HYDROGEN The once and future fuel? Opinion

"London, 19 June: Desperate policy makers trying to reach Net Zero targets that are unaffordable and infeasible are rushing into the premature adoption of hydrogen as a last ditch attempt to save the current agenda.

Hydrogen Gas

Dr John Constable, author of the study, said: 

“Hydrogen has genuine long term potential as a universal energy carrier to supplement electricity, but current methods of production are hugely expensive and will stress fresh water supplies. Target-driven haste is already resulting in accidents. Counterproductive and naive policies are compromising the hydrogen future.” "

"Faced with the task of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions while sustaining economic growth, the UK government, like others around the world, is promoting hydrogen as an energy carrier for sectors of the economy such as heavy transport and peak winter heating that are extremely difficult to decarbonize.

The wisdom of this policy, with a special focus on the United Kingdom, is addressed in a new historical and technical study published today by the GWPF.

The study concludes that current enthusiasm is a desperate measure that will jeopardise the long-term promise of hydrogen for the sake of short-term political optics.

Because of the accelerated timetable required by arbitrary targets, it is necessary to manufacture hydrogen via two expensive and energetically inefficient commodity production processes, the electrolysis of water, and the reforming of natural gas.

Electrolysis is extremely expensive, and the reforming of methane emits carbon dioxide and so requires Carbon Capture and Sequestration, which is not only costly but unproven at the required scale. Both these commodity processes imply high levels of fresh water consumption.

The prudent approach, obvious since the 1970s and still the official long-range policy of the government of Japan, is to aim for hydrogen production by the thermal decomposition of sea water employing advanced nuclear reactors, which alone might conceivably make hydrogen cheap. This is, however, very difficult chemical and nuclear engineering, and its realisation lies well into the future."

Part of an SMR plant

The paper also notes that hasty introduction will not give enough time for safe societal adjustment to the inherent dangers of a fugitive and readily ignited gas that has a strong tendency to technical detonation (combustion with a supersonic combustion frontier). The learning experience could be needlessly painful and deadly.



Ref Climate Change Institute comment on Hydrogen: The Once And Future Fuel (pdf)


Related:

'Terrifying': Scientists dig deep for missing piece of climate puzzle: SMH

 #cambio-climatico

 

Huge swells on NSW Central Coast leave Wamberal homes at risk of collapse due to beach erosion : The Guardian

Coastal erosion in the suburb of Wamberal on the Central Coast of NSW where homes are at risk of collapse after huge swells hit the state’s beaches on Thursday. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images

Several houses on Ocean View Drive now dangerously close to cliff edge as huge waves wash away beaches.

 

Matilda Boseley

Fri 17 Jul 2020

Beachfront homes along the New South Wales Central Coast have been left dangling over the ocean and in danger of collapse after powerful surf caused massive erosion. 

A powerful low across Australia’s east coast earlier in the week created large swells and high waves battering some coastal areas. 

 

The worst-hit suburb was Wamberal, where large beachfront homes have been significantly damaged as the sandy soil they were built on was stripped away.

 

Comment by blog admin : As sea level rises and higher storm surges destroy more beachfront property the owners will lobby for unaffordable sea walls but ratepayers will resist. Coastal retreat will become the norm. Will you buy where sea rise and coastal surges will occur?

Read original complete The Guardian article  

Related:

Melbourne: predicted flooding with a conservative sea level rise of only 1.5m

 Related:

'It's heartbreaking': storms cause devastating erosion at Newcastle's Stockton beach

Why we need political action to rein in the oil, coal and gas companies | video explainer: The Guardian

The Guardian reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era. Global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, explains how they have continued to expand their operations despite being aware of the industry’s devastating impact on the planet.

The Guardian ► http://www.youtube.com/theguardian

#jailclimatecriminals   #criminalesclimáticosdelacárcel     #cambioclimatico     

See also:

Melbourne: predicted flooding with a conservative sea level rise of only 1.5m

Fracking Firms Fail, Rewarding Executives and Raising Climate Fears: NYT

Oil and gas companies are hurtling toward bankruptcy, raising fears that wells will be left leaking planet-warming pollutants, with cleanup costs left to taxpayers.

An infrared image last year of an MDC Energy well pad leaking methane (which is invisible to the naked eye). This month, the site has continued to leak gases, government violations show. Credit...Jonah M. Kessel/The New York Times

The day the debt-ridden Texas oil producer MDC Energy filed for bankruptcy eight months ago, a tank at one of its wells was furiously leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. As of last week, dangerous, invisible gases were still spewing into the air.

Read the NYT article

By Hiroko Tabuchi

• Published July 12, 2020Updated July 14, 2020
• #criminalesclimáticosdelacárcel, #jailclimatecriminals, #fracking, #methane gas, #oil companies,

Climate Explained: What the World Was Like the Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were at 400ppm: EW

climate change

What was the climate and sea level like at times in Earth’s history when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at 400ppm? 

 

The last time global carbon dioxide levels were consistently at or above 400 parts per million (ppm) was around four million years ago during a geological period known as the Pliocene Era (between 5.3 million and 2.6 million years ago). The world was about 3℃ warmer and sea levels were higher than today.


We know how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere contained in the past by studying ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. As compacted snow gradually changes to ice, it traps air in bubbles that contain samples of the atmosphere at the time. We can sample ice cores to reconstruct past concentrations of carbon dioxide, but this record only takes us back about a million years.


Beyond a million years, we don't have any direct measurements of the composition of ancient atmospheres, but we can use several methods to estimate past levels of carbon dioxide. One method uses the relationship between plant pores, known as stomata, that regulate gas exchange in and out of the plant. The density of these stomata is related to atmospheric carbon dioxide, and fossil plants are a good indicator of concentrations in the past.


Another technique is to examine sediment cores from the ocean floor. The sediments build up year after year as the bodies and shells of dead plankton and other organisms rain down on the seafloor. We can use isotopes (chemically identical atoms that differ only in atomic weight) of boron taken from the shells of the dead plankton to reconstruct changes in the acidity of seawater. From this we can work out the level of carbon dioxide in the ocean.
The data from four-million-year-old sediments suggest that carbon dioxide was at 400ppm back then.

Sea Levels and Changes in Antarctica 

 

During colder periods in Earth's history, ice caps and glaciers grow and sea levels drop. In the recent geological past, during the most recent ice age about 20,000 years ago, sea levels were at least 120 meters lower than they are today.


Sea-level changes are calculated from changes in isotopes of oxygen in the shells of marine organisms. For the Pliocene Era, research shows the sea-level change between cooler and warmer periods was around 30-40 meters and sea level was higher than today. Also during the Pliocene, we know the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was significantly smaller and global average temperatures were about 3℃ warmer than today. Summer temperatures in high northern latitudes were up to 14℃ warmer.


This may seem like a lot but modern observations show strong polar amplification of warming: a 1℃ increase at the equator may raise temperatures at the poles by 6-7℃. It is one of the reasons why Arctic sea ice is disappearing.

Impacts in New Zealand and Australia  

 

Read the complete EW article

Melbourne: predicted flooding with a conservative sea level rise of only 1.5m

Melbourne: predicted flooding 1.5m

 • We are looking more and more unlikely to prevent global heating.

• Scientists are predicting the melting of the ice covering Greenland with a subsequent sea level rise of 7m.

• This rise does not factor in sea rise from the melting of Antarctica and other ice.

Original article by J.Vernon of wewantclimateactionnowblogspot.com.au

Melbourne: predicted flooding 1.5m

• Already many properties are likely to flood when a high tide is combined with high local rainfall. What were 'hundred year' rainfall events are now 'ten year' events.

•  Victorian state planning policy seems to underestimate likely sea level rise and doesn't seem to look beyond 2100, however, infrastructure will be expected to survive well beyond 2100.

"Consistent with state planning policy to ‘plan for possible sea level rise of 0.8 metres by 2100, and allow for the combined effects of tides, storm surges, coastal processes ...’, these guidelines apply to areas that will be affected by tidal inundation within the Port Phillip and Westernport region."  Melbourne Water Planning for Sea Level Rise 2017

Planning for Sea Level Rise Melbourne Water

 

Possible flooding of 7m

• The frequency of high rainfall events will increase with global heating and more and more severe hurricanes are predicted because of warmer seas.

• Low coastal areas will be subjected to severe storm surges.

• Would you buy a property likely to be inundated in twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years? Many wouldn't. Even the perception of possible inundation will greatly affect property values.

• When certain properties are in less demand their value falls. It becomes more and more difficult to ensure properties at risk of tidal surges and flooding.

• Would you buy a property with a value likely to fall?

•  The view of Melbourne above shows areas likely to be inundated by a 7m sea level rise.

• Property above a 10m rise will become highly sought after and will greatly rise in value.

Learn more about how sea rise inundation will affect Australian property.

Click here to go to Coastal Risk Australia site


Related:

Port Macquarie after a 7m sea level rise. Insurance risks affect property values now.

Related: 'Retreat' Is Not An Option As A California Beach Town Plans For Rising Seas: NPR 

#inundation  #sea rise  #searise  #climatecrisis  #climatechange  #ice  #melting ice 
#jailclimatecriminals

Report: Global Climate Lawsuits Against Governments and Polluters on the Rise: DeSmog

Climate Crisis = Human Rights Crisis

Climate litigation is not going away any time soon.

Lawsuits demanding accountability and action on the existential threat of climate change continue to take hold across the world with some significant new developments and new cases emerging over the past year, according to a new report on trends in global climate change litigation.

That report, published July 3 by the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, provides an overview of climate change lawsuits around the world including key developments between May 2019 and May 2020. Grantham Research Institute maintains a database of global climate change lawsuits and in recent years has issued annual reports on trends in climate litigation.

Over the past three decades climate change lawsuits have spread across six continents with over 1,500 cases identified in 37 countries, according to the latest report. Most of these cases are in the U.S., though increasingly cases are emerging outside the U.S. including 26 new cases in the last year alone. The Global South (Asia, Africa and Latin America) has seen 37 cases of climate litigation to date.

While a majority of climate-related lawsuits are routine cases such as regulatory proceedings or challenges to fossil fuel permitting, cases are also being brought more strategically as a way to hold governments and companies accountable for damaging climate impacts. This kind of litigation against national governments and against fossil fuel companies has taken off in recent years.

New study out today on climate litigation across the world – shows humans rights are increasingly being used to support cases & that plaintiffs are using new strategies to bring lawsuits against major fossil fuel companies https://t.co/1tD7dVKlJ6 pic.twitter.com/7FO7DK4DiC

— Grantham LSE (@GRI_LSE) July 3, 2020

Read the complete DeSmog article

Read time: 6 mins

By Dana Drugmand • Tuesday, July 7, 2020 - 11:03

Main Image: Climate litigation increasingly focuses on human rights violations stemming from the climate crisis. Credit: Dana Drugmand

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