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News & ArtsThursday, January 17, 2013
Enviro Learning From Fukushima
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 8:03 AM
It's goodbye nuclear, hello renewables as Japan prepares to build the world's largest offshore wind farm this July.The thing is to find ways to make progress from reason, from the facts themselves, from the information gathered by experts rather than a public opinion that's been alarmed by a disaster.By 2020, the plan is to build a total of 143 wind turbines on platforms 16 kilometres off the coast of Fukushima, home to the stricken Daiichi nuclear reactor that hit the headlines in March 2011 when it was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.
The wind farm, which will generate 1 gigawatt of power once completed, is part of a national plan to increase renewable energy resources following the post-tsunami shutdown of the nation's 54 nuclear reactors. Only two have since come back online.
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In 30 minutes, NREL is putting on a free webinar, about storing wind energy as hydrogen:
The Energy Department will present a live webinar on January 17, 2013, highlighting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Wind-to-Hydrogen project findings. The webinar will be offered from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST and will focus on cost modeling of optimized central wind-based water electrolysis production. During the project, NREL analyzed the cost of hydrogen production via wind-based water electrolysis at 42 potential sites in 11 states across the nation. The analysis included centralized plants producing DOE's target of 50,000 kg of hydrogen per day, using both wind and grid electricity.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandf…
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@3 Geothermal is excellent, but expensive and difficult. That said, it's baseload power - something that covering all of Japan in wind farms won't provide but what nuclear is great at. On calm, windless days Japan will be the opposite of sustainable.
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"The thing is to find ways to make progress from reason, from the facts themselves, from the information gathered by experts rather than a public opinion that's been alarmed by a disaster."
How ironic.
How ironic.
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@3, 4: I think it was the late Barry Commoner who stressed (to the lay public) that you should match the energy density of your source to the task at hand. Ground-source heat pumps are a great, relatively low-tech way to use geothermal energy. You still need electricity to run the system, of course, but only a tiny fraction of that needed to provide equivalent resistance heating, and far less than needed for a heat pump to extract sufficient heat for interior spaces from sub-freezing air.
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@5 A movement isn't reactionary when it's based on four separate events occurring within one year that are part of a decades long deadly trend.
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Actually, the most efficient method of storing wind energy tends to be compressed air ACES, with PHES water pushed uphill to run turbines a close second. Splitting into stored H2 is most useful for large plant vehicles - trains, trucks - to use for efficient fuel cells, @1.
There are some comparison charts in various articles in Renewable Energy journal, of course.
There are some comparison charts in various articles in Renewable Energy journal, of course.
10
We can hope that Japan's politicians and bureaucrats adopt "intelligent demand" and smart grid technologies and get the country off the big behemoth that goes by the false meme that's called "baseload".
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/energy-f… is a great summary.
And if you want to proclaim nuclear the way to salvation look to the single nuke being built in the US - massive cost overruns, years long delays, etc.
Countries that develop smart, nimble, and networked power supplies will be positioned for the demands of the 21st Century.
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/energy-f… is a great summary.
And if you want to proclaim nuclear the way to salvation look to the single nuke being built in the US - massive cost overruns, years long delays, etc.
Countries that develop smart, nimble, and networked power supplies will be positioned for the demands of the 21st Century.
11
Ground sourced heat pumps were being pushed by the Midwestern utilities when I was growing up. They were a little kludgy then in that you needed electric resistance back up, and when they kicked in they were hell on the transformers. Today's hybrids are much more advanced, and have a soft startup, but you do have to have regular maintenance done on them or they get out of whack.
Larger scale geothermal is starting to take hold. California is, I believe, the world leader in it. But even here in Seattle, the newly renovated King Street Station has 36 geothermal wells to run their new HVAC system.
Larger scale geothermal is starting to take hold. California is, I believe, the world leader in it. But even here in Seattle, the newly renovated King Street Station has 36 geothermal wells to run their new HVAC system.
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"The thing is to find ways to make progress from reason, from the facts themselves, from the information gathered by experts rather than a public opinion that's been alarmed by a disaster."
exactly! which is why newly elected prime minister Abe wants more nuclear power. (and everything else, but fossil) to power us in the future. he is right. and if it's done right we can benefit.
exactly! which is why newly elected prime minister Abe wants more nuclear power. (and everything else, but fossil) to power us in the future. he is right. and if it's done right we can benefit.
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