renewable energy
We would like to advise you of the above meeting organised by the Claverton Energy Group of Independent Experts, at which 2 energy professionals Dr Mark Barrett and Dr Gregor Czisch will discuss their studies which show that UK and Europe could have a 100% renewable power supply at reasonable cost providing (amongst other things) that modern cheap and efficient High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) long distance transmission links are built.
Written on 30-Apr-2009 by
panokroko Environmental Parliament Demonstration
Technology has a lot to answer for, having had done a good deal to get us into this fix. But it also can do a great deal to get us out of it. Our houses leak energy, they are so inefficient, we need to be building passive houses and upgrading our millions of older houses. Plenty of green jobs there. We need alternative energy on our rooftops and in our seas, wind, solar, tidal, wave. And the better these system can get the more carbon is saved. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is controversial - but I don't see anyway out of it.
Hi all,
Great to know there is such an active forum in India to articulate its energy future and sustainable living initiatives. Incidentally, I returned back to India earlier this year following a long innings at CERA. My interest area is on World Energy Assessment and how the results hold pertinence for India. Please connect with me directly if any one in the group's membership shares the same interest.
One of the architects of 21st Century India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was President of India from 2002 to 2007, has long stressed on a Vision 2020, energy independence and PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas). I would like more information on the steps India is taking to achieve these.
The attached charts show
(i) how poorly temperate agrofuels (liquid biofuels from crops or forestry, excluding algae) compare with wood used directly to replace coal as a land-use for mitigation. In simple terms the latter was found to be 5x-10x more effective. "WTW biomass options slide" taken from Concawe Well-to-Wheels study (2007)
(ii) how biomass (and some hydro dams) are a very poor land-use for energy compared with wind, solar or geothermal - orders of magnitude poorer. "Energy Footprints" taken from Pimentel et al. (2002)
There's a slight buzz on the TREC (Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation) email list at the moment because the Guardian is thinking about running a feature on concentrating solar power next week.
Although CSP is well known amongst campaigners, it has received little attention from the main stream press and government ministers have largely dismissed it out of hand.
The Conservatives are inviting views on their Energy Review Interim Findings.
This speaks of the need to fulfil a target of 60% CO2 cuts by 2050 on 1990 levels (pp 3,7 of PDF document). This however does not factor in:
- (I) The need to keep average global warming below 2°C, and the need for developed nations to adopt an emissions pathway which sees their share of world emissions progressively falling. This is recognized in the Contraction and Convergence model. The EU endorses all these principles.
You know how it is - you're sat waiting for a train that's nearly an hour away because some poorly managed engineering works have completely ruined the normal timetable - and so you get to cogitating, ruminating, pondering, musing... so I wrote a letter to my MP about how Nuclear Power is not the answer to Climate Change. I've sent it via http://www.theyworkforyou.com and I've posted it on a little-known and rarely-accessed website http://www.workface-limited.co.uk/html/antinuclear.html and I feel so much better now.
