How solar energy can turn lives around in nuclear-devastatedFukushima
Adorable Japanese couple devastated by Fukushima turn lives around with solar http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/this-adorable-japanese-farming-couple-lost-th/blog/55657/
Eventually though, they decided to return.
“We have cattle and chickens and we had to come back to feed them. We couldn’t leave them and go elsewhere,” they told us in 2012.
But apart from dealing with the aftermath of such a tragic accident they also had to deal with the future of their farming business – their customer base fell due to fears of contaminated produce, and they even thought about giving up on farming.
But instead of letting the nuclear accident shape them, they knew they had to move forward – for themselves, for their community and for their children’s future.
In 2013 they opened up an organic shop, “Esperi” in the agricultural town of Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture. Their intention was to help revitalise the area and create a community space where people could gather and help each other in 2013. After all, the name “Esperi” means “hope” in Esperanto.
But this wasn’t enough. So in October 2015, the couple launched the Solarise Fukushima crowdfunding project to install solar panels on the rooftop of their shop. Their aim? “Hope to spread life with solar energy from Miharu town, Fukushima”.
Before they knew it people around Japan and the rest of the world began contributing to their crowd funding project, and about a month later they achieved their target of around 1.5 mil JPY (about 13,500 US). Messages from crowd funding supporters gave them the encouragement they needed, especially as they felt “forgotten”.
Greenpeace Japan helped launch the project, and in January 2016 solar panels were installed on the Esperi rooftop.
When the Greenpeace International radiation investigation team first met the couple in April 2011, Mrs Okawara said:
“Fukushima people are a bit naive. For a long time, we did not have money, and just accepted the plan of nuclear power plants. But for the future of our children it would be a shame if we didn’t continue organic farming and take drastic action.”
In 2012 Fukushima Prefecture pledged to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2040. But the policies that the Japanese government are currently promoting is heading in the opposite direction.
In order to achieve a sustainable, reliable and affordable electricity system, the Japanese government urgently needs to change course and streamline its actions. It needs to put the interests of people before those of the utilities and stop wasting efforts on restarting nuclear plants, stop investments in coal power plants that lock in climate destruction, and an set ambitious renewable energy target.
For many people in Fukushima, their biggest wish is for a life without nuclear energy and a future powered by clean, safe renewable energy. Esperi is a tangible testament to the community’s future – it’s our hope. Ai Kashiwagi is an energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan.
In 10 years – 100% renewable energy is doable
100% Renewable Energy: What We Can Do in 10 Years Yes! Magazine It will take at least three decades to completely leave behind fossil fuels. But we can do it. And the first step is to start with the easy stuff. Richard Heinberg Feb 22, 2016
If our transition to renewable energy is successful, we will achieve savings in the ongoing energy expenditures needed for economic production. We will be rewarded with a quality of life that is acceptable—and, perhaps, preferable to our current one (even though, for most Americans, material consumption will be scaled back from its current unsustainable level). We will have a much more stable climate than would otherwise be the case. And we will see greatly reduced health and environmental impacts from energy production activities.
But the transition will entail costs—not just money and regulation, but also changes in our behavior and expectations. It will probably take at least three or four decades, and will fundamentally change the way we live.
Nobody knows how to accomplish the transition in detail, because this has never been done before. Most previous energy transitions were driven by opportunity, not policy. And they were usually additive, with new energy resources piling onto old ones (we still use firewood, even though we’ve added coal, hydro, oil, natural gas, and nuclear to the mix).
Since the renewable energy revolution will require trading our currently dominant energy sources (fossil fuels) for alternative ones (mostly wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass) that have different characteristics, there are likely to be some hefty challenges along the way.
Therefore, it makes sense to start with the low-hanging fruit and with a plan in place, then revise our plan frequently as we gain practical experience. Several organizations have already formulated plans for transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy. David Fridley, staff scientist of the energy analysis program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and I have been working for the past few months to analyze and assess those plans and have a book in the works titled Our Renewable Future. Here’s a very short summary, tailored mostly to the United States, of what we’ve found.
Level One: The Easy Stuff Continue reading
Huge savings in planned solar energy project for Marshall Islands
Big solar project aims to save Marshall Islands millions of dollars, Marianas Variety, 22 Feb 2016 By Giff Johnson – For Variety MAJURO — A large-scale solar project that would slash the need for diesel imports for power generation in the Marshall Islands is being considered by two big donor agencies, said the new President of the country, Dr. Hilda Heine.
Although the carbon output of the Marshall Islands is virtually non-existent when compared to developed nations, Heine said Friday her country wants to “walk the talk” on climate by reducing its carbon footprint.
The planned solarization of Jaluit, Wotje and Rongrong islands will dramatically change their energy status from 100 percent reliance on diesel-powered electricity to a 90 percent solar-10 percent diesel mix. This is projected to save the government $1 million in annual subsidy. Ebeye Island, which has a 20 percent of the Marshall Islands population of 55,000, is to convert 35 percent of its grid power to solar, with a 12-acre array of solar panels being installed on a neighboring island. This will slash the Ebeye utility firm’s fuel bill by over $1 million a year, a cost now subsidized by the government………http://www.mvariety.com/regional-news/83935-big-solar-project-aims-to-save-marshall-islands-millions-of-dollars
Nuclear power being beaten globally by wind energy
Global wind power capacity tops nuclear energy for first time, Japan Times, 20 Feb 16 The capacity of wind power generation worldwide reached 432.42 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2015, up 17 percent from a year earlier and surpassing nuclear energy for the first time, according to data released by global industry bodies.
The generation capacity of wind farms newly built in 2015 was a record 63.01 GW, corresponding to about 60 nuclear reactors, according to the Global Wind Energy Council based in Brussels. The global nuclear power generation capacity was 382.55 GW as of Jan. 1, 2016, the London-based World Nuclear Association said…….
Wind power is the leading energy source in the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, the wind energy council said as it released the data last week.
China led all other countries in wind energy generation capacity with 145.10 GW. Beijing is promoting wind power to shift from coal and other fossil fuels to combat air pollution and global warming.
Coming in second behind China is the United States with 74.47 GW, followed by Germany with 44.95 GW, then India with 25.09 GW and then Spain with 23.03 GW. Japan produced 3.04 GW. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/02/20/national/global-wind-power-capacity-tops-nuclear-energy-for-first-time/#.VsoiRX197Gh
Busting the obsolete “baseload” myth, and other myths that hold back renewable energy
nuClear News No 82 Feb 16 Towards 100% Renewables As Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Lisa Nandy, re-iterates the myth that nuclear power is an “important as part of the energy mix [if] we’re going to meet the commitments we made in Paris” we investigate how the UK could move to a 100% renewable energy system. Although Nandy says she is not happy with the Hinkley deal she says “we know we will need nuclear power as part of the mix”, but is she right? (1)
World’s largest solar plant to be switched on in Morocco
Morocco to switch on first phase of world’s largest solar plant Desert complex will provide electricity for more than 1 million people when complete, helping African country to supply most of its energy from renewables by 2030 Guardian, Arthur Neslen 5 Feb 16 Morocco’s king will switch on the first phase of a concentrated solar power plant on Thursday that will become the world’s largest when completed.
The power station on the edge of the Saharan desert will be the size of the country’s capital city by the time it is finished in 2018, and provide electricity for 1.1 million people.
Noor 1, the first section at the town of Ouarzazate, provides 160 megawatts (MW) of the ultimate 580MW capacity, helping Morocco to save hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
“At around 2pm, the king will press a button, the parabolic mirrors will start turning, the heat will begin to turn the turbines and the plant will come to life,” said Maha el-Kadiri, a spokeswoman for Masen, Morocco’s renewable energy agency……..
After it is switched on, the plant will initially provide 650,000 local people with solar electricity from dawn until three hours after sunset.
“It is a very, very significant project in Africa,” said Mafalda Duarte, the manager of Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which provided $435m (£300m) of the $9bn project’s funding. “Morocco is showing real leadership and bringing the cost of the technology down in the process.”
The north African country plans to generate 42% of its energy from renewables by 2020, with one-third of that total coming from solar, wind and hydropower apiece.
Morocco hopes to use the next UN climate change conference, which it hosts in November, as the springboard for an even more ambitious plan to source 52% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.
“Between now and [the next conference], many projects will have come to light and we will prove that we can match our energy demands with renewables,” the country’s energy minister, Abdelkader Amara, said at a meeting during the Paris climate summit in December……..
Such a move would have regional implications. CIF estimates that if international banks and governments deployed another 5GW of solar energy, electricity production costs could fall by 14%. Scaling that up to 15GW would cut costs by 44%…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/04/morocco-to-switch-on-first-phase-of-worlds-largest-solar-plant
France’s plan for 1,000 kilometers of road paved with solar panels
France to pave 1,000 kilometers of road with solar panels http://inhabitat.com/france-to-pave-1000-kilometers-of-road-with-solar-panels/?newgallery=true by Lucy Wang In a major step forward for green energy, the French government has announced plans to installsolar photovoltaic panels on 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of road over the next five years. The goal is to supply renewable power to 5 million people—or about 8 percent of the French population. The solar roadways will use Wattway panels, a photovoltaic technology unveiled last October by the major French civil engineering firm Colas. According to Ségolène Royal, France’s minister of ecology and energy, the “Positive Energy” project will be funded by raising taxes on fossil fuels, a decision Royal says is “natural” given the low prices of oil.
Renewabl eenergy is winning the world – University expert
World is embracing clean energy, says expert http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160201123053.htm Source: University of Exeter
- Summary:
- An expert argues that investment in renewable electricity now outstrips that in fossil fuels, and that increasing numbers of policies to improve the efficiency of energy use and to make energy systems more flexible are pointing to a global momentum in the adoption of sustainable energy systems.
- Renewable, energy efficient and flexible electricity sources are being adopted by policy makers and investors across the globe and this is sign of optimism in the battle against climate change, a University of Exeter energy policy expert is suggesting.
In a journal article published in Nature Energy, Professor Catherine Mitchell from the University’s Energy Policy Group argues that investment in renewable electricity now outstrips that in fossil fuels, and that increasing numbers of policies to improve the efficiency of energy use and to make energy systems more flexible are pointing to a global momentum in the adoption of sustainable energy systems.
“While the world is still dependent on fossil fuels, because energy systems have long lives, it has got to the point where more than half of global electricity system investment is in renewables rather than fossil fuels investment. It is a sign that globally we have moved our public policy discourse and investor preferences from the old ‘dirty’ energy system to a clean one,” she said.
The adoption of renewable electricity by a few countries like Denmark and Germany in the 1990s, has led to improved understanding of energy system operation and a fall in prices which has had a knock on effect. A few countries, like the UK, remain dominated by conventional energy systems but most are supporting the move to sustainable energy systems.
“They are just trying to act as good global neighbours and have realised that meeting their climate change reduction commitments is no longer as expensive as they thought, and it helps, rather than makes worse, the security of their energy systems, ” added Professor Mitchell, who us based at the University’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
While the changing discourse is welcome, Professor Mitchell stresses that the challenge of climate change has not yet been met and that policy statements need to be backed up with firm action
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“The recent United Nations meeting on climate change in Paris and its agreements has led to strong support for individual country’s sustainable energy policies. However, these statements need to be backed up with appropriate governance — policies, institutions, incentives and energy system rules — to make sure they are implemented and are successful.”
Momentum is increasing towards a flexible electricity system based on renewables by Catherine Mitchell is published in Nature Energy.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Exeter.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference:
- Catherine Mitchell. Momentum is increasing towards a flexible electricity system based on renewables. Nature Energy, 2016; 1 (2): 15030 DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2015.30
New research shows USA could economically cut emissions by 80% with wind and solar energy
But that might not be the case anymore. New research suggests it might actually be feasible to use solar and wind power across the United States. In fact, researchers propose a new model that could cut emissions by up to 80 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, without developing new technologies or raising prices.
How would it work? Power from solar, wind, and other existing technologies would all contribute to a grid across the continental United States to share the burden of power production. That combination would make it economically feasible to cut carbon emissions significantly in the electricity sector, according to a study published Monday in the journalNature.
……The trick, according to this model, is to use multiple power sources together on the national scale.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, scientists built this model based on the weather system. Some regions, like the southwest, might be particularly sunny. Others, like the Dakotas, might have just the right wind conditions.
“If you can trade power over the whole US at the same time, then there’ll always be someplace that’s generating power like crazy,” study co-lead author Alexander MacDonald tells the Monitor. …..
MacDonald adds that it will be up to policymakers and the people. “Our job is to show that there is a system that is possible with existing technology, technology available right now.”
It could all hinge on that political will, Jeff Deyette, assistant director of energy research at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who was not involved in the study, tells the Monitor. He explains that creating a national scale power system would “require a major shift in how we transmit and distribute power across the country.” Currently, the electricity sector is largely controlled by regional transmission organizations. To employ the system proposed by the NOAA researchers, discussion would have to happen on the federal level too. “I think it comes down to the political will to make it happen,” Mr. Deyette says……
With new systems like these, all hope is not lost. “Technological advances can take us a long way toward solving the climate crisis,” Deyette says. This new model “is certainly a very strong positive step in the right direction.”http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0129/Could-wind-solar-slash-carbon-emissions-affordably
Conservative South Carolina leading USA trend to wind energy?
Why conservative South Carolina could actually be a sign of the future of U.S. energy WP, By Chelsea Harvey January 28 Coastal South Carolina has long been recognized by locals and tourists alike for its warm waters, dazzling natural landscapes and prime seafood cuisine. But lately, communities up and down the shoreline have been making a name for themselves in another way: They’re leading the historically conservative state in a shift toward support for alternative energy and away from fossil fuel energy development.
And protests against the idea of offshore drilling, which has been proposed in regions up and down the Atlantic coast, have cropped up in many of the other Southeastern states as well, some of which have also been involved in talks with the federal government about the development of wind energy……..https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/01/28/why-conservative-south-carolina-could-actually-be-a-sign-of-the-future-of-u-s-energy/
Solar business India: coal develop makes the switch to solar
India Coal Plant Developer Switches to Solar for Site in Punjab, Bloomberg Business, Anindya Upadhyay 29 Jan 16
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RattanIndia to convert 800-acre site to PV instead of coal
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Company to raise 6 billion rupees for current solar projects
-
A prominent developer of coal-fired power plants in India is seeking to switch to solar for an 800-acre (324-hectare) site in Punjab it had earmarked for another thermal plant, saying the economics of photovoltaics are more attractive.
RattanIndia Power Ltd. which has 1.6 gigawatts of thermal capacity in central India, asked government permission to install solar panels at the site in Punjab instead of the coal plant it was planning, said Rajiv Rattan, chairman of RattanIndia Group.
“In the next three to four years, you will see the entire 800 acres getting used for solar,” Rattan said in an interview.
The decision highlights increasing interest in India’s solar program after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out a target to install 100 gigawatts of capacity by 2020 at an estimated cost of $100 billion. Incentives and regulations designed to draw finance from companies to help meet the target have attracted a handful of overseas developers to bid in auctions for power contracts in India, reducing the cost of solar electricity to a record low.RattanIndia is the only domestic firm to take on large foreign companies in Indian government auctions for solar contracts, which were dominated by SunEdison Inc. of the U.S., SoftBank Group Corp. from Japan, Fortum OYJ of Finland and Solairedirect Group from France.
RattanIndia has made a bold statement by making aggressive bids and competing with foreign companies in large government solar tenders where most Indian corporates were out, the solar research firm Bridge to India said……….
- The cost of solar power touched a record low of 4.34 rupees (or 6 cents) a kilowatt-hour for contracts awarded on Jan. 19 in the sunny southern state of Rajasthan, where a total of 420 megawatts of capacity was granted…….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-29/india-coal-plant-developer-switches-to-solar-for-site-in-punjab
Solar power an economic winner for Chile
Green Energy Boom Helps Chile Contain Surging Power Prices [excellent graphs] ,Bloomberg Business, Philip Sanders Vanessa Dezem January 28, 2016
Chile leads Latin America in installation of solar power
Success achieved without the help of government incentives
At an auction of electricity supply contracts in October, three solar parks offered distributors energy at $65 to $68 per megawatt-hour, while coal power was offered at $85 megawatt-hour, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. Two wind farms bid at $79 megawatt-hour. Unsurprisingly, the contracts went to renewable energy suppliers.
Just seven years earlier it was a very different story. ……..
In the Shade
Chile’s solar industry is putting the rest of the continent in the shade.
The reason for that turnaround lies in the sun baked northern desert of the Atacama, where some towns have had almost no rain in living memory. It is a natural advantage that Chile will continue to exploit. As of November last year, the Energy Minister had registered solar projects with an additional capacity of 1.3 gigawatts.
“We feel very proud to be a country that is leading the energetic transition in Latin America and to have reached this renewable boom without fiscal subsidies,” Pacheco told Bloomberg on Dec. 15. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-28/green-energy-boom-helps-chile-contain-surging-power-prices
Japan starts work on ‘world’s largest’ floating solar farm
Japan begins work on ‘world’s largest’ floating solar farm, Guardian, Adam Vaughan, 28 Jan 16
Electronics firm builds floating solar farm on a reservoir due to a scarcity of land for utility-scale solar in Japan. The Japanese electronics multinational Kyocera has begun work on what it says will be the world’s biggest floating solar farm.
The power plant is being built on a reservoir in Japan’s Chiba prefecture and is anticipated to supply enough electricity for nearly 5,000 households when it is completed in early 2018.
Space-starved Japan has already seen several floating solar farms built as part of the country’s drive to exploit more renewable energy in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster……..
In the UK, water company United Utilities started work last year on a floating solar farm on a Greater Manchester reservoir, which will be Europe’s largest once complete. Kyocera said it was turning to water because of a scarcity of land for utility-scale solar in Japan……
Kyocera has already built three floating solar farms, which are much smaller than the new one, which was first announced in October 2014.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/japan-begins-work-on-worlds-largest-floating-solar-farm
Solar panel costs to fall 10% every year
Solar panel costs predicted to fall 10% a year Climate Home: Power from the sun could supply 20% of energy worldwide by 2027 on current technology trends, say UK researchers, Guardian, Megan Darby, 27 Jan 16, Solar power costs are tumbling so fast the technology is likely to fast outstrip mainstream energy forecasts.That is the conclusion of Oxford University researchers, based on a new forecasting model published in Research Policy.
Since the 1980s, panels to generate electricity from sunshine have got 10% cheaper each year. That is likely to continue, the study said, putting solar on course to meet 20% of global energy needs by 2027.
By contrast, even in its “high renewable” scenario, the International EnergyAgency assumes solar panels will generate just 16% of electricity in 2050. Its widely cited future energy scenarios in previous years failed to predict solar’s rapid growth.
Mathematics professor Doyne Farmer, who co-wrote the paper, said the research could help to shape clean energy policy.
“Sceptics have claimed that solar PV cannot be ramped up quickly enough to play a significant role in combatting global warming,” he said.
“In a context where limited resources for technology investment constrain policy makers to focus on a few technologies… the ability to have improved forecasts and know how accurate they are should prove particularly useful.”
Farmer’s model, jointly developed with economist Francois Lafond, draws on historical data from 53 different technologies……http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/26/solar-panel-costs-predicted-to-fall-10-a-year
Renewable energy development hindered in Japn
The powerful nuclear industry, frozen in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, has since reasserted itself.
the so-called “nuclear village” — a term applied to the various intersecting groups with an interest in the industry — has deliberately thwarted renewables progress, through things like grid access refusal and misrepresenting costs.
Despite nuclear fears, Japan solar energy sector slow to catch on, Aljazeera America January 23, 2016by Joe Jackson FUKUSHIMA, Japan — Morihiko Shimamura has a vision for the future, depicted in a cartoonish community map on his partially biomass-powered truck. In the drawing, solar panels sit atop self-sufficient buildings, as waterways generate hydropower alongside wind turbines, and transmission cables are buried underground.
As he drives around this large prefecture, teaching schoolchildren how to make rudimentary photovoltaic cells, the 57-year-old cofounder of an umbrella of not-for-profit sustainability organizations advertises his optimistic vision.
But current reality is very different. The landscape here still bears the scars of a 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear reactor meltdown. Piles of black bags containing contaminated topsoil litter hillsides; display panels along an expressway show high radioactivity readings; and some villages remain ghost towns, largely off-limits to residents.
“I want people to know that the technology, we can make it, and then also we can make by ourselves the energy … [and] create the society without nuclear plants,” Shimamura explained through a translator.
Local officials endorse his plan, in theory. They too want Fukushima to get all its energy from renewables by 2040. Solar panels are already visible on rooftops, in backyards and open spaces, while green enterprises and research institutes are encouraged to locate there. Nor is the prefecture is alone in its hope to use the tragedy as the catalyst for change. In opinion polls, a majority of Japanese citizens consistently support the goal of abandoning nuclear power while harnessing more renewable energy. Former prime ministers, leading businessmen and a one-time nuclear industry executive are among those urging rapid transformation. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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