climate mauled.”
Blowout 223
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
In this week’s feature article a major corporation that has proudly gone “100% renewable” – Google – admits that its power really doesn’t come from renewables at all. We follow up with the usual dose of OPEC; a giant oil discovery in Bahrain; Finland approves Nordstream 2; the Bonneville Dam under fire; Belgium to ditch nuclear; the IEA driving the world towards climate disaster; China’s globally interconnected clean energy grid; towns to regulate cryptocurrency mining; Lancashire ready for fracking; Sizewell’s uncertain future; melting ice in Antarctica and how Scotland the Brave can save the world from climate change.
And lost in the big transition last week
Y2Kyoto: The Planet Has A Shiver
Some ridiculous cold for early April about to invade Upper Midwest. Projected high in Minneapolis Friday of 21 would be coldest in recorded history during April. More info: https://t.co/gqXhaFNnF9 h/t @RyanMaue pic.twitter.com/yxOGCI9KNg
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) April 5, 2018
Breath Of Fresh Air
The Trump administration openly threatened one of the cornerstones of California’s environmental protections Monday, saying that it may revoke the state’s ability under the Clean Air Act to impose stricter standards than the federal government sets for vehicle emissions.
The announcement came as the administration confirmed it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules that formed a key part of the effort by the Obama administration and California officials to combat global warming — and as the Justice Department sued to block a state law that limits the federal government’s ability to sell any of the 46 million acres it controls in California. […]
“Cooperative federalism doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country,” Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said in a statement, which added that California’s authority to set its own emissions standards was “being reexamined.”
Y2Kyoto: New Cold War
An American warship stuck in Montreal since Christmas Eve has finally resumed its trip to its home port in Florida, the U.S. Navy confirmed on Saturday.
The USS Little Rock was commissioned in Buffalo, N.Y., on Dec. 16 but was trapped by ice at the Port of Montreal less than two weeks into its maiden voyage.
A spokeswoman for the Navy said officials decided to wait until weather conditions improved before allowing the ship to continue its journey to Mayport, Fla., out of concern for the safety of the ship and crew.
Looks like they just made it out in time.
Blowout 221
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews. A bit delayed this week because I have a job 🙂 Finding it difficult to keep all the strands running.
This week we again feature Tesla’s Big South Australian Battery (BSAB), which Tesla claims is not getting paid for 30-40% of the energy it delivers to the grid. Stories to follow include: OPEC and Russia to stick together: Gazprom can’t do without Ukraine’s pipelines; Germany to convert to LNG; the Cyprus gas field conflict; blackout warnings in NSW; the Gulf’s first hydro plant; the EU’s “stupid” climate targets; the Europe-China interconnector; climate concerns can a UK coal mine; more climate change lawsuits on the cards in the US; thermal energy storage in crushed rock; global CO2 emissions rise in 2017 and palm trees in Canada.
Y2Kyoto: ‘Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past’
Welcome to the Grand Solar Minimum;
We’re talking record snow: Record after record after record after record.
Wherever you look on social media: “Spring delayed due to snow.” That’s all across Europe, across the eastern United States.
h/t raid
Blowout 220
An ecelctic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week we feature the one technology that could solve all the world’s energy problems – nuclear fusion – which MIT scientists claim can be supplying grid power within 15 years. We follow with OPEC and Venezuela; Europe’s oil future; the UK/Russia standoff; Canada to go nuclear; Ireland to ban coal; South African coal miners put renewables on hold; Russia hacks US power plants; New York commits $1.4 billion to renewables; Czech tycoon commits $1.2 billion to buying old coal plants; Europe’s hydropower drying up; smart grids in UK; an Even Bigger South Australian Battery; electricity from raindrops and how the Permo-Triassic mass extinction was caused by burning coal.