Climate Change(d)?

[Loren Pechtel]

One thing that catches my eye in this graphic is the huge (23.8 quadrillion Btu) "electricity system energy losses."

The conversion of heat into electricity is at best losing the majority of the energy. Nuke is actually a bit worse in this regard, for safety it runs a bit cooler and thus it's about 30% efficient.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Of course, efficiency can be a bit relative, as it isn't costing us CO2 emissions.

 

[steve_bank]

Electricity is too cheap to worry too much about efficiency.

Efficiencies multiply.

If 50% of the heat generated ny coal or natural gass goes to creating steam followed by a turbine generator at 50% efficency you get 25% overall. Add losses in grid wires and transformers.

Thn factor in efficiencies in the power supplies in your TV, cell phone chargers, and computers. The heat yiu feel from yiur big screen TV and computer represents losses.

Loses at the power plant are one part of it.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Losses in the grid are distributed. It would be hard to recover any of the losses.

The ultimate sink is the cosmic background which looks like a blackbody at around 7k or so.

Locally the ultimate sink is the mass of the Earth, atmosphere, and oceans, situated in a vacuum.

2.7K, not 7K.

 

[steve_bank]

Losses in the grid are distributed. It would be hard to recover any of the losses.

The ultimate sink is the cosmic background which looks like a blackbody at around 7k or so.

Locally the ultimate sink is the mass of the Earth, atmosphere, and oceans, situated in a vacuum.

2.7K, not 7K.

Ok. I am corrected.

 

[Jokodo]

One thing that catches my eye in this graphic is the huge (23.8 quadrillion Btu) "electricity system energy losses."

The conversion of heat into electricity is at best losing the majority of the energy. Nuke is actually a bit worse in this regard, for safety it runs a bit cooler and thus it's about 30% efficient.

Although with some piping, part of the heat "loss" can be recyled as hot water for household and industrial uses and in colder climates for heating.

 

[steve_bank]

Thermopiles.


It has been used to power space probes and rovers.

Thermopile - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A thermopile is an electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy.[1] It is composed of several thermocouples connected usually in series or, less commonly, in parallel. Such a device works on the principle of the thermoelectric effect, i.e., generating a voltage when its dissimilar metals (thermocouples) are exposed to a temperature difference.[1]

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG) is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect. This type of generator has no moving parts.

RTGs have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes, and uncrewed remote facilities such as a series of lighthouses built by the Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle. RTGs are usually the most desirable power source for unmaintained situations that need a few hundred watts (or less) of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries, or generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not practical. Safe use of RTGs requires containment of the radioisotopes long after the productive life of the unit. The expense of RTGs tends to limit their use to niche applications in rare or special situations.

 

[Jarhyn]

Thermopiles.


It has been used to power space probes and rovers.

Thermopile - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A thermopile is an electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy.[1] It is composed of several thermocouples connected usually in series or, less commonly, in parallel. Such a device works on the principle of the thermoelectric effect, i.e., generating a voltage when its dissimilar metals (thermocouples) are exposed to a temperature difference.[1]

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG) is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect. This type of generator has no moving parts.

RTGs have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes, and uncrewed remote facilities such as a series of lighthouses built by the Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle. RTGs are usually the most desirable power source for unmaintained situations that need a few hundred watts (or less) of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries, or generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not practical. Safe use of RTGs requires containment of the radioisotopes long after the productive life of the unit. The expense of RTGs tends to limit their use to niche applications in rare or special situations.

See also:  Peltier effect and  seebeck effect.

 

[steve_bank]

Thermometric coolers, or heat pumps. Put a voltage across them and heat moves from one side to the other.

Thermoelectric cooling - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TSwizzle]

The doomsday cultists have been causing problems in London;

Police have arrested 25 eco-zealots who glued themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace this morning, sparking anger from motorists who told the activists to 'get a job'. Officers who attended the scene on The Mall said they have made 25 arrests after Just Stop Oil protesters established a roadblock at around 8.45am. By lunchtime the final activists had been taken away in police vans, with disruption lasting for more than two hours.

Daily Mail

It's hilarious that the cultists all fit the stereotype, white, middle class retirees and loser students with piercings and blue hair.

A rapture like cult.

Meanwhile, it is a catastrophic 65f in Santa Monica.

 

[steve_bank]

The doomsday cultists have been causing problems in London;

Police have arrested 25 eco-zealots who glued themselves to each other and roads close to Buckingham Palace this morning, sparking anger from motorists who told the activists to 'get a job'. Officers who attended the scene on The Mall said they have made 25 arrests after Just Stop Oil protesters established a roadblock at around 8.45am. By lunchtime the final activists had been taken away in police vans, with disruption lasting for more than two hours.

Daily Mail

It's hilarious that the cultists all fit the stereotype, white, middle class retirees and loser students with piercings and blue hair.

A rapture like cult.

Meanwhile, it is a catastrophic 65f in Santa Monica.

Getting bored are you? Sorry I have no crackers for Polly.

 

[bilby]

the cultists all fit the stereotype

All 25 of them? I'm shocked.

Not that they fit your stereotype, but that you consider them worthy of your attention at all.

25 people aren't representative of Londoners. They aren't even representative of Londoners who would like stronger action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They aren't even representative of people who voted 'Green' at the last London Assembly election - 25 people would be 0.007% of Green voters, and Green voters are a tiny fraction of Londoners.

The questions you should be asking yourself (but probably won't) are:

Why do I care about this tiny protest thousands of miles from me?

and

Why does the Daily Mail want to bring this personally meaningless trivia to my attention?

If you're feeling unusually introspective, you could add:

Why do I feel the need to help the Daily Mail, by informing people who don't read their drivel about something so utterly insignificant?

"Small number of commuters annoyed by even smaller numbers of idiots" isn't news. I don't doubt for an instant that more commuters were delayed in London, simultaneously with this protest, by inconsiderate mobile phone abusers causing roads to be closed due to crashes.

 

[Swammerdami]

the cultists all fit the stereotype

All 25 of them? I'm shocked.

Not that they fit your stereotype, but that you consider them worthy of your attention at all.

25 people aren't representative of Londoners. They aren't even representative of Londoners who would like stronger action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They aren't even representative of people who voted 'Green' at the last London Assembly election - 25 people would be 0.007% of Green voters, and Green voters are a tiny fraction of Londoners.

The questions you should be asking yourself (but probably won't) are:

Why do I care about this tiny protest thousands of miles from me?

and

Why does the Daily Mail want to bring this personally meaningless trivia to my attention?

If you're feeling unusually introspective, you could add:

Why do I feel the need to help the Daily Mail, by informing people who don't read their drivel about something so utterly insignificant?

"Small number of commuters annoyed by even smaller numbers of idiots" isn't news. I don't doubt for an instant that more commuters were delayed in London, simultaneously with this protest, by inconsiderate mobile phone abusers causing roads to be closed due to crashes.

But "it is a catastrophic 65f in Santa Monica." Did you miss that stunning refutation of climate science?

 

[TSwizzle]

A long winded diatribe from Scoldilocks Greta appears in Teh Gruaniad including a nice picture of her scowling at the reader in disapproval;

Maybe it is the name that is the problem. Climate change. It doesn’t sound that bad. The word “change” resonates quite pleasantly in our restless world. No matter how fortunate we are, there is always room for the appealing possibility of improvement. Then there is the “climate” part. Again, it does not sound so bad. If you live in many of the high-emitting nations of the global north, the idea of a “changing climate” could well be interpreted as the very opposite of scary and dangerous. A changing world. A warming planet. What’s not to like?Saving the world is voluntary. You could certainly argue against that statement from a moral point of view, but the fact remains: there are no laws or restrictions in place that will force anyone to take the necessary steps towards safeguarding our future living conditions on planet Earth. This is troublesome from many perspectives, not least because – as much as I hate to admit it – Beyoncé was wrong. It is not girls who run the world. It is run by politicians, corporations and financial interests – mainly represented by white, privileged, middle-aged, straight cis men.

Teh Gruaniad

So in summary, Scoldilocks thinks the term "climate change" is not scary enough to invoke action so laws need to be put into place to force people into action and it's all the fault of "white, privileged, middle-aged, straight cis men".

More white privilege on display in London as middle aged retirees and unemployable loser students sit in the road disrupting people that are actually productive;

Fed-up motorists took out their anger on environmental protesters as they blocked a major junction in London today - with one irate van driver driving through them and another motorist dragging them off the road by hand. The Just Stop Oil activists in exclusive Knightsbridge also caused a fire engine responding to an emergency to be blocked while an ambulance had to reverse and find another route as the group took to the capital's streets again. On what was the 11th consecutive day of demonstrations that have resulted in more than 300 arrests so far, the van driver slowly drove into the activists to make it through, forcing them to move away from his vehicle. Another motorist ripped away banners from the group as tempers reached boiling point amid extraordinary scenes.

Daily Mail


An end of times, rapture like cult.

A catastrophic 67f in Santa Monica today, I may have to keep the top up on the car in the mornings

 

[steve_bank]

In other news Trump claims Obama and GWB took millions of documents from the WH.

It must be true.

 

[bilby]

Here's something useful we can all do to help fight Climate Change. Petition the Bundestag to reverse their crazy policy of closing nuclear power plants.

https://critical-climate-action.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/how-to-sign-the-petition.pdf

You don't need to be German to sign the petition, which should also put a spoke in Putin's wheel in his attempt to blackmail the EU into support (or at least, lesser condemnation) of his invasion of Ukraine.

 

[bilby]

Here's something useful we can all do to help fight Climate Change. Petition the Bundestag to reverse their crazy policy of closing nuclear power plants.

https://critical-climate-action.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/how-to-sign-the-petition.pdf

You don't need to be German to sign the petition, which should also put a spoke in Putin's wheel in his attempt to blackmail the EU into support (or at least, lesser condemnation) of his invasion of Ukraine.

The text of the petition:

Text der Petition
Mit der Petition "Stuttgarter Erklärung" vom 25.07.2022 fordern 19 erstunterzeichnende aktive Professorinnen und Professoren deutscher Universitäten, vor dem Hintergrund der sich verschärfenden Energiekrise sowie der vom IPCC und der EU als CO2-arm und nachhaltig eingestuften Kernenergie, die sofortige Aufhebung der Atomausstiegs-Paragraphen (Insbesondere § 7 Atomgesetz) und eine Prüfung der sicherheitstechnischen Betriebserlaubnis, um deutschen Kernkraftwerken den Weiterbetrieb zu ermöglichen.
Begründung

Stuttgarter Erklärung vom 25. Juli 2022

Mit einseitiger Ausrichtung auf Sonne, Wind und Erdgas wurde Deutschland in Energienot manövriert. Steigende Energiepreise und sinkende Versorgungssicherheit gefährden Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Wohlstand. Das Festhalten am deutschen Atomausstieg verschärft diese Gefahren und bremst – zusammen mit anhaltender Kohleverstromung – den internationalen Klimaschutz. Der Weltklimarat IPCC bezeichnet die Kernenergie als ein Instrument des Klimaschutzes. Die Europäische Union ordnet Kernenergie als nachhaltige Energiequelle ein. Auf dieser Grundlage plädieren wir für den Weiterbetrieb der deutschen Kernkraftwerke als dritte Klimaschutzsäule neben Sonne und Wind. Wir fordern die sofortige Aufhebung der Atomausstiegs-Paragraphen (insbesondere § 7 Atomgesetz) und eine Prüfung der sicherheitstechnischen Betriebserlaubnis, um deutschen Kernkraftwerken den Weiterbetrieb zu ermöglichen.

Erstunterzeichner:
Prof. Dr. André D. Thess , Universität Stuttgart
Prof. Dr. Harald Schwarz, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg
Prof. Dr. Michael Beckmann, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Burak Atakan, Universität Duisburg-Essen
Prof. Dr. Alexander Dilger, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Prof. Dr. Francesca di Mare, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Eckert, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Sabine Enders, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Martina Hentschel, TU Chemnitz
Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Antonio Hurtado, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Matthias Kind, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Marco Koch, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Andrea Luke, Universität Kassel
Prof. Dr. Frank R. Schilling, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Klaus Steigleder, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Robert Stieglitz, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegner, Universität Erfurt
Prof. Dr. Thomas Wetzel, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

And in English, as translated by Google:

Text of the petition

With the petition "Stuttgarter Erklärung" of 25.07.2022, 19 first-signatory active professors of German universities, against the background of the worsening energy crisis and the nuclear energy classified by the IPCC and the EU as low-carbon and sustainable, demand the immediate repeal of the nuclear phase-out paragraphs (in particular § 7 Atomic Energy Act) and an examination of the safety operating license in order to enable German nuclear power plants to continue operating.

Justification

Stuttgart Declaration of 25. July 2022

With a one-sided focus on sun, wind and natural gas, Germany was manoeuvred in energy distress. Rising energy prices and falling security of supply jeopardise competitiveness and prosperity. Adherence to the German nuclear phase-out exacerbates these dangers and - together with ongoing coal-fired power generation - slows down international climate protection. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC describes nuclear energy as an instrument of climate protection. The European Union categorises nuclear energy as a sustainable energy source. On this basis, we advocate the continued operation of the German nuclear power plants as the third climate protection pillar next to sun and wind. We demand the immediate cancellation of the nuclear phase-out paragraphs (in particular § 7 Atomic Energy Act) and an examination of the safety operating license in order to enable German nuclear power plants to continue operating.

First signatory:

Prof. Dr. André D. Thess, University of Stuttgart
Prof. Dr. Harald Schwarz, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg
Prof. Dr. Michael Beckmann, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Burak Atakan, Universität Duisburg-Essen
Prof. Dr. Alexander Dilger, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Prof. Dr. Francesca di Mare, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Eckert, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Sabine Enders, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Martina Hentschel, TU Chemnitz
Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Antonio Hurtado, TU Dresden
Prof. Dr. Matthias Kind, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Marco Koch, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Andrea Luke, Universität Kassel
Prof. Dr. Frank R. Schilling, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Klaus Steigleder, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Robert Stieglitz, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegner, Universität Erfurt
Prof. Dr. Thomas Wetzel, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

 

[fromderinside]

Wow. You mean the Russian cut off of petrol and gas hasn't fired up a plant or two.

Oh shit! They're reconsidering brown coal.

Damn stubborn German government!

 

[steve_bank]

Here in Seattle it us summer in October. We are heading for 80 degree days.

Poor air quality from wild fires has become routine. High heat has worsened fures.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Here in Seattle it us summer in October. We are heading for 80 degree days.

Poor air quality from wild fires has become routine. High heat has worsened fures.

You need to move to Santa Monica because global warming isn’t happening there.