Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (74871)	2/14/2017 1:19:43 PM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 86356

New Study Highlights Massive Potential Of Hydropower February 13th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill It's a shame greens oppose building new dams. Heck, they're even trying to remove dams already built. It's opposition to stuff like this that shows greens don't really care about pollution or carbon dioxide. A new study conducted by researchers from the Delft University of Technology has concluded that the total theoretical energy generating potential of hydropower is 52 petawatt-hours per year, a quarter of the global energy demand expected by 2020. Researchers from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands recently published an article in the journal PLOS One which served to calculate the “gross theoretical hydropower potential” — the no-holds-barred calculation for how much hydroelectricity could be generated if all avenues were exploited. The figure came to 52 petawatt-hours per year (PWh/year), which is roughly equal to 33% of the current amount of energy needed globally each year, and around a quarter of what is expected to be needed by 2020. It is important to note, however, that this does not necessarily represent the likely potential of hydropower. As the authors themselves note in their introduction, “Hydropower energy potential is typically divided into a) gross theoretical potential, b) technical potential, and c) economically feasible potential: The gross theoretical potential expresses the total amount of electricity that could potentially be generated if all available water resources were devoted to this use. The technically exploitable potential represents the hydropower capacity that is attractive and readily available with existing technology. The economically feasible potential is that amount of hydropower generating capacity that could be built after conducting a feasibility study on each site at current prices and producing a positive outcome. The study found 11.8 million locations which could theoretically provide hydroenergy, though as the authors point out, “many of the locations cannot be developed for (current) technical or economic reasons.” The ratio between the technical, economic, and exploitable potential and the gross potential is, respectively, 20%, 16%, and 13%. However, these figures nevertheless highlight the massive potential available to us by looking to develop more hydroenergy sources — especially when you consider that hydropower currently accounts for around 3% of the annual energy requirement. Of course, as the authors point out repeatedly throughout the study, these are highly idealistic scenarios and, as the ratio figures between the technical, economic, and exploitable potential show, do not necessarily represent hydroenergy statistics that we will likely see anytime soon. Hydropower potential is also categorized in terms of pico, micro, mini, small, and large hydropower plants: Large hydropower plants are plants with an installed capacity above 10 MW. The potential locations of large plants are generally known. However, the accumulated global potential of small (<10 MW), mini (<1 MW), micro (<0.1 MW) and pico (<0.005 MW) hydropower is in the current practice roughly estimated, at best, and the locations where plants might be installed are generally unknown at global scale. https://cleantechnica.com/2017/02/13/new-study-highlights-massive-potential-hydropower/

To: Brumar89 who wrote (74871)	2/15/2017 9:25:37 AM
From: Eric	Respond to of 86356

Is this the dumbest thing ever written by Murdoch media on climate? By Giles Parkinson on 15 February 2017 Heaven knows the competition is stiff: every day throws up extraordinary claims by any number of columnists in the Murdoch media. But we think we have found what could be the dumbest thing ever written by a Murdoch employee on climate change. It’s by Miranda Devine, the columnist who once wrote for Fairfax and now graces the pages of the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. I was skimming through it in the local cafe this morning and came across her article: “Calm down, everyone. It’s hot, not the Armageddon.” The basis for Devine’s article was that the recent heatwave – which the Bureau of Meteorology describes as record breaking, and included a record 46.9°C high for Penrith in Sydney’s west – was just another hot summer. Proof? Why, in 1837, Sydney had recorded temperatures of 54°C, Devine claimed. “Take March 18, 1832, which The Sydney Gazette reported as “insufferably warm”,” Devine wrote. She then went on to quote that newspaper: “At 1pm, the thermometer was 54°C in the sun. The cattle suffered much. Working bullocks dropped dead.” Now, how to explain this. As most 6-year-olds might understand, when you take a temperature reading, you do it in the shade, not in the sun. Google “how to take a temperature reading” and you come up with: “When you are measuring the air temperature, be sure to have the thermometer in the shade. If the sun shines on the thermometer, it heats the liquid. Then the reading is higher than the true air temperature.” Australia’s BoM makes the same point, noting that it monitors temperatures in a louvre box known as the “Stevenson” screen. Just as an experiment, the air temperature where I am writing this article is 28°C. So I took the thermometer out to the sun. Even with the clouds, it rose to 36°C. When the clouds parted, it quickly jumped to more than 50°C before I brought it back inside. So yes, the thermometer may have been showing 56°C in the sun in Sydney on that day in 1832 and maybe a million times since in thousands of different places. One of Devine’s own readers claimed it was 68°C on the court at the Australian Open this year. Perhaps it was. But that’s in the sun. It wasn’t Melbourne’s official temperature that day. It’s why on hot days you can fry an egg on a road or a car bonnet exposed to the sun. Try doing it inside on the dining table; it may not work so well. And that’s probably why newspaper offices have a roof. Chances are that if you leave a journalist out in the sun too long, they might end up writing silly things about climate change. (P.S. We wonder if the quote from the Sydney Gazette is truly accurate. Celsius was only widely used in Australia from the 1970s with the introduction of metrication. A BoM spokesman told RenewEconomy that official record began in Australian in 1910, but even the papers of the day in the 1800s warned about reported temperature observations, noting they could not be verified and often thermometers were left hanging in the sun or on a verandah. Indeed, the BoM gives a whole explanation about pre-1900 temperature readings, including this observation: “Unfortunately for modern-day scientists, there was no common standard for observing equipment during the colonial period. Any number of instrument configurations were used, including—perhaps iconically—thermometers housed in beer crates on outback verandas.” reneweconomy.com.au My comments: This is just too funny! Eric

To: Brumar89 who wrote (74871)	2/15/2017 9:37:56 AM
From: Eric	Respond to of 86356

Oklahoma’s sweltering February – near 100°F in dead of winter By Jeremy Deaton on 15 February 2017 Nexus Media Source: Pexels Two years ago this month, in a well-publicized and much lampooned political stunt, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) brought a snowball to the Senate floor to highlight the “unseasonable” cold and cast doubt on climate change. The Republican lawmaker would have been hard-pressed to find a snowball anywhere in his home state this past weekend. Oklahoma just endured a spell of exceptionally hot weather. Mangum, Oklahoma saw temperatures close to 100º F, setting a state record. The average February high in Mangum is 56º F. Oklahoma on February 11th, 2017. Source: Mesonet It is extremely unusual to see such sweltering temperatures in the dead of winter, but climate change is loading the dice for record-breaking heat. Here, the human fingerprint is clear. Carbon pollution traps heat, warming the planet. This, in turn, shifts the entire distribution of temperatures. Cold days become more rare, while warm days become routine. The hottest days the ones that break records are almost invariably linked to human influence. In this new climate system, extreme heat is far more likely than extreme cold. Over the last year, the United States has seen more than four times as many record high temperatures as record lows. The heat in Oklahoma is just the latest example. Source: Climate Signals Many people may welcome a temperate day in February, but warm weather in normally cold months disrupts ecosystems. Trees may bloom after an unseasonably balmy spell and then suffer frost damage when cold weather returns. Flowers may blossom and shed their petals before bees arrive to pollinate them. These minor destabilizations have a ripple effect, impacting flora, fauna and the industries built around them. In Oklahoma, the spike in temperature is particularly ironic, given the state’s political climate. Inhofe is Washington’s most vocal climate denier, having published a book alleging that climate change is a hoax while serving as the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment Committee. Inhofe will soon have an ally inside the EPA Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s pick to head the agency. Inhofe has describedPruitt, a longtime fossil fuel insider, as a “leader and a partner on environmental issues for many years.” Pruitt is expected to bring several former Inhofe staffers with him to his new office. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt has sued the EPA many times, including over the Obama administration’s plan to limit heat-trapping carbon pollution from power plants. reneweconomy.com.au Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him at @deaton_jeremy.