A Green Degree Blog: New Angles On Sustainability

June 9th 2012

Sustainable Use Of Arctic Fossil Fuels & Getting Norway On Our Side

A recent deal was struck between the UK and Norway detailing the future plans for energy supply and security in both nations, a smart move considering that Norway supplies over a quarter of our entire energy needs, yes, our entire needs, and keeping them on our good side will suit us well come the inevitable throttling back on fossil fuel supply.

However, veiled beneath this seemingly uncharacteristically farsighted decision is a deceptively evil motive. At the very heart of the entire agreement lies a single key set of words; ‘sustainable use of the Arctic and it’s energy resources’. Now, to anybody who knows just an atom of stuff on the Arctic, its energy resources, and its current state in the global climate, you will instantly take umbrage and offence to this claim.

This, to me at least, is the crux of it. The Arctic is melting at a faster rate than nature has experienced for hundreds of thousands of years, with plenty of evidence for these rates increasing, and with this melt comes some interesting things. As land previously covered in ice is revealed and permafrost, bogs and peatland warm up, the number of oil, coal and gas reserves generated by millennia of pressure, will skyrocket.

So, when someone says they’re motive is to ‘sustainably utilise’ these fossil fuel resources, of which are no doubt being revealed at an accelerated rate due to burning of the very same things, alarm bells instantly begin ringing in my head. Sustainable, fossil fuels, and a melting Arctic just shouldn’t be in the same sentence, let alone the same room.

This agreement is also seen by many as opening the door to multiple large and powerful fossil fuel companies and drilling conglomerates to milk the UK and it’s money to finance their moves into this warming gold mine, or should that be oil mine (?), until every last drop is drunk and the climate soars over 2-3˚C. Why this may seem slightly premature, theres plenty of evidence to suggest that Norwegian fuel giants will have no qualms in pushing us Brits and Cameron around when it comes to crunch time.

Statoil, a Norwegian behemoth of fossil fuel supply has known to have threatened the UK in the past, warning that there ‘are other place we can sell our gas to aside from the UK’. What’s worrying is that Norway has this very power in its hands if wishes to wield it in the future, as not only are the Northern European nations of Scandinavia and further doing very well economically, politically and socially, but providing over 1/4 of our energy gives them one hell of a noose to tighten.

Posted at 10:13am and tagged with: arctic, oil, gas, coal, fossil fuel, melting, climate, warming, science, UK, NOrway, Russia, pipeline, sustainable, carbon, emissions, politics, Cameron, mine, energy, security, money, renewables,.

May 11th 2012

A Pan-European/Continental Electricity Grid Could Monetise Surplus Renewable Energy

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This is simply a great idea, I just want to start by saying that. I love and am in awe of the vision and prospects this plan could bring to fruition, and it seems so ingenious to boot.

A future in which continent-spanning electricity grids feed the many hungry nations of Europe, Iceland and N. Africa has recently been plotted out by multiple energy ventures and renewable project giants such as DESERTEC and the EU. As you can see in the map above, the grid would stretch from the Saharan Desert, through all of Europe, up into Scandinavia and across the ocean to Iceland, connecting the entire region into one ‘energy-continent’.

This plan was initially suggested when people began noticing that energy projects in the UK, Europe and Iceland, as well as those in the deserts of Africa, were actually doing things thought irrational, uneconomic and plain stupid (think DESERTEC). Once this realisation set in, the idea of a pan-European/Saharan grid quickly formed.

With lines already laid connecting Ireland to the UK, France, the Netherlands, and now a record-breaking 950 mile long cable between Iceland and the UK, with plenty more in the works, this initially crazy daydream is rapidly becoming reality.

What is the real beauty of this project however is the renewable side of things; the whole grid will be supplied by low-carbon tech alone, none of that fossil fuel nonsense. As each country associated with the super-grid generates their renewable energy through different means, such as geothermal in Iceland, wind in the UK, or hydro in the Scandinavians, it plays to each and every country’s specialities. Rather than laying new lines and sticking wind turbines somewhere that ain’t windy, the grid will transport wind energy to the required regions from those nations which can easily provide.

With peak times being met by green energy flying in from abroad, for the states that have proven their worth in one or two particular renewable energy sources and produce surpluses at a consistent level, the monetary rewards are tantalising to say the least. Think of a scenario thus - France fears it can’t supply the energy needed to run its nation at full pelt, so it calls on the super-grid to supply some wind energy from us Brits, supplemented by some Swiss hydroelectric. Meanwhile, the Sahara (pumping out silly amounts of solar energy) is sending sunlight to Norway and Spain, and receiving a tasty return on their energy investment. It’s a complete win-win situation.

Posted at 10:02am and tagged with: renewable, energy, DESERTEC, EU, UN, grid, africa, sahara, europe, france, UK, wind, solar, hydroelectric, hydropower, fossil fuel, geothermal, science, policy, world, economy, money, smart, clever, amazing,.

May 9th 2012

Carbon PPM Hits A New High, & Natural Gas Is Replacing Coal - This Seems Strange?

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Coal has always been the number one fossil fuel in our society’s list of burnable sunlight, which of course it simply is, which also begs the question why is solar taking so long to kick off? Sorry, going off on a tangent here, I think I’ll reserve that for another post. Back to the main subject.

Coal is by far the most worrisome and dirty of the fossil fuels, although its brother oil is not to be easily beaten in that respect, and has been utilised for centuries to provide electricity to our lights and heat our homes. Throughout this time, a frankly astounding amount of CO2 has been emitted into the surrounding environment and atmosphere, warming our planet and screwing with multiple climatic, biological and ocean-atmosphere interactions and feedbacks which we’re only just beginning to experience.

Only recently, the Mauna Loa carbon-detection research station in Hawaii, sitting high atop the largest volcano in the world, measured an atmospheric ppm value just shy of 400; that’s a massive figure. In fact this is the highest recorded atmospheric carbon content in the history of measurements, indicating that despite our best, and sometimes admirably successful attempts at culling emissions, it’s still doing its own thing.

This of course can be explained by a few important factors, most predominantly the rise of the BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, who are pumping out carbon at a rate equivalent to the peak of our Western expansions, with many more countries joining them. Alongside this, the simple physical fact that carbon sticks around in the atmosphere for at least half a century, means that a good portion of the continued increase we are seeing is due to pollution spewed out within the past several years - even if we cut carbon emission to zero as of this moment globally, it would still keep going for up until past 2020.

So I find it strange that, in reading an article recommended via Grist today, and with the knowledge that natural gas, that lesser-of-two-evils fossil fuel (or perhaps not) is taking the energy world by storm, we still haven’t fully grasped this ‘green’ concept.

Natural gas has been becoming increasingly popular in many developed nations who are trying to curb their carbon emissions through the cutting back of coal and oil burning, as it is not only just as readily available, but technically, and I emphasise technically, emits less carbon than coal when burnt. This is the reason that countries are adopting a more natural gas-orientated energy mix in future policy, as they see it as a way of securing stable energy sources at a reduced cost to the environment and wallets.

Posted at 11:02am and tagged with: oil, natural gas, coal, fossil fuel, energy, US, NOAA, EPA, emissions, carbon, methane, science, burning, Environment, global warming, climate change, policy, BRIC, ppm,.

April 30th 2012

Has Climate Change & Sustainability Become A Boring, Out-Of-Touch Subject For Us?

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Of late, I have been beginning to question the effectiveness of our current communication of climate change issues and all their depressingly apparent relations, and whether the efforts of a global population are actually getting through to those people that really matter. Simply put, is the whole science of man-made climate change just too boring and dire for most people to care for; or is the wonderful buzz-word of the 21st century thus-far, sustainability, actually the trigger for snores all around.

I say this primarily because of the reactions some of my close friends have had to my blog and the issues I try and communicate to them within it, as well as when talking to them directly. Although many have commented on how professional or fancy it looks (sorry to blow trumpets, I honestly think they’re being kind) which is all well and good, but it’s their next comments which worry me - all but one has gone onto say that, it’s basically too damn boring, or ‘sciency’ and rarely worth their time reading for them to invest any effort in checking the actual substance of the blog out. Hmmmm.

Now admittedly, this is likely because the majority of them do not study, or have a real interest in anything to do with environmental science or the state of global energy needs, not least to the level I do, but I am always trying to write my posts and my thoughts down in the most informal and chatty of ways, so as to entice the broadest audience I can. Maybe this just isn’t the case however, and my posts are in fact too wordy or niche for people lacking a knowledge of the topics to get involved. By the way, if this is the case, please please please comment on my blog, send me advice or criticism and help me improve the thing, I’m feeling lonely here.

Moving away from my simple little blog, I remember a post I did a while back surrounding the US youth and their commitment to sustainability issues (I am moving away from it, I promise), in which multiple studies had been carried out assessing this very subject. I was surprised to see that the large majority of US residents were well aware of the problems of climate and concerned, in some cases deeply, about the consequences.

What I was more surprised about however was a study by the Chicago AP on students, or the ‘millennials’, those of us born straight into the climate debate. Here they found that this group has become increasingly un-invested in the environment and concern has been dropping off, with many seemingly admitting defeat or turning their heads to other, more accessible issues. One of the most convincing answers I’ve seen explaining this study, and one I share completely, is that the combined media coverage, doomsaying individuals and countless numbers of studies released daily by the academic circles is literally drowning some people.

Students just cannot handle the multiple directions the information is coming from, and have become fatigued by climate and the science, shutting down their emotional response to it. This is highly worrying, and was brought home to me when my friends commented on my blog, and is the factor I feel most at risk of derailing the entire sustainability effort if nothing is done.

Climate communication has always been one of the biggest issues faced by policy-makers and governmental bodies, but now more than ever I feel we have the technology to elevate it to a global scale. Social media. With the immense social-sphere acting as a voice and a catalyst for literally billions of people around the world, socialising sustainability is pretty much the only option we’ve got left which can be effected quickly and efficiently.

We’ve tried fancy policy, involving public groups in the debate, banging on about how inherently dangerous, petty, greedy and out of control our society is, and last but not least attempting to get each and every country on the same side for many global conventions, and yet emissions still peak and fossil fuels burn.

I think it’s now time for a social, digital approach. Rio+20 is taking the lead, with it’s Social project, the first of its kind, and many more need to follow in its footsteps. If we can, as a global society, empower a network of ‘millennials’ to rekindle their interest in saving this little blue planet, perhaps through the use of a social network style comparing of company CSR or individuals, combined with a platform where effective dialogue can be introduced. This may be a rather grand and fleeting idea on my part, but it has almost got to that stage where we require more than just a kick up the ass. Let’s hope climate tipping isn’t that boot.

Posted at 1:14pm and tagged with: opinion, climate change, sustainability, energy, global, society, humans, boring, youth, millennial, science, technology, personal, fatigue, fossil fuel, students, communication, policy,.

April 20th 2012

Oil Spill After Oil Spill And Yet The Industry Continues Unabated

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Yet another oil spill 230 miles off the coast Rio de Janeiro, Brazil highlights once again how unstable the offshore oil drilling industry is, and how increasingly likely events like these seem to be coming. Not only was this particular spill reported in the same region as last years Chevron incident, it was seen to be due to what are known as exudations, or deep-sea fissures venting the oil.

These usually form under the high pressures of the drilling process, and are the respective company’s responsibility to keep plugged, although clearly that was not the case here. Chevron was appropriately fined for the accident on their watch, but in all likelihood, a meagre fine will do nothing but scratch the multi-national conglomerate’s finances. This is just one of many issues with the offshore oil industry.

Given how common these incidents seem to be coming, with the devastating BP Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010 and subsequent 3 months spent attempting to fix the situation, alongside literally 10s of similar, if not lower magnitude accidents happening each year across the globe, there is no shortage of case studies to throw at the fossil fuel industry.

What I find even more distressing, is that many of the largest ever recorded spills, causing untold ecosystem damage and millions to billions of dollars to clean up, have happened in the early stages of the industry, during the 70s-90s period, including the famous Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989. Clearly, the industry has been a verifiably unstable and dangerous venture since its inception, and yet even today, companies are spending further billions to scout out new deep-sea reserves for drilling.

Now I understand that a transition away from this highly damaging and expensive fuel will not happen over night, or even over months years, but decades maybe, and that’s the unfortunate truth. Surely however, seeing how often these spills ruin ecosystems and marine environments is enough to make even us shortsighted humans think twice?

Posted at 1:48pm and tagged with: solar, wind, oil spill, BP, deepwater horizon, Exxon, oil, fossil fuel, coal, climate, ecosystem, environment, Chevron, nuclear, society, protest, energy,.

April 11th 2012

US Coal Exports Rise And The Asians Keep On Consuming

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It’s astounding to chart the rise in Asian coal consumption of the last decade, with the graph in the middle of this piece no doubt shocking you as it did me. Obviously I understand there are inherently more people in the Asian states, but that rise is obscene in magnitude and actually seems to pick up in speed in the last 2 years, which I personally find very hard to swallow and rather worrying in terms of our future climate. When this is compared with the progress Europe and the US have made in reducing their consumption, it’s simply wrong.

Now the reasoning, or at least a large part of it, is due to the graph you see above, detailing US coal exports for the past 6 years, which has, as of 2011 reached a peak never before experienced, at an all time high of ~107,000 thousand short tonnes. That means that the US is effectively sending it’s generous deposits of domestically produced coal all the way to the other side of the world, for the Asians, and more than likely China to readily absorb and burn. This also accounts for the strangely large drop in consumption by the US, as they forgo burning for selling.

It’s not hard to see that there is a link between this peak-coal export and increased consumption, and of course there are other trade routes and factors adding to this problem, but the fact that the US have actively moved to coal-dominant exportation and yet still harp on about using renewables for a better world, is a sinister and dangerous happening.

With America offloading it’s fossil fuels to outside parties who welcome the chance to avoid mining their own or tarnishing their environmental reputation, they can happily progress in the knowledge that they are not burning it themselves. What use is introducing green technology if the coal that should be left in the ground is simply making its way round the world, dropping of carbon as it travels?

This is the unfortunate reality these graphs and studies demonstrate, and is no doubt a practice being carried out by many other developed nations. It is likely driven by a more gas-centered economy in the modern world, with oil and coal looked down upon as the dirty and irresponsible fuels that they are; for America to find a way to free up these abundant reserves without actually using them, at the same time making a tidy profit, it’s no surprise they snapped up the chance.

For how long this will go on for is unknown. Other nations may become wise to this trick and begin finger-pointing the Obama administration and America’s fossil fuel industries. However these fingers should also be turned on the receiving end of things, at the Asia’s. Solar and wind are booming in this part of the world, and have been the subject of many headlines, but this importation of coal must be stemmed if real climate progress is to be made. Without a carbon tax, dropping your coal off in another country and letting them deal with the consequences will end up biting all of us in the *** in the end.

http://www.solarfeeds.com/u-s-coal-exports-20-year-high/

http://grist.org/list/chart-the-mind-boggling-rise-in-asian-coal-consumption/

Posted at 11:03am and tagged with: US, china, asia, carbon, coal, exports, fossil fuel, renewable, sustainability, economy, trade,.

April 9th 2012

Japan Turns To Oil And LNG To Fill Impending Nuclear Gap

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For Japan, the coming hot Summer and impending shutdown of its final nuclear power plant weighs heavy on the governments mind, forcing them to import an increased percentage of fossil fuels in the form of oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) to sustain the country on its current path.

Increased relations with Middle East fuel suppliers and investments in an Australian subsea pipeline evident this frenzied search for extra juice, with suspected imports of hydrocarbon fuels up by 15-30% compared with periods before the Fukushima disaster, which subsequently scared many of the world’s greatest economic powers to kill its nuclear generating capacity. This is costing the country in the billions of dollars and will throw them into a vicious cycle of increasing costs and de-incentivised innovation by its energy industries.

With the last nuclear plant set to close in May, following the shutting down of 53 others, partly due to safety and disaster issues, but also for the necessary regulatory checks and measures to be carried out, the 30% of Japanese electricity produced by fission now has to be rapidly filled in time for the air-conditioned summer expected. It is also unclear as to the future of those plants shutdown. Whether they are eventually turned back on after months of checks and re-checks, slowly feeding energy back into the system, or whether their fate is to be left as a relic of the bygone nuclear age that Japan so eagerly adopted decades ago, nobody knows.

Japan was able to complete this shutdown without wide-scale blackouts due to its 23% renewable share and smart but unfortunate use of emergency fossil fuel imports and energy-saving techniques which helped them through the disaster last year. However, the country will still fall short in peak summer months when its citizens ramp up the fans and climate control, and this is a serious problem for the 3rd largest world economy still reeling from Fukushima and anticipating further earthquakes in the near-future.

Posted at 2:21pm and tagged with: nuclear, japan, fossil fuel, oil, LNG, renewable, germany, low-carbon, climate, fukushima,.

April 6th 2012

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This is a pretty shocking new ad campaign from the American coal industries that I felt I should bring to people’s attention, mostly just to highlight how incredibly sick and ignorant the themes in the video are.

It seems to state that now is the time to invest in all the ‘unsurpassed coal reserves’ available to the country, which can provide ‘centuries of affordable electricity’, whilst apparently dancing round the fact that this adventure into their vast reserves will doom the planet to the 2C rise so many have warned us against, and bring about inevitable climate change on scales we can’t predict.

However this isn’t the worst part; it goes on to mention the money spent on ‘clean coal technologies’ that have resulted in ‘real environmental progress’. Now, this may just be me, but I’ve never heard of anything termed as clean coal, and in fact find it hard to string both the words together in a sensible-sounding sentence, and yet here we are, hearing it on national tv, through the calm and wise-sounding voice of some fossil fuel industry wordsmith.

Add to this the blatantly offensive phrase ‘real environmental progress’ and many might start to think that the coal industry has actually cleaned itself up and overcome those age-old issues related to carbon dioxide emission? Well bravo if they have, but as I say, I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard of such things, unless they’re subtly trying to talking about carbon-capture and storage, and even then that technology doesn’t have a place in this specific situation.

We all know that the coal industries will defend their precious resources till the bitter and expensive end, and without a doubt the US lobbies have a lot of clout when it comes to spinning stories and shamelessly playing down climate issues. What’s worrying about this development, is that by using the medium of tv and advertising, whilst making the advert out as knowledgable, trustworthy and grounded in science by throwing in a few dodgy facts, it’s highly likely some of the public is simply going to believe them.

This has always been the case, and has always been an issue of communicating the challenges of climate change to the wider populace, but the fact that campaigns like this are still allowed to happen in the modern age given our extensive wisdom on sustainability and energy, is a shock to say the least. This is exactly how people are coerced into thinking coal could actually be clean and safe, and that to abandon that would be to abandon a future.

I do feel that this campaign is the beginning of the end (pardon the cliched phrase) of the bullish industry however, as to me, this ad seemed like a clutching-at-straws scenario, a desperate attempt at clawing back support. With coal on the defensive due to recent EPA emission regulations, popular support for renewables nationwide and the prospect of losing their subsidies, the industry is actively having to reach out and effectively lie to maintain loyal followers.

By touching on themes such as domestically produced resources, they talk to the part of each and every American wanting the old US back, the country that exported not imported, and this clever tugging at feelings felt throughout the population will no doubt win them some support. Let’s just hope people begin to see reason and regulations are brought in denying any form of fossil fuel advertising.

As the video says, time is ticking America, don’t let these dirty industries shorten that time left.

Posted at 1:43pm and tagged with: US, coal, fossil fuel, energy, advertising, tv, America, carbon, emissions, clean coal, climate change, domestic,.