Hope this product is all true… just get it out there
The Cerne Abbas Giant looks weirdly more aroused.
Didn’t they polish him up a bit a few months back?
That was just a naughty dream MH ![]()
Meanwhile we are seeing yet another massive rainfall, 100mm+ in a single day again (July 1 was a record 118mm, with some localized recordings of nearly 200), as part of a month of frequent rain
On the bright side, our forest fire season was looking like it would approach 2023’s record, but the very wet July prevented that.
There is a growing realization of the challenges that our new unstable weather produces - I expect tomorrow will see reports of widespread flooding, probably hitting many still cleaning uo after July 1. I would not finish a basement these days
Last week was pretty special in parts of the uk press.
I know we have the 7 stages of grief.
I’m not sure what the equivalent would be in science and climate change. Still some way to go.
Britain can’t stop climate change. Scrap net zero and embrace Mediterranean life https://share.google/NIuA8ZogHhmW2tBzF
Curious about what is and isn’t included in calculating and actually disclosing the impact on the environment in the quest for net zero.
For example, upgrading the national grid to be able to handle all the wind generated electricity
Where is the alluminium/copper supplied from?
How much is required?
Are the manufacturing related emissions taken into account, or just the end product CO2 data?
It’s probably a minefield of sharp pencil use
You can search on internet. These calculations have already been computed.
A wind farm pays back it’s carbon cost within months once on line.
Aluminium is a big energy requirement so hydro plants and other ‘renewable’ sources of electricity would help even more.
Btw @Arminius posted something about this not long ago!
As @Cynicaloldgit would say, ‘people’ are fuckwits’!
I’ll wait for someone who isn’t a fuckwit to reply
That type of analysis becomes really interesting looking at nuclear, which is nominally zero emissions. Concrete is an enormous source of emissions.
Regarding the grid upgrades, I would expect materials would be within scope. But the total would be spread across all electricity transmitted, not attributed to the new wind assets.
Apparently 500,000km of cable is required for new and upgraded requirements.
Much of that is probably somewhat small gauge, but the larger lines will require a significant amount of copper(underground or underwater HVDC) or aluminium. A project I was involved in on Wolfe Island in Ontario had over 400km of the narrowest gauge just connecting the 86 turbines to the transmission point.
The other area that is significant is the transformers and similar used to either turn DC (most turbines produce DC) into AC for transmission on traditional AC lines, or aggregation on HVDC. I don’t know what the balance between those two technologies is in the UK build, but very likely some mix of the two.
6% of global emissions I believe.
Wind for the same overall kW output uses more concrete overall than a nuclear plant but I’m not sure if that includes all the other site based stuff that some nuclear plants will have.
There is a lot of effort going into decarbonising concrete. That includes full on recycling but we’re a way off on that yet. We know how but are short on the infrastructure. Plus it’s energy demanding.
This is Monsoon in Bangladesh. It should be raining heavily, and frequently. Yes, we had some heavy showers, but it;s scorching hot for the last couple of weeks.
Anywhere from1.1 to 1.6 million tonnes.
Smelting 1.5 million tonnes of primary aluminium releases roughly 22.5 million tonnes of (\text{CO}{2}) equivalent plus potent perfluorocarbons (PFCs) due to intensive electrolysis. Smelting 1.5 million tonnes of primary copper generates about 1.0 to 6.9 million tonnes of (\text{CO}{2}) equivalent alongside heavy sulfur dioxide ((\text{SO}_{2})) gas emissions. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Yet an existing gas fired plants emits 1.5 to 2.5 million tonnes of co2 (500mW station).
Just to add a comparison.
Anywhere from1.1 to 1.6 million tonnes was the physical weight of the alluminium which would need to be smelted to provide enough wire for new/upgraded lines.
Not including any copper additionally used.
CO2 emissions is a completely different figure - 22.5 million tonnes.
Add to that all of the associated freight emissions.
I’m not comparing, or trying to disprove the clear advantages of clean energy, my original query was whether all of the associated emissions created during provision of clean energy means are taken into account when net zero is declared
Here’s a rather sobering thought for ideas that nuclear is a cure-all for climate change.