Exciting sustainable developments

I'm just happy they're doing something!

 

Small things like this get me excited:

Ikea Is Replacing Styrofoam Packaging With Compostable Mushroom-Foam

I don't understand, when basically all plastic products are possible to be replaced - RIGHT NOW - with biodegradable, natural and cost comparable alternatives why do businesses keep using oil-based plastic?

 

The only possible "crux" is generating the power to heat the plastic ... doable on renewables, maybe ... otherwise love it and small/cheap enough for one on every street corner

French Scientist Invents Machine that Can Turn Plastic into Diesel and Gasoline

 

Now this is cool - Ausgrid successfully trialed a "virtual power plant" system which connects owners with batteries to the grid and works kinda like the internet ... no one big power plant but hundreds/thousands of small ones discharging at times of high usages and refilling at times of low

Ausgrid completes VPP trial, plans to do more as it heads to digital future | RenewEconomy

 

Private industry strikes again!

"The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution."

Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough - CNN

 

New AGL Gas/Diesel power station coming to Newcastle
https://www.agl.com.au/about-agl/how-we-source-energy/newcastle-power-project

 

Synthetic' crops to protect food supply from effects of climate change

Scientists from around the world, including Australia, are looking to the benefits of synthetic biology to ensure the world has enough food as the effects of climate change begin to be felt.

Synthetic biology is the process of bio-engineering organisms, usually plants, to make them more useful by giving them new properties or abilities.


https://www.smh.com.au/national/que...ffects-of-climate-change-20191118-p53bra.html

 

Why?

 

Because I'd rather they invested their money is the growing - and of the future - sustainable power industry (creating transitional jobs) than building yet another fossil fuel dinosaur

 

So would I, however your use of the word 'future' is pertinent - the power station is needed in the transitional period of us becoming solely reliant on solar which is going to take time, and none of us can be sure of how much time. The use of diesel is only if the gas supply falters ...

 

So it's reckoned they have the facility running by 2022 ... considering it hasn't even had public feedback or turned a sod of dirt yet ... I reckon they'd be lucky to be going by 2025.

When one looks at the advancements of renewable technology in the last 5 years - it'll be a dinosaur before it even opens. They'd be better of spending the money on ramping up the transition and keeping the old station open another couple of years

Yes - I'm a cynic in my old age

 

In my opinion it is a better option than building a coal fire plant.

Laverton North Power Station is a natural gas-powered plant, owned and operated by Snowy Hydro Limited. It is approximately 15 km from the Melbourne Central Business District. It is a peaking power plant, particularly constructed to cater for the growth in Victoria's summer electricity demand, and can be rapidly activated when required.

Laverton North Power Station from the south. Princes Freeway in the foreground
Status Operational
Commission date 2006
Primary fuel Natural gas
Nameplate capacity 320 MW
The station has two open-cycle gas turbinesthat together can generate a total of 320 MW of electricity. The turbines are primarily fuelled by natural gas supplied from the Brooklyn-Laragas pipeline but, in the event of a gas supply curtailment, they can burn low sulphur emission heavy oil as a backup fuel.

 

This is cool - King Island, pop nearly 2,000 in Bass Strait - showing off their renewable system

King Island

 

Be great - but that's not what they're building

 

'Banana on steroids': Ethiopia's miracle food that could be a global warming lifesaver


Described as "a banana on steroids", enset may be the superfood you've never heard of, let alone tasted, but scientists say it could be a life saver for a warming world.


Although enset grows wild from Ethiopia down to South Africa, it has only been domesticated in the Ethiopian Highlands, which has mystified researchers.

The plant, which grows up to 10 metres, is a staple for 20 million people in the Ethiopian Highlands who turn it into bread and porridge, construction materials, packaging, cattle feed and medicine.

"People are saying this is a new wonder crop," said James Borrell, a scientist at London's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which is researching the plant's potential.

"It's amazingly resilient. It's said to be very drought tolerant and we're trying to test that," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/...global-warming-lifesaver-20191129-p53f90.html

 

Okay - not a product or process but a damn well HUGE development.

Finally, someone in a sitting government in Australia acknowledges the issues and listens to the science, instead of politicising and sound biting denial. And is developing a plan for transition rather than putting the head in the sand

Federal pollies could take a leaf out of Kean's book

'Doing nothing is not a solution': Matt Kean blames climate crisis for bushfires

 

Now I'm in a real dilemma - was going to buy a new hybrid next year as I think electric still has a way to go for the amount of km's I drive ... but this ... this is something different and exciting

Hybrid - electric - wait for hydrogen?

I guess it'll still be another 5-10 years off before it reaches vehicle stage

Scientists find cheaper way to make hydrogen energy out of water