Green Energy Revolution Megathread

[frunk]

Nuclear power policy in the '80s caused low birth weights after coal stepped in

After the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown in Pennsylvania in 1979, regulators moved to overhaul safety requirements for nuclear power plants. This led to the temporary closure of some older nuclear power plants governed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) when they couldn't meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) newly tightened standards.

Now, Carnegie Mellon assistant professor of economics and public policy Edson Severnini says those closures may have caused reduced birth weight in children in the area at the time, due to pollution exposure from the increased reliance on coal-burning power plants. The sudden removal of nuclear power, which doesn't emit any greenhouse gases, led to a ramp-up in the amount of power being provided by nearby coal plants, Severnini wrote. That led to increases in particle pollution in areas adjacent to coal power plants, measured by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in total suspended particulates (TSP).
At the same time, average birth weight for infants declined 134 grams.

Birth weight is a strong indicator of the health of a baby, and low birth weights can suggest a host of health issues in the future, including lower IQ and earlier mortality, particularly from cardiovascular complications. The author concedes that the exact biological mechanism that causes pollution to contribute to low birth weight is still under investigation, but other studies have found that there is a link between the two.

Hopefully we'll get a new weight loss program for our infants with the current administration.

[CountDeMoney]

Hopefully we'll get a new weight loss program for our infants with the current administration.

Wait for their next big pro-coal PSA..."Lungs:  Full of Hot Air"

[The Larch]

The end of coal: EU energy companies pledge no new plants from 2020

Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate change


Europe's energy utilities have rung a death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.

The surprise announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 442 years after the continent's first pit was sunk by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, in Scotland.

National energy companies from every EU nation – except Poland and Greece – have signed up to the initiative, which will overhaul the bloc's energy-generating future.

A press release from Eurelectric, which represents 3,500 utilities with a combined value of over €200bn, reaffirmed a pledge to deliver on the Paris climate agreement, and vowed a moratorium on new investments in coal plants after 2020.

"This statement sends a clear signal to the market that 26 out of 28 member states in the EU have backed a commitment not to invest in new coal plants after 2020," said Kristian Ruby, Eurelectric's secretary-general.

"History will judge this message we are bringing here today. It is a clear message that speaks for itself, and should be seen in close relation to the Paris agreement and our commitment to provide 100% carbon-neutral electricity by 2050."

"Europe's energy companies are putting their money where their mouths are," he added.

Coal has been central to Europe's development, powering the industrial revolution, trades union history, and even the EU's precursor, the European coal and steel community.

But it also emits more carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel, plus deadly toxins such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter, which are responsible for more than 20,000 deaths each year.

Wendel Trio, the director of Climate Action Network Europe, hailed the news as "the beginning of the end for coal".

"It is now clear that there is no future for coal in the EU," he said. "The question is: what is the date for its phase out in the EU, and how hard will the coal industry fight to keep plants open, even if they are no longer economically viable?"

Renewable industry sources welcomed the news, albeit with the caveat that it would allow continued new investments in the industry for another three years.

"The debate about coal is over," one industry insider told the Guardian. "This is the only way that we can go forward with decarbonisation. But it would be good to see a phase out of existing coal plants."

The energy utilities' initiative faced initial resistance in Germany which is relying on coal to bridge a move away from nuclear energy to renewables under the "energiewende" transition.

In the end though, only Poland which depends on coal for around 90% of its electricity and Greece, which still plans new coal plants, bucked what is becoming a global trend.

New coal plant constructions fell by almost two thirds across the world in 2016, with the EU and US leading the way in retiring in existing coal capacity.

The move is also in line with a pathway for meeting the 2C target laid out by climate scientists last month, as a way of limiting future stranded asset risks.

Europe will have to phase out all of its coal plants by 2030 or else "vastly overshoot" its Paris climate pledges, climate experts say.

António Mexia, the CEO of Portuguese energy giant EDP and president of the Eurelectric trade association, said: "The power sector is determined to lead the energy transition and back our commitment to the low-carbon economy with concrete action."

"With power supply becoming increasingly clean, electric technologies are an obvious choice for replacing fossil fuel based systems, for instance in the transport sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

"The challenge for policy makers in the next two years will be to target the political instruments, ensure that they are complementary and advance decarbonisation and electrification at the same time," said Eurelectric's secretary-general, Kristian Ruby.

Ruby called for a ratcheting up of the cap on CO2 emissions under the EU's emissions trading system, to speed the transition to a low carbon economy.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/05/the-end-of-coal-eu-energy-companies-pledge-no-new-plants-from-2020

[jimmy olsen]

Fantastic!

[derspiess]

Hopefully we'll get a new weight loss program for our infants with the current administration.

Wait for their next big pro-coal PSA..."Lungs:  Full of Hot Air"

I think I can pull a couple strings and get you into a coal mine.  You up for it?

[CountDeMoney]

I think I can pull a couple strings and get you into a coal mine.  You up for it?

Go fuck yourself, niggerhater.  Like I said, you want me dead so much, you're just going to have to get in the fucking car and come do it yourself like a real man.  Black lung and shaft collapses is as much of a pussy out as eliminating my healthcare, you fetusfucking cuntstick.

[Barrister]

I think I can pull a couple strings and get you into a coal mine.  You up for it?

Go fuck yourself, niggerhater.  Like I said, you want me dead so much, you're just going to have to get in the fucking car and come do it yourself like a real man.  Black lung and shaft collapses is as much of a pussy out as eliminating my healthcare, you fetusfucking cuntstick.

Seedy, you're either taking too many, or too few, of your meds today.  Look after yourself buddy.

[derspiess]

Go fuck yourself, niggerhater.  Like I said, you want me dead so much, you're just going to have to get in the fucking car and come do it yourself like a real man.  Black lung and shaft collapses is as much of a pussy out as eliminating my healthcare, you fetusfucking cuntstick.

Okay FINE.  I'll find someone else who wants to risk black lung for a halfway decent paycheck

[derspiess]

Seedy, you're either taking too many, or too few, of your meds today.  Look after yourself buddy.

Seedy's like Animal Mother.  You might not believe it, but under fire he is one of the finest human beings in the world. All he needs is somebody to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life.

And I'm like Eightball.  I know he doesn't mean all those bad things he says.

[Admiral Yi]

Seedy's like Animal Mother.  You might not believe it, but under fire he is one of the finest human beings in the world. All he needs is somebody to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life.

And I'm like Eightball.  I know he doesn't mean all those bad things he says.

[Jacob]

Seedy, you're either taking too many, or too few, of your meds today.  Look after yourself buddy.

Seedy's response seems a perfectly reasonable to me.

[Barrister]

Seedy, you're either taking too many, or too few, of your meds today.  Look after yourself buddy.

Seedy's response seems a perfectly reasonable to me.

I dunno - not just in this thread, but others, he was in a free-fire mood this morning.  Certainly not unheard of for the dear Count, but not his usual rules of engagement.

[The Minsky Moment]

Morgan Stanely thinks that Tesla's Model 3 will crash the used car market and make all previous models obsolete.

Here's the money quote, but the video is five minutes plus, so I'd recommend watching it.

"Our work on used car value is focused on the technological obsolescence of the 250 million cars on US roads today – $2 trillion worth of cars. Tesla's cars can get better because they can learn," Jonas said. "They put in that equipment so that the vehicle five years from now is much more superhuman and much better than the one that is just learning and watching right now. Our used car thesis is that in a five-year period, we are running scenarios of used car value being off by as much as 50 percent."

https://youtu.be/Jqza-1VnBVE

The more a car becomes a high-end piece of consumer electronics on wheels, the more the market will tend to follow the functional obsolescence model of the electronics industry.

[CountDeMoney]

Seedy, you're either taking too many, or too few, of your meds today.  Look after yourself buddy.

Seedy's response seems a perfectly reasonable to me.

I dunno - not just in this thread, but others, he was in a free-fire mood this morning.  Certainly not unheard of for the dear Count, but not his usual rules of engagement.

Probably has something to do with the fact that the vast majority of you are fucking assholes.

[Ed Anger]

I don't blame Seedy. I'm getting pretty tired of the assburger shit too.