EDF nuclear power company looks to a profitable future in small-scale, distributed RENEWABLE energy
Can EDF Make Big Money in Small-Scale Renewables?, Greentech Media
The world’s leading nuclear power generator is betting big on a future of small-scale, distributed energy.
Électricité de France operates 58 nuclear reactors in its home country and owns stakes in several U.S. nuclear plants that it’s now moving to sell. But EDF’s biggest stamp on the American power market has come in large-scale renewables: Its San Diego-based EDF Renewables North America subsidiary has developed and now operates gigawatts of wind and solar farms across the country.
Now, EDF Renewables is trying to replicate that success on a much smaller scale. How it fares in the distributed space will be of great interest to other 20th-century energy giants feeling their way toward a transformed, low-carbon future.
Over the past few years, and largely through acquisitions, EDF Renewables has amassed one of the most comprehensive U.S. distributed energy businesses, covering solar, energy storage, microgrids and electric vehicle chargers.
The coronavirus crisis may open the door to more dealmaking, said Raphael Declercq, who runs the Distributed Solutions unit at EDF Renewables North America. “There will be some casualties in our sector: Assets seemed overpriced up to a month ago; that may change and we may be able to grow through acquisitions,” Declercq told GTM.
Several European energy giants have been on a recent shopping spree for distributed energy companies in the startup-rich U.S. — notably Shell, EDF and Enel. Without their own U.S.-based utilities to worry about taking business from, they can roll up fleets of behind-the-meter energy assets and deliver power to customers in new ways, while learning lessons that can be applied in other markets.
“It’s a grab game right now, getting as much of that value chain as possible,” said Elta Kolo, content lead for grid edge research at Wood Mackenzie. “In a way, you’re almost seeing a new type of utility emerging in the market,” she said.
It’s a hazardous moment for the energy industry, oil companies and utilities alike. State-controlled EDF last week pulled its financial guidance for 2020 and 2021, saying it expects a sharp drop in its French nuclear output this year as the coronavirus outbreak depresses power demand…….
The rising importance of corporate renewables…….
16 hour days, 86 hour weeks for nuclear workers, amid pandemic panic?
Nuclear agency clears way for long days, weeks for Palo Verde employees, azfamily.comMorgan Loew 22 Apr 20, PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission has given the operator of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station permission to work its employees 16 hours per day and as many as 86 hours in a week, according to a letter from the NRC obtained by CBS 5 Investigates.
“Palo Verde Generating Station requested and received this exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission early and proactively so that the option to modify work hours is immediately available in response to an extreme circumstance. Work schedules are not changing at this time, nor is a change imminent,” stated Jill Hanks in an email. She is a senior communications consultant at APS…..
environmentalists, like Steve Brittle from Don’t Waste Arizona, say they don’t think exemptions like these are a good idea. “All of the money this industry has, this is the best they can do?” said Brittle.
He said he only found out about the changes because of a standing records request he has on file with the NRC. “Government agencies as well as potential polluters – they all need to have somebody watching over them,” said Brittle.
The NRC has granted similar exemptions to other nuclear reactors across the country and allowed some facilities to postpone scheduled maintenance. Environmental groups warn that reducing maintenance, worker’s protections, and oversight could lead to accidents.
Morgan Loew’s hard-hitting investigations can be seen weekdays on CBS 5 News at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.https://www.azfamily.com/news/investigations/cbs_5_investigates/nuclear-agency-clears-way-for-long-days-weeks-for-palo-verde-employees/article_116ace1e-844a-11ea-890d-b3c0d57fab8c.html
Tsunami could overtake Fukushima Daiichi’s seawall
Tsunami could overtake Fukushima Daiichi’s seawall, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200422_03/
An estimate by a Japanese government panel suggests that tsunami could overwhelm a new seawall at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, if a mega-quake occurs in a deep-sea trench off northeastern Japan.
The panel of experts on Tuesday released its projection of the scale of tsunami that could be triggered by a massive quake along the Japan Trench.
The panel expects that waves as high as 13.7 meters could hit Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is located.
That is higher than the 11-meter-high seawall being built on the ocean side of the compound. The wall is one of the anti-tsunami measures taken by Tokyo Electric Power Company as it decommissions the plant.
Other measures include blocking the openings of the reactor buildings and deploying power supply vehicles on higher ground to continue cooling spent nuclear fuel.
TEPCO says it will examine the estimate and consider what measures to take.
- Nearly 1,000 tanks of radioactive wastewater are stored in the compound. The operator says the projected tsunami won’t reach the higher ground where they are located
A dire need to closely scrutinize Indian procurement and export practices in defense and nuclear deals.
South Asian Nuclear Muddle – OpEd, April 22, 2020 Rabia Javed,
Indeed, the origin of nuclear episode in South Asia occurred when India detonated its first plutonium device characterizing it as a “peaceful nuclear explosive”. While scratching around some pages from the history, one comes to the conclusion that the nuclear arms race in South Asia is intensifying, thanks, amply, to New Delhi’s designs to be a hegemonic regional power. Over the past decade, South Asia has increasingly become alarmed by Indian ability to wage conventional war and their ambitious nuclear weapon capabilities are also a threat to peace.
According to a report published by financial times titled “India raise nuclear stakes” re-counted that India can now build nuclear weapons with the same destructive power as those in the arsenals of the world’s major nuclear powers according to New Delhi’s senior atomic officials.
Similarly, a statement published in The Hindu by Indian Atomic Energy Chairman R.K. Sinha mentioned, “India will continue its nuclear programme without any interruption, irrespective of decisions taken by other countries and there is no reason to follow Germany, Japan which are cutting down on nuclear energy.” Has the international community accepted India as a determined proliferator which can’t be stopped?
Similarly, a report shows India’s dependence on nuclear weapons is increasing miles after every passing year and will be devastating in near future. Some newspapers also published this report with a label of China being a sole reason for such development. However, Zachary Keck once argued that India’s nuclear development was just a mistake to be remembered because it has not served the purpose of what India has aimed for (deterring China).
India has long sought to carve out a special exception for itself in the nuclear sphere. Brig. Naeem Salik in his book titled, The Genesis of South Asian Nuclear Deterrence: Pakistan’s Perspective, traces the origin of India’s nuclear programme and the aspects of its nuclear double standards. He provides a comparative study of the dynamics of the South Asian nuclearization which concludes that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and father of the Indian bomb, Dr. Homi Bhabha recognized the dual nature of nuclear technology, and believed it could be beneficial for India.
During New Delhi’s early period in nuclear history, it achieved nuclear technology to utilize it for peaceful purposes but the demonstration in 1974 evoked a totally different situation. Isn’t it a mischief that India tested its first nuclear device in May 1974 and now has full capabilities of nuclear fuel cycle under the cover of civilian nuclear technology? How did this come to pass when there were strict safeguards in place to prevent misuse of the peaceful atom? The further depressing dilemma is that India’s nuclear programme is moving forward, steadily, without any hindrance from great powers. It secretly pursued nuclear weapons, declared in the late 1990s, whereas, the International community engaged with New Delhi, constantly extending a hand of friendship exemplified by different diplomatic measures such as the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.
That being said, New Delhi continues to sign nuclear deals without being hindered by any of the so-called nuclear non-proliferation purists. Despite not signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, India has also assigned the uranium deal with Australia which has raised various important questions regarding the use of Australian uranium in India. As of now, India has signed civil nuclear agreements with more than a dozen countries which include; Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. Has India succeeded enough to bury her proliferation record over decades and shove it under the carpet? Isn’t it a lethal hoax?
Under these circumstances, it is also astonishing that there is even a possibility to grant India, the membership of Nuclear Supply Group (NSG), which is, in turn, a reactionary measure to India’s own disconcerting pursuit of nuclear weapons. Interestingly, India has been building its case for international recognition as a (Normal) nuclear weapon state for years, seeking admission to the Group, where, permitting an NPT-outlier like India will create the domino effect, when it will become a compulsion for states like Pakistan to opt for strategies commanded by their security concerns. While, on the other hand, it was also revealed that India has been busy in developing a secret nuclear city. Henceforth, it is important for NSG to abide by the criteria established by their own policies and must consider that its decision will also affect strategic stability in the region of South Asia.
As the world seeks to shrink global stockpiles of nuclear weapons, India continues to modernise its arsenal which increases Pakistan’s security dilemmas, compelling it to give a befitting yet restrained response. North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes must not be the only concern, the concern should be regarding the rate of proliferation everywhere. Nuclear sales may benefit the corporate bottom-line, however, the spread of nuclear technology and ultimately nuclear weapons undermines the security of the planet.
Last but not the least, there is a dire need to closely scrutinize Indian procurement and export practices in defense and nuclear deal. AT TOP https://www.eurasiareview.com/22042020-south-asian-nuclear-muddle-oped/
Nuclear Plants Allowed to Extend Workers’ Hours, Delay Inspections
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Nuclear Plants Allowed to Extend Workers’ Hours, Delay Inspections, Insurance Journal,
By Will Wade | April 21, 2020 Nuclear power plants can now implement longer shifts for workers and delay some inspections, raising concerns that as the coronavirus pandemic upends basic operations the industry may be bending the rules too far.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is already allowing six U.S. power plants to extend workers’ shifts, to as long as 12 hours a day for two weeks, and more may be coming. That’s up significantly from current standards that require people to get two-to-three days off a week when pulling shifts that long. Employees can also work as many as 86 hours in a week now, up from 72 hours. To curb transmission of the virus, utilities also say they want to delay inspections that require people to work in close proximity. Environmental groups, though, warn the changes could have disastrous results, and worry they could lead to further deviations from safety rules. “This is a step backward,” said Eric Epstein, chairman of Three Mile Island Alert, a Pennsylvania non-profit group. “It’s not a good idea to stretch workers and marginalize safety standards.” The new rules come as at least 42 construction workers have tested positive for the coronavirus at a nuclear plant in Georgia where Southern Co. is building two new reactors. Last week, the utility and its partners announced they would reduce the 9,000-person workforce by 20% to slow the spread of the virus. The government considers nuclear power plants to be essential, and reactors will supply almost 21% of the country’s electricity this year……. watchdog groups are concerned that employees may be overworked, leading to fatigue and potentially errors. “You want an alert workforce,” said Paul Gunter, a director at Beyond Nuclear. “You don’t do this with bus drivers, but they’re saying it’s OK for nuclear power plant workers.” …… Nuclear watchdogs are paying close attention to four sites that have requested permission to delay tests on steam generator piping, including Exelon’s Braidwood. The agency already approved NextEra’s request for its Turkey Point plant in Florida. The pipes carry water at high pressure, allowing it to stay liquid even as temperatures reach 600 degrees Fahrenheit (316 degrees Celsius). They are supposed to be inspected every three years, with the job requiring people working in close proximity. Because of the virus, the operators are seeking to delay this until the next refueling cycle in 18 months……. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2020/04/21/565661.htm |
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Arctic marine life threatened as a result of Alaskan sea ice disappearing
Disappearing Alaskan sea ice is significant for Arctic marine ecosystem, Science Daily , April 22, 2020, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
- Summary:
- A new study shows that plant materials originating in Arctic sea ice are significantly incorporated into marine food webs that are used for subsistence in local communities of the greater Bering Strait region. The research has the potential to demonstrate the importance of sea ice ecosystems as a source of food in Arctic waters in Alaska and beyond.
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A new study shows that plant materials originating in Arctic sea ice are significantly incorporated into marine food webs that are used for subsistence in local communities of the greater Bering Strait region.
The study led by scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science traced persistent biological compounds that are uniquely generated by microscopic plants in sea ice and found that the compounds are present throughout the base of the food web. The research has the potential to demonstrate the importance of sea ice ecosystems as a source of food in Arctic waters in Alaska and beyond.
“It is widely thought that the loss of sea ice habitat will have far-reaching implications for Arctic ecosystems,” said lead author Chelsea Wegner Koch, a graduate research assistant and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
“As sea ice breakup occurs earlier and forms later each year, the open water period is expanding and the sources of food are shifting away from sea ice and towards greater proportions of open water production. This production in the absence of sea ice differs in the quality, quantity, and timing of delivery to the seafloor,” she said.
- Efforts to account for the proportional shifts in contributions of ice algae have been incomplete due to the lack of a specific tracer that can be definitively assigned to ice algae rather than open-water phytoplankton. The compounds reaching the seafloor that were studied are associated with food for a range of seafloor animals that in turn provide food for ecologically and culturally important organisms, such as the bearded seal, Pacific walrus, gray whale and spectacled eider that forage on the shallow sea floor. …… https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200422151134.htm
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s health speculation raises question over nuclear weapons future
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s health speculation raises question over nuclear weapons future, 9 news, By CNN, Apr 22, 2020 Confusing and sometimes conflicting reports have emerged about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Those were followed by intense speculation on his whereabouts, his medical condition and the future of the world’s only hereditary communist state.
Initial rumblings began after North Korea’s most important holiday came and went on April 15 without an appearance by Kim, which was unusual.
Then Daily NK, an online publication based in South Korea that focuses on the north, reported that Kim had received a cardiovascular system procedure on April 12 and was being treated in a villa in Hyangsan County.
The reports have also sparked speculation over the security and question of what happens to North Korea’s nuclear weapons in the event of some sort of leadership transition, which is likely of concern in Washington, Seoul and Beijing……..
North Korea’s nuclear weapons are another closely guarded secret inside the country.
Little is known about how many Pyongyang has, how reliable they are, if its missiles and submarines could successfully fire them or even how Kim oversees their command and control apparatus…….
Though North Korea is still technically at war with the South and the United States, many of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons may be sitting disassembled and “there are probably very few ready systems,” Narang said.
But Narang said he wouldn’t be terribly concerned about the security of North Korea’s nuclear weapons in the event Kim died of natural causes……. https://www.9news.com.au/world/north-korea-kim-jong-un-health-status-confusion-nuclear-weapons-future-usa-south-korea-world-news/6c8663e8-9416-4635-ab90-9036d3e63246
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Some Grand Gulf Nuclear Station employees impacted by COVID-19
Some Grand Gulf Nuclear Station employees impacted by COVID-19, PORT GIBSON, Miss. (WJTV)22 Apr 20 Entergy confirmed some of its team members at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Claiborne County tested positive for the coronavirus….. https://www.wjtv.com/health/coronavirus/some-grand-gulf-nuclear-station-employees-impacted-by-covid-19/
Japanese government panel warns on risk that tsunami could overwhelm Fukushima nuclear plant in future Japan earthquake
“A massive earthquake of this class (shown in the simulation) would be difficult to deal with by developing hard infrastructure (such as coast levees),” seismologist Kenji Satake, a University of Tokyo professor and head of the panel said Tuesday. “To save people’s lives, the basic policy would be evacuation.”A future mega-quake in the Japan Trench, which extends off Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, to Boso Peninsula east of Tokyo, or in the Kuril Trench, which goes from Hokkaido to Russia’s Kuri Island, could yield disastrous results.
TEPCO currently stores about 1.2 million tons of radioactive water and only has space to hold up to 1.37 million tons, or until the summer of 2022. The water — leakage of contaminated cooling water from damaged reactors mixed with groundwater — has accumulated since the accident. It is constantly pumped up, treated and stored in tanks, while part of it is recycled as coolant.
The company said Wednesday it’s assessing the new government report…….. https://www.foxnews.com/world/tsunami-fukushina-nuclear-plant-japan-wrecked-future-earthquake-government-report-disaster
Russia dumps its plans for costly huge Nuclear Destroyer and supersized Frigate Programs
Russia Has Abandoned Its Massive Nuclear Destroyer And Supersized Frigate Programs, The Drive BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK APRIL 21, 2020 The state-run shipbuilding company responsible for both programs now has concerns about its long-term finances
Eussia’s Severnoye Design Bureau has stopped development entirely of its Project 23560 destroyers, also known as the Lider class, and the Project 22350M frigate, an expanded derivative of the Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov class. The company has said these ships are among its most promising future offerings and the halting of the two programs has raised quThe Lider destroyer, also referred to at times as the Shkval, was clearly an extremely ambitious project, perhaps overly so, from the very beginning. Though originally intended to be a conventionally powered warship, plans subsequently shifted to a nuclear-powered design. Its expected displacement also grew from already massive 12,000 to 13,000 tons to 19,000 tons, stretching its classification as a “destroyer.” estions about its long-term financial stability.
Russian newspaper Interfax reported the new developments at Severnoye, which is part of the country’s state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation, on Apr. 18. The information was reportedly contained in an annual review of the shipbuilder’s activities in 2019, which the outlet had obtained……
The Lider destroyer, also referred to at times as the Shkval, was clearly an extremely ambitious project, perhaps overly so, from the very beginning. Though originally intended to be a conventionally powered warship, plans subsequently shifted to a nuclear-powered design. Its expected displacement also grew from already massive 12,000 to 13,000 tons to 19,000 tons, stretching its classification as a “destroyer.” …… HTTPS://WWW.THEDRIVE.COM/THE-WAR-ZONE/33099/RUSSIA-HAS-ABANDONED-ITS-MASSIVE-NUCLEAR-DESTROYER-AND-SUPERSIZED-FRIGATE-PROGRAMS
Fitch downgrades EDF’s Outlook to Negative
The Outlook revision mainly reflects a large production cut in nuclear generation in France related to the coronavirus pandemic, and ongoing problems with new nuclear, adding to an expected increase in leverage to slightly above our rating sensitivity on average for 2020-2022. It also reflects growing uncertainties about the nuclear-market reform in France – which we still expect to be finally implemented – in terms of timing and final impact.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
Production Cuts due to Pandemic: The pandemic and the lockdown have caused daily electricity demand to fall up to 20% yoy and depressed both spot and forward electricity prices. EDF has announced a cut of French nuclear production to 300TWh in 2020 and to 330TWh-360TWh for 2021-2022 (from our earlier assumption of 385TWh annually for the whole period), due mainly to the operational impact of the pandemic on the outages scheduled for these years and, to a lesser extent, to the drop in demand. While the announcement led to a rebound of forward prices 2021-2022 to around 45EUR/MWh, we do not expect EDF to fully benefit from it due to the ARENH reference price of 42EUR/MWh. For 2020, EDF is largely protected from the low price environment through hedging.
Large Working Capital Outflows: Another immediate consequence of the pandemic has been an increase in the number of end-customers struggling to pay their bills. In this respect, EDF will continue to supply power to households and small companies with overdue bills without penalties. ,……..
Company’s Reaction Uncertain: EDF has not yet communicated revised financial targets to the market, and we do not know what actions it will focus on to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. …….
Problems with New Nuclear: At Flamanville, fuel loading would occur at best at end-2022 (compared with the previously estimated late-2019), implying an increase of construction costs by EUR1.5 billion (in 2015 real terms and excluding interests during construction) compared with previous estimates. HPC – the other key nuclear project of EDF – following another cost review in September 2019, sees an increase in construction costs of GBP1.9 billion-GBP2.9 billion (2015 real terms) compared with previous estimates. It remains to be seen if the pandemic will further increase the delay and cost overrun for these projects…….. https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-revises-edf-outlook-to-negative-affirms-idr-at-a-22-04-2020
Renewables could add $A160 trillion to post Covid-19 economic recovery — RenewEconomy
Clean energy stimulus could help meet net zero emissions goals of Paris Agreement and generate more than $A159 trillion in benefits to global GDP above business-as-usual. The post Renewables could add $A160 trillion to post Covid-19 economic recovery appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Renewables could add $A160 trillion to post Covid-19 economic recovery — RenewEconomy
Pandemic side-effects offer glimpse of alternative future on Earth Day 2020
Pandemic side-effects offer glimpse of alternative future on Earth Day 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/environment-pandemic-side-effects-earth-day-coronavirus
Coronavirus has led to reduced pollution, re-emerging wildlife and plunging oil prices and shown the size of the task facing humanity Oliver Milman. @olliemilman, Wed 22 Apr 2020 The skies are clearing of pollution, wildlife is returning to newly clear waters, a host of flights have been scrapped and crude oil is so worthless that the industry would have to pay you to take it off their hands – a few months ago, environmentalists could only dream of such a scenario as the 50th anniversary of Earth Day hove into view.
But this disorientingly green new reality is causing little cheer given the cause is the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged much of the world.
“This isn’t the way we would’ve wanted things to happen, God no,” said Gina McCarthy, former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration. “This is just a disaster that pointed out the underlying challenges we face. It’s not something to celebrate.”
Wednesday’s annual Earth Day event, this year largely taking place online, comes as public health restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 have resulted in a sharp dip in air pollution across China, Europe and the US, with carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels heading for a record 5% annual drop.
The waters of Venice are now clear, lions lounge on roads normally frequented by safari-goers in South Africa and bears and coyotes wander around empty accommodation in Yosemite national park in California.
Meanwhile, nearly eight in 10 flights globally have been canceled, with many planes in the US carrying just a handful of people. The oil industry, a key driver of the climate crisis and direct environmental disaster, is in turmoil, with a barrel of crude hitting an unprecedented minus-$40 on Monday.
These would perhaps be the sort of outcomes seen had stringent environmental policies been put in place in the wake of the first Earth Day in 1970, which saw 20 million Americans rally in support of anti-pollution measures.
Instead, the pain of the Covid-19 shutdown has highlighted how ponderous the world’s response has been – the expected cut in emissions, for example, is still less than what scientists say is needed every year this decade to avoid disastrous climate impacts for much of the world.
“It’s the worst possible way to experience environment improvement and it has also shown us the size of the task,” said Michael Gerrard, an environmental law expert at Columbia University.
How people react to the return of normalcy after the pandemic will help define the crises racking the environment, according to Gerrard. “A key question will be do we have a green recovery, do we seize the opportunity to create jobs in renewable energy and in making coastlines more resilient to climate change?” he said. “The current US president clearly has no inclination to do this.”
McCarthy, now head of the Natural Resources Defense Council, noted that some Indian people were seeing the Himalayas for the first time due to the veil of air pollution lifting.
“You wonder if people will want to go back to what it was like before,” she said. “The pandemic has shown people will change their behavior if it’s for the health of their families. This has been the lost message on climate, that it’s a human problem, not a planetary problem. We have to show you can have a stable environment and your job, too.”
The problems in the natural world haven’t suddenly vanished – this week various researchers found that the Arctic is very likely to be free of sea ice in summers before 2050, that the bushfires that torched Australia earlier this year released more carbon than the country’s annual CO2 output and that the first quarter of 2020 was the second-warmest on record.
Donald Trump has signaled that he will try to provide a bailout to the US oil and gas industry, with $25bn already handed out by the US government to prop up airlines. In China, it’s not certain that the wildlife-packed “wet markets” where Covid-19 is believed to have originated will be shut down.
Conservationists warn that returning the world to its pre-pandemic settings will quickly wipe out any environmental benefits of the shutdown.
“It’s a serious wake-up call,” said Thomas Lovejoy, an ecologist who coined the term “biological diversity”. “We bulldoze into the last remaining places in nature and then are surprised when something like this happens. We have done this to ourselves by our continual intrusion into nature. We have to re-chart our course.”
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The Guardian is the lead partner in Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Coronavirus recovery can pave the way to a green energy future
around the world, electricity demand has reduced in COVID-19 hotspots. This could have a knock-on effect for the renewable sector.China, where the outbreak first took hold, is the world’s biggest electricity consumer. Output from factories has been substantially diminished with many unable to return to their jobs in manufacturing. Due to the curtailing of industrial electricity use, cuts in energy consumption for 2020 could be equivalent to the power used by the whole of Chile, according to IHS Markit.
In Europe, peak power consumption has also gone down. Italy, Spain, and the UK have all seen an average 10 per cent drop in energy usage with bars, restaurants, offices and factories, which remain closed as social distancing measures continue.In particular, fossil fuel based sources of electricity have been impacted by reduced requirements. Coal, usually one of the cheapest options, has now become the most expensive fuel in the world in the face of cheap green alternatives and natural gas, according to Bloomberg Green.
PAVING THE WAY FOR A GREEN FUTURE?
Renewable energy sources seem to have been given an unexpected boost. Around 40 per cent of the electricity generated in the UK on Sunday 5th March came from wind farms, with nearly a fifth being provided by solar energy. This was due to the unusually sunny day, says the National Grid ESO carbon intensity tracker.
These conditions have meant that renewable sources generated more than enough energy to cover the country’s reduced needs. Green supplier, Octopus Energy, even paid some customers to use energy during the day, using a scheme that has previously only been available during the night when demand is very low.
“In most economies that have taken strong confinement measures in response to the coronavirus – and for which we have available data – electricity demand has declined by around 15%, largely as a result of factories and businesses halting operations,” Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency wrote in a blog post.
“In this way, the recent drop in electricity demand fast-forwarded some power systems 10 years into the future, suddenly giving them levels of wind and solar power they wouldn’t have had otherwise without another decade of investment in renewables.”
He went on to explain that this increase in renewable energy usage could even help some countries figure out how to deal with the drop in power that comes from the sun setting or a strong wind dying down. Previously, these kinds of fluctuating energy sources have proved challenging for those who work to keep our lights on. Managing them more ntelligently by shutting off solar panels at midday when there is more electricity than usual and slowing down wind power as demand decreases at night are just some options Dr Birol suggests.
These new findings have also put the spotlight on more reliable and often neglected sources of green energy, like hydropower, which are essential to making sure we have a consistent supply of energy. In exceptional situations like the current pandemic, where a fluctuation in energy supply could put lives and employment at even greater risk, this is particularly important.
To save the planet, cultural, social and political transformation is essential; new technologies only part of the answer.
Why relying on new technology won’t save the planet https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200420125510.htm April 20, 2020, Lancaster University
- Summary:
- Over-reliance on promises of new technology to solve climate change is enabling delay, say researchers. They argue instead for cultural, social and political transformation to enable widespread deployment of both behavioral and technological responses to climate change.
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Overreliance on promises of new technology to solve climate change is enabling delay, say researchers from Lancaster University.
Their research published in Nature Climate Change calls for an end to a longstanding cycle of technological promises and reframed climate change targets.
Contemporary technological proposals for responding to climate change include nuclear fusion power, giant carbon sucking machines, ice-restoration using millions of wind-powered pumps, and spraying particulates in the stratosphere.
Researchers Duncan McLaren and Nils Markusson from Lancaster Environment Centre say that: “For forty years, climate action has been delayed by technological promises. Contemporary promises are equally dangerous. Our work exposes how such promises have raised expectations of more effective policy options becoming available in the future, and thereby enabled a continued politics of prevarication and inadequate action.
- “Prevarication is not necessarily intentional, but such promises can feed systemic ‘moral corruption’, in which current elites are enabled to pursue self-serving pathways, while passing off risk onto vulnerable people in the future and in the global South.
The article describes a history of such promises, showing how the overarching international goal of ‘avoiding dangerous climate change’ has been reinterpreted and differently represented in the light of new modelling methods, scenarios and technological promises.
The researchers argue that the targets, models and technologies have co-evolved in ways that enable delay: “Each novel promise not only competes with existing ideas, but also downplays any sense of urgency, enabling the repeated deferral of political deadlines for climate action and undermining societal commitment to meaningful responses.
They conclude: “Putting our hopes in yet more new technologies is unwise. Instead, cultural, social and political transformation is essential to enable widespread deployment of both behavioural and technological responses to climate change.”
The researchers map the history of climate targets in five phases: “stabilization,” followed by a focus on “percentage emissions reductions,” shifting to “atmospheric concentrations” (expressed in parts per million), “cumulative budgets” (in tonnes of carbon dioxide), and currently “outcome temperatures.”
- In the first phase (around Rio, 1992) technological promises included improved energy efficiency, large-scale enhancement of carbon sinks, and nuclear power
- In the second phase around the Kyoto summit (1997) policy promises focused on cutting emissions with efficiency, fuel switching and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
- In the third phase (around Copenhagen, 2009), CCS became linked to bioenergy, while policy focused on atmospheric concentrations.
- Phase four saw the development of sophisticated global carbon budgeting models and the emergence of a range of putative negative emissions technologies.
- Policy in phase five focused increasingly on temperature outcomes, formalised with the Paris accord of 2015.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Lancaster University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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