A Green Degree Blog: New Angles On Sustainability

November 29th 2012

The Beginning Of The British Nuclear Renaissance?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9642199/Hitachis-700m-Horizon-nuclear-deal-to-create-up-to-12000-British-jobs.html

Call me optimistic, and trust me, that’s not what I’m often called, but to me it’s starting to look like nuclear may finally be back on the radar for the UK, at least in the form of tentative steps towards kickstarting once-ailing projects and renewing ageing others. There may even be some hope lingering in the recently announced Energy Bill, of which there are unfortunately many negative aspects covering some surprisingly positive ones for the industry and it’s future in terms of project certainty and subsidies.

The acquisition of the infamous Horizon nuclear site has undoubtedly proved as the catalyst for this, and has been the butt of many coalition-directed jokes for some time now, after E.ON and RWE put the project up for sale in March following that fateful nuclear-backlash from Fukushima (brief thoughts on that coming later). Many thought it signalled the gradual and undignified death of the industry at the hands of public outcry and atrocious safety hazards, and I included believed it highly unlikely to be seeing any new reactors planned for some decades to come, if at all. Fortunately, it seems our overseas Asian friends think otherwise.

Hitachi recently completed the sale of Horizon at £700million and plans to begin construction of two to three plants at each of the two sites, and more importantly is planning on implementing cutting-edge technology in an attempt to reduce costs and build times, as well as to placate those who feel nuclear is dirty, dangerous and likely to kill us all one day. These AWBRs, or Advanced Water Boiling Reactors are apparently the ‘only advanced nuclear reactors licensed and in production around the world, and have been built on time and within cost’, unlike pretty much any other European reactor currently being constructed.

They intend the plants to produce 1.3GW of electricity each, and to create over 12,000 jobs in the process, yet again boosting one of the only sectors to truly be growing in this current climate, the green and low-carbon economy. With this much extra juice and investment flowing into our ‘green and pleasant lands’ without the added worry of carbon emissions during use, a rather large hole which would have inevitably formed as old plants were shut down can hopefully be plugged.

Posted at 10:00am and tagged with: nuclear, hinkley, horizon, somerset, project, energy, climate, fossil fuels, oil, gas, death, explosion, fukushima, 3-mile island, chernobyl, energy bill, EDF,.

November 19th 2012

Why Aren’t We Kicking Offshore Oil Out For Good? Seriously?

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Here’s something I don’t get; offshore oil. As a whole, I simply don’t understand what our global obsession with this wonder-drug fuel source is. It’s dirty, it’s expensive, it requires massive amounts of resources to build, is highly damaging to the environment and so painfully, obviously dangerous in light of recent events (or in fact its entire history) that it astounds me we still continue to advocate new leases and permissions for these things. I mean, who thinks it’s a good idea to slap one of these beasts in the pristine Arctic Ocean? Come on guys, really?

This sheer confusion of mine has been ratcheted up another level as the infamous BP finally gets the bill for it’s excessive throwing up of oil all over the Gulf of Mexico in the now almost myth-like Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010. The sum - a tasty $4.5 billion, and criminal sentences of manslaughter for two supervisors who were deemed responsible for making sure such drilling platforms didn’t spontaneously explode, but failed to do so. The crux of the legal ruling? ‘Gross negligence’, which I think sums it up pretty nicely.

So that’s a mighty fine slap on the wrists for BP then. Company-reputation is no doubt tarnished for life, although it didn’t take a court ruling to make that point obvious, and the damages they’ve been paying out since the event reach into the tens of billions. The world over now sees offshore drilling for what it really can be; a horribly dangerous and potentially catastrophic process of extraction which surely does not warrant the time, effort and money spent on it.

And to take this even further, in what seems like a brutally ironic twist of fate, just a day after this ruling was complete, another oil rig based in the Mexican Gulf went up in flames too, with at least four missing and two possibly dead. I’m not one to call into play an ‘Act of God’, but that kinda stinks of something trying to be said right?

So you’d think with all this negative attention and bad karma within the offshore oil industry that we might be seeing the beginnings of the end for the whole enterprise, or at least of this form of reckless and risky drilling. Unfortunately, I don’t think that happy eventuality will be coming along anytime soon.

The fines BP are being charged, that $4.5 billion, that is barely change for a company as large and wealthy as they are, and is completely trumped by litigation charges and settlements BP will be handling outside of court on the ground of Water Protection Acts and private nuisance. However, this is to be paid out over several years, not in one big wallop, and indeed, BP is not short of cash. The US Department of Defense for one has contracts worth $2.2 billion a year purely to be provided with fuel from the multinational corporation, so in effect, the DoD would have paid off these fines in just over 2 years. More irony?

Posted at 10:00am and tagged with: energy, offshore, oil, driling, BP, deepwater horizon, legal, ruling, fine, criminal, billions, oil rig, gulf of mexico, fossil fuels, death, news, politics, nuclear, risk, obama, cameron,.

October 25th 2012

Somehow, UK Leads (Mostly) Europe-Wide Overachievement Towards Kyoto Targets

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Well I must admit, I for one did not see this news coming, and it has come at quite the shock to me, and I would like to think much of the developed world and climate hawks all around. The EU is set to meet and surpass the greenhouse gas emission targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol way back in 1997, cutting overall amounts by at least 5% per country involved, which is a sizeable amount whichever way you cut it.

Considering many other developed nations have either long given up on reaching these goals, or have simply backed out in the interests of domestic markets (think Canada and their precious tar-sand resources), or never actually ratified the Protocol in the first place, the fact that the EU has achieved this is quite some show of progress in the right direction.

What surprised me even more so, and this is undoubtedly where my powerful cynicism comes into play, or what I like to think of as realistic cynicism at least, is that the United Kingdom is leading the pack in slashing GHG emissions in real terms (actual tonnes of emissions), cutting them by 6% in 2011, equivalent to roughly 36m tonnes of CO2. Compare this to 5% for France and just 2% for solar-rich Germany, and you see what all the fuss is about. Personally, and I don’t believe I was alone in this thought, I always mostly ignored the government’s claims of how well we were doing and how we would easily meet our targets and surpass them, and given recent developments in our energy policy, I would be mad to think of it as truth; but apparently I was wrong.

Now, there are multiple reasons as to why this sudden drop in emissions came to be, and when combined, they would seem to account for much of the cuts we are now seeing and inevitably will be boasting about on the global stage. Firstly, a milder year for weather all round depressed gas and electricity usage, and secondly, cleaner wind and solar energy has steadily been coming online since the mid-noughties, and even though there are relatively few numbers of MWs being produced via renewables, they obviously have a impact.

However, and possibly more importantly, a practically stagnant European economy drove down the use of any form of energy, be it fossil or renewable, in part forcing the decline in emissions, and in others the maddeningly new high bill costs supposedly ‘needed’ to keep the Big Six running our country’s supply of juice.

Posted at 10:00am and tagged with: energy, climate, emissions, EU, europe, UK, kyoto protocol, cut, carbon, pollution, canada, china, us, germany, france, nuclear, solar, wind, greenhouse, government, politics, economy, growth, investment, osborne, hayes, cameron, policy,.

September 13th 2012

Japan Nuclear-Free By 2030s, But How Will They Fill The Gap?

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It would seem a decision on the fate of nuclear power in Japan has potentially been decided this week, with the announcement by the prime minister’s leading democratic party that policy will be settled soon which intends to ‘realise a situation where the number of nuclear plants operated be zero in the 2030s’, effectively hammering home the final nail in the industry’s coffin.

It has long been thought by followers of the nuclear market that Japan would eventually cut all ties and close down their operations post-Fukushima, but for a long time the prime minister was caught in two minds; on the one hand, he had an angry Japanese public to answer to for the Fukushima disaster, whilst he and the business sector believed Japan would need to nuclear to progress without blackouts and that the benefits outweighed the possible risks. Now it seems that the public may have won, with this statement no doubt gratifying many concerned citizens, although it may not seem to be coming quick enough for some.

Since the Tohoku earthquake, all of Japans fifty reactors have been offline, bar two in the same plot restarted earlier this year, for regulation and safety checks, leaving the country with a gaping energy deficit of 30%, the amount fission provided up until the fateful tsunami. With the closure in full effect and possible edgings towards restarting the nuclear fleet being banded around, a country normally peaceful and well conformed to government life was up in arms, with protests in the thousands rattling the streets of Tokyo, demanding an end to nuclear and it’s inherent dangers. This was certainly a Japan not often seen by the global public, not least the media.

Unfortunately, Japan has had to heavily rely on oil imports since the shutdowns across the country, ramping up their consumption of Middle Eastern black gold considerably, whilst at the same time employing strict and tough efficiency rulings and energy-saving requirements back home, just to stop the nation from all out blackouts during the summer months. In effect, this increased oil consumption not only stalled what looked to be a peaking industry, but also contributed greatly to the carbon being dumped into the atmosphere, carbon which otherwise would have been left in the ground had the nuclear plants been left on or restarted.

This is the crucial point of the entire ‘end to nuclear’ debate currently being hotly contested all over the developed world. If we choose to dump nuclear, an industry which provides a large chunk of global energy supply, we must be prepared to replace it with something else, and that doesn’t mean more oil, coal and natural gas from elsewhere in the world. That is clearly backward thinking and progress.

August 28th 2012

We’ve Got The Wrong Idea Of Nuclear; It’s One Of The Good Guys

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I have always been an advocate of nuclear energy, both of the potential behind the fissioning of uranium atoms and the possibilities of replacing fossil fuel generation with a mixture of this and renewables. Despite the seemingly final drawing of the curtain on nuclear and the industry, the ‘multiple disasters’ and the almost complete shunning of it in much of the public’s eye, I’ve kept to my original path and not wavered from the idea.

My reasons for this continued attraction? It’s a combination of many things, including those two mentioned in the opening sentence, alongside factors such as what I perceive as a hugely over-exaggerated waste issue, poor economic and political structure leading to the demise of nuclear which could be rectified, and a simple but strong belief that it could be a big solution to the biggest of our problems, climate change and energy security.

It was with glee then that I came across the book ‘Sustainable Energy: Without The Hot Air’ by David Mackay, a gloriously down-to-earth scientific guide to the entire sustainability debate, written by the chief science advisor to DECC and a Cambridge professor. In it, he thinks of every conceivable part of the energy puzzle, such as renewable production and everyday consumption, decarbonising and electrifying, but with a view I’ve yet to see replicated prior to and since my find. Mackay takes the highest level approach he can to the subject, sparing all the bull**** you normally find in policy and debate, giving you the bare facts in kWh and daily use, comparing heat pumps to freight transport and more, all the while tallying up a chart detailing the chances of us (he focuses on the UK but covers much of the world in examples) powering our Western lives on renewables alone. The verdict…not so good, unless some radical but obvious solutions are observed and carried out.

Within this wonderful book, and forgive my plugging, but it really is good and free to download at that, one chapter really jumped out at me from the pages; this was the nuclear chapter.

Both fission and its lesser mentioned but God-like cousin fusion are covered, with the same no-crap analysis which is sorely missing from much of the science and public dialogue. Throughout the rest of this post, I would like to pick some of the most powerfully simple and shocking pieces of data which will hopefully make you think twice the next time you hear about nuclear in the media, a media which often skews the information to their own devious ends. Of course, when you see such words and numbers, all credit is to David Mackay and his book, in which he urges anybody to use his data to send a message, something I plan on doing here.

Posted at 9:30am and tagged with: nuclear, energy, fission, fusion, uranium, nuke, waste, thorium, fast-breeder, reactor, plant, carbon, heat, fuel, climate, protest, fukushima, chernobyl, 3-mile island, disaster, radiation, radioactive, UK, britain, world, money, deaths, coal, oil, gas,.

August 20th 2012

My First Flavour Of The Corporate Energy World - Inspiring

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I have just come back from my very first taste of what the real world is like, the main reason my blog has been pretty devoid of content for a while now, completing a period of work experience within one of the world’s largest companies, and undoubtedly its largest and most successful energy company, GE, specifically their Energy department; it was eye-opening to say the least.

Obtained and organised through a friend of my partners family, I was taken under the wing of a commercial leader forming part of the UK and Northern Europe wind energy team at their HQ in Bracknell, where I was introduced to all aspects of the corporate energy world, from selling to policy, and I was blown away by the some of the things I came away with.

As a commercial leader, my ‘boss’ so to speak, was responsible for the entire bidding process involved with procuring a wind-farm development by beating away the competition and getting the customer the best deal possible, whilst generating some revenue for the company on the side. Therefore, I effectively dived in at the deep end and through myself upon the various projects lined up for me, including getting to grips with how GE Energy functioned on a global and GW scale, researching information for the sales teams on new turbine designs and experiencing precisely how the company deals with customers and developers amidst a rapidly changing energy market; it was fascinating to say the least.

Before going into this, I admittedly had rather little knowledge of GE and its workings worldwide, despite it being responsible for the power plants providing 25% of global needs and being around since the invention of the lightbulb, and in actual fact, being founded by the very inventor himself, Thomas Edison. Therefore I was relatively relieved when my boss told me that GE’s brand presence in Europe is small to say it politely, and in all likelihood, mentioning that you work at ‘General Electric’ in the UK could easily inspire a puzzled and disinterested reaction unless followed up by further information. This is certainly something I found to be true talking to my friends, but did not realise how common this issue was.

Even though GE has been instrumental in powering a large majority of the world’s planes with their jet engines, transporting freight goods via their massive train industry, lighting up millions of American homes with bulbs and generating the technology necessary to power our hungry society (and this isn’t everything either), nobody over here really takes much notice of them. Anyway, I digress.

Posted at 10:00am and tagged with: GE, general electric, carbon, energy, market, business, corporate, money, experience, internship, work, university, student, wind, solar, nuclear, gas, natural gas, oil, coal, advice, policy, turbine, CCGT, electricity, renewable, green, job, future,.

July 18th 2012

Japan Has Reached Tether’s End, But Can It Afford To Fall Apart Now?

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Japan has always been a nation that many others look up to in their strives towards achieving a society that is happy and content with its position in things, which can stand up to most problems and smash right through them without a second thought. As a country, the Japanese are renowned for their extreme politeness, obedience and determination in doing what is expected for their proud country, a trait some see as borderline subservience, and others as the key to a successful government and industrial powerhouse.

However, it’s easy for us to forget the Japan has been through some tragically harsh times in its history, especially in recent times. I feel it a shame that, in many cases, we ignore these facts because of the developed status that Japan holds, sitting high as one of the most technically and economically advanced countries in the world, which can cloud reality. Japan has experienced horrible conflicts, extreme natural disasters and serious economic downturn, the last of which many of us had the pleasure of partaking in too, and now more than ever is this the case. Even so, despite their hardships, the Japanese people sure now how to rise from the ashes, more powerful than before and with an even stronger resolve to live on; it’s something of a personality that the entire world recognises. This however, seems to be changing.

The past two years have been undoubtedly hard for the humble nation. Recovering from poor economic climates, Japan was hit by one of the biggest ever recorded earthquakes, only to be followed up with an equally record-breaking and devastating tsunami. As the Fukushima-Daiichi plant blossomed radiation, thousands were relocated in an instant from the huge quarantine area imposed by the government, and even now many are not allowed back to their homes and see no hope of that changing anytime soon. Whilst this happened, horrendously high numbers of people were killed by the quake and tsunami, a combination of nature frightening in its ability to trash whole towns and render the landscape unrecognisable.

Despite this, the Japanese, although wounded, did what they do, and began to rise from the rubble, the composed and determined people we are used to seeing. We applauded them for their courage, and vilified their government. Now more than ever, the effects of this are being rapidly unwound. With all nuclear reactors shutdown in Fukushima’s wake, a shortfall of 30% in the nation’s electricity generation capacity was instantly apparent, and fears of blackouts nationwide set in.

July 15th 2012

It’s Time To Wake Up & Smell The Renewable Revolution, Soon We Won’t Have Any Other Choice

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As a global society, we currently stand on a precipice; the potential catastrophe that awaits us cannot be downplayed in any way. Brought about by fossil fuel greed, mass shortsightedness and a complete and frankly terrifyingly impressive ability to ignore all signs of danger and wrongdoing for decades past, humanity has ravaged the planet to a point where civilisation is at the fork in the road.

Unless we make a change, a global change, we begin the short walk down one road towards an extinction level event, bigger than any nature has wrought upon life before us, that will be impossible to turn back from. Forgive my foreboding and perhaps depressing approach, but I for one see only one route out of this. For centuries before now, humanity has prided itself on its ability to innovate and outsmart our way out of danger, and never more than now is it crucial we do this once again.

It’s with these thoughts ringing heavily in my ears, that I turn to what I feel are some of the most frustrating and dismissive problems large majorities of society have with certain renewable technologies, as well as some of those dirtier fossil fuels such as natural gas, which despite being part of the problem, are rapidly taking precedence as the answer to our carbon woes, a fantastic alternative to that old demon oil and coal.

Unfortunately I do not foster the same feelings towards natural gas, and also do not tend to follow suit in regards to issues with solar panels, wind farms or nuclear plants, all of which are the truly awe-inspiring innovations with which we can slow, stop and eventually reverse the once irreversible damage we have wrought upon this beautiful planet. As you will hopefully see in the following summaries, many of the so-called ‘negatives’ with each of these technologies, is in my eyes, and I’m sure the eyes of many others, both ridiculous and detrimental to society as a whole, a statement I do not wish to undervalue in this post.

Let’s get straight to the major players, solar and wind. The one complaint about these two absolutely wonderful technologies is one that angers me greatly - “they’re too ugly, don’t go putting them on my roof/in my garden/anywhere within a 50 miles radius or my house”. Apologies if you’re someone who shares these feelings, but I simply cannot agree with such a weak and destructive view when you consider the grand scheme. As job creators, solar and wind each produce at least 6x the number of jobs that coal and oil do, with a much larger percentage in long term maintenance, a highly secure career. Not only this, but subsidies, feed-in-tariffs and government funding has aided these industries in literally exploding in value and popularity, and lest not forget, solar and wind are entirely clean, completely renewable and have the potential to provide huge proportions of the world’s energy.