Geothermal Electric Plants and Renewables

Sunday, 23 June 2019

Bending the Curve: Ten scalable solutions for carbon neutrality and climate stability

http://uc-carbonneutralitysummit2015.ucsd.edu/_files/Bending-the-Curve.pdf

A group of 50 academics and researchers from across UC’s 10 campuses are rising to this challenge on behalf of the university and the state. Spearheaded by renowned climate scientist Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who in 1975 discovered the greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s atmosphere, the group convened over the summer with the aim of settling on a set of actionable solutions for curbing climate change to be presented and refined at the UC Summit on Carbon and Climate Neutrality, Oct. 26–27 at UC San Diego.

Saturday, 22 June 2019

Plastic Is Just as Destructive to the Climate as Oil and Gas

Mass production of plastics started nearly 70 years ago so before that time we were able to sustain advanced technologies without the use of plastics. Since that time production increased significantly and doubling in the last two decades. Aside from their ability to break down into micro particles and move their way up the food chain, and the increasing deaths caused by animal mistaking the plastids for food, plastics also give off fossil fuel gases. Plastic is known to release a variety of chemicals during degradation, which has a negative impact on biota. The most commonly used plastics produce two greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene, when exposed to ambient solar radiation. So this process has been an unrecognized source of climate-relevant trace gases that are expected to increase as more plastic is produced and accumulated in the environment.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0200574

Manufactures churn out 448 million tons of plastic a year, by Sonali Kolhatkar

Plastic pollution on a beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 3, 2018. (Photo: Rey Perezoso, Flickr)

Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), explained to me in an interview that "plastics are simply fossil fuels in another form. Ninety-nine percent of what goes into plastics are oil, gas and, to a lesser extent, coal feed stocks." As a result, "the processes that produce plastics begin at wellheads and at frack pads across the United States and around the world." According to Muffett, every step in the production of the plastic we casually use and toss away has an impact on the climate, from the emissions released during extractive processes like fracking to the transporting of the raw materials to plants and beyond. Because ever fewer plastics are getting recycled, many communities across the globe are also burning their plastic trash as fuel, adding more emissions into our already saturated atmosphere. And the plastic that is not recycled or incinerated itself emits potent greenhouse gases like methane and ethylene, as a 2018 study has alarmingly shown.

Switzerland: Canton of Vaud Plans for 20 Geothermal Power Plants by 2050

http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/the-swiss-canton-of-vaud-estimates-up-to-20-geothermal-plants-by-2050/

In the future, Vaud will increasingly rely on energy from geothermal energy. The government estimates that by 2050 around 20 geothermal power plants will be built in the canton. The new cadastre lists 43 communities in the Canton Vaud with geothermal potential.

Currently, two projects are well advanced in the canton. In Vinzel, near Nyon, the project company EnergeÔ, in which Romande Energie also holds a stake, plans to realize a geothermal project for 1,500 households by 2021/2022.

It is planned to drill down to a depth of 2200 meters. This is half as deep as in Basel or St. Gallen, where boreholes caused several smaller earthquakes in 2006 and 2013, respectively.

The AGEPP project in Lavey-les-Bains in the Rhone Valley aims to pump the deep groundwater out of the very permeable rock and use it for the permanent power supply of around 900 households. Commissioning is planned for 2020.

These two geothermal projects are the first two in Switzerland to receive a federal financial contribution. Others are still in the development phase.

Nyon on Lake Geneva, Switzerland (source: flickr/ patrick_nouhailler, creative commons)

Friday, 21 June 2019

Climate Change and Walruses

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/why-are-walruses-walking-off-cliffs/586510/
These changes have affected the indigenous communities that have traditionally hunted, protected, and lived alongside walruses. The 200 Chukchi people who live in the Russian village of Vankarem are familiar with local haul-outs. But according to one resident, Vladilen Ivanovich Kavry, the gatherings have become more crowded, and the walruses look weaker. They’re edging closer to the village, and those killed during stampedes attract polar bears, which are also coming ashore because of the vanishing sea ice.

The community have since set up a patrol to watch for incoming bears and tow walrus carcasses to far-off sites. They’ve also worked with the local aviation service to restrict flights over haul-out sites, to avoid spooking the walruses. And they’ve shared their expertise with their counterparts in Alaska. “In the spring of 2010, we invited Chukchi colleagues to travel to Alaskan villages to talk about their work in protecting polar bears and walruses,” says Margaret Williams, who directs the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Program. “They said, ‘Soon our walruses will come to you.’”
ED YONG is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science