That the UK energy supply must decarbonise over the next three decades is no longer a subject of debate, the major questions now facing society are how this is to be achieved? Which technologies, at what scale, should be deployed?
Energy transitions have happened before, bringing both benefits and new challenges. Fossil fuels drove the industrial revolution, bringing about unparalleled economic growth. However, these technologies have not proven to be sustainable and leave a lasting legacy in the form of climate change which the world is now grappling with. How can society make informed decisions and ensure the future energy system is designed on a sustainable basis?
Xaioyu Yan will introduce the topic of Life Cycle Analysis of Renewable Energy technologies. LCA can be used to asses the environmental impact of a wide range of technologies, allowing society to make informed choices that put our energy systems on a sustainable footing for the long term.
Richard Cochrane will then present upon the challenges of recycling wind turbine technology, and how the industry is evolving to meet this challenge.
Richard Cochrane
Associate Professor of Renewable Energy
University of Exeter
Xiaoyu Yan
Senior Lecturer in Energy and Environment
University of Exeter
2 Comments
Remove the Earth’s atmosphere or even just the GreenHouse Gases and it becomes much like the Moon, an arid, barren rock ball with no water vapor, clouds, snow, ice or oceans, no more 30% albedo, hot^3 (400 K) on the lit side, cold^3 (95 K) on the dark.
That is NOT what Radiative GreenHouse Effect theory says.
It is what Nikolov, Kramm, and UCLA Diviner say.
The K-T diagram (TFK_bams90) counts 63 W/m^2 upwelling Long Wave InfraRed twice: 160 – 17 – 80 = 63 once and 396 – 333 = 63 second. LoT1 allows only one, the real one from the sun. Erase the 396/333/63 from the graphic, the balance is unaffected and the GHG warming loop disappears.
342 arrives from the sun, net albedo 70% or 240 makes it into the atmosphere, net/net 160 arrives at the surface. Per LoT1 160 is ALL!! that can leave. The 396 is “extra” appearing out of nowhere.
The 396 is a theoretical “What if?” calculation for a BB at 16 C serving as the denominator of the emissivity ratio: 63/396=0.16. IR instruments do not measure power flux, they measure temperature and infer W/m^2 by assuming emissivity and assuming 1.0 or .95 is assuming wrong.
As demonstrated by experiment the surface cannot and does not radiate as a BB and as such there is no “extra” energy for the GHGs to warm or do whateveh.
For the experimental write up see:
https://principia-scientific.org/debunking-the-greenhouse-gas-theory-with-a-boiling-water-pot/
ZERO RGHE, ZERO GHG warming, ZERO CAGW or CO2 driven climate change.
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A missed opportunity to compare LCAs for alternative, low-carbon electricity generation sources, including nuclear power, instead of devoting time to coal and gas.
Though no specific mention was made in respect of what constituted the 'whole' LCA for wind and solar power plants (WASPPs), the most probable interpretation would be their LCAs up to the point of generating intermittent electricity.
If this is the case, the problem arises that intermittent electricity is not a product fit for purpose. Though low-carbon at that point, it is unusable unless 'converted to usable and dispatchable 24/7/365 electricity, just the same as electricity from fossil fuel power plants and nuclear power plants (NPPs).
An apples-to-apples comparison would add the overnight capital cost (OCC) of gas-fuelled backup plant, plus the fuel cost, to the LCAs of WASPPs, which would add significantly to both cost and carbon footprint of both technologies.
Considering just OCCs and fuel costs, a 2020 comparison for WASPPs and the Rolls-Royce UK SMR results in a figure of £31.93/MWh for WASPPs and £5.46/MWh, almost 1/6th of the WASPP figure, for advanced NPPs. The OCC of any technology says almost everything that needs to be said about the 'downstream' content of those costs – materials; resources; labour; energy.
https://colin-megson.medium.com/in-2020-wind-and-solar-power-plants-waspps-generated-79-twh-of-intermittent-electricity-a8c70e86e52d
In respect of environmental impact and waste issues, a picture says a thousand words:
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*-vjM1aXpa-R9tiT7bhjkXg.jpeg