Energy & Climate Change
Posted by Carbon Zero Consulting on 01/0611 at 11:53 AM
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Theres a lot of energy and climate news about - so heres a few thoughts for what they're worth! Germany is about to drop nuclear energy and build coal fired power stations? (ok with some more wind as well). When did the last tsunami hit Germany I wonder? UK shale gas exploration gets off to a 'shaky start' having allegedly caused 2 small earthquakes near Blackpool?! The highest ever worldwide carbon emissions in 2010 - despite a major recession.Some European governments are postponing their carbon reduction actions to adopt a ''wait and see how bad a climate related disaster might be '' policy! Brilliant! Maybe go and talk to some of the survivors of recent tornados in the USA? Or ask the Australian government about the effect on their economy of the extreme climatic events this year? All this in the face of $110/barrel price of oil, rising gas price and absolutely no sign yet of progress toward practical Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) technology. The latter makes a mockery of building new coal power stations! We don't have too many options to keep the lights on and stave off the worst of climate change - so isn't nuclear backed up by wind/solar/wave/hydro/geothermal renewables (with heat pumps for heating) our only viable way ahead?
John Findlay June 2011