Energy & Electricity, Production & Source discussion

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by Stoffo, 16th Sep, 2020.

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  1. Stoffo

    Stoffo Well-Known Member

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    The Walcha Energy Project in NSW is by far the best "all in one":D

    Solar, wind and hydro ;)

    Currently being constructed, due for completion in 2022:cool:

    (excess Solar and Wind production can be used to pump water back up to be reused to generate power when neither solar or wind are generating)
     
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  2. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    Yep - is marvellous - and all done by private industry with no government foundation, policy or support.

    A great series to watch has been The Great Acceleration - which shows where we have come from, where we are going and what we need to do to get there ... the last half of the last episode focused on the damage caused by fossil fuels

    Also huge is replenishing the soils. Studies have shown that every year the planet loses 0.3% of it's topsoil - this is made up of intensive carbon storage that is now in the atmosphere as dust - and doesn't sound like much be means that in around 100 years the planet will no longer sustain enough nutrient in it's soils to feed the population .... Soil Erosion, Civilizations and a New Way to Farm | Bioneers ... but I digress
     
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  3. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Oh God , no thanks lizzie known for yrs where that's all headed unless things are done and pronto.
    But eh , great news about the projects staffo. So much of that sort of thing going on in Vic it's confusing these days.
    Been across state 2 -3 times in the last few mths for work and my God , wind farms on every corner. Must've passed dozens of them. starting to worry actually bc Vic doesn't seem to be putting much thought or design going into things they just seem to be chucking crap up all over the damn place.
     
    Last edited: 23rd Sep, 2020
  4. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone seen the Tassie ideas in the pipeline.
    l'm starting to wonder if any of our Gov's even talk to each other.
    Tassie was talking about some monster wind/ocean power plant only a few weeks ago , built offshore that could potentially power the whole country. 2wks later fed comes out with their crap that has nothing to do with any tassie idea and is back to coal and gas..
     
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  5. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    Best of luck to them.

    Share Price & Information - ASX

    This mob have or were trying tidal and wave energy since the mid-1990's. I understand Lockheed Martin put about $60m into them. Couple of issues are the engineering required as waves are destructive energy and confused seas kind of stuff things up. As does any adverse environmental impacts if a tidal barrier is the preferred option.

    Nova Scotia with its very large tidal flows started to try and get it up and running in around 2010. They are still trying. As is South Korea, UK, and I think the Netherlands. Hellishly expensive to construct and operate. I have heard a small trial plant is being considered at King Island. Don't know how far it has proceeded.

    Still, give it a whirl but don't expect a positive outcome any time soon.
     
  6. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    I'm not a fan of the wave/tidal thing - to many uncontrollable variables ... as for the rest ... I'm all in
     
  7. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    l think we were talking a little on the Tassie thing awhile back somewhere and l'm more worried about them wrecking the place. Not exactly sure on what exact system they were talking about in the end either because it was getting pretty confusing by the time it finished. But l'd imagine in that case no one would be silly enough to throw it on the line then for what you've talked about yet, let alone a tiny place like Tassie .

    Meanwhile as usual , we're shown up as a bloody disgrace yet again by NZ. Who started aiming at carbon natural in 2000, by 2020 and have been on 82% renewables for yrs and one of the lowest emitting countries in the world.
    But here are our morons talking gas and coal in 2020 with a 2050 target but non committal to even that just encase they can't even make that .
     
    Last edited: 23rd Sep, 2020
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  8. Stoffo

    Stoffo Well-Known Member

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    It might seem to be here and there, but likely they are built in area's close to demand and in higher wind area's (if it isn't blowing in one location, it likely is somewhere else).

    Note to self, investigate/learn more about tidal power :oops:
    Am wondering why it hasn't been successful, is it "wave tech" or "tidal hydro" they are trying to generate from ?
    Tidal is the best, it changes twice daily (in/out like dam hydro) :D
    There is some massive tidal changes in northern Aus, just fight the greens to put in a wall with a bunch of turbines, as the tide comes in or out it produces electricity :)
    Only issue is the hour or two between tide changes, this could be offset by solar during the day and a combination of wind or batteries at night ;)
    (*easy in theory, harder in practice :oops:)
     
  9. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    You can start here.

    CSIRO Research Publications Repository - Ocean Renewable Energy: 2015-2050: An analysis of ocean energy in Australia

    It is eight years old though. There are other institutions (and companies) looking at it. Heaps of stuff around.
     
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  10. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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  11. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    Never allow good public policy stand in the way of ideology.
     
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  12. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Exactly .lt's a shame Turnbull got booted he was ready to act but apparently that;s why he got it from his own party , all non believers no better than Morrison.
    We're so bad here and our reputation is so bad that David Atenborough wrote to the United Nations in jan 2020 and earlier in 2019 about Australia trying to bring a push to nudge us into acting .He also said that is unfathomable as to why the Australia people would even elect our gov, which were my thoughts exactly last election meanwhile 90% of Aussies still just couldn't giva **** . Tbh l'm truly ashamed to be Australian these days .
     
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  13. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Around that time Morrison had just finished dancing around the states with Trump and telling the whole world he was still going to use coal.
     
    Last edited: 26th Sep, 2020
  14. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Ah yeah of course the wind farms are very strategically placed wind wise and what have you but what l meant was they're still cosmetically just basically splattering the landscape right across the state now. And there are dozens more in the works, maybe 100s not sure.
    See when they're the really big farms , they're huge, they can run a few k at least so when they're dotted all over the place left and right you can see that it's just going to ruin the place in the end sadly it already is. l use to really like wind farms as an alternative and really they are really the bad looking on smaller scales. But seeing lately the way they're popping up everywhere and getting bigger and bigger is a real worry. Shame they couldn't just allocate one spot for them , build one big giant one there out of the way somewhere and then done.

    Fully agree with thee tidal turbine ideas too the power behind that kind of water volume is massive. But like the wind farms , if they could get it feasible just sacrificing one way out of the way none environmentally damaging , none people area for it , say in just one spot for each state would be the go.
    That's why the Tassie idea was pretty scary because l hate to think where they'd build whatever it was they're thinking about and what landscape they'd ruin in the process.
     
  15. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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  16. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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  17. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    While I can appreciate the benefits of lithium I'm not overly fond of it. It is especially difficult and expensive to recycle.

    And getting the stuff has some issues as well.

    What's behind lithium mining? Here's all you need to know
     
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  18. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Yep , exactly , it's bloody ridiculous and just downright shameful what we "are" and "aren't" doing in this country . Not to mention an embarrassment .

    ps , apologizes btw for even more misspells than usual haha, in a post up there about wind farms. l might've needed a coffee o_O
    But on the wind farms personally yeah l don't find them bad to look at really compared to say a disgusting gas fired plant or something else, hate to think and they're a "real" renewable. But with the amount going up in Vic you realize on these scales they need to be tucked away somewhere rather than maybe 1000s of them scattered across the state one day. But it also means too that if they'll need soooo many of them then they're on on wrong track. lt's not worth ruining the landscape right across the state just to get 20% or whatever it might be renewable from wind farms.
     
    Last edited: 18th Oct, 2020
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  19. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    I too don't mind the look of wind farms ... so much more visually pleasing than the coal mining moonscape of the upper Hunter Valley
     
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  20. random

    random Well-Known Member

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    Yeah same , and they are true renewable and green that need nothing else just a bloody big power cord:rolleyes:
    Thing is though, there's zero design going into it in Vic, just seems like a mad race. But l think there's far far easier designs without destroying landscape . For example one turbine can power 1500 homes right - well they could be on solar anyway so that's pointless right there. But guessing 90% of regional towns would only be 1500 or less very, little heavy industry. lt's own turbine tucked away somewhere, solar roofs and it's completely independent. Even something Ballarat/Bendigo size, very little industry, around a100k people , 5 or 6 of it's own turbines , solar roofs , they're completely self sufficient. No crap through the earth 100s of kilometers across the state, no gas pipelines, drilling, ugly plants , not to mention off sure, no taking anything else out of the earth, nothing. Even Geelong could be ran like that. No brainer if you ask me
     
    Last edited: 18th Oct, 2020