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Ocean radiation soon to reach USA’s West Coast

Scientists Expect Traces of Ocean Radiation Soon Science Tech By Jeff Barnard 

March 17, 2014 

  

The March 2011 tsunami off Japan flooded the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, causing radiation-contaminated water to spill into the Pacific. Airborne radiation was detected in milk and rainwater in the U.S. soon afterward. Now, scientists are using a network of volunteers to measure radiation at beaches along the U.S. West Coast. Continue reading →

March 21, 2014 Posted by | oceans, radiation, USA | Leave a comment

Climate change bad for nuclear industry: floods disrupt uranium mining

Thursday March 20, 2014,  The World Nuclear Association reported that melting snow is to blame for the disruption of a number of uranium operations in Southern Kazakhstan.

According to the WNA:

National atomic company Kazatomprom reported that snow melt has damaged roads near the village of Taykonur in the Sozak region of South Kazakhstan oblast. This has restricted access of vehicles delivering chemical reagents to the Inkai in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mine and processing plant in central Kazakhstan. The Inkai project is owned and operated by Joint Venture Inkai, which is 60% owned by Canada’s Cameco and 40% by Kazatomprom.

Click here to view the full report. 

March 21, 2014 Posted by | climate change, Kazakhstan | Leave a comment

Renewed demand for solar PV in China

sunflag-ChinaSolar PV rebounds as demand comes back with ‘a vengeance’ SMH, March 20, 2014 Solar manufacturers are returning to profit as demand in China soaks up a supply glut that gutted margins for more than two years.

The largest solar-panel maker Yingli Green Energy said it expects to be profitable in the third quarter. It joins peers including JinkoSolar, Trina Solar and JA Solar in guiding investors to expect both income and higher shipments in 2014.

Climbing demand for solar panels is countering a global oversupply of production capacity that erased profits across the industry and bankrupted more than a dozen companies. Developers installed 37.5 gigawatts of panels worldwide last year, up 22 per cent from 2012, and that figure may increase as much as 39 per cent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That growth is starting to “sponge up” much of the glut, especially among Chinese manufacturers, that resulted from a buildup in the late 2000s, Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates in Houston, said in an interview. “That has made a real dent in the overcapacity.”

China, which surpassed Germany to become the biggest solar market last year, may install more than 14 gigawatts this year, aiding domestic producers. The Asian nation added a record 12 gigawatts of solar power in 2013, compared with 3.6 gigawatts a year ago, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance……..

The largest solar manufacturers have cut expenses and are poised to take advantage of growth this year, said Nimal Vallipuram, an analyst at Gilford Securities Inc. in New York.

“They continue to do very well at reducing the costs and their volume is going up very strongly,” he said. “Demand has come back with a vengeance.”  http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/solar-pv-rebounds-as-demand-comes-back–with-a-vengeance-20140320-353ir.html

March 21, 2014 Posted by | China, renewable | Leave a comment

Stanford Uni research finds wind farms provide a surplus of clean reliable energy

wind-turb-smWind farms can provide society a surplus of reliable clean energy, Science Daily,  March 20, 2014 Source: Stanford University
Summary:
Researchers have found that the wind industry can easily afford the energetic cost of building batteries and other grid-scale storage technologies. However, for the solar industry, scientists found that more work is needed to make grid-scale storage energetically sustainable. e worldwide demand for solar and wind power continues to skyrocket. Since 2009, global solar photovoltaic installations have increased about 40 percent a year on average, and the installed capacity of wind turbines has doubled.

The dramatic growth of the wind and solar industries has led utilities to begin testing large-scale technologies capable of storing surplus clean electricity and delivering it on demand when sunlight and wind are in short supply.

Now a team of Stanford researchers has looked at the “energetic cost” of manufacturing batteries and other storage technologies for the electrical grid. At issue is whether renewable energy supplies, such as wind power and solar photovoltaics, produce enough energy to fuel both their own growth and the growth of the necessary energy storage industry………..

One advantage of wind over solar power is that it has an enormous energy return on investment, Benson explained. “Within a few months, a wind turbine generates enough electricity to pay back all of the energy it took to build it,” she said. “But some photovoltaics have an energy payback time of almost two years. To sustainably support grid-scale storage will require continued reductions in the amount of fossil fuel used to manufacture photovoltaic cells.”

Other costs

The Stanford team’s primary focus was on the energetic cost of deploying storage on wind and solar farms. The researchers did not calculate how much energy would be required to build and replace grid-scale batteries every few years, nor did they consider the financial cost of building and installing large storage systems on the grid.

“People often ask, is storage a good or bad solution for intermittent renewable energy?” Benson said. “That question turns out to be way too simplistic. It’s neither good nor bad. Although grid-scale storage of wind power might not be cost effective compared to buying power from the grid, it is energetically affordable, even with the wind industry growing at a double-digit pace.

“The solar industry needs to continue to reduce the amount of energy it needs to build photovoltaic modules before it can afford as much storage as wind can today.”http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140320140854.htm

March 21, 2014 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

UK Chancellor Osborne is two faced, pretending to support renewable energy

flag-UKBudget 2014: Osborne’s actions on renewables speak louder than his words
New housing may bring a rise in domestic installations, but the renewable energy industry still awaits a long-term plan  Guardian, Richard Hiblen 21 March 14, There were few surprises for energy watchers in yesterday’s budget annoucement. We’d already heard about the chancellor’s proposed freeze in carbon price support (CPS) at £18 per tonne of CO2 from 2016 to 2019; no doubt it will be a welcome relief to the large coal power generators, and good news for energy-intensive industries. But it will surely have a detrimental effect on the growth of renewable energy.

George Osborne may well say there is no change in this government’s ambition for deployment of new renewable energy generation, but his actions speak louder than words. When there is a further £60m funding for innovation and adoption of carbon-capturing technologies, it points towards a reduction in emissions and meeting targets using fossil fuels rather than investing in a long-term renewable energy strategy.

There is further help for companies involved with oil and gas exploration in terms of tax reductions, which again signals a direction of travel away from a low carbon economy and the renewable energy industry. The focus for government seems to be in keeping the lights on at the lowest possible cost rather than building a sustainable future for our energy market.

Osborne may well think he is “committed to growth in low-carbon technologies” but this budget produced nothing to support that statement. It refers to a “levy control framework” being in place to achieve the necessary investment into meeting renewable energy targets, but freezing the CPS offers little to no incentive to invest……..http://www.theguardian.com/big-energy-debate/budget-2014-george-osborne-renewable-energyGuardian,

March 21, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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