Category Archives: Energy Tough Love Blog

Energy Tough Love Blog – A weblog from Community Energy Systems

I Never Believed In Godzilla – You know radioactive monsters

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Chernobyl and Fukushima released a lot of radiation. People died from the severe radiation released just after the accident, but “mild” consistent radiation is not dangerous to animals though it may have mild effects on adults and bigger effects on children. But the idea that a major radiation release would create one eyed giant humans or fire breathing dragons like wadzzilla is really remote. The fear of radiation has done some pretty amazing things for the environment, however.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/8-facts-about-the-animals-of-chernobyl?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Pocket worthy Stories to fuel your mind.

8 Facts About the Animals of Chernobyl

Researchers thought the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was unable to support life. But a bunch of wolves, deer, wild boars, bears, and foxes disagree.

Mental Floss

  • Claudia Dimuro

Three decades after the Chernobyl disaster—the world’s worst nuclear accident—signs of life are returning to the exclusion zone. Wild animals in Chernobyl are flourishing within the contaminated region; puppies roaming the area are capturing the hearts of thousands. Tourists who have watched the critically acclaimed HBO series Chernobyl are taking selfies with the ruins. Once thought to be forever uninhabitable, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become a haven for flora and fauna that prove that life, as they say in Jurassic Park, finds a way.

1. The Animals of Chernobyl Survived Against All Odds

The effects of the radioactive explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986 devastated the environment. Around the plant and in the nearby city of Pripyat in Ukraine, the Chernobyl disaster’s radiation caused the leaves of thousands of trees to turn a rust color, giving a new name to the surrounding woods—the Red Forest. Workers eventually bulldozed and buried the radioactive trees. Squads of Soviet conscripts also were ordered to shoot any stray animals within the 1000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Though experts today believe parts of the zone will remain unsafe for humans for another 20,000 years, numerous animal and plant species not only survived, but thrived.

2. Bears and Wolves Outnumber Humans Around the Chernobyl Disaster Site

While humans are strictly prohibited from living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, many other species have settled there. Brown bears, wolves, lynx, bison, deer, moose, beavers, foxes, badgers, wild boar, raccoon dogs, and more than 200 species of birds have formed their own ecosystem within the Chernobyl disaster area. Along with the larger animals, a variety of amphibians, fish, worms, and bacteria makes the unpopulated environment their home.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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We Can Make A Change – If we all pull together we can make big change

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Periodically I try to be up beat. With the Pandemic and all the doom coming out of the environmental community I thought I would say, “We can do things together”! The place to start is small. Ride your bike. Recycle and reduce your garbage. Compost. Walk places when you can. Take the steps not the elevator. I do all of those things and everyday I try to think of more things I can do. Anyway, here are some thoughts on the things we can achieve. Stay safe out there.

What lifestyle changes will shrink your carbon footprint the most?

By Christie Aschwanden

Three years ago, Kim Cobb was feeling “completely overwhelmed” by the problem of climate change. Cobb spends her days studying climate change as director of the Global Change Program at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, but she felt paralyzed over how to be part of the solution in her personal life. The barriers felt immense.

She decided to start small. On January 1, 2017, she made a personal climate resolution: She would walk her kids to school and bicycle to work two days a week. That change didn’t represent a lot in terms of carbon emissions, she says, “but it was a huge lesson in daily engagement.”

In the beginning, her modest goal seemed daunting, but she quickly discovered that the two simple activities nourished her physical and mental well-being. She wanted to do them every day. “It’s no longer for the carbon — it’s for the fact that I genuinely love riding my bike and walking my kids to school,” she says. And that made her wonder: What other steps was she thinking of as sacrifices that might actually enrich her life?

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Elon Musk Throws A Tempertantrum – NOone listens

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Really – wouldn’t that be cool? But you know, self absorbed rich young guys with big mouths, the press eats them up. More! More! More! Is he right well? Newsome is no fascist. He is just a little old Democrat. Could the car industry open up? Well probably, slowly. But Elon wants what Elon wants and Elon usually gets. Thus the outburst.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/tesla-tsla-earnings-q1-2020.html

Tesla rises as company ekes out a Q1 profit

Lauren Feiner@lauren_feiner
Lora Kolodny@lorakolodny
  • Tesla reported first-quarter results on Wednesday, including a $16 million profit.
  • A Covid-19 outbreak in China forced Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker to suspend manufacturing in Shanghai for more than a week in February and in the U.S. at the end of March.
  • Musk and Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn are expected to update shareholders on the impact of the coronavirus on their business so far and their plans to bring production back online in the U.S.

Excerpt:

Musk slammed the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place orders as “unconstitutional” and “fascism” in a profanity-laced tirade on an earnings call Wednesday evening.

He said: “I think we are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area and that should be identified as a serious risk. We only have two car factories now, one in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area.”

And he continued sounding more and more incensed, at one point asking, “What the f–k?”

Musk also ranted about the health orders: “I think people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry. It’s like somebody wants to stay in the house? That’s great, they should be allowed to stay in the house, and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”

(Leaving a place of residence is not a crime in California under Covid-19 health orders.)

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Go there and listen to loud shouting. More next week.

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HillTopper Wind Farm – It looked magnificent

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During this pandemic I have been getting rid of my housitis by driving around in my car. No touching. No talking. Just driving. At first it was close to Riverton, like to Williamsville or places in Springfield like Lincoln Land Community College or Washington Park. One day I thought, “Let’s drive to Mt. Pulaski” which is about 20 miles away maybe. I had forgotten that they had built a wind farm just shy of there. What a glorious sight. Right along the highway. I was amazed. I pulled off the road in wonder. My faith in humanity was renewed.

(I know this is a company site but it has wonderful Pictures. I can neither vouch for this company nor advise any sort of dealings with this company. I am simply reposting its website)

https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/a/2019/01/hilltopper-and-sustainable-future-of-energy-with-egp-ppas

HillTopper wind farm creates energy solutions for a sustainable future

Published on Thursday, 17 January 2019

excerpted:

A Wind Farm “Made in the USA”

Located in Illinois, the US state with the sixth highest installed wind capacity, HillTopper is an example of how our projects contribute to local socio-economic development.

By purchasing wind turbines produced from a local business, HillTopper contributed 50 million dollars directly to the local economy: a clear example of the care Enel Green Power has for the communities that welcome us. As Enel Green Power, we provide sustainable, clean, reliable and affordable energy to several companies, with the goal of creating new value in the heart of Illinois.

The 185-MW wind farm uses General Electric turbines manufactured in the United States and, through a collaboration with Trinity Structural Towers, located just a few kilometers from the site, we’re fostering the growth of the local economy.

The local manufacturer provided about half of HillTopper’s 74 turbines. At nearly 90 meters tall, they provide 570 GWh of energy every year. This power can cover the energy needs of more than 46,300 American households.

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Go there and read all their corporate speak. But look at the picture and imagine the possibilities. More next week.

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Oil Prices Plunge – Well the futures markets do anyway

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Yes it’s true, this is a historic plunge in oil futures prices. It is true that the oil just keeps coming because there is no way to shut off the larger wells. Yes it’s true that oil storage is filling up to the point where they may have to use railroad tanks cars for storage. But is this a significant point in history. I think the short answer is no. I think it may be a foreshadowing of the turbulence that lies at the END of oil. But that is nowhere near. BIG OIL is too nasty and too viscous (vicious sorry) to give up while there is a single drop to pump. Here is a great discussion of the incident:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/about-150-years-of-oil-price-history-in-one-chart-illustrates-crudes-spectacular-plunge-below-0-a-barrel-2020-04-22

In One Chart

About 150 years of oil-price history: This one chart illustrates crude’s spectacular plunge below $0 a barrel

By

Mark DeCambre

The formerly unthinkable drop in oil prices below $0 a barrel on Monday is still reverberating through financial markets, as supply overwhelms demand destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic, forcing some energy companies into possible bankruptcy as storage reaches maximum capacity.

Indeed, the now-defunct May West Texas Intermediate crude US:CLK20, which expired on Tuesday, plunged into negative territory to start the week in a history-making event that saw, the front-month contract, at the time, settle at negative $37.63 a barrel before recovering some of that in the following session.

That jaunt into negative territory had never happened before that period and although the oil market was seeing some traction higher on Wednesday, with the current front month and most-active West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery CLM20, 17.53% gaining $2.21, or 19.1%, to settle at $13.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, still about the lowest level since the late 1990s, researchers at Deutsche Bank thought it would be interesting to look at oil prices over the past 150 years.

Strategists Jim Reid and Nick Burns did so with straightforward charts published April 22 that shows both the nominal price of oil since 1870 and the cost of crude in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms in U.S. dollars (see chart below):

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Go there and read. More next week.

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I Am So Excited To Be Posting On Earth Day – The 50th Anniversary

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That’s it. That’s all I can say. Well you know me, that’s not all I can say. Like the National Geographic Magazine says, they are divided about the results. We have accomplished alot but never enough because the root cause of climate change is evil greed, better known as capitalism. As long as we practice those economics, we will continue down the drain. The drain that looks like this:

https://newrepublic.com/article/157078/climate-crisis-will-just-shockingly-abrupt?utm_source=digg

The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt

The coronavirus isn’t a reason to put climate policy on hold. It’s a warning of the calamities ahead.

By Melody Schreiber

As governments around the globe debate how to respond both to the coronavirus itself and the economic chaos it has unleashed, a theme that’s come up over and over is how to prioritize what makes it into spending packages. In the United States, right-left fault lines have emerged over the question of bailing out emissions-heavy industries versus a greener stimulus. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a large-scale rollback of environmental regulations as a response to the pandemic—allowing many emitters to police themselves when it comes to pollution.

While some argue that the oxygen in the climate debate should be taken up by the pandemic instead, the two issues aren’t mutually exclusive, experts say. In a warming climate, more diseases are likely to emerge and spread, making climate change action an important part of addressing future health crises. Moreover, the perception that climate change isn’t as urgent as other crises may rely on misunderstandings about how climate-related changes will happen. The rate isn’t constant: Instead, there’s reason to believe everything from Arctic melt to Amazon deforestation might experience what’s known as “tipping points,” where small changes in nature shift into rapid and irreversible damage.

Greenland and Antarctica are melting six times faster than they were in the 1990s, according to a new study in the journal Nature. Between 1992 and 2017, Greenland and Antarctica lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice. This falls under the worst-case scenario projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the effects are already being felt in many parts of the world. The IPCC predicts that by the end of the century, 400 million people around the globe could be at risk of coastal flooding every year from sea-level rise alone.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Nuclear Power Is The Forever Curse – Now that we have created it, it will never go away.

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This was the original problem for/with Nuclear Power. It wasn’t the cost. It wasn’t the Carbon. It wasn’t about the size of the solution vs. the size of the problem. It wasn’t even the danger. It was the DURATION. This will be with humans forever. Maybe towards the end of our time here on Earth we can salvage some plutonium and uranium for constructive uses but that is forever too.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-13/chernobyl-fires-crews-battle-contain-blaze-nuclear-power-plant/12144956?utm_source=digg

Radiation levels rise as fires burn near Chernobyl’s former nuclear power plant

Posted

A photo taken from the roof of Chernobyl’s old nuclear power plant has revealed how close the bushfires raging through Ukraine’s forests are from the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.

Key points:

  • Crews are working to contain the forest fires burning through the territory surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
  • Radiation levels near the fires have been elevated, with the blazes producing swirling smoke
  • Winds are blowing smoke towards Kiev though authorities say radiation levels in the city remain normal

Firefighters are working to control the blazes burning through the irradiated forests in the territory surrounding the former nuclear plant.

Radiation levels near the wildfires have risen, and the blazes have produced swirling smoke which is being blown towards neighbouring regions.

Winds had blown the smoke towards rural areas of Russia and nearby Belarus, but they shifted in the direction of Ukrainian capital Kiev over the weekend.

Authorities in Kiev, which has a population of about 3 million people, say radiation levels in the city remain normal.

Its citizens are already in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The winds are more of a significant headache for the site of Chernobyl’s closed nuclear power plant. Strong gusts could spread the fires towards what is left of the facility as well as the abandoned equipment used to clean up the disaster.

“At the moment we cannot say the fire is contained,” acting head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management Kateryna Pavlova said.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Alternative Energy Will Never Work – They said

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The wind doesn’t blow all the time.

The sun only shines during the day.

Geothermal can’t be done everywhere.

Heat Pumps only work in certain temperature ranges.

There will never be enough storage.

Storage will be too expensive.

You can’t power an industrial society like this.

Then there is the big LIE, Nuclear Power is carbon free.

So much CARBON goes into a Nuclear Power Plant the it would never be carbon free…Not in a hundred years.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032118303897?amp=1

The feasibility of 100% renewable electricity systems: A response to critics?

BenEllistonc

Highlights

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Large-scale electricity systems based on 100% renewable energy can meet the key requirements of reliability, security and affordability.

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This is even true where the vast majority of generation comes from variable renewables such as wind and solar PV.

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Thus the principal myths of critics of 100% renewable electricity are refuted.

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Arguments that the transition to 100% renewable electricity will necessarily take as long or longer than historical energy transitions are also refuted.

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The principal barriers to 100% renewable electricity are neither technological nor economic, but instead are primarily political, institutional and cultural.

There is this as well:

100% renewable electricity is viable  

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Go there and read. One is a book. So you may have to check it out of the library. More next week.

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Paradise Coal Plant Closed Down – Is it ok to dance on somebody’s grave

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My answer to that is YES! I know in this time of Covid-19 that we are not supposed to wish people ill. Or in general, in the METOO moment say harsh things about the down and OUT! Trust me, this is more exclamation points then I have used in 10 years. The fact that it happens in McConnell’s state and against The Cheeto Burrito’s wishes is just wonderful to me.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/iconic-plants-end-spells-doom-051246740.html

Iconic plant’s end spells doom for struggling coal industry

DYLAN LOVAN
Associated Press

DRAKESBORO, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump tried to stop it from happening. The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, did too.

Despite their best efforts to make good on Trump’s campaign promise to save the beleaguered coal industry, including an eleventh-hour pressure campaign, the Tennessee Valley Authority power plant at Paradise burned its last load of coal last month.

The plant’s closure — in a county that once mined more coal than any other in the nation — is emblematic of the industry’s decadeslong decline due to tougher environmental regulations, a major push toward renewable energy and a rise in the extraction of natural gas. The shuttering of businesses nationwide and a reduced need for energy amid the global coronavirus pandemic threatens to deal coal yet another devastating blow.

“It’s not just one 1,000-megawatt unit closing; they’re going down all over the place,” said John Rogers, a former mine owner who lives in western Kentucky near the Paradise plant, located in Muhlenberg County.

When coal-burning plants close, coal mining loses its best customer. Since 2010, 500 coal-burning units, or boilers, at power plants have been shut down and nearly half the nation’s coal mines have closed. No U.S. energy company, big or small, is building a new coal-burning plant.

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Go there and YIPPEE. More next week.

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PG&E Pleads Guilty To Murder – Closes docket for the Camp Fire for criminal charges

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Does that mean they will stop the Blackouts after the winds reach 40 miles an hour? Does that mean they will go out of business? Or does that mean they will become a nice reasonable caring utility company committed to the community of central California? I got my doubts about the last but we shall see in a year for sure.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-23/pge-pleads-guilty-to-84-counts-of-manslaughter-over-paradise-fire

California

PG&E pleads guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter over Camp fire

By Joseph Serna,

Matt Hamilton
March 23, 2020
4:54 PM

In a federal filing Monday permanently documenting its role in causing California’s deadliest wildfire, Pacific Gas & Electric announced it has pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 Camp fire in the Northern California town of Paradise.

PG&E, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said it reached the settlement with the Butte County district attorney’s office on March 17. Under the deal, PG&E said prosecutors won’t pursue further criminal charges, an outcome that disappointed some utility watchdogs.

This is the second time PG&E’s guilt has been established in a wildfire legal proceeding. In 1997, a Nevada County jury found the utility guilty of causing a fire three years earlier that burned a dozen homes.

But while this chapter of PG&E’s role in the Camp fire is over, the plea‘s implications for other utilities is less clear, said Shon Hiatt, an associate professor of management and organization at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

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Go there and read. Please Think. More next week.

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