Climate Issues - Haggard Earth

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Climate Issues; Hits: 21

Mammoth Carbon Capture: World’s Largest Air Pollution Vacuum Launches in Iceland. Scientists unveil the Mammoth carbon capture plant using innovative direct air capture methods to remove thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Happy Eco News. Joe Verde Thu 6 Mar 2025 A revolutionary carbon removal plant named “Mammoth” be gan operations in Iceland in May 2024, marking a significant milestone in the fight against climate change. The facility, developed by Swiss company Climeworks, represents the world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) technology designed to extract planet-heating pollution from the atmosphere. Located in Hellisheidi, Iceland, the Mammoth carbon capture plant is designed with an ambitious nameplate capacity to remove up to 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. This impressive facility represents a ten-fold increase from its predecessor, Orca, and marks a critical step in Climeworks’ strategic roadmap to address global carbon emissions. The plant’s development showcases remarkable engineering efficiency. Breaking ground in June 2022, Climeworks completed 90% of the plant’s infrastructure in just 18 months.

The company’s modular technology design allows for flexible construction and scalability, enabling rapid deployment of carbon capture technologies. The plant utilizes a sophisticated modular design featuring 72 potential “collector containers” that capture carbon directly from the air. Multiple containers are currently operational, and plans are to expand in the coming months. These advanced machines use specialized chemical processes to strip carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with unprecedented efficiency. The Mammoth carbon capture facility is powered entirely by Iceland’s clean geothermal energy and represents a cutting-edge approach to addressing global climate challenges. Through a partnership with Icelandic company Carbfix, the captured carbon will be transported underground and transformed into stone, permanently sequestering the harmful greenhouse gas.

The global scientific community has long sought effective solutions to mitigate climate change. The Mammoth carbon capture plant’s technology is a promising breakthrough, offering a proactive approach to reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Unlike traditional methods focusing solely on emissions reduction, this technology actively removes carbon from the air. Economic and environmental experts continue to debate the long-term viability of direct air capture technologies. While promising, these solutions require significant investment and technological innovation. Climeworks addresses these challenges through a strategic approach that combines cutting-edge research with practical implementation. The technological complexity of the mammoth carbon capture plant is genuinely remarkable. Advanced chemical engineering enables the precise extraction of carbon dioxide molecules from the atmosphere. Specialized filters and intricate chemical reactions work in concert to separate carbon from other atmospheric gases, demonstrating human ingenuity in environmental problem-solving.....read on https://happyeconews.com/mammoth-carbon-capture-worlds-largest-air-pollution-vacuum-launches-in-iceland/

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Climate Issues; Hits: 48

Renewables allow us to pay less, not twice. What Kemi Badenoch, and many others, get wrong about renewables The Electrotech Revolution.Daan Walter Mar 25, 2025
Last week, UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took the stage to advocate for slowing the rollout of renewables, arguing that they ultimately lead to higher costs.......
Huge amounts are being spent on switching round how we distribute electricity because we must effectively build two systems of electricity generation – one based on renewables and one not. One for when the sun shines and the wind blows. And one for when they don’t.” At first glance, this argument seems intuitive—and therefore persuasive: if we need to build two separate power generation systems, it must be more expensive. But this logic is fundamentally flawed. It conflates upfront capital expenditure with total system costs, focusing narrowly on installation expenses while ignoring the costs of purchasing fuel to run fossil power plants. This is a common misunderstanding in the energy transition debate today—we call it the "double cost fallacy.” It's time we move past it.

To illustrate where this line of thinking goes wrong, let’s examine a simple, stylized example. Imagine we get granted a large plot of land and 1 GW grid connection that we need to supply with power all 8,760 hours per year, for 25 years. Our task is to find a cheap, reliable way to do this. We’ll set our scene in the south of the UK, exclude local carbon taxes to focus purely on economics, and use some standard cost assumptions for power generation technology, largely from the UK's DESNZ (detailed assumptions at the bottom of the article).[ii]As we'll see, we can supply 70% of this power with solar energy without any additional cost compared to just operating a gas plant. Interestingly—and perhaps counterintuitively—the total cost of running a 1 GW gas plant continuously is actually higher than building a combined system of 1 GW gas, 6.5 GW solar, and 12 GWh of battery storage. We will build out this case in this article—but if you want to jump ahead and play around with this hypothetical setup yourself, you can do so with this simple webtool.

The gas case......Let’s start with a baseline. We can consider just building a 1 GW gas power plant to deliver our 1 GW baseload. You’ll get the very boring result below: 100% gas generation all year round. This solution has a total cost of approximately £76/MWh. Remember that number as we’ll refer to this later as a benchmark.Note that only £8/MWh is for paying off the capex, and the other £68/MWh goes into running costs — predominantly the cost of buying gas. The latter we will try to reduce by adding in renewables now.

Adding solar on top....... So let's add some solar energy into the mix. Suppose we install an additional 1 GW of solar capacity alongside the 1 GW gas plant. You then get the result below.Contrary to what the double cost fallacy implies, total system cost actually falls when we add solar on top of gas. In our example, the system costs falls to about £70/MWh. This reduction occurs because during daylight hours we can rely on free sunshine rather than expensive gas to make electricity. As a result, gas usage drops by around 16%. As one can see from the three generation charts at the bottom, summer months are of course better than winter months for solar.

Adding more solar on top......Continuing this logic, let's double our solar capacity to 2 GW. Even if this means occasionally generating more solar power than needed, we can just throw away the excess. We get the result below.......read on https://electrotechrevolution.substack.com/p/renewables-allow-us-to-pay-less-not

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Climate Issues; Hits: 53

Land and climate change: a close connection. Climate Foresight. Marina Menga July 14, 2023 Land is a critical resource. It is under pressure from human activities and climate change, but it is also part of the solution. According to the IPCC, keeping global warming below 2°C can be possible only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, including land and food. The way we use land impacts climate change and, in turn, climate change deeply affects our land. Land is currently experiencing growing pressure due to human activities at a global level, in addition to the pressure brought by climate change. Land represents the primary basis for human livelihoods and well-being, supplying food, freshwater and multiple other elements, as well as being the cradle of biodiversity. In August 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world body for assessing the state of scientific knowledge related to climate change, its impacts and potential future risks, and possible response options, approved and published the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL). The Report shows that an improved land management can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. In 2015, world governments endorsed the Paris Agreement with the goal of strengthening the global response to climate change, aiming to restrict the increase in the global average temperature. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and striving to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

Land is a critical resource......As the world population increases and the negative impacts of climate change become more evident, land needs to remain healthy and productive to maintain ecological balance, biodiversity and food security. The IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems points out that the world is best placed to tackle climate change when there is an overall focus on sustainability.“Land plays an important role in the climate system. Agriculture, forestry and other types of land use account for 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, natural land processes absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry.”.....Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III

According to the SRCCL Report, land acts as both a source and a sink of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and plays a key role in the exchange of energy, water and aerosols between the land surface and atmosphere. Around 23% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry and other land uses. Emissions are mainly due to deforestation, partly offset by afforestation and reforestation. Agriculture is responsible for about half of anthropogenic methane emissions and is the main source of nitrous oxide, both strong greenhouse gasses. At the same time, the terrestrial biosphere absorbs almost 30% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions thanks to natural processes. However, this function is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as increased drought and wildfires, and other environmental and human pressures. Finally, changes in land use modify the biophysical properties of the earth’s surface, like energy and water balance, which lead to further variations in temperature and precipitation on a local scale. Land is currently experiencing growing pressure due to human activities at a global level, in addition to the pressure brought by climate change. Land represents the primary basis for human livelihoods and well-being, supplying food, freshwater and multiple other elements, as well as being the cradle of biodiversity.

In August 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world body for assessing the state of scientific knowledge related to climate change, its impacts and potential future risks, and possible response options, approved and published the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL). The Report shows that an improved land management can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. In 2015, world governments endorsed the Paris Agreement with the goal of strengthening the global response to climate change, aiming to restrict the increase in the global average temperature. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and striving to limit the increase to 1.5°C. As the world population increases and the negative impacts of climate change become more evident, land needs to remain healthy and productive to maintain ecological balance, biodiversity and food security.

Land is a critical resource.......The IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems points out that the world is best placed to tackle climate change when there is an overall focus on sustainability.“Land plays an important role in the climate system. Agriculture, forestry and other types of land use account for 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, natural land processes absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry.”--Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III. According to the SRCCL Report, land acts as both a source and a sink of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and plays a key role in the exchange of energy, water and aerosols between the land surface and atmosphere. Around 23% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry and other land uses. Emissions are mainly due to deforestation, partly offset by afforestation and reforestation. Agriculture is responsible for about half of anthropogenic methane emissions and is the main source of nitrous oxide, both strong greenhouse gasses. At the same time, the terrestrial biosphere absorbs almost 30% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions thanks to natural processes. However, this function is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as increased drought and wildfires, and other environmental and human pressures. Finally, changes in land use modify the biophysical properties of the earth’s surface, like energy and water balance, which lead to further variations in temperature and precipitation on a local scale......there's a lot more- read on https://www.climateforesight.eu/articles/land-and-climate-change-a-close-connection/

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Climate Issues; Hits: 17

UBC Canada research finds plants are 'leaking' more water than thought........Researcher Sean Michaletz's study challenges a long-standing assumption about plant water loss. It could change how climate models predict future warming. Vancouver Sun Tiffany Crawford Feb 22, 2025 University of B.C. researchers have discovered that plants are leaking more water than initially thought, a discovery that could change the way scientists predict future global warming. Sean Michaletz, an assistant professor of botany at UBC’s faculty of science, studies how plants respond to heat. His latest research, published in the journal New Phytologist, shows how high temperatures cause the waxy layer on plant leaves to melt, allowing water to escape even when the pores are closed, exacerbating drought conditions. “What we found here is that under high temperatures, that waxy layer on the leaf melts, kind of like a candle, and it breaks down, so even under high temperatures, even though the pores are closed to prevent water loss, the waxy layer has kind of melted and water can escape,” Michaletz said on Friday.Scientific understanding is that as temperatures increases, the pores on leaves close, preventing water loss as a water conservation strategy. But Michaletz found that it’s not enough to prevent water loss. For the study, researchers tested nine different species of plants that grow at UBC’s Botanical Gardens, including trees such as arbutus and Garry oak, to see how they react to temperatures up to 50 C. photosynthesis is essential for creating a carbon balance, and carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas that’s driving global warming.

So to predict climate change, scientists need to know how temperature affects plants and photosynthesis. In earlier research, his team studied 200 plant species in Vancouver and found that photosynthesis starts to break down between 40 C and 51 C. During the 2021 heat dome, temperatures soared to 49.6 C in Lytton, one day before the village burned down in a wildfire. During the 2021 heat dome, temperatures soared to 49.6 C in Lytton, one day before the village burned down in a wildfire. While one heat event is unlikely to kill off the plants, repeated heat waves with temperatures this high will likely have a detrimental effect, he said, adding how a plant responds to the heat depends on the environment. “When you have a single isolated plant, it’s exposed to the environment, so it can get sun on all of its sides, and it’s exposed to the wind and the air, versus a forest where the plants sort of shelter each other and buffer each other against stress,” he said. Leaves that are exposed on the surface of a canopy will die first, he said, but because they shade the understory, that may survive. While not all leaves die, enough will to dry out the forest, and that can have a feedback on photosynthesis, which can then contribute to mortality later down the road, he said......read on https://vancouversun.com/news/climate-change-ubc-research-finds-plants-are-leaking-more-water-than-thought

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Climate Issues; Hits: 110

Climate hero or villain? Fossil fuel frenzy challenges Norway’s green image. As it rapidly adopts clean technologies while drilling furiously for oil and gas, the Nordic nation is a paradox. Guardian Ajit Niranjan Fri 26 Jul 2024 The average Norwegian, better known for loving nature than destroying the planet, is more likely than anyone else to drive to work in an electric car and warm their home with a heat pump. When they turn on the kettle in the morning or charge their phone at night, Norwegians plug into an electricity grid that runs almost entirely on renewables. Their politicians write cheques to save trees in tropical forests and politely pressure other countries to protect the environment, too. But on one metric, Norway’s leafy green image darkens to an oily black. Citizens of the rich Nordic nation dig up more petroleum per person than Russians, Iranians, North Americans and Saudi Arabians. “Norway claims to be a climate leader, but in reality it is a climate hypocrite,” said Frode Pleym, the head of the Norwegian branch of campaign group Greenpeace. “If Norway were an advertising agency, they would indeed be deemed to be very successful.”

Famed for its fabulous fjords and fairytale forests, Europe’s northernmost country is the closest the world has to what could be called a green petrostate. Its 5.5 million inhabitants are adopting clean technologies faster than anyone else – while its political and industry leaders drill furiously for fossil fuels to sell to Europe. It is a paradox that has led some to paint Norway as a climate hero and others to decry it as a carbon villain. But whether the country deserves either title depends on a deeper issue that has divided people fighting to stop the planet from heating: how much does the supply of fossil fuels matter in a world where people keep demanding more of them? Norway is the wealthiest country in the world that is not classed as a tax haven. For decades, its politicians have spun a rags-to-riches tale that puts the discovery of vast petroleum reserves at the centre of its success. “In Norway, the story goes, we were a really poor country, then we found oil, and now we are rich,” said Anne Karin Sæther, a project manager at the Norwegian Climate Foundation. “But Norway was among the 10 richest countries in the world before we found oil – and that is suppressed in the Norwegian narrative.”What sets Norway apart is how it has managed its wealth. Rather than line the pockets of suited executives and distant shareholders, Norwegian bureaucrats poured petroleum profits into a pot that has become the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. Today it holds more than a trillion dollars in assets and covers an average of 1.5% of all the world’s listed companies. Tasked with a mandate to safeguard wealth for future generations, the fund now also uses its clout to speed the shift to a clean economy.

“As the climate crisis has developed, the fund has been thinking more and more about what it should do as a financial investor,” said Carine Smith Ihenacho, the chief compliance officer at Norges Bank Investment Management, which owns the fund. It lobbies companies in its portfolio to set net zero targets and argues the business case for developing credible transition plans – divesting from “climate laggards” who refuse to engage. “For us, climate risk is financial risk,” said Ihenacho. The pressure that Norway applies with its petrodollars is just one of the unexpected ways in which the country is shaping global efforts to decarbonise. Last month, a fertiliser producer south of Oslo opened Europe’s biggest green hydrogen factory. A little way down the road, a cement plant is set to become the first in the world to capture carbon during the production of concrete. Norway already has more heat pumps per household than anywhere bar Japan, which uses them mainly for cooling. And by the end of the year Norwegian streets may become the first in the world on which electric vehicles outnumber combustion engine cars. Analysts say the Norwegian public’s hunger for clean technologies – and their leaders’ willingness to back them early – has spurred global innovations that drive quality up and push prices down. The capital, Oslo, for instance, is the first public authority to set a target of zero-emissions construction sites, which it will mandate from the start of next year. The move has already encouraged manufacturers to bring electric construction machinery on to the market that can help decarbonise building sites around the world.

But even as Norway has championed the switch to a clean domestic economy, it appears to have bet that the rest of the world will not do the same. Its government continues to license fossil fuel extraction projects in the face of stern scientific warnings that there are already enough oil platforms, gas wells and coalmines to blow through the global carbon budget for 1.5C (2.7F). The International Energy Agency has sounded the alarm for the last three years that further fossil fuel exploration is not compatible with its scenarios for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but to little avail.The Norwegian defence is that its fossil fuels are produced more cleanly and with higher ethical standards than those of the autocracies and flawed democracies that dominate petroleum production. Climate activists counter that it is unfair of Norway, which has become extremely rich from its oil industry, to drill even more at the expense of poorer producers, who would effectively have to rein in their supply if the world is to have a chance of meeting its climate targets. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/26/climate-hero-villain-fossil-fuel-frenzy-challenges-norway-green-image

Mammoth Carbon Capture: World’s Largest Air Pollution Vacuum Launches in Iceland. Scientists unveil the Mammoth carbon capture plant using innovative direct air capture methods to remove thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Happy Eco

Renewables Allow us to Pay less, Not Twice.

Land and Climate Change: a Close Connection

Climate Change: University of BC Research finds Plants are 'Leaking' More Water than Thought.

Climate Hero or Villain? Fossil Fuel Frenzy Challenges Norway’s Green Image

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