HIENO SILTA VALMISTUMASSA LOS ANGELESIIN

The new Sixth Street Viaduct, when completed next year, will be hard to miss. Ten pairs of continuous arches will create a sinuous profile as the 933 meter-long, 30 meter-wide viaduct soars over the 101 Freeway, several railroads, the LA River and the downtown Los Angeles arts district. [enr]

Hiilidioksidin vähentäminen nostettava 5-kertaiseksi!

A new research report by the accounting firm PwC estimates the world needs to reduce carbon intensity five times faster to hit the 1.5° Paris Agreement target. 

A rapid decarbonisation rate of 11.7% is needed every year, according to the analysis, which estimates that the current global rate reached 2.4% for 2019.

UK holds the ‘highest decarbonisation rate’ in the world for the 21st century so far. The nation decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 3.7% every year, according to the same report. The UK has the highest long-term reduction in greenhouse gas output in the world over the course of the 21st century. The report reveals that the country decreased its consumption of coal, natural gas and oil while expanding the production of renewable energy, particularly wind power. However, the study suggests the UK will need to continue investing around £400 billion in green infrastructure and renewable energy to deliver on its net zero emissions target.

Panaman kanavasta vesi loppumassa

 The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is seeking bids from contractors for an estimated $2 billion of water-supply infrastructure projects to help solve low water levels attirbuted to climate change that are affecting operations despite conservation measures and new fees. The program is intended to meet the canal’s water needs and local drinking water supply requirements for 50 years.  

UK: Merituulivoimalan sähkön hinta yhä alemmaksi

UK can have "negative-subsidy" offshore wind online in couple of years

The UK’s contracts for difference (CfD) auctions in September 2019 will likely bring the world’s first "negative-subsidy" offshore wind farms, according to a study led by Imperial College London (ICL) researchers.

A number of tenders in Europe have contracted “subsidy-free” offshore wind energy, but the UK may be the first country to get offshore wind that would actually reduce the electricity bills of homes and businesses, the international team behind the analysis says.

Looking at likely future electricity price trends, the researchers concluded that the price for offshore wind power achieved in the third CfD auctions round is “very likely” to be below the UK wholesale price for electricity over the lifetime of the wind farms. This means that these power plants at sea will be paying money back to the government.

Offshore wind projects with almost 5.5 GW of capacity, to be brought online in the mid-2020s, secured CfDs in the 2019 auctions. The list includes projects like Seagreen 1 and Sofia. The strike prices in the auction arrived at around GBP 40 (USD 51.4/EUR 44) per MWh, or 30% below these reached in the CfD auction held in 2017, and two-thirds lower than the offshore wind strike prices in 2015.

“This amazing progress has been made possible by new technology, economies of scale and efficient supply chains around the North Sea, but also by a decade of concerted policymaking designed to reduce the risk for investing in offshore wind, which has made financing these huge billion-pound projects much cheaper,” said Dr Iain Staffell from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial.

A fourth CfD auction round is planned for 2021.  [emp]

Pientalokaavat = Kaikkea hyvää

Espoon paikallislehdessä Länsiväylä oli pieni kirjoitukseni pientalokaavoituksen hyvistä piirteistä. Samalla vähän historiaa.

USA: Bird-Safe Buildings

Every year in the U.S., about one million birds die as a consequence of collisions with buildings. Now House Passes Bill To Retrofit Federal Buildings To Reduce Bird Collisions. 

Bird-safety enthusiasts, including ENR 2014 Newsmaker Christine Sheppard, are hailing the passage last week, by the U.S. House of Representatives, of H.R. 919 – Bird-Safe Buildings Act. 

Sheppard, director of the glass collisions program at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), calls the recognition of the issue at the federal level a momentous achievement because, if passed by the Senate and put into law, it will set an example for the entire nation.

The bipartisan bill is designed to reduce bird mortality by calling for federal buildings to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features. As many as 1 billion (?) birds a year die in collisions with buildings in the U.S. alone, according to ABC. Congressman Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) has been the driving force behind the legislation for more than a decade. The bill will soon be introduced in the Senate, and conservationists are optimistic about its passage, says ABC.

Design Techniques

Many bird-friendly design techniques—such as installing screens or grills on windows and minimizing the use of glass on lower floors—are already used in some federal buildings to control heat and light, or for security. The bill would require the U.S. General Services Administration to apply similar measures, where practicable, to all new and existing federal buildings.

In 2008, ABC founded the only national-level program dedicated to reducing bird deaths from collisions with glass, says Sheppard. Since then, more than 20 states, counties and municipalities have passed bird-friendly legislation.

Last December 2019, the New York City Council passed the nation’s most comprehensive bird-friendly buildings law. According to New York City Audubon's Project Safe Flight, 90,000 to 230,000 birds die after colliding with glass each year during their migrations through New York City alone. [enr]

Tällä viikolla 3 lintua on kuollut lennettyään omakotitaloni ikkunalasiin.

Saksa: Sähkön hinta -5 c/kWh

German day-ahead power prices plunged as low as EUR -50.26/MWh on an hourly basis for a fourth consecutive Sunday 05.04.2020 amid low demand and high renewables feed-in. 

A total of five consecutive hours saw negative prices between 12:00 and 17:00 CEST, with the hour from 14:00 CEST recording the lowest price. [emp]

Euroopan suurin aurinkovoimala Espanjaan

Euroopan suurin aurinkovoimala valmistui Espanjassa viime vuoden lopulla. Nasan satelliittikuvat näyttävät nyt, miten kymmenen neliökilometrin alueelle levittäytyneet aurinkopaneelit muuttivat maalaismaisemaa avaruudesta katsottuna. Keskiaikaisen tutkimusmatkailija Núñez de Balboan mukaan nimetty voimala sijaitsee Länsi-Espanjassa Usagren kaupungissa. Sen valmistustyöt kestivät alle vuoden.

 

Aurinkopaneelit peittävät Nasan mukaan lähes 10 neliökilometrin kokoisen alueen. Voimala koostuu 1,4 miljoonasta aurinkopaneelista, ja sen kapasiteetiksi ilmoitetaan 500 MW. Voimalan on määrä tuottaa energiaa 250 000 ihmisen tarpeisiin. [tm]

UK: Puolet uusiutuvaa sähköä 08.02.2020

Winter storm Ciara has helped the UK set a new wind power generation record last Saturday, when the renewable energy covered 56% of the country’s electricity demand, Kallanish Energy reports.

The storm battered Britain with heavy rain and winds of up to 100 miles per hour over the weekend.

According to data from utility Drax Group, wind power generation supplied as much as 14,880 megawatts (MW) to the national grid early Saturday. Overall on that day, wind generation from both onshore and offshore farms supplied 44.26% of the British demand, or 13,950 MW – beating the Dec. 9, 2019, record.

On Feb. 8, nuclear power accounted for an 18.40% share of demand and gas for 17.73%. Both energy sources are the backbone of power supply in a post-coal UK. [emp]

EU 2019: Tuuli- ja aurinkosähkö ohittivat hiilivoiman

Last year saw the share of renewables in EU-wide power generation climb to a record high of 34.6%, or 1.8 percentage points higher than in 2018. The electricity produced by wind and solar parks rose by 64 TWh to 569 TWh in 2019 and thus, for the first time, surpassed the amount of coal-fired electricity by 100 TWh. Wind farms generated 14% more electricity in 2019 compared to 2018, while solar power plants experienced a 7% increase in their output. On the other hand, hydropower production went down by more than 6% because of ongoing drought. [emp]