The least Fortunate Island

My final wrap up of the Fukushima (fortunate island) Nuclear Power Plant, starting with the media driven “he said, she said” spat between two high profile campaigners.

The Guardian has published an article by Helen Caldicott as a rebuttal to George Monbiots earlier article. This stoush could go on for a while.

Central to Monbiots argument was this quote:

"In no sense did Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences or the New York Academy of Sciences commission this work; nor by its publication do we intend to independently validate the claims made in the translation or in the original publications cited in the work. The translated volume has not been peer reviewed by the New York Academy of Sciences, or by anyone else."

Which is very similar to the text available at the website of the Annals of the New York Academy of Science posted 4/28/2010:

The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences issue “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment”, therefore, does not present new, unpublished work, nor is it a work commissioned by the New York Academy of Sciences. The expressed views of the authors, or by advocacy groups or individuals with specific opinions about the Annals Chernobyl volume, are their own. Although the New York Academy of Sciences believes it has a responsibility to provide open forums for discussion of scientific questions, the Academy has no intent to influence legislation by providing such forums. The Academy is committed to publishing content deemed scientifically valid by the general scientific community, from whom the Academy carefully monitors feedback.

What the top quote says is that it is only the TRANSLATED volume that has not been peer reviewed. This quote could be misread

Kjell Aleklett & Phil Hart - Peak Oil Presentation Videos

On 24th November last year, Beyond Zero Emissions and GAMUT (Australasian Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport) held a peak oil evening with the visiting Professor and ASPO President Kjell Aleklett. I also spoke following Kjell, concentrating more on Australian factors and cultural aspects of peak oil since Prof Aleklett had already overwhelmed the audience with the technical aspects!

Videos of the presentations were made available online earlier in the year:

Resource Depletion, The tie that binds Peak Oil and Food Security - Professor Kjell Aleklett from Plug-In TV on Vimeo.

Peak Oil, A Time for Cultural Change - Phil Hart from Plug-In TV on Vimeo.

Kjell Aleklett and Phil Hart - Q&A session from Plug-In TV on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

When The General Electric Talks

General Electric has sniffed the traces of Iodine 131 in the air and noted that the public doesn't like it. "Right" or "wrong" from a purely technical nuclear energy point of view GE thinks that a punt on solar, or a slice of renewables subsidies (?) might be a better option. That or its PR designed to distract from their old designs at Fukushima.

General Electric Announces Record Solar Efficiency, Plans To Build Largest U.S. Solar Factory
Reuters, April 8, 2011

General Electric (GE) has been reinventing itself as a green energy behemoth, beginning with a focus on wind energy, then the smart grid and more recently led lighting and solar. They've even developed an electric car charging station called the WattStation.

This morning they are announcing another big step along the path of its rapid push into the thin film solar market, taking direct aim at First Solar (FSLR). The push has been fueled by key acquisitions particularly of PrimeStar of which it acquired a minority stake in 2007, has had a majority stake since 2008, and today announced it has completed a full acquisition of the company. PrimeStar was developing the cadmium thin film solar panels which is the same technology First Solar is using.

GE is saying that its full sized thin film solar panel developed with PrimeStar has been independently certified to be the world's most efficient thin film solar panel at 12.8 percent aperture area efficiency. First Solar reported during its latest earnings report that it had reached 11.6 percent and that it expects to hit 12 percent within a few months. A 1 percent increase in efficiency results in a 10 percent reduction in energy cost, so the current spread isn't insignificant.

GE also announced that it will invest $600 million to build the largest solar panel production facility in the US. At full capacity the 400MW facility will produce enough panels each year to power 80,000 homes. The location of the plant is expected to be announced soon and it's great to see they will keep manufacturing in the US.

The good news for GE's solar business doesn't end there. They are also announcing more than 100MW in new orders for its thin film products which include the panels and inverters.

Fukushima No. 1 plant designed on 'trial-and-error' basis
Asahi Shimbun, 7 April 2011

While changes improved safety at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, overconfidence, complacency and high costs stymied such action at the now-crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, according to people familiar with the situation.

Happiness and Power

One of the common assertions around is that no combination of renewables can power a consumerist society. This may be true. Its a testable hypothesis. But is that the point? Surely the question is are we happy? And in fact Economics is (or should be) about the study of happiness, not just the study of GDP growth (consumption), its just that among some punters GDP/capita is equated with happiness. The "invisible hand" will "lift all ships on a rising tide" (or some such). In the past few years research suggests that above a certain threshold, increases in GDP/capita have a negligible effect on perceptions or feelings of happiness.

The Economist had a little graph late last year displaying this very phenomena, although they couldn't help but change it to a form more aesthetically pleasing to them.

Asia, North-South: Nuclear, Climate, Energy and Efficiency

It's been a while since the last round up of “local” news. Below is a long link fest of articles about Asian views on the events in Japan, nuclear power, climate change, energy and efficiency. I've added a little link table of contents at the top to help speed navigation.

Korea – nuclear power

ASEAN – region rethinks nuclear

Myth of Japanese safety shattered

Vietnam – energy efficiency, climate change and efficient lights

Thailand – Japan, nuclear, climate

Singapore – Japan, nuclear, regional consequences

Malaysia – nuclear safety: are developing nations ready?

India – Nuclear Safety in light of Fukushima, protests over large nuclear facility at Jaitapur. Prominent scientists call for moratorium.

END – Next Post: Garnauts Gambit

Garnauts Gambit

In late February Ross Garnaut began to release his update papers. At the time The Age reviewed the history of his previous gig under Kevin Rudds leadership. The contentious issue was (and remains) the level of compensation paid to fossil fuel generators. Garnaut's favoured position was… none. First the history.

Pontificating from a distance

There have been a few “I/my relatives are in Japan… and I’m/they’re not scared” type stories doing the rounds (one even became famous) but this one posted by The ABC had what I thought was a more human feel, focusing not on the technological aspects or the statistical minutiae of the likelihood of increased cancer. Truth is, normal average people don’t think like a nuclear technician lecturing the public about the irrationality of their fears.