Germany looks to phase-out of coal power by 2038

Coal fired power station (Getty Images)

The world’s fourth largest economy, Germany, is planning to phase out coal fired power stations by 2038 and possibly by 2035. The deal was made with the Coal Commission as part of the country’s Climate Action Plan 2050, which aims to have the country’s economy close to CO₂ neutral by 2050.

Germany has managed to rapidly increase the share of renewable power to around 40 percent of the electricity it uses, and has even covered its entire power use with green sources over short periods. But the country must also phase out coal to fulfil its climate pledges, as the rapid roll-out of renewables alone has not lowered greenhouse emissions sufficiently.

The use of coal is not the only blemish on Germany’s emission record – two additional government commissions will now work out how to clean up transport and heating, where agreements are widely considered to be even more difficult.

Read More: Germany eyes coal exit by 2038 in bid for climate-friendly economy. RenewEconomy January 29, 2019.

Whyalla goes greener with plans for solar horticulture business and more

Source: RenewEconomy

The Whyalla City Council plans to add to Sanjay Gupta’s renewable energy innovations for the city by adding a $145m solar powered greenhouse for a horticulture business and a $6m green organic recycling project to other renewable initiatives in this area of South Australia. This is part of the council’s Whyalla City Transformation Blueprint.

The solar powered horticultural greenhouse facility, which would farm a number of high value crops, will be built by China-owned Beijing Enterprises Water Group, in a deal stuck by the Whyalla City Council.

At the same time Sanjay Gupta announced an upgrade to his Whyalla Steelworks (to be powered by solar, battery and pumped hydro) and work has begun on Adani Renewables Australia’s 200MW solar farm to the north of Whyalla.

Read more:
- Whyalla Council’s Big Reveal, Whyalla Coouncil, December 2018.
- Whyalla goes greener with $145m solar greenhouse, as Gupta effect grows, RenewEconomy, December 11, 2018.
- Gupta doubles down on green industrial plans for Whyalla, powered by cheap renewables. RenewEconomy, December 10, 2018.
- Renewable energy for steelworks in Australia. Using Renewables, January 23, 2018.

"Aged care company to cut grid power consumption in half with solar, LED lighting"

Opal’s Macquarie Place aged care home near Newcastle. (One Step Off the Grid)

"Australian company Opal Aged Care is looking to cut its grid electricity consumption almost in half, with a business-wide rollout of rooftop solar and energy efficient lighting.

In a program coordinated by solar and energy efficiency specialist Verdia, Opal will install just over 3.4MW of solar PV and more than 28,000 LED lights at 54 properties across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

The project, which is expected to be completed in early 2019, will cut onsite grid electricity use by about 42 per cent, greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent, and pay for itself in little more than five years......"

Continue reading at: Aged care company to cut grid power consumption in half with solar, LED lighting. One Step off the Grid, December 6, 2018.

California to move to 100% all-electric public buses by 2040

Chinese automaker BYD building electric buses in Lancaster, California (NYT)

In December 2018, the Californian Government released its strategy to transition to an all-electric public bus fleet. The EVs will include battery and fuel cell electric buses. As their electricity grid moves to renewable power, so is the government looking to increase its supply of renewable hydrogen (that is: H₂ from H₂O via electrolysis powered by renewables).

“Starting in 2029, mass transit agencies in California will only be allowed to buy buses that are fully electric…Under the new rule, the state’s transit agencies will need to start updating their fleets well before 2029. Starting in 2023, a quarter of their new buses must be electric, and by 2026 that requirement will rise to half of all new buses.” (NYT).

“The agency, the California Air Resources Board, said it expected that municipal bus fleets would be fully electric by 2040. It estimated that the rule would cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 19 million metric tons from 2020 to 2050, the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.” (NYT).

Read more:
California transitioning to all-electric public bus fleet by 2040. California Air Resources Board, December 14, 2018.
California requires new city buses to be electric by 2029. The New York Times, December 14, 2018.

This spray free Australian coffee is excellent!

Photo: Jullie May

There are a number of Australian coffees that can be ordered online but this Zentfeld’s coffee is my favourite.

In general Australian coffees are:
- chemically free as Australia does not have the common coffee pests;
- overseas coffees travel a long way to get here, so Australian coffees have much lower transport miles; and
- they are of good quality.

I hand grind coffee beans for a fresher brew and use an espresso, stove-top, stainless steel Italian-style coffee maker. The used coffee grinds are spread thinly on the garden. This way you get a lovely coffee; there are no coffee pods; composting occurs; and the only waste is the coffee bag (which in Australia must be recyclable by 2025).

For a list and links to some of the Australian coffees that are available online see: Australian grown coffee for Australians in this blog.

"Eco-tyre recharges your car’s battery"

Source: EnergyWise

Researchers in China have come up with a new type of tyre that can tap the static electricity that builds up between it and the road to help recharge a vehicle’s battery.

It has been shown that friction between a car tyre and the road accounts for 5 to 30 percent of a vehicle’s fuel use. Now Ning Wang at the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, and his colleagues have designed a tyre that can recycle some of that wasted energy - that is the static electricity.

Normal tyres are made of rubber and carbon black. Wang’s version swaps the latter for silica resulting in more static electricity generation. Also in the tyres are nanogenerators made of copper and rubber. The electrons that cause the static electricity are captured and sent to the car’s battery. A tyre like this could save 800 kilojoules of energy per year.

New Scientist, 8 December 2018, p 19 cites Advanced Functional Materials, doi.org/cxh9.

ACT on track to deliver 100% renewable electricity by 2020

The ACT also has a wind farm near the shores of Lake George (photo J May)

On December 1, 2018, the Hornsdale 2 wind farm, started feeding into the grid. “The wind farm was part of the ACT’s nation-leading reverse auction process that will see the Territory reach its target of 100% renewable electricity by 2020.” said Shane Rattenbury, the Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability in the Australian Capital Territory government.

Mr Rattenbury stated that: “The Hornsdale 2 Wind Farm near Port Augusta, South Australia, will generate 100 megawatts, enough to power around 50,000 homes and equivalent to about 13% of our 2020 electricity needs.” ACT's annual energy report, stated that Canberra’s renewable electricity had reached 78% in late 2018. (SERREE Industry News, 4/12/18).

Read more:
- ACT on track to deliver 100% renewable electricity by 2020, as Hornsdale 2 wind farm starts feeding into the grid. Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, Dec 1, 2018.
- How do the ACT’s renewable energy reverse auctions work? Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate - Environment, accessed Jan 3, 2019.
Post Script:
- Canberra (ACT) reaches its 100% renewable electricity target. Using Renewables, October 10 2019.

Five year cost of owning a Hyundai Ioniq EV vs Toyota Corolla Hybrid

Hyundai Ioniq EV (Green Car Guide)

Drive Zero has done the cost of owning Australia’s current cheapest electric vehicle, the Hyundai Ionic EV, compared to the Toyota Corolla Hybrid. The reasoning and calculations are complex and not repeated here. Please go to the cited article below for full details.

The article takes into consideration purchase price; registration (Victoria [and the ACT] give some discount for low CO₂ emission cars), energy consumption; energy price; total energy spent and servicing over 5 years and 150,000 km; and depreciation for the same period. Over that time, the energy, servicing costs and depreciation are less for the EV but the purchase price still makes the Corolla cheaper. However when some factors below are considered, the EV is better value than the Corolla hybrid.

There are other situations to consider such as EVs will be cheaper to run if one owns solar panels [and a solar battery]; they will run mostly on renewable energy in South Australia, Tasmania [and the ACT]. With most charging done at home, it makes it unnecessary to go to a petrol station. The drive is smoother, quieter and more responsive. Petrol prices will most likely go up and electricity prices will most likely go down. The more EVs on the road in cities, the cleaner the air will be. The tipping point for EV/ICE parity is expected around 2022 [Bloomberg predicts 2024]. (ICE=Internal Combustion Engine).

See full details at: Cost of Hyundai Ioniq Electric vs Toyota Corolla Hybrid. Drive Zero, December 16, 2019.
See also these similar articles:
- Tesla Model 3 costs less than a Toyota Camry to own. The Driven, April 18, 2019.
- Toyota Camry & Honda Accord buyers, don’t assume Tesla Model 3 is beyond your budget. (U.S.) CleanTechnica, October 28, 2018.