Science and Technology:
¶ At a news conference in Taipei, former US NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko said nuclear energy is playing an increasingly insignificant role in power generation worldwide, adding that it is more expensive than many other generating methods. He said its future was one of “decreasing use and eventual phase-out.” [Taipei Times]
Ma’anshan nuclear power plan in southern Taiwan, Nan Wan Bay, wind turbines in background. Photo by M. Weitzel. Wikimedia Commons.
World:
¶ A renewable energy project that has seen 500 Glasgow Housing Association homes fitted with solar panels is being hailed a success after saving tenants £388,000 on their combined energy bills. The solar panels have so far generated more than 2.4 million kWh of electricity, enough to make 122 million cups of tea. [STV Glasgow]
¶ Metro Vancouver has joined a push to keep the fifty year old Burrard Thermal power station on standby as a backup electricity source for the Lower Mainland, but with a proviso that it burn a renewable energy source in the future instead of natural gas. Some opposed this as burning wood is potentially polluting. [Burnaby NewsLeader]
¶ The UK’s new Conservative energy secretary, Amber Rudd, has signalled that she plans to end subsidies to the operators of new wind farms. The industry worries that a sudden end to support for new projects would hit progress being made by the industry towards being subsidy-free in the medium-term. [Scotsman]
¶ AXA, one of the largest insurance companies in the world and the largest in France, announced this week that it will sell more than $550,000,000 in coal investments by the end of 2015. It will triple its investments in renewable energy, energy infrastructure and green bond to more than $3 billion by 2020. [PlanetSave.com]
¶ As part of the EU Emissions Trading System, it is estimated that emissions of greenhouse gases from more than 11,000 power plants and manufacturing installations in 2014 were 4.5 percent lower year on year. However, airlines showed increases in carbon emissions for their operations in the EU. [Prague Post]
The 760-MW Sheerness coal generating station, located southeast of Hanna, Alberta. Photo by Paul Jerry from Medicine Hat, Canada. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Despite burning more coal for energy than all other provinces combined, Alberta is set to ween itself off the black mineral, earning praise from a coalition of physicians. Canada has laws to close or upgrade coal plants, but its provinces have pushed through stricter, faster plans, and Alberta could be next. [Calgary Herald]
US:
¶ A new government analysis of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan shows that the proposal could further weaken an already battered coal industry. Electricity generation from the carbon-intensive fossil fuel would fall by 90 GW, more than twice the decline government analysts had predicted as recently as April. [Lexington Herald Leader]
¶ The installation of charging stations for plug-in electric cars is moving ahead in New York, despite a decline in sales of the vehicles that mirrors the drop in gas prices. The sales blip bothers neither the state and federal agencies that are bankrolling the installation of this new infrastructure nor manufacturers. [Times Herald-Record]
¶ Siemens Energy unveiled a new product last week at the AWEA Windpower trade show in Orlando that it will partially manufacture in Hutchinson, Kansas, starting in 2017. The SWT 2.3-120 is a modification of Siemens’ original SWT 2.3-108 wind turbine, allowing higher performance at lower wind speeds. [Hutchinson News]
geoharvey 
May 26, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Reblogged this on nuclear-news.