A Climate Story That Must be Told
via Watts Up With That?http://ift.tt/1Viafi3
Guest Opinion: Dr. Tim Ball Emotionally, it is almost impossible to walk a mile in another person’s shoes. It is particularly true when the other person is of a different sex. I say this because I believe a climate science story that must be told is the degree of difference in nastiness directed at those […]
via Watts Up With That? http://ift.tt/1Viafi3
March 4, 2017 at 05:57AM
Sheffield’s Waste Incinerator
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAThttps://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com
By Paul Homewood
Bernard Road Waste Incinerator, Sheffield
Continuing the theme of CHP plants, Sheffield has had its own in the form of the Bernard Road Waste Incinerator since the late 1980s.
At the time it seemed tick all of the green boxes:
The plant was developed and run by Sheffield City Council, in conjunction with Sheffield Heat and Power Ltd.
Unfortunately it did not take long for things to go wrong.
The basic problem was that the incinerator was built bang in the middle of Sheffield, within a few hundred yards of residential areas.
Concerns were soon raised about the effect of smoke and emissions on local health. Greenpeace were at the forefront of objections. In 2001 they occupied the Bernard Road incinerator and painted “Toxic Crime” on the chimney. At that time the incinerator was the most polluting in the country and there were grave concerns about the health effects. The emission of dioxins were known to cause cancer, heart disease, liver damage, hormonal disruption, reproductive disorders and much more.
In 2001, the City Council was forced to privatise the plant, as it was unable to pay for the necessary upgrades to meet pollution standards. Onyx were awarded a 35- year contract worth £1.3bn to run it. Onyx (now Veolia) quickly realised that the old plant would have to close, and replaced with a new one, commissioned in 2006.
Despite much better pollution controls, complaints are still being made about smoke. I can actually vouch for this, as I could see the chimney from the top of the hill everyday on the way to work. On still days, white smoke could be seen spreading out over the nearby area.
Houses in Wybourn downwind of Bernard Rd
Eventually in 2012, Public Health England (PHE) were pressured into setting up a study into the effects on health of 22 waste incinerators up and down the country, including the Sheffield one.
The report was due to be available by 2014, but has still to be published.
We await the results, but what is known is that these plants do emit a range of toxic substances, such as dioxins and mercury, gases such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, as well as particulates. The only question is whether the quantities involved are deemed “safe”.
A further issue has also arisen with Bernard Road. There is now not enough rubbish generated in Sheffield to meet the plant’s demands for energy. This is due to the fact that more waste is being recycled nowadays.
Veolia have therefore had to submit a planning application to import waste from a very wide region around Sheffield – effectively across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
It was estimated that an extra 15000 tonnes of rubbish would need to be shipped into Sheffield, in addition to 50000 tonnes which is already transported in from outside of town.
Sheffield residents are naturally up in arms that they will get the fumes from burning other towns’ waste. Not to mention the problems arising from all of the lorry journeys involved.
Through all of this, government has appeared to ambivalent, trapped between landfill and recycling targets, not to mention decarbonisation ones.
When attempting to justify the closure of coal power plants, politicians invariably play the pollution card.
Yet they seem to be perfectly happy to see waste incinerators belching out probably much more real pollution, and in the middle of towns to make matters worse.
All in the name of the great god, CO2!
Looking back, I find it incredible that it took so long to set up the PHE study, or that a full embargo was not put on new incinerators many years ago until all of the facts were known.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT http://ift.tt/16C5B6P
March 4, 2017 at 05:45AM
Weekend Unthreaded
via JoNovahttp://joannenova.com.au
Sorry I am a bit distracted with other things this week. Light postings.
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
via JoNova http://ift.tt/1hXVl6V
March 4, 2017 at 02:31AM
BASF Executive Calls German Energiewende A “Huge Botch”…Government “Deceiving The Public”
via NoTricksZonehttp://notrickszone.com
Former Supervisory Board Chairman of German chemicals giant BASF Jürgen Hambrecht has “sharply criticized” the German government for “deceiving the public and giving them the runaround” when it comes to the Energiewende, reports the online N24/Die Welt here.
Former BASF top executive Jürgen Hambrecht says the German government has been deceiving the public when it comes to the real performance by the Energiewende. Photo credit: premier.gov.ru, CC-BY 4.0
Hambrecht, considered one of Germany’s most influential executives, gave an interview to N24/Die Welt together with FDP politician Volker Wissing.
German government putting out fake information
The German daily wrote in the photo caption that Hambrecht “is furious about government political information being totally disconnected from reality“.
He describes the German political environment as one that has been hijacked by emotional thinking and fear, with facts being left on the wayside.
The 70-year old executive, who recently joined the FDP Free Democrat Party, told N24/Die Welt that German competitiveness “is acutely at risk” — and what is especially irritating is the massive taxpayer-paid disinformation recently put out by the the Ministry of Economics in a brochure claiming page after page that the country’s Energiewende [transition to renewable energies] was a “success story”.
Energiewende in reality a “huge botch”
Yesterday this blog wrote here how in just one year more than 330,000 German households had their power supply cut-off because electricity had become too expensive, and how German energy-intensive companies — like chemicals — were hurting.
On the brochure put out by Ministry of Economics, Hambrecht commented to N24/Die Welt:
‘Our success story’ is its title. Then there many pages of praise over falling electricity prices and stable supply.”
Hambrecht says the brochure in fact “has little to do with reality” and that the truth is:
The Energiewende is a huge botch. The costs continue to rise and the supply stability will be at extreme risk if we phase out coal and gas after ending nuclear. That annoys me a immensely as the citizens are being deceived and given the runaround.”
via NoTricksZone http://notrickszone.com
March 4, 2017 at 12:31AM
