Technology to the rescue?

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – A new technology that allows hydrogen to be stored in a cheap and practical way, could make its widespread use as a carbon-free alternative to petrol a reality, according to its developers.
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The company said hydrogen could be an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels if the gas is produced with renewable energy sources like wind or solar. It has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight and could power cars, planes and other vehicles that currently use hydrocarbons.

It said it is also attracting interest from large established companies in the energy and transportation sectors.

New technology makes hydrogen more viable car fuel

Find out more at Cella Energy

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The leaf's ability to convert sunlight and water into storable fuel makes it the ultimate in solar energy. Now researchers say they have found a way to mimic this seemingly simple feat.

The technology developed by Dan Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues could eventually power a house and bring electricity to the developing world with little more than a chip sunk into a bucket of water. The device could even store the energy for when the sun isn't shining.
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I can take the chip and put it in this bottle of water and just go and hold it up to the sun and you would start to see hydrogen and oxygen bubbles coming out," Nocera said.

The hydrogen and oxygen could later be used in a fuel cell to generate electricity as they recombine to form water.
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A remaining engineering challenge to take this from the lab to the rooftop is to figure out how to capture the oxygen and hydrogen and store them for later use. "That's going to be some tricky engineering," he said. It remains to be seen how expensive this aspect will be.

Up a tree no more: A 'real' artificial leaf debuts

Renewable Fuels: Saturday Panel from Phil Wall on Vimeo.

Gotta get these guys talking to each other :-)


If things like this live up to their promise, there may be hope for civilization.
Fuel cells for powering homes is an idea that was around in the mid 1990s. Wonder what happened to that.

Who are you going to blame?

The United States fell behind China and Germany in clean energy investments in 2010, a result of the lack of a coherent national energy policy in the U.S., according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

e360 digest

Blame the voters. We have met the enemy and he is us

Another thing that bugs me is the way we all discuss the coming climate catastrophe as if everything will be normal, and suddenly in 2050 it all goes to hell. No, in 2049 it'll be bad, in 2039 and 2029 it'll be bad, but not as bad... and we are likely to see more rough spots (drought, fire, flood) this decade.

The Relationship between Nuclear Power and Climate Change

The situation in Japan is undeniably dire. But Jeffrey Eckel, president and CEO of Hannon Armstrong—a company that finances infrastructure technology for sophisticated energy systems—argues that, without nuclear power, we will not be able to reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the ruinous consequences of global warming. Eckel spoke to Joshua Pringle, senior editor for Worldpress.org, about the tough choices we as a society face in providing energy for the world's ever-expanding population.

The Relationship between Nuclear Power and Climate Change

It's been disheartening to see the traditional environmentalists cling to opinions held since the 70s. No, nuclear is not the solution, it is a bridge that will support us while we build energy systems that do not have lethal consequences, either by operating as designed (coal) or human error and natural disaster (Fukushima).

Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crises

He says we do not currently have the technology to replace fossil fuels with renewables such as wind and solar.

Imagining The U.S. Without Nuclear Power

It's uncomfortable for me to see we know so little.

Squirrel!

If you rely on the main stream media to identify issues you need to pay attention to, you are being misdirected. Japan's epic catastrophe and the looming problems at the Fukushima reactors should still have our attention.  MSM is like a young dog whose discipline is broken by a passing squirrel. Only in this case the squirrel is anything that resembles war.


However, let us not be lead astray, let's keep our attention where it should be:

Fukushima is like a cancer eating away at the habitat of the East coast of Japan. Whilst the situation appears to be stable, a number of slow burning processes must inevitably be eating away at the heart of these reactors. The solution to a number of these problems is to restore fresh water circulation to each of the cores and the spent fuel ponds. Whether or not the pumping systems work remains to be seen. Disposing of the salty radioactive sludge from inside the reactor vessels presents another major challenge.

It seems possible that the current meta stable condition may persist for many more weeks, and all the while the release and accumulation of radioactive isotopes in the environment will continue. And there is still risk of a catastrophic failure due to heat or corrosion that would result in the status degrading rapidly. It is too early to call this crisis over.

Fukushima Dai-ichi status and slow burning issues

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.Climate programs fail at first step

GOVERNMENT programs to tackle climate change, worth more than $12 billion over the past 15 years, have largely failed to reduce carbon emissions.
The independent Melbourne think tank the Grattan Institute, analysed the more than $12bn of state and federal funding for more than 300 carbon reduction schemes and renewable energy programs over the past 15 years and found the result was mostly negligible.

The institute's John Daley told ABC's Lateline program the biggest failure was also the most expensive, with $7bn in commonwealth grants for companies showing few results and running years behind schedule. "Governments have spent a great deal, they have promised a great deal more, not much has actually happened," Dr Daley said.

"The good news is we haven't actually wasted our money, but the bad news is we haven't actually done very much."

.Climate programs fail at first step

High hopes for low carbon: an interview with Professor Jim Skea of the Committee on Climate Change

The anti nuke sentiment is as strong as ever

These people are all for letting the science speak for itself when it comes to climate change... but not so much for nuclear power. I can't stand to read another blog post full of knee jerk emotional response to the events in Japan.

Lesson number one from Japan: Do not put backup generators in the basement if you are in an area vulnerable to tsunamis.

Know Nukes

The nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan is bad enough; the nuclear disaster unfolding in China could be even worse. “What disaster?”, you ask. The decision today by the Chinese government to suspend approval of new atomic power plants. If this suspension were to become permanent, the power those plants would have produced is likely to be replaced by burning coal. While nuclear causes calamities when it goes wrong, coal causes calamities when it goes right, and coal goes right a lot more often than nuclear goes wrong. The only safe coal-fired plant is one which has broken down past the point of repair.

Atomised
He gets it. The risk of continued use of coal is greater than the risk of nuclear power.
HT veritone Instead of putting the brakes on nuclear plants, should we be building safer ones?

It has haunted me this last week that we arrested our development of nuclear power because of fear. We failed to learn as much as we could have these past 30 years. If we had used the Maddow approach: 'Know Nukes' instead of the one we chose, 'No Nukes' we would have safer plants right now.

But after watching the special on Three Mile Island last night, I think what we really need is more perfect people. That accident,like all nuclear accidents, was made worse by the operators trying to fix things.




And this:

Be calm people, be calm.

Tokyo (CNN) -- The Japanese government halted the sale of all food from farms near a tsunami-affected nuclear plant Saturday after abnormally high levels of radiation were found in milk and spinach.

The news of food contamination came as emergency workers scrambled to curb a nuclear crisis sparked by last week's monster earthquake and tsunami.
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A person who consumed the tainted food continuously for a year would take in the same amount of radiation as a single CT scan, Edano said. That's about 7 millisieverts or double what an average person in an industrialized country is exposed to in a year, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Radiation found in food as workers scramble to curb nuclear crisis

Shamelessly begging for comments

How do you think Americans will react when their energy (gasoline, electricity etc.) bills triple, and along with it the price of everything else?

Dog Bless You

via facebook Dog Bless You

Spent fuel pool breached.

US Experts: Breach in Spent Fuel Pool may doom repair effort – Also, Add Volcano to list
Climate Denial Crock or the Week

Claims Times had it first, but I speculated that the pool was breached Wednesday. Do I get any credit?

Eye opener

I have really had my eyes opened to threats posed by nuclear power plants that I was totally unaware of.
Perhaps you have too.
This is disconcerting, because nuclear power was the one CO2 free source of electricity that could replace coal in time to prevent calamitous increases in global temperature (more than 2C).

Of course, these circumstances were exceptional. Both the magnitude of the earthquake and the size of the tsunami exceeded the most pessimistic predictions.  But perhaps it will be shown, as the facts are gathered and the story pieced together, that the Japanese had become complacent about the safety of nuclear power. Just as we did with regard to the space shuttle, resulting in the loss of two crews.  Nuclear power, like space travel, is inherently dangerous. We must not forget that.

Continuing emergency in Japan

The nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan has all the experts scratching their heads.

I speculate that the plant did not weather the earthquake as well as originally thought. And that the many after shocks have further damaged it, that parts are no longer water tight,  so that no amount of pumping power can keep the fuel, spent or otherwise, covered in water.

I wonder about the integrity of the  instrumentation. I don't understand how explosions could be a surprise to the crew there.

I totally agree that all plants around the globe should be inspected. We need to learn as much as we can about what happened here to avoid it in the future.

Breach!

Apparently the explosion breached the containment structure of reactor #2 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant.
We are worse than Three Mile Island now, but not even close to Chernobyl.

It is truly disappointing that they didn't solve the cooling problems. It is guaranteed we'll learn a lot from this.

So remember, short term (decades) use of nuclear power is safer than BAU.

Let the science inform you. Not O'Donnell and the Last Word on MSNBC, who ignored reality ala Fox and spread total crap concerning the nuclear power plants here in California.
Same for Wolf Blitzer of CNN, who likewise thought he'd caught an expert out, but in fact only exposed his closed mind.

Big big kudos to Rachael Maddow, who is covering this expertly.

Again, let the science inform you, not the BS being dished out by the press.

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Comparisons are being made with the accident at Chernobyl, but there are a number of very important differences, notably in terms of reactor design, and therefore accident implications. Nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union was once my research field (see Nuclear Safety and International Governance: Russia and Eastern Europe), and the specifics of the accident at Chernobyl could not be replicated in Japan. The risk in Japan is primarily meltdown, not a Chernobyl-style run-away nuclear reaction.

How Black Is the Japanese Nuclear Swan?

With a breach of the containment system of the Fukushima #2 reactor and release of significant amounts of radiation, we now have the answer to whether or not nuclear power is safe. In the eyes of the public and politicians the answer will be no, even before the final tally of nuclear casualties is counted. Looking to the future, the question should boil down to whether or not the risks of nuclear accidents are outweighed by the benefits to society of nuclear electricity. But in the current environment, and for years to come the risks are going to dominate government thinking and the benefits, all too readily ignored at present will be forgotten completely until we begin to feel the consequences of growing reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports and intermittent renewable energy.

Safety of nuclear power and death of the nuclear renaissance

To say nothing about mitigating climate change

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well, this will result in a halt of new nuk plants in the US.

Hope you are located where you can grow much of your own food, and don't need to use much gas to get around... it's going the be a bumpy ride.

Volcano in southern Japan erupts

Volcano in southern Japan erupts

Sunday's eruption, which was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, caused widespread destruction and panic. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports.

Power Plant Air Pollution Kills 13,000 People Per Year, Coal-Fired Are Most Hazardous: ALA Report

How's this for bad reporting?

In a nation besieged with grief over mounting casualties, fears of possible radiation and the threat of more earthquakes, the nightmare grew for Japanese residents Monday as thousands of bodies reportedly were found and crews struggled to keep damaged nuclear plants under control.

Wouldn't the average reader believe that the bodies were associated with the unfolding nuclear power plant disaster?

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via facebook

What abut the effect of major earthquakes on the vast industrial complexes of oil refineries, chemical plants and nuclear facilities that dot the West Coast of the U.S.? Should applications for continued use of existing plants, such as the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in northern San Diego County be approved?

Japan's crisis may have already derailed 'nuclear renaissance'

Embarrassed

The uproar over the nuclear emergency in Japan after a mag 9 + huge tsunami is embarrassing to me.
It is bad, but nothing like Chernobyl. It will not be like Chernobyl, ever, because the containment of the Japanese reactors is holding. Small releases, similar to Three Mile Island, have been intentional.
In spite of the fact that this overwhelming catastrophe is orders of magnitude worse than the nuclear power plants were designed to withstand, they are holding.   There may be a few die of radiation poisoning, but those will be the workers, not the nearby (or far afield) residents. I grieve for them, as I do the 10s of thousands who were swept away by the tsunami.

Chernobyl killed 4000 over all, including those that died due to long term effects of exposure.
How many, total,  have died due to nuclear power plants? It's a minuscule amount compared to those who have died because of coal... not to mention the millions who will die due to CO2 emission.
Get real people!

I figured out the main reason that I am so embarrassed by the climate hawk reaction to these nuclear power plant emergencies. It's because they are ignoring the science, and instead, reacting to their own anti-nuk bias. Much like the deniers scoff at the science of climate change because it does not support their agenda.. For shame.

Drumbeat Special Edition: Fukushima Thread

Drumbeat Special Edition: Fukushima Thread
Without nuclear power it is very unlikely we can meet our goals, to reduce CO2 emissions enough to mitigate climate change.
If the extrodinary events in Japan that lead to the failure of these 40 year old nuclear power plants keep us from deploying safer 4th generation fission plants... we would be stupid indeed.
If you summed all the people who have died because of coal power and compared it to all those who have died because of nuclear power, you might see the risk differently.
And, of course, nuclear power plants have not contributed to climate change... and if we continue BAU, millions will die in the next few decades, and in the long run, civilization may face extinction.

Of course wind, solar, and geothermal, plus several other sources that are currently under development, are better. But do not let perfect be the enemy of good. Once we don't need nuclear anymore, we can dismantle them... and shoot the waste into the sun.

Japanese disaster

There goes fission as a possible mitigation for climate change.

Rachael Maddow had a wonderful program tonight. I haven't found it on line yet. Stay tuned.
Here it is
She is obviously anti-nuk.

Queen of The Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? - Official Trailer [HD]

Contrasts

Japan magnitude 9 earthquake of 2011, 10s of thousands dead.
Haiti magnitude 7 earthquake of 2010, hundreds of thousands dead.

All the facts aren't in yet, but I believe that most of those killed in Japan will be from the tsunami.
Haiti did not appear to be affected by a tsunami.

Japan rich
Haiti poor

This is analogous to how climate change will impact people based on their economic status.