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#141 LJ

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Posted 23 September 2012 - 07:25 PM

^Apparently big oil spent their millions.;)
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#142 sebberry

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 04:26 PM

http://www.scmp.com/...r-reactors-2024

 


Chinese scientists urged to develop new thorium nuclear reactors by 2024

 

The deadline to develop a new design of nuclear power plant has been brought forward by 15 years as the central government tries to reduce the nation's reliance on smog-producing coal-fired power stations.

 

A team of scientists in Shanghai had originally been given 25 years to try to develop the world's first nuclear plant using the radioactive element thorium as fuel rather than uranium, but they have now been told they have 10, the researchers said.

 

"In the past the government was interested in nuclear power because of the energy shortage. Now they are more interested because of smog," said Professor Li Zhong, a scientist working on the project.

 

[...]

 


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#143 pherthyl

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 05:18 PM

Cool. China is in a unique position to transition to cleaner fuels way faster than any western nation if they put their mind to it. And it looks more and more like that's what they're doing. As long as they manage to do it without any meltdowns this could drastically reduce their GHG emissions

Edited by pherthyl, 04 January 2015 - 05:19 PM.

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#144 sebberry

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Posted 13 October 2016 - 11:53 AM

Good TED Talk:  How fear of nuclear power is hurting the environment

 

https://www.ted.com/...spread#t-110823


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#145 Mike K.

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 07:45 AM

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Facility in California has come under fire for using 1.4 billion square feet of natural gas a year to keep the operation functioning, and year-over-year fossil fuel requirements have increased by 7% in the first three quarters of 2016.

Meanwhile, the facility is dependent on $2.2 billion in federal tax credits and tax payer loan guarantees.

Its promises to create 2,600+ jobs failed to materialize and the land upon which it sits has put an endangered specie of turtle at risk. Its expected $300-million in tax generation for California over the project's life is also now in question.

The reason why fossil fuels are required at the plant is to keep the generators going at night and during cloudy weather.

This is but one example of the alternative energy industry failing to meet its promises and costing tax payers heaps of money in the process.

"The Ivanpah plant was at the center of the Obama administration’s push to reduce America’s carbon footprint by using millions of taxpayer dollars to promote green energy, but little was said about the plant’s own carbon emissions before it began operating at the end of 2013.
The Ivanpah plant works primarily by having 352,000 mirrors focus heat from the sun onto three boilers mounted on towers, each taller than the length of a football field. Water in these boilers is turned into steam that then turns turbines to generate electricity."

More: http://m.pe.com/arti...as-ivanpah.html

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#146 LeoVictoria

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:42 AM

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Facility in California has come under fire for using 1.4 billion square feet of natural gas a year to keep the operation functioning, and year-over-year fossil fuel requirements have increased by 7% in the first three quarters of 2016.

Meanwhile, the facility is dependent on $2.2 billion in federal tax credits and tax payer loan guarantees.

Its promises to create 2,600+ jobs failed to materialize and the land upon which it sits has put an endangered specie of turtle at risk. Its expected $300-million in tax generation for California over the project's life is also now in question.

The reason why fossil fuels are required at the plant is to keep the generators going at night and during cloudy weather.

This is but one example of the alternative energy industry failing to meet its promises and costing tax payers heaps of money in the process.

"The Ivanpah plant was at the center of the Obama administration’s push to reduce America’s carbon footprint by using millions of taxpayer dollars to promote green energy, but little was said about the plant’s own carbon emissions before it began operating at the end of 2013.
The Ivanpah plant works primarily by having 352,000 mirrors focus heat from the sun onto three boilers mounted on towers, each taller than the length of a football field. Water in these boilers is turned into steam that then turns turbines to generate electricity."

More: http://m.pe.com/arti...as-ivanpah.html

 

What's the point of this article?   It uses gas?   Well yes that is part of the design of the thing.    When the sun is shining it uses solar, and when it isn't it uses gas.  

So the news story is:  Hybrid electricity plant functions as designed.

 

What's their next story?   Prius burns gasoline, and the more you drive it the more gasoline it burns!


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#147 Mike K.

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 11:25 AM

The point is that the National Parks Conservation Association says the plant's dependence on fossil fuels was not properly disclosed during the project proposal and approvals phases.


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#148 sebberry

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 05:29 PM

But it's using less natural gas than if gas was the sole energy source, right?


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#149 LeoVictoria

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 06:40 PM

But it's using less natural gas than if gas was the sole energy source, right?


Well they say that gas has to be less than 5% of the electricity generation to qualify as renewable. Then they say that 5% only explains 25% of the gas use, the rest going into keeping the boilers primed,
Put another way, about 80% of the energy generated is from solar.

Was the gas usage properly disclosed? Who knows they only cited an opponent to the project and never did any due diligence. I'm sure it would be easy enough to check what was or wasn't disclosed,

#150 Mike K.

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:20 AM

Nations are dropping Paris Accord requirements like hot potatos. It’s quite incredible, actually.

Even Germany is backtracking on its alternative energy goals, and recently had to request assistance from Poland to supply electricity when its turbines stopped turning and solar panels were shrouded in fog.

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#151 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:41 AM

While Trudeau’s Canada is shunning coal to live up to Paris, the rest of the world is embracing it: for every coal plant retired in 2015 and 2016, five others are being built. Three-dozen countries that were applauded in Paris for taking the anti-carbon pledge are now upping their construction of coal plants. While growth in renewables development tumbles, coal soars, with capacity slated to increase by 43 per cent.

 

http://business.fina...yone-else-bails


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#152 rjag

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:47 AM

Nations are dropping Paris Accord requirements like hot potatoes. It’s quite incredible, actually.

Even Germany is backtracking on its alternative emergency goals, and recently had to request assistance from Poland to supply electricity when its turbines stopped turning and solar panels were shrouded in fog.

 

Look at Australia, their energy policies are gutting the economy and have cause blackouts and highest electricity prices going....welcome to the new world order....

 

 

http://www.heraldsun...22bc6b2d8c39454

 

 

 

IT takes world-class idiots to give Australia not just world-record electricity prices, but blackouts, too.

 

http://www.heraldsun...61a66ad177a2ee4

 

 

THOUSANDS of Melburnians will receive text messages inviting them to turn off pool pumps or airconditioners on scorching days this summer in return for a free weekend’s power use.

 

http://www.heraldsun...7f09562aa6e09a5

 

 

IT’S 100 years ago next month that Lenin forced communism on to Russia, sending armed thugs to storm the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.

Yet even though he, Stalin, Mao and Castro then put their people in chains and kept them poor, faith in Big Government is miraculously on the rise again in Australia.

See, green is the new red. Global warming is the excuse that has brought back the commissars who love ordering people how to live, even down to the things they make and the prices they charge.



#153 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:55 AM

See, in Australia all the green proponents say that alternative energy is cost-competitive now.  So the government has said, good, then we will drop all subsidies by 2020.

 

If any place were suited to solar, it would be Australia, with vast lands in the sunny centre of the continent, easy to run transmission towers to, and proximity to Asian markets where the panels are produced.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#154 rjag

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:58 AM

See, in Australia all the green proponents say that alternative energy is cost-competitive now.  So the government has said, good, then we will drop all subsidies by 2020.

 

If any place were suited to solar, it would be Australia, with vast lands in the sunny centre of the continent, easy to run transmission towers to, and proximity to Asian markets where the panels are produced.

 

You would think so. but there have been some serious blackouts as a result of closing the backup power plants


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#155 Mike K.

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 08:28 AM

Ontario's renewable energy accounts for 6.3% of total energy production but its cost is over 16% of production cost.

 

1:3 ratio right there. Brutal.


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#156 rjag

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 08:44 AM

Ontario's renewable energy accounts for 6.3% of total energy production but its cost is over 16% of production cost.

 

1:3 ratio right there. Brutal.

 

But everyone keeps saying renewables cost less to produce.... :rtfm:


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#157 spanky123

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 09:13 AM

But everyone keeps saying renewables cost less to produce.... :rtfm:

 

Only the alternative energy industry makes that claim and to qualify that statement they factor in things like social costs, perceived environmental impact, etc.


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#158 rjag

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Posted 25 October 2017 - 01:25 PM

http://www.bnn.ca/tr...illion-1.895281

 

 

 

TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO 1.94%) has agreed to sell its solar energy portfolio for $540 million (US$426 million) to focus on its $24 billion worth of other core projects, including its recently purchased Columbia natural gas network, the company said on Wednesday.


#159 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 December 2017 - 09:12 AM

One Metchosin man has gone fully solar powering his entire home and two electric cars with his exhibit of solar panels.

Stephen Gilbert, the homeowner, says energy is taken by his solar panels as direct current and is then transformed into alternating current, going into an electrical panel before it travels underground to power his house.

"We have a big family and we had electricity bills that were $1,400 $1,600 for two months so, I had to do something to figure out if we could do something different instead of paying out that money because once its gone its gone" said Gilbert.

Gilbert began the installation process in September of last year with the total cost coming to $42,000 dollars, and while the project was initially costly he says it is well worth it.

"It will actually pay for itself in a very short period of time. My last three electricity bills were $12.98 cents and a credit of over 700$," said Gilbert.

 

 

 
Good on the guy, I guess.
 
But why not install them a little higher, so you do not lose all your yard space?

<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#160 Bingo

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Posted 04 December 2017 - 09:38 AM

https://www.cheknews...g-solar-394039/

 
Good on the guy, I guess.
But why not install them a little higher, so you do not lose all your yard space?

 

He is dreaming if he thinks it will pay for itself in a "very short period of time".

Unless a short time for him is 20 years, and he is still in the same house, and the technology isn't outdated, and we have all this cheap power from the Site C dam, and North Korea has dropped an errant missile on his house.



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