https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/europe-electricity-renewable-energy-transition/ Europe has been shifting towards renewable energy sources for electricity generation over the past decade. Wind and solar energy have been the main drivers of the shift towards renewables, accounting for 19% of the EU's electricity generation in 2021. A glimmer of hope in this world of climate change!
The Euros are running into problems. Germany’s Unstable Power Grid…Coal Plants Will Be Needed “For A Very Long Time” By P Gosselin on 1. March 2024 When green energy ideology clashes with the laws of Engineering and physics… By KlimaNachrichten Editor Manfred Haferburg, power plant engineer, explains the problems of the German power grid in connection with the green energy transition at online site Achgut. The result is a very informative article. It is not primarily about blackouts due to a lack of power. The author begins by explaining three important terms: The n-1 criterion, reactive power and instantaneous reserve. “Let’s translate all the technical gobbledygook. The experts at the power transmission grid operators have been ‘preoccupied”‘ with the topic for a long time, but politicians have not understood it because ‘it is a very complex issue’. And then comes the kicker: the German transmission grid can no longer cope with the ‘n-1 error’ in every case. This means that if, in a tense situation, one of the large transmission lines suddenly fails due to a lightning strike, long-wave conductor vibrations in high winds and snow, sabotage or a transformer/high-voltage switch fault, ‘the electricity grid could become unbalanced’ – in other words, it could collapse in a domino effect. This could result in a partial grid failure or, in the worst case, a blackout. This time it’s not me saying this, but the team leader for system behavior in the strategic grid planning department at TransnetBW. I wrote this on this site years ago and was berated for it.” “Here, too, an attempt at layman’s language: the large rotating generators of the power plants are ‘grid-forming’ machines; due to their large mass, they keep the frequency of 50 Hz constant in the range of seconds. For our colleagues at the Feferal Ministry of Economics and Federal Grid Agency, inertia is a physical property that ensures that power fluctuations are cushioned in a range in which the time for human intervention is too short. Wind turbines have only small masses and solar panels have no rotating parts at all, they are ‘grid-following’ with their inverters; this means that they are connected to the grid of the ‘grid-forming machines’ and do not have a stabilizing effect. Incidentally, gas-fired power plants tend to be ‘grid-following machines’. The large power plant generators have also been responsible for maintaining the voltage in the grid through reactive power control.” At the end of the article, Haferburg comes to the conclusion that we will continue to see coal-fired power plants in operation for a very long time. Read the full article on Achgut. (Note: Today’s modern translation tools do a pretty good job at translating the text into English)
Obviously transitions don't happen overnight, neither in Germany, the US, China or anywhere. But tell the German parliament and chancellor about "a very long time". https://www.reuters.com/business/en...d-coal-exit-by-2030-western-state-2022-11-02/ Germany's cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law to phase out coal-fired power plants in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia by 2030 instead of a previous date of 2038, part of Berlin's efforts to speed up the cutting of greenhouse emissions.
2030 or 2038, regardless they are making remarkable progress. It's a tough balancing act for any country - to try to enhance mass transportation and encourage transitions to EVs, which will increase electrical loads, while trying to add more renewable electricity generation and phasing out coal. The US is also struggling with this.
The Germans are not struggling; they are failing. German Federal Audit Office Warns Germany’s Green Energy Transition Is Way Off Track By P Gosselin on 8. March 2024 A damning special report just released by Germany’s Federal Audit Office on the implementation of the Energiewende (transition to green energy) concludes that the transition is lagging far behind its ambitious targets, both in terms of expanding renewable energies and building the necessary infrastructure. Symbol image. Collapsing turbine. Image cropped here. Things aren’t going well for German green energies. The Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Audit Office, synonymous to the USA’s Congressional Budget Office) also found other serious problems with the country’s revamping of its energy supply. There is also a considerable risk that security of supply will be jeopardized due to the huge supply gap created by the phase-out of nuclear energy. Expensive, uncompetitive Moreover, thirdly, the Federal Audit Office found that electricity prices will continue to rise and that the transition to green energies is a costly undertaking that consumers will have to finance via the feed-in surcharges. Germans not only will have to deal with an unreliable supply, but one that is painfully expensive. Environmentally harmful But it gets even worse for the current Socialist-Green government: The environmental compatibility of the transition to green energies is not even guaranteed, according to the report. There is a risk that the expansion of renewable energy power plants will have a negative impact on the environment, e.g. through paving over land, deforestation, destruction of biotopes and the death of birds and bats. Accelerate the digging deeper into a hole? The Federal Government must act urgently to get the energy transition on track, the report recommends. The German report contains a number of recommendations that the Federal Government should implement in order to accelerate the energy transition and ensure energy supply security. The Federal Audit Office’s most important recommendations include: The Federal Government must simplify the approval procedures for renewable energy power plants and increase the incentives for an accelerated expansion. Expand and modernize the electricity grids to enable the transport of renewable electricity from the windy regions in the north to the consumption centers in the south. Develop storage technologies, to compensate for fluctuations in electricity generation from renewable energy power plants. Promote energy efficiency in order to reduce electricity consumption. Strengthening international cooperation, as it is a global challenge that can only be mastered through international cooperation. “Nothing to do with reality” German economics minister Robert Habeck (Greens) was annoyed by the findings and conclusions of the Federal Audit Office. According to ARD German public television, Habeck called the conclusions “Amazing perception that has nothing to do with reality.” The problem, however, is that most experts believe that it is Robert Habeck who is out of touch.
Germany is doing just fine, despite your cherry-picking narrative. I think the US is much less apt to meet their stated climate goals and timelines.
I heartily hope the US not only fails to meet those goals and timelines, but in the future deliberately ignores them.
Meanwhile, the French have made a poor decision. ‘Trust science’, Paris mayor boasts as city declares ‘there will be no air conditioning in Olympic athletes’ rooms ‘to cut the carbon footprint’ of summer Olympics By Marc Morano There will be no air conditioning in the athletes’ rooms at Paris 2024, which has pledged to host the “greenest ever” Games. … Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told those nations…
As usual, you misrepresent journalism. You present positive articles in a negative light, and negative articles in a positive light. You do it all the time. From your article --- The geothermal energy system will ensure that the temperature in the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb does not rise above 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, including during a potential a heat wave, said Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages. … “Despite outdoor temperatures reaching 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), we had temperatures at 28 degrees (82 degrees Fahrenheit) in most of these rooms,” Michaud told The Associated Press, detailing the results of a heatwave simulation. Indeed, the cooling of my home is from the earth naturally, using thermal mass to retain the cooling (same with heating). On extremely hot summer days, people visit and can't believe how cool it is inside.
And yet: "Yet, the Olympic Committees from Australia, Brazil, Canada and Norway are among those who believe it will not be enough. “Our clear wish is that there should be air-conditioning in all rooms,” the Norwegian Committee told Reuters, with Brazil saying “the heat forecast” made it “necessary to invest in renting air-conditioning units for the entire delegation”." You can't fix stupid, but you can get air conditioners.
Nope, everything you claimed was already in the linked article, as was the above-quoted passage, so your contribution was pointless. I'm not the one posting without research.
Sorry, but that's silly. The mayor said there would be no a/c and they have a cooling plan and some Olympic committees think there should be a/c anyway because they think the plan is inadequate. It's all in the link. Perhaps that was too complicated.
The word "inadequate" was not used in that article. Some "expressed concern". But you go and exaggerate by changing words.
I await your explanation of the difference between "inadequate" and "not enough." "Yet, the Olympic Committees from Australia, Brazil, Canada and Norway are among those who believe it will not be enough."
Nuclear 25%, Natural Gas 20%, Coal 14%, Hydro 13%, Wind 13%, Solar 6%, Biofuel 5%, Oil 2%, Other 2%. So Nat Gas, Coal and Oil together are 36%. The remaining sources are not adding new CO2 to the atmosphere while operating, although their manufacture, installation and maintenance undoubtedly do so.
Even though I want solutions to address Climate Change, I'll take any of those three over nuclear. Low level nuclear waste has a half-life of over 100,000 years. There is no central repository for low level waste. This waste is currently stored, on premise, in containers that are rated for 200 years. It's irresponsible and immoral to leave this waste, and it's management to future generations.
100,000 years is a lot longer than I would expect human civilization to exist. Before about 10,000 years ago, humans were hunter-gatherers living in small bands. Civilization in the sense of villages, towns, and cities, began with the development of agriculture. Since then, we have developed more and more capable technologies for exploiting the environment and supporting increased population. The earth will be an empty husk before another 10,000 years have passed, and human civilization will be no more.
Perhaps, but with these low level wastes, it's 200 years, 400 years, 600 years, and on and on. Maybe radioactive waste, both low and high level, will be the cause of the demise of civilization. It has that potential. Reproduction is essential, and if that is threatened...
