Global Climate Change Science News

[JimC]

Robbery is bad enough, but an expanded steal is a serious worry...

[Brian Peacock]

Blame the spell. Becker.

[pErvinalia]

Stop the steal!

[Scot Dutchy]

Well non-prestressed steel in a real problem.

[Brian Peacock]

Nordic countries have registered near-record temperatures over the weekend, including highs of 34C (93.2F) in some places.

The latest figures came after Finland’s national meteorological institute registered its hottest temperature for June since records began in 1844.

Kevo, in Lapland, recorded heat of 33.6C (92.5F) on Sunday, the hottest day since 1914 when authorities registered 34.7C (94.5F), said the STT news agency. Several parts of Sweden also reported record highs for June...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... mperature-

New Zealand has experienced its hottest June since records began more than 110 years ago, according to official climate data.

Despite a polar blast that swept up the country last week, figures from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research’s (NIWA) show the average temperature for June was 2C warmer than usual, with twenty-four locations around the country hitting their own record highs.

That makes this June New Zealand’s warmest since NIWA’s seven station temperature series began in 1909...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... olar-blast

[Tero]

video
https://kfor.com/weather/heat-dome-show ... -oklahoma/

[macdoc]

https://digg.com/video/heres-what-would ... lar-panels

[Brian Peacock]

I'm all for utopian solutions -- I'm a science fiction fan after all; a better future has to be imaginable before it can become implementable -- but the big stumbling block with this idea is international political and economic instability. We need a completely different world to make that particular solar dream come true, which is one of the reason activists talk about 'climate justice'.

[macdoc]

Why ?....it scales and proof of concept is already there.

Spain’s two existing links to Morocco are Europe’s only electricity interconnections with the African continent.

A 28 km subsea interconnection with a technical capacity of 700 MW was commissioned in 1997 and started commercial operation in May 1998, offering Spanish and Moroccan energy stakeholders the opportunity to forge bilateral, short-term power contracts.

A second electricity interconnection, of the same technical capacity and 31.3 km long, was commissioned in the summer of 2016.

The new interconnection will cost up to €150 million with Spain footing half the bill, according to REE, but could generate revenue of up to €140 million for the Spanish electricity system from tolls and congestion payments.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/02/20/ ... -for-coal/

and first light in 2022

The EuroAfrica Interconnector will link Egypt with the Cypriot and Greek power grids through the island of Crete, with a high-voltage direct current submarine power cable of length around 1,396-kilometre (867 mi).[1][8] Egypt will be connected with Cyprus with a 498-kilometre (309 mi) long cable. Cyprus will be connected with Crete with a 898-kilometre (558 mi) long cable providing a connection to the pan-European electricity grid.[1] The laying depth of cable will be up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) under sea level in some areas between Crete and Cyprus. It will have a capacity to transmit 2,000 megawatts of electricity in either direction.[2][1] Annual transmission capacity is 17.5 TWh, much more than the annual production of the Aswan Dam.

In the first stage, the interconnector will have 1000 MW capacity.[1] It is expected to cost €2.5 billion in the first stage.[1] The constructors estimate that the first interconnection between Burullus gas power plant in Egypt and Kofinou on Cyprus will be finished in 2022.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroAfrica_Interconnector

[Brian Peacock]

Like I said, the stumblng block isn't the tech but the political and economic instability of the region, exacerbated on all sides by the legacy of colonialism on the African continent.

I guess what I'm asking you to think seriously about is not simply how that particularly solar dream can be made to work technically, but what needs to be in place in order to allow that to happen? I mean, how do you think a Sahara sun farm could actually be made to work, assuming the tech and distribution infrastructure etc is doable?

[L'Emmerdeur]

There's something poetic about this development, even if the poetry is dismal.

'"Wake Up Call": Rapidly Thawing Permafrost Threatens Trans-Alaska Pipeline'

Alaska's thawing permafrost is undermining the supports that hold up an elevated section of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, putting in danger the structural integrity of one of the world’s largest oil pipelines.

In a worst-case scenario, a rupture of the pipeline would result in an oil spill in a delicate and remote landscape where it would be extremely difficult to clean up.

“This is a wake-up call,” said Carl Weimer, of Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit pipeline watchdog group based in Bellingham, Washington. “The implications of this speak to the pipeline’s integrity and the effect climate change is having on pipeline safety in general.”

A slope where an 810-foot long section of the pipeline is secured has started to slip due to the melting permafrost, in turn, causing the braces holding this section of the pipeline to twist and bend.

According to NBC News, the pipeline supports have been damaged by “slope creep” caused by thawing permafrost, records, and interviews with officials involved with managing the pipeline show.

To combat the problem, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has approved the use of about 100 thermosyphons — tubes that suck heat out of the permafrost – to keep the frozen slope in place and prevent further damage to the pipeline’s support structure.

“The proposed project is integral to the protection of the pipeline,” according to the department’s November 2020 analysis.

There is some concern in using these cooling tubes – They have never been used as a defensive safeguard once a slope has begun to slide, and the permafrost is already thawing.

[pErvinalia]

Good thing it's thawing. Imagine how much easier it will be to mine!

[Brian Peacock]

That's a good one...
but dark.

[macdoc]

Brian ....it IS working .....

After success in Morocco, the African Development Bank develops another giant solar power plant in the Sahel

08-Jan-2021

The African Development Bank, the leading financial partner of the Noor Ouarzazate complex, the world’s largest solar power station extending over 3,000 hectares of desert in Morocco, is rolling out a second giant electricity-generation project, this time in the Sahel.

https://www.afdb.org/en/success-stories ... ahel-40408

Not sure what you are on about ...this has been producing solar since 2016 ...no "dream" that.
https://www.heidelbergcement.com/en/noor



The power corridors already exist and more in build...

The two countries are planning a third 400-kV link with a 700 MW capacity. The combined three power interconnections will be able to produce 1,500 MW. The project will cost $169 million shared 50/50 between Spain and Morocco.5 Sept 2020

Morocco is the only North African country with a power cable linking it to the European grid, but by 2025 Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are expected to be plugged in as well.

It's no different than Norway supplying Germany.

How Norwegian electricity gets into the German power grid ...https://www.dw.com › how-norwegian-electricity-gets-i...
26 May 2021 — NordLink is one of the world's longest subsea cables. It connects the energy grids of Norway and Germany, with a test run already completed successfully.

https://www.dw.com/en/how-norwegian-ele ... a-57658184

or between UK and Norway in both directions.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/busines ... -1.1242156

Serious engineering and not in the lala zone

Hydrogen on the table as well

“The conditions for hydrogen production in Africa are ideal,” German Development Minister Gerd Müller said last week after signing an agreement with Morocco to set up a pilot plant to produce clean hydrogen with the goal of mitigating 100,000 tons of CO2.

https://www.politico.eu/article/why-car ... an-energy/

do keep up

[Brian Peacock]

macdoc. Tunisia is also moving towards scaling up its energy network so that the majority of it's energy can be supplied via solar, and projects that exporting energy from solar will form a significant portion of it's economy by 2050.

What am I on about? What I'm not on about is disputing the technical doability of solar as a viable source of energy for North African countries, nor more broadly disputing the doability of renewable energy in general. I was responding to the presentation your posted, the one with the premise that the Sahara, where the amount of energy the world uses in a year hits the ground every six minutes, could provide the world with virtually unlimited clean power. I'd ask you to go back and engage with what I've posted in that context.

What I'm looking to discuss is how we plan for, manage and achieve a just transition from a global energy economy fundamentally rooted in fossil fuels to one based on renewables, given our histroy and where we are starting from in global economic, political, and social terms - while taking the necessary tech and infrastructure for solar (and renewables) as read. The assumption that somehow it will 'just happen', or that 'the markets' will make the right decisions on behalf of the planet, is not one I think we can make at this point.