Climate in the 21st Century

Global Energy Transition. Are we winning?

The Global Energy Transition is the most profound change to human civilisation since the end of the last glacial period about 11,000 years ago. There will be winners and losers, and as a result some are trying to slow or even stop the disruption of their established markets. We all know who they are! So how is it going? Well, the International Energy Agency says it can be done, but ONLY if there is NO NEW COAL, OIL or GAS exploration or exploitation from this point onwards. COP28 has now been completely hijacked by the oil industry...so is the transition a realistic prospect or just a pipe dream?

DIY-HP-LED said:

Let's talk about water, ice, and Antarctica....

Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts

Sea Level Rise Viewer: Visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise (up to 10 feet above average high tides) at U.S. coastal locations.

coast.noaa.gov

Here is the impact of a 10-foot seal level rise.

Blue is under water and reds and oranges are vulnerable areas, vulnerable to storms and further seal level rise.
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topcat said:

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A hurricane would level it before then...

Nugnewbie said:

How to kill clean energy transition

Alberta is following Ontario's playbook: Sharpening knives that will be plunged into the backs of renewable energy workers, landowners and diversified energy companies across the province.

www.nationalobserver.com

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The fact is with improving technology like solar and batteries they will be pissing against a strong economic wind of change.

Factor in a couple of technological improvements and solar cars become possible over a larger latitude range and can be plugged in during winter only, saving a lot in annual energy costs. Better multijunction perovskite solar cells with higher efficiency, an automotive specialty market could evolve for such high efficiency flexible cells integrated into the bodywork. The biggest factor though will be improvements to the gravimetric energy density of batteries and instead of weighing a half ton to a ton, the battery pack can weigh 50 to 100kg allowing more conventional vehicle design.

Solar EVs will evolve from efficient existing EVs, say if you are south of 35 degrees north it would give you a minimum 40 kilometers of range per sunny day, the battery pack averages things out. Even in Canada you shouldn't need to plug such a car in for 8 months of the year, if you drove an average commuting distance. Anybody living between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn could use a compact solar car no problem using today's technology.


Why Don't Solar Powered Cars Exist?
With electric cars becoming more popular and a shift towards renewable energy sources is taking place, an obvious question becomes: why don't we simply put solar panels on top of cars? Could this help with the lack of charging infrastructure? Realistically, what would it take for solar powered cars to work out, and why haven't they been successful up until this point?

This video will analyze the surface area of a modern car, providing an estimate for how much solar power it could actually generate, what speeds the cars could be capable of, and how long the cars would take to charge. We'll take into consideration the solar constant, the amount of solar power that actually reaches Earth's surface, the efficiency limits of solar panels, the curvature of the Earth (it isn't flat), and analyze how this impacts a solar car's performance. We'll also check out Aptera Motors, who's planning to make a car that will never need to charge, thanks to solar panels!

References:
Solar Constant - https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL045777
Global Consumption - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/det...
Surface Energy - https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/fea...
Solar Efficiency - https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00901283
Aptera Motors "Never Charge" - https://www.aptera.us/never-charge

Another option for those determined to drive their EV for free powered by the sun is a solar carport and it can be optimized to get the most power from the sun in many cases and can provide protection for the car. A battery bank would be required to store the power, if the car wasn't parked there during the day or power could be used in the home to offset utility costs and with the car battery could provide emergency power to the home. I think we will see cheap high efficiency multi junction flexible perovskite solar panels in the near future, 5 years or so and they could make such things affordable and practical. How low can you go in the price per watt, right now it is less than 70 cents US per watt for higher end silicon solar panels, increasing efficiency reduces the cost per watt, so does the use of perovskites and cheaper materials.

I hadn't realized these things were so cheap in Canada and can be used 6 to 8 months of the year in most places and close to year-round in coastal areas like the Maritimes and BC. 100km of range is plenty for running around locally and a lot commuting, it can be charged in a few hours on 120 volts and the batteries are removeable, for charging inside or at work. A good intro to EVs and a real gas saver for some people, basic transport for others. Prices are in Canadian dollars, so in America they should be a lot cheaper, dunno if a government EV rebate applies, but if it did the price in the states would be cheap. Probably the cheapest transport in terms of capital and running costs, most scooters like this can last a long time.

PV can share the land with agriculture in many cases by raising the panels above the ground for grazing and shade crops. Panels can be made to let light through, and light is also under the panels in the morning and evening. These panels can be used on a green house or portions of it and could charge up batteries for a heat pump system or just heating thermal mass, or even grow lights in some cases. The future costs and flexibility of PV and batteries determine how widely the technology will be deployed and how quickly. Most of the world's population lives in, very temperate, semi or subtropical countries and would benefit the most for the lowest cost from PV and battery technical improvements and lower costs.

As far as I can tell it's actually a bunch of magats trying to stop the battery plant because its Chinese owned. So, what, they are manufacturing in America and under American control or could be in an instant. Other places like Canada would be interested in this, so would other places in Michigan including Detroit where land is probably pretty cheap.

Lol. What has happened to this thread? Like only one person is posting . I guess everyone has given up. The world is a mess, no denying.

it is...

Dr.Amber Trichome said:

Lol. What has happened to this thread? Like only one person is posting . I guess everyone has given up. The world is a mess, no denying.

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Hope springs eternal, like Ukraine we have no choice but to fight. I like to post about solutions to the mess and the people helping to resolve it. There is a way out and I've posted about it, we are at the beginning of an energy revolution that will have lots of implications for the future.

Will we make it? It depends on what you mean, we should make it as a global civilization if the temps go up, but there will be a lot of places under water in the next century, but then again, a lot fewer humans too, as birth rates plummet globally with female emancipation, education and higher standards of living. I do expect a lot of shit until we get there though, but I won't be around to see most of it, you might be though.

DIY-HP-LED said:

Hope springs eternal, like Ukraine we have no choice but to fight. I like to post about solutions to the mess and the people helping to resolve it. There is a way out and I've posted about it, we are at the beginning of an energy revolution that will have lots of implications for the future.

Will we make it? It depends on what you mean, we should make it as a global civilization if the temps go up, but there will be a lot of places under water in the next century, but then again, a lot fewer humans too, as birth rates plummet globally with female emancipation, education and higher standards of living. I do expect a lot of shit until we get there though, but I won't be around to see most of it, you might be though.

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How much time do you have left?

Dr.Amber Trichome said:

How much time do you have left?

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68 years old now, so not too long.

DIY-HP-LED said:

68 years old now, so not too long.

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Ah, that’s not that old. You still got another 30 years.

Dr.Amber Trichome said:

Ah, that’s not that old. You still got another 30 years.

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Generally, I'm an optimist, but that is a bit much even for me! Quality of life is important too, not just quantity.

Begun the stove wars have! Yep, if the air quality is bad in yer home they take yer kids, will be the new line! Like smoking in a car with a kid is illegal here now, as it should be... Exactly how bad is indoor air quality with a gas stove? They don't exactly say how much of a hazard it poses, though it doesn't sound good for the health conscious.

Domestic gas use should be curtailed over time for climate change reasons and replaced by electricity, gas should be used by emergency gas turbine grid scale generators that are not used very often.

Households with gas stoves are regularly exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution that are above legal limits, a Europe-wide study found. By measuring exposure to nitrogen dioxide in homes with either gas or electric cooking appliances, researchers determined that NO2 concentrations were twice as high, on average, in homes that cooked with gas.

“The severity of indoor air pollution that is found in homes with gas cooking equipment is significantly higher than what we're seeing in electric cooking homes,” said Nicole Kearney, director of CLASP Europe, the NGO that commissioned the study. “The levels of indoor air pollution are higher often than what we see outdoors.”

Calls to regulate gas stoves have grown stronger in recent years as the health risks become clearer, particularly for children, the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions. In 2022, a US study connected more than 12% of current childhood asthma cases to gas stove use. The World Health Organization finds that children living in homes with gas stoves are at 20% higher risk of lung conditions like bronchitis and pneumonia.

There should be a higher percentage of single-family dwellings in North America than in Europe and the bulk of North America is further south than northern Europe and more suited to solar. All of the UK is above the 49th parallel and so is most of Germany, most Canadians live below the 49th and where I live is the same latitude as central France at 46 degrees north.

Half the households in Europe is a lot of power that the grid doesn't have to deliver, and it means a lot of political power for the half of the population that are prosumers. Most of these prosumers would live in the urban sprawl around all cities and their excess power would be consumed by the local grid and used in the city reducing its energy needs too. Cheap battery storage is the answer, ether in the homes of cooperatively in neighborhood battery banks with a micro grid.