March 4 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “We Must Keep In Mind The Costs Of The Green New Deal To Vulnerable Communities” • While the Green New Deal achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, it will cost many workers in the fossil fuel industry their jobs. Specific solutions to this upheaval were given in a recent article in the Harvard Business […]
Over 2000 firefighters working to contain bushfires around Victoria
Fires rip through Victoria: ‘worse than Black Saturday’, A fire, which has destroyed properties and more than 10,000 hectares of land is burning in the same area as the deadly Black Saturday bushfires. Bushfires have ripped through Victoria’s east, with a wind change challenging firefighters working all night to contain the blaze. SBS News 4 Mar 19
Despite cooler conditions expected on Monday, firefighters may have to contend with dry lightning, which could start more fires.
The Bunyip State Park fire, burning 65km east of Melbourne, was sparked by lightning strikes on Friday and has destroyed more than 10,000 hectares.
The blaze is still racing towards the Princes Freeway and emergency warnings remain in place for the surrounding area.
“The risk of lightning redevelops in the late morning with the chance of some showers and thunderstorms,” Bureau of Meteorology’s senior forecaster Christie Johnson said.
While there was a chance of showers, it was hard to pinpoint where they would hit, and there would only be a few millimetres of rainfall, she said…..
More than 2000 firefighters are working to contain blazes around the state …..https://www.sbs.com.au/news/fires-rip-through-victoria-worse-than-black-saturday
USA has no idea what to do with spent nuclear fuel
U.S. still has no place for spent nuclear fuel, so Maine Yankee’s owner gets millions
The award will help pay for the roughly $10 million per year to maintain the repository at the closed nuclear plant in Wiscasset. PressHerald, BY TUX TURKEL STAFF WRITER 3 Mar 19, For the fourth time since 1998, a federal judge 
has awarded the owners of three closed nuclear power plants, including Maine Yankee, millions of dollars for the federal government’s failure to remove spent nuclear fuel.
According to Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., Yankee Atomic Electric Co., and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co., the owners won a partial summary judgment last week totaling $103.2 million. Maine Yankee’s share is $34.4 million.
The award will help offset the roughly $10 million per year cost of operating an interim spent fuel storage site on plant property in Wiscasset. It will indirectly benefit ratepayers, who otherwise foot the bill. The actual financial impact hasn’t been determined, but is expected to be minimal.
In 2016, for instance, Maine Yankee was awarded about $24.6 million. Roughly $3.6 million of the total award was returned to utilities, including Central Maine Power. The balance, $21 million, went to operate the spent fuel storage site…….
Wayne Norton, president of the three companies urged Congress to authorize funding for a pilot program to remove and consolidate spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from closed reactor sites, and to complete a review for a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Maine Yankee operated from 1972 to 1996. Although activists fought for years to close the plant, it was the company’s board that ultimately voted to pull the plug rather than fix expensive, safety-related problems.
Yankee, in Rowe, Massachusetts, closed in 1992. Connecticut Yankee shut down in 1996.
By law, the federal government is charged with coming up with a long-term solution for disposing of radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. It was supposed to begin removing waste in 1998. Facing ongoing public and political opposition, that process hasn’t happened.
Plans to build a permanent waste repository in the Nevada desert were scrapped in 2009 by President Obama. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about whether it supports reviving Yucca Mountain.
For the foreseeable future, highly radioactive fuel rods are being stored in 60 airtight steel canisters and housed in concrete casks in Wiscasset. Another four canisters hold radioactive steel from the decommissioning process. Maintaining them costs roughly $10 million a year, according to Maine Yankee.
The current award is for a period from 2013 to 2016, and the three companies are seeking an additional $1.2 million in costs. The federal government has 60 days to appeal the award.
Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at:
tturkel@pressherald.com https://www.pressherald.com/2019/02/25/judge-awards-34-million-to-offset-costs-of-storing-spent-fuel-rods-in-wiscasset/
Australia’s Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, lying about Australia’s greenhouse emissions
Angus Taylor again falsely claims Australia’s greenhouse emissions are falling, Guardian, Amy RemeikisIn an interview with the ABC program Insiders, Angus Taylor repeatedly stated emissions had decreased by 1% repeating the line first said by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, that Australia would meet its Paris commitments in “a canter”……. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/03/angus-taylor-again-falsely-claims-australias-greenhouse-emissions-are-falling
Rolls Royce selling vast bulk of its civil nuclear business
Times 3rd March 2019 Rolls-Royce is selling the vast bulk of its civil nuclear business, dealing a new blow to efforts to rebuild Britain’s atomic power industry. The FTSE 100 engineer has hired consultants from KPMG to find a buyer for the
nuclear division, which could fetch up to £200m.
The move marks the end of an era for the country’s premier engineering company, which has more than 50 years’ expertise in nuclear power but is being slimmed down by chief executive Warren East to focus on jet engines, power generators and defence. The nuclear business makes instruments and controls to monitor radiation and temperature and prevent reactors overheating. Its equipment is installed in more than 200 reactors around the world, and it has a big presence in France, where it works with the state-backed engineering firm Orano , [formerly Areva, which went bankrupt]
Rolls-Royce’s retreat from civil nuclear work reflects the industry’s broader problems. Plans for new power stations in Britain have been left in tatters after the Japanese industrial giants Toshiba and Hitachi withdrew, leaving just Hinkley Point in Somerset under way.
The Japanese exit has triggered an inquiry by the Commons business committee into future investment in energy infrastructure. The sale will not include Rolls-Royce’s work on Hinkley Point, which is ringfenced, the company’s
project to develop small reactors or its nuclear submarine reactor business.
Rolls-Royce has been in talks to install its equipment at a plant in Essex planned by China General Nuclear, to help assuage security concerns. This work is likely to be transferred to the new owner. Sources said the business, which has more than 1,000 staff, was likely to go to a trade buyer. A Chinese deal is unlikely.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/rolls-royce-to-offload-civil-nuclear-unit-zsq59zlmm
The colonial mindset that caused eternal pain — Beyond Nuclear International
Pacific peoples still suffer due to March 1, 1954 US ‘Bravo’ atomic blast
via The colonial mindset that caused eternal pain — Beyond Nuclear International
Will the peace bell sound in the Koreas? — Beyond Nuclear International
Worrying nuclear flashpoints in Asia
via Will the peace bell sound in the Koreas? — Beyond Nuclear International
How bushfires generate their own weather
Why Victoria’s bushfires generated their own lightning, The Age , By Liam Mannix, March 4, 2019 — There are few sights more terrifying for a firefighter: a vast, dark storm cloud brewing above a bushfire, shooting out lightning.
On Sunday, the Licola bushfire east of Melbourne burned with such intensity it generated a huge thundercloud that fired hundreds of lightning strikes at nearby forests.
The Bunyip fire, which is believed to have wiped at least one town off the map, also generated its own weather system which fed the fire with extreme winds.
“It’s absolutely terrifying. And it’s dangerous as well, because that lightning can start new fires before the main fire,” says Dean Narramore, a meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology’s extreme weather desk.
How bushfires generate their own weather
As a bushfire burns, it generates hot, smoke-filled air.
This air is hotter than surrounding air and rapidly rises, forming a smoke plume.
As the plume rises, atmospheric pressure falls. This causes the plume to spread out, generating a “mushroom” on top of the plume.
The smoke plume is filled with moisture which is released by burning trees. The higher you go in the atmosphere, the cooler it gets, so the top parts of the plume get chilled.
This causes the moisture in the plume to condense (turn from water vapour into tiny water droplets) and form a cloud.
As the plume rises rapidly into the sky, cool air is sucked in to replace it. This causes extreme winds near the firefront. To fight a fire, you need to know which way it is burning. But when a fire-cloud forms and starts generating strong and unpredictable winds, the fire can become chaotic.
“All this air rushes into the fire. You can imagine air coming from all different angles, feeding in – and oxygen is a very important part of fire. It causes fires to race up and down hills,” Mr Narramore says…….. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/why-victoria-s-bushfires-generated-their-own-lightning-20190304-p511kd.html
Fifth Graders Launch Their Own Kindness Club at School
Do you ever get tired of all the bad news? Here’s a good one.
Good News Network, By mgreenhoe -Mar 2, 2019 Kindness is seeping into the classrooms and 
corridors of an elementary school in Minnesota thanks to a group of fifth-graders.
The kids at Parker Elementary School started a Kindness Club last year, and observers say it’s having a positive impact on classroom culture.
“There had been some issues in fifth grade of kids not being very kind to each other,” said Ashley Justen, a social worker at the school in Elk River. Teachers had talked to some of the students and told them things had to change because ‘that’s not how you treat people,’ Justen said.
Fifth-grade teacher Matt Greenhoe said he had been talking with his students one day about improving the situation when one of the kids, Ady Bolling suggested starting the Kindness Club.“I said, ‘That’s a great idea,’ and I just kind of let them go,” Greenhoe said.
Since then the Kindness Club has blossomed, sprinkling kindness throughout the school.
Ady said they started the club because they want kids at Parker to feel safe in school. They also want to stop bullying and improve self-esteem, she said…….. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/elk-river-kindness-club/
Climate crisis – heating oceans affecting Tasman Sea marine life, and seafood industries
‘Not very happy’: Tasman Sea warmth puts the heat on key fisheries, Brisbane Times, By Peter Hannam, March 2, 2019 Back-to-back summer heatwaves in the Tasman Sea that have affected marine life and seafood industries in Australia and New Zealand could be another sign of the warming climate, scientists say.
Australia has just had its warmest summer by far, with the role of so-called blocking highs in the Tasman seen by meteorologists as key to the build-up of record-breaking heat over the country’s south-east.
The still conditions brought by those highs have the effect of limiting ocean mixing, while the relatively cloudless skies allowed solar radiation to warm the waters of the Tasman to a greater-than-usual depth.
By the Bureau of Meteorology’s definition, a marine heatwave occurs when temperatures in the top 10 per cent of readings for that time of year exist for at least five days. The Tasman Sea has met the definition for months on end, two years in a row………
The effect on marine ecosystems, fishing and aquaculture industries “can be devastating, including killing off kelp forests and corals”……… https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/not-very-happy-tasman-sea-warmth-puts-the-heat-on-key-fisheries-20190302-p511cr.html
New South Wales election – 3 Independent MP’s gather strength for climate action
NSW election roundup: independents join forces on climate changeThree possible kingmakers write to premier and opposition leader. Plus: the key promises made this week , Guardian, Josephine ToveyPolls have consistently suggested the main parties are locked in a dead heat, and a Coalition minority government is widely regarded as a likely outcome of the 23 March election.
Greenwich said that whatever the outcome, he would work with either of the major parties to deliver his priorities, with a strong focus on climate change and homelessness……. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/02/nsw-election-roundup-independents-join-forces-on-climate
YouTube is, unfortunately, a leader in climate denial
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Can YouTube Solve Its Serious Climate Science Denial Problem? DESMOG, By Graham Readfearn • Sunday, February 24, 2019 “What are we in for next?” asks the narrator on the YouTube video.“Will the temperature resume an upward trend? Will it remain flat for a lengthy period? Or will it begin to drop? No one knows, not even the biggest, fastest computers.”
The video — with the clickbait title “What They Haven’t Told You about Climate Change” — has been watched more than 2.5 million times on the Google-owned video platform. Produced by the conservative group PragerU, the video sees Canadian lobbyist and fossil fuels advocate Patrick Moore run through a long-debunked argument that because the world’s climate has changed before, there’s no problem with burning record amounts of fossil fuels. Moore claims, for example, there has been “no significant warming trend” in the 21st century — not mentioning that nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005, or that the world’s oceans have been heating rapidly. Despite the clear errors, the video has gathered more views than any other climate science denial clip on YouTube. All up, PragerU claims the video has been watched 4.4 million times across all platforms. A search on YouTube for the most viewed “climate change” videos has Moore’s effort ranked 13th — searching for “global warming” has it ranked 19th. But where the problems really start, are when YouTube’s “up next” algorithm takes a guess at what you might want to watch next after seeing Moore’s video. Recommending DenialWhen I viewed YouTube without signing in, almost all the videos suggested by the algorithm would sit firmly in the climate science denial folder. There’s so much of this material on YouTube that it’s not hard to find once the algorithm opens the door. There’s a Nobel Laureate who apparently “Smashes the Global Warming Hoax” — just don’t mention the 76 other laureatesasking for “rapid progress towards lowering current and future greenhouse gas emissions.” Then there are two other videos, both titled “The Truth About Global Warming,” and both delivering the opposite to what its title claims. Before you know it, you’re in a world of “climate cults,” “global warming hysteria,” and claims of failed predictions and Al Gore getting “slammed.” For an unsuspecting viewer, watching just one video can lead you quickly into an alternate universe where facts, physics, and real-world experiences are replaced by conspiracies, cherry-picking, and fossil fuel–backed propaganda. All of this exists after YouTube declared in January 2019 that it had been working on its recommendations algorithm and making “hundreds of changes to improve the quality of recommendations for users on YouTube.”……… https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/02/24/youtube-video-serious-climate-science-denial-problem?utm_source=dsb%20newsletter |
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South Australia’s second biggest solar farm begins production — RenewEconomy
South Australia’s 108MW Tailem Bend solar farm has started sending electricity to the grid, kicking off operations for the state’s second big solar project. The post South Australia’s second biggest solar farm begins production appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via South Australia’s second biggest solar farm begins production — RenewEconomy
March 3 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Freak Weather ‘Will Make Life Harder For Business’” • First we had the Beast from the East, then the joint hottest summer on record, and now February winter temperatures have soared to all-time highs. The UK’s weather is getting more difficult to predict, and for UK businesses that is creating both opportunities and […]
Warm autumn likely to follow Australia’s hottest summer on record — RenewEconomy
Australia’s warmest summer on record – with extremes of drought, flooding, fire and heat – looks set to continue into autumn, with warmer temperatures and below average rainfall. The post Warm autumn likely to follow Australia’s hottest summer on record appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Warm autumn likely to follow Australia’s hottest summer on record — RenewEconomy
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