Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

Scientists searching for 'Holy Grail' of energy begin drilling into Earth's crust to power Eden Project

Wednesday 19 May 2021

Engineers have begun drilling three miles into the Earth's crust in search of sustainable round-the-clock energy for the world-famous Eden Project.

The 450-tonne rig is hammering through the Cornish granite to reach hot rocks that form a spine along the South West Peninsula.

Surveys suggest that water pumped down the borehole and back to the surface could reach 180C, enough to heat the domed glass biomes of exotic plants - and drive a 4-megawatt steam turbine to produce all the electricity the site needs.

The surplus could also heat 4,000 local houses.

Sir Tim Smit, the co-founder of the Eden Project, told Sky News: "It's going to provide baseload, which is the holy grail of energy.

https://news.sky.com/story/scientists-s ... t-12311065

[Time_Traveller]

Turkey to ban plastic waste imports

Wed 19 May 2021

Turkey is banning the import of most plastic waste after an investigation revealed British recycling was left to burn or be dumped on beaches and roadsides.

Greenpeace visited 10 sites in the southern city of Adana in March. Investigators found waste including British supermarket packaging in waterways, on beaches and in illegal waste mountains.

Britain exports more plastic waste to Turkey than any other country since China banned imports in 2018. UK exports to the country increased from 12,000 tonnes in 2016 to 209,642 tonnes in 2020, about 30% of the UK’s plastic waste exports.

But Turkey has a recycling rate of just 12%, and investigators found plastic packaging from Tesco, Asda, Co-op, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Marks & Spencer dumped, left in bags or burned. Plastic from retailers such as B&Q, Debenhams, Poundland and Spar was also found.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... te-imports

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

Frameless solar panels can be stuck directly to rooftops
By Paul Ridden
May 21, 2021

Singapore's Maxeon Solar Technologies reckons that it's come up with a way to install photovoltaic panels on the roofs of commercial buildings that may not be able to support conventional setups. The company has created frameless, thin and lightweight panels that can be adhered directly to a roof.

"The Maxeon Air technology platform continues our 35-year legacy of solar panel technology innovation and once again demonstrates the ability of our R&D team to develop leading edge, disruptive technology," said Maxeon CEO, Jeff Waters.

"For close to 50 years, the solar power industry has almost exclusively utilized glass superstrate panel construction. As solar panels have increased in size, and the cost of solar cells has been dramatically reduced, the cost of transporting, installing and mounting large glass panels has become a relatively larger portion of total system cost. With Maxeon Air technology, we can now develop products that reduce these costs while opening up completely new market opportunities such as low-load commercial rooftops."

https://newatlas.com/energy/maxeon-air- ... ar-panels/

[wjfox]

Pretty significant breakthrough here.

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Nanotech batteries will charge 70 times faster than lithium-ion

21st May 2021

New battery cells developed by Australia's Graphene Manufacturing Group and the University of Queensland are said to charge up to 70 times faster than lithium-ion cells and have triple the battery life.

[...]

The data from UQ's AIBN showed a power density of 7,000 W/kg, with a mobile phone able to be fully charged in as little as one minute. Tests also demonstrated longer battery lifespan (more than 2,000 charge/discharge cycles with no deterioration in performance), improved safety (very low fire potential) and lower environmental impact (more recyclable) compared to standard batteries. Another benefit of the cells is having no need for lithium, production of which is currently monopolised by a handful of countries.

Read more: https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... nology.htm

[Time_Traveller]

May gales help Britain set record for wind power generation

Fri 21 May 2021

Powerful gusts of wind sweeping across Britain have helped the country reach a new all-time high for electricity generated from wind turbines.

A new record was set in the early hours of Friday for the share of wind power in the generation mix, with wind providing nearly two-thirds of Britain’s electricity, according to provisional data from National Grid.

Between 2am and 3am, wind was contributing 62.5% to Britain’s electricity mix, beating the previous record of 59.9% from August last year, when gale-force winds brought by storms Ellen and Francis hit the country.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... generation

[Time_Traveller]

Trials to suck carbon dioxide from the air to start across the UK

Mon 24 May

Climate-heating carbon dioxide will be sucked from the air using trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal in major new trials across the UK.

Scientists said the past failure to rapidly cut emissions means some CO2 will need to be removed from the atmosphere to reach net zero by 2050 and halt the climate crisis. The £30m government-funded project will test ways to do this effectively and affordably on over 100 hectares (247 acres) of land, making it one of the biggest trials in the world.

Degraded peatlands will be re-wetted and replanted in the Pennines and west Wales, while rock chips that absorb CO2 as they break down in soil will be tested on farms in Devon, Hertfordshire and mid-Wales. Special charcoal called biochar will be buried at a sewage disposal site, on former mine sites and railway embankments.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... oss-the-uk

[Time_Traveller]

This is a continuation from my Turkey plastic waste post above.

UK under growing pressure to ban all exports of plastic waste

Mon 24 May 2021

Campaigners are urging the UK government to ban the export of plastic waste to all countries, invest in a domestic recycling industry, and set a binding target for plastic reduction.

Activists are pushing for the environment bill – which is returning to parliament on Wednesday – to be strengthened to tackle more effectively the global plastic waste crisis.

Greenpeace, which revealed last week how plastic waste from seven major UK supermarkets was being burned and dumped in Turkey rather than being recycled, wants ministers to ban all exports of plastic by 2025. Other campaigners also support prohibition of all plastic waste exports. But some warned that without adequate enforcement, this kind of ban would be merely “headline grabbing”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... stic-waste

[weatheriscool]

Researchers find Greenland glacial meltwaters rich in mercury
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-greenland ... rcury.html
by Florida State University

New research shows that concentrations of the toxic element mercury in rivers and fjords connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet are comparable to rivers in industrial China, an unexpected finding that is raising questions about the effects of glacial melting in an area that is a major exporter of seafood.

"There are surprisingly high levels of mercury in the glacier meltwaters we sampled in southwest Greenland," said Jon Hawkings, a postdoctoral researcher at Florida State University and and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. "And that's leading us to look now at a whole host of other questions such as how that mercury could potentially get into the food chain."

[Time_Traveller]

Food brands challenge deforestation rules in UK environment bill

Tue 25 May 2021

Trade associations representing leading food suppliers have questioned the need for new regulations to protect forests overseas, which will come before parliament in the environment bill on Wednesday.

The much-delayed bill will contain provisions to force UK-based companies to examine their supply chains in depth and ensure that they are free of links to land illegally deforested overseas.

It will be the first time such due diligence requirements have been introduced into UK law, and campaigners and some companies have welcomed the changes. Similar regulations are also planned in the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... nment-bill