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The Forum > Article Comments > Our memories impact imagining and planning for the future > Comments

Our memories impact imagining and planning for the future : Comments

By Eric Claus, published 5/9/2018

All these issues have been worsened by population pressures, but we've always had increased population and life has always gotten better, so why worry?

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Electricity prices remained constant when we the people owned all the generators and the coal mines that serviced them.

We can address climate change while massively turbocharging the economy. By transitioning to (carbon-free) MSR thorium.

MSR is both unpressurised and has passive safety built in that made the trialled concept. Oak Ridge Tennessee, 1950-70s) walkway safe.

Thorium is the most energy dense material in the world and MSR thorium can be used to very-very safely burn other folks nuclear waste while earning annual billions for providing the service. Burned until the remaining waste is reduced to less than 1%.

Far less toxic and eminently suitable for long life space batteries. Which after powering our communications satellites, whatever.

Burned up on re-entry.

Comparing a traditional 350 MW light water reactor with a thorium-powered MSR equivalent.

The traditional 350 MW uranium reactor will require over a 30 year lifetime, 2551 tons of enriched fuel, where less than 1% is available as actual fuel, the rest 2550 tons becomes part of the nuclear waste stockpile.

Whereas, the thorium MSR requires just one ton of fuel. (As refined metallic thorium.) From which we get U233. Which is reprocessed in the adjacent chemical plant, so it can go back again and again until just 1% or less is left to dispose of as LLSB.

Thorium > U233 > miracle cancer cure, bismuth 213.

And created while creating copious, affordable, reliable, clean, safe, cheaper than coal, carbon-free energy.

Why would we embrace this concept?

Because of energy prices below 2 cents per KwH!?

Reactors, their manufacture and assembly paid for by other folks as annual billions we'd earn disposing of their stockpiled waste as costless energy.

Until we had reduced it to just 1% waste with a half-life of just 300 years and as LLSB. That'll power the new generations of satellites or even a practical warp drive.

My granddaddy allus drove a horse and cart, and remarked when he saw his first motor car, they'll never catch on!

Neither will MSR/thorium? Or reliable carbon-free power that costs less than 2 cents per KwH!?
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Wednesday, 5 September 2018 11:07:00 AM
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Eric ... I guess there may be some valid arguments about softer sciences such as Psychology, Economics and Political Sciences not having the same evidence base compared with Physics and Chemistry. Though when several research projects are able to replicate supportig data for a hypothesis.

Nathaniel Rich recently wrote a 30,000 word narrative about how politics in the US knocked out climate science. The science at the time was strong enough to begin mitigation, we are now seeing some of the predictions made in the 1970s and 1980s come true. Paleoclimate science is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and underpins what climate scientists are stating.

As a 19 year old and moving onto my 50s, I've never known so many extreme events to happen as are now. While news services might have been slower in reaching us, we would have seen black and white tv reports about events such as Typhoon Jebi which has just hit Japan. Jebi has killed 9 people, caused a couple of million to search for safe refuge spots, and caused huge damage to infra-structure. You would realise that the requirements for Typhoons, Hurricanes, and Cyclones are hot sea surface temperatures.

Presently off the coast of Eastern USA hot sea surface temperatures have been discovered at 40 degrees Latitude that are displaying temperatures seen at 13 degrees Latitude. There are storm fronts on the way which could develop up to Category 5 Storms. Luckily, sometimes those storm fronts do not reach land.

World wide extreme events are happening now on a very regular basis, as shown by Utube film, the series has not been operating all that long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfSZwuj3_MM

The film displays events happening between 17th - 28th August 2018.

00:12 India: Kerala floods
00:53 China: Typhoon Rumbia
01:46 Typhoons Soulik & Cimaron
03:07 Thailand: Nan State floods
04:24 Taiwan: Southern floods
05:32 Hawaii: Hurricane Lane
06:50 Mexico: Nogales flash flood
10:34 Venezuela: Junquito flash flood
16:57 Ukraine: Lviv flood
19:14 Australia: NSW bushfires
21:45 Canada: BC wildfires
24:56 Temperature Data

Continued
Posted by ant, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 12:36:42 PM
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Continuation

In the last fortnight there have been 2 mega Reports provided by the Californian government and American Meteorological Society displaying the work of 100s of authors and references.

A very recent Report about the state of sea ice North of Greenland also provides grounds for concern. Sea ice had never been seen historically in such poor shape.

The Barents Observer has just published an article about methane emissions escaping from the Yamal Peninsular in Siberia creating the prospect of further pingo explosions.

So, while Misia Temler's article might have been an outlier, it does not mean that climate science should be ignored.

The conclusion that can be reached is that coal must be left in the ground. Coal fired power stations need to be transitioned out as soon as possible. If you believe it is fine to steal from younger people; then, continue with a bus as usual program. A business as usual process is already killing people. Politicians need to take notice of experts, the LNP are shambolic in relation to climate change, and Labor needs to lift its game.

California provides one of the world's large economies, it currently uses more renewable energy than Australia has presented as a goal to the Paris Accord.
Posted by ant, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 12:37:25 PM
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Big city commuters have gradually become used to their travel times to work increasing by 2% a year, every single year.

Eric C: All these issues have been worsened by population pressures, but we've always had increased population and life has always gotten better,

All these issues have been “made worse” by population pressures, but, we’ve always had “increases” in population, and life has always ““become” better.” (improved)

Back to the 6th. Grade Eric. Got a Degree in Engineering, probably could design a Space Ship but could not explain how in works in intelligible English.

Now on the subject. Global Warming.

We done this to death. Yes, Climate Change is happening. That’s a given. The Climate has changed every day for the last 4 Billion Years. Or, whenever the Earth congealed into a Planet. Did man have anything to do with it? Probably. Has Mans contribution made any great impact on Earths Climate in the last 200000 years? Not noticeably. The Planet does what it does, regardless of any interference by man.

Renewables are great, but we’re not there yet. In fact, my guess is it will be another 15 to 20 years before there can even start to be a reduction in Coal Fired Power.
Cont.
Posted by Jayb, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 2:26:10 PM
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Cont.
The Renewable Technology is in the Wright Brothers Flyer stage at present. It won’t take 80 years to reach the same level as there is with Flight today. Renewables, Solar & Wind Turbines have been around since the 60’s, but improvement is slow, but it’s getting there.

Growing up in the 50’s, I remember a house I used to pass going to school, had Solar Hot Water.

The biggest problem is Energy Storage. Batteries are just not up to it at the present time. Elton Musk has had a good go at it but there is only enough energy for 40 minutes in his Battery Pack in South Australia. I’m led to believe.

I have a 300W Solar Panel on the roof of my Caravan connected to three 135Ah Batteries & connected to a 8000W (Peak) (4000W Continuous.) That’s enough to supply me with Power for three weeks Without Sunshine. The Proviso is; I only use the small very efficient fridge, use the two of the four 8W Fluro’s. I know I should use LED’s. The TV for the News or a DVD, sparingly.

I have calculated that If I wanted to use the Stove, Fridge, Microwave, AC, Lights as if I had Mains Power I would need at least 10, 135Ah Batteries & at least a 40Kw Inverter to provide 20Kw of continuous Power.

Extrapolate that out to 25 million people. Awww... I like that “Extrapolate.”
Posted by Jayb, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 2:27:26 PM
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Climate hysteria and climate fraud, plus mass immigration, will be the finish of life as we have know it for the last 230 years in Australia. It's already happening; we are just too stupid and self-obsessed to notice.
Posted by ttbn, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 3:57:36 PM
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If we began today to sort out the few remaining minor difficulties with MSR thorium we'd have a manufacturing plant able to mass produce stock standard 350MW generators inside 7 years and at around one or two a month? Truck them to their sites for final bolt together, assembly over a couple of months.

Coal has a future, just not in power station but similar sized plants where flameless Solar thermal or nuclear heat will cook out the methane and then if we want, pipe it through a national gas grid to the home, or filling stations, for CNG road transport.

Or, by rail freight, to rural and regional Australia, where we would store it, and run it out in microgrids on demand.

Use it in (wear-free, solid state) ceramic fuel cells, as domestic or industrial power. And as the first consequence reduce combined transmission and distribution losses from around 75% combined to just 20%.

Transmission lines could come down to be replaced by recycled Aluminium pipes and or steel one where they need to cross roads.

Methane is a reductant, so this buried system should last for several generations where an 80% energy coefficient will make this combination into one more economical than coal-fired power pushed at considerable expense down miles and miles of expensive wires. And at the mercy of wildfires and wind storms, (and retailers)!

And bound to get ever more severe as we pump more and more CO2 into the atmosphere, even though it's already at record levels and in uncharted territory?

This gas stored in bladders at the home or factory, to iron out peak demand and consumed in ceramic fuel cells.
Produces power on demand and an exhaust product that is mostly pristine water vapour.

The residual products from this conversion would be a bitumen-like product and carbon. one could be used as pavement on sealed roads? The other as the basis for manmade Graphene. The strongest material on earth?

We'd recycle the transmission lines as a national gas grid? And essential if we won't transition to Nuclear power! Seriously reduce emissions!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Wednesday, 5 September 2018 5:03:54 PM
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Eric

You got the last paragraph right but you wasted a lot of time getting there. The arguments you used against Australia taking action on climate change were morally bankrupt. You should instead accept that climate change is indeed an existential threat and then argue that population growth makes it worse, along with most other environmental problems. Then we can go hand in hand into the sunset.
Posted by popnperish, Saturday, 8 September 2018 9:43:31 PM
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It does not matter one iota what Australia's 25 million do when there are cities with more people than the whole country here.
What Australi could do but never will is to work on sustainability which other nations could adopt & refine & that would make a difference to pollution but it still wouldn't stop climate change.
Climate change is the nature of Nature just as being thick is the nature of the beyond their ability to comprehend their education educated.
Humans are becoming an out-of-control cancer for which the only cure is common sense.
Posted by individual, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 5:00:07 AM
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popnperish one of the significant blind spots of many greenies and environmental supporters is lack of respect for opponents or "non-believers." I've been in too many discussions with passionate, dedicated environmentalists who respond to the question:

"How can we get people to support action on climate change / biodiversity / pollution reduction / population stabilisation etc.?"
with
"They are all just idiots."

You will never change anybody's opinion when you start the conversation with "you are an idiot." It might make you feel superior (and sometimes that is the goal of being a greenie), but it won't get the massive action needed to get policy changes from governments.

It is important to try to understand why opponents or the apathetic feel the way they do. They aren't idiots just because they disagree with you. If you really want to go hand and hand into the sunset with people resisting a carbon tax or other measures to limit climate change, you're going to need to work with them and understand them.
Posted by ericc, Thursday, 13 September 2018 7:07:52 PM
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