SOLARWINDPRONET

SOLARWINDPRONET

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Teacher, activist, interested in energy technology, climate change, environmental issues and global security.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

How to Reduce Warming - Cooling Costs Radically?

I was surprized by a Finnish company importing warming - cooling systems: their new inverter split type room air conditioner is capable of using straight solar PV-energy, then batteries and if that isn't enough, using the grid. The company speaks about 50 euros per year warming/cooling costs in ideal conditions (in Finland!).

And they say that this sum was counted with only one monochrystallite PV solar panel with efficiency of 190W. The unit can be equipped up to three of this kind of PV-panels, so the total maximum solar effect would be 570W.

The maximum input of the air conditioner is 800W for warming and 900W for cooling. The output is 3900W for warming, 3700W for cooling.

And what is the price? The air conditioner slightly less than 1000 euros, PV-panels about 250 euros each, installing service just under 400 euros. If you by all the stuff needed (batteries, 1 PV, installing series etc.) the total price could be somewhere between 2000-2500 euros. You will still need extra heating device for the most coldest days (under -20 degrees centigrade, when the conditioner is not able to produce enough warming for your house and water, of course, must be warmed by other means). But this kind of quite simple energy technology innovation is something that can have a major effect on energy market if it is widely adapted by consumers.

Ten years ago the same company made it possible for the Finns to buy their air conditioners at European prices when they bought the equipment straight from manufacturers and the price niveau of air warming/cooling devices dropped dramatically. Now it remains to be seen if they do the same with solar PV technology. At least their advanced solar panels seem to be the cheapiest I have found in Finnish market.

Here is the link for this new device English Manual: https://emea.salesforce.com/sfc/p/200000006Q3qyNXVtpsvDxXa3TwCXrp9UGC68K4=

(Exceptionally I do not add the link to their Finnish websites here, but if you want to Google-search for this Finnish company it is called Ultimatemarket.) And I don't get any money from them (though I'm using their air-to water warming device as a part of the heating system of my house).

JPS

Friday, November 23, 2012

Michio Kaku: Solar Flares Can Cause Multiple Fukushima-Style Meltdowns and Worldwide Chaos in Near Future

In This 6th of June 2012 Transit of Venus -Picture the Sun is still very silent with no flares but things are rapidly changing when solar maximum begins (Photo: Jukka Seppälä/Creator's Fingerprints)



There was a fresh radio interview of Physisist Michio Kaku, who is widely known of popular science TV-programs and books. In this interview Mr. Kaku tells his concerns about recent growing of solar activity and the worldwide consequences it could have. The possibility of long power blackouts could mean core meltdowns in several nuclear reactors and severe contamination worldwide.

As from the very first page of my SOLARWINDPRONET and SOLARWINDPRONET-SUOMI energy blogs I have been sharing my concern of this same issue (please visit my first blog pages: http://solarwindpronet.blogspot.fi/2011_10_01_archive.html  and  http://solarwindpronet-suomi.blogspot.fi/2011_10_01_archive.html ), Mr. Kaku sees the situation to be quite severe and hopes the governments to invest in securing at least power grids, nuclear power plants and satellites. They had asked the US government to give 200 million dollars to secure these vital infrastructure, but they got zero.

LINK - ENENEWS: http://enenews.com/professor-really-disturbed-solar-flares-week-could-lots-fukushima-type-events-around-one-power-blackout-all-hell-could-break-lose-video

When does the world wake up, when does politicians and citizens start using their brain capacity. I'm afraid we don't have time enough. But we should at least try!

JPS


P.S.

I'm sorry I have been too busy to update my blog for a week now - I have been participating Vaasa Wildlife - Nature Film Festival http://wildlife.vaasa.fi/index.php/en/festival-2012  where my film "The Battle of Our Energy Future" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPL_q3XOSWA&feature=plcp   was among the finalists. I'll try to update my blogs more frequently in the future.

JPS

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Navajo Indians and Talvivaara

I just read Karl Grossmans excellent piece "Fracking and Radium, the Silvery-White Monster"   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karl-grossman/fracking-and-radium_b_2096539.html .

There was something that reminded me of our very own  fresh environmental catastrophy in Talvivaara nickel-uranium mine in Northern Finland. It was the indians. Navajo tribe had been used as working labor to dig  uranium from mines in their own homeland. It was uranium for the Manhattan project - the Bomb in 1940ies. Nobody told them about the dangers of radiation. So they begin to get lugn cancers and other cancers in 1960ies. But they didn't get any compensation before1990ies. And the compensation was minimal - if you needed a lugn transplant that costed USD 300 000 so you could get perhaps slightly over USD 100 000 as compensation.

So the ground water got contaminated by uranium as did the rivers. That's exactly the same that happens now here in Finland. A waste water pond having 185 000 kg of uranium and other toxic metals gets empty and the contaminated water runs downriver polluting two routes of rivers and lakes. There was 350 micrograms of uranium in every single liter of water in Lumijoki -river a few days ago. You shouldn't drink that kind of water. You shouldn't go fishing there. You shouldn't have sauna with that water.

I hope that the Sami people, the original inhabitants of Lapland and northern Finland, will be critical  enough to demand not to give licenses to mines like Talvivaara to ruin the beautiful nature and landscape of Northern Finland and their traditional way of life. Uranium should stay deep inside the bedrock. Navajos got really a sad story to tell us. But do we learn?

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/united-states/uranium-mining-navajo-indian-land


JPS

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Talvivaara Waste Water Pond May Become Totally Empty Due to the Leak

According to MTV3 news, the waste water gypsum pond of Talvivaara nickel mine may be totally emty in a few days. The leak continues but the company has built security dams to prevent the highly nickel-, cadmium- and uranium-contaminated water to enter the down stream rivers and lakes.

LINK - STOPTALVIVAARA:




SOLAR-WIND -NEWS BRIEFLY:

Renewables Made Electric Power Too Cheap in Germany - Caused Turbulences on Energy Market

There is still lots to learn in generating power with renewables - sometimes it can be too cheap!
http://www.dw.de/power-exports-peak-despite-nuclear-phase-out/a-16370444

In Finland It Is Still Too Expensive to Have Solar Panels - Because of Lacking Rules to Get Paid For the Extra Power

Finns don't get any money from their own power company for the extra power they give to the grid generated by their own Solar PV -panels.

The Germans Just Compared All the Costs of Power Generation - the Cheapest Was Wind and Solar, the Most Expensive Was - Nuclear Power!
http://www.dw.de/calculating-the-true-cost-of-electricity/a-16235063

Up to 41% Effeciency - New Type of PV -Solar Panels With Light Concentrating Lenses Developed in Germany

With clear skies - as in the Mediterranean area - the new type of PV -solar cells make a difference. New promising technology introduced by a German company.
http://www.dw.de/high-efficiency-solar-cell-grabs-top-prize/a-16276046


JPS

Saturday, November 10, 2012

USA Is Trying to Force Japan Remain Nuclear Because of Strategic Reasons

Why is the USA trying to press the Japanese government to remain nuclear power dependant? And why is president Obama backing new nuclear reactor plans for America?

There is ever growing concern among US politicians and military personnel whether The US-European hegemony in nuclear power (and plutonium) generation will be lost to growing eastern powers like China, India and the old brother Russia.

Well, the point seems to be who's got the biggest bomb in the future. In 1940ies they took satan to the back seat of their jeep when they thought they can control the world's nuclear arms production by keeping the techniques secret and having monopoly on the subject. But Russians did the Bomb, after that did also the Chinese. It was time for 'Atoms For Peace' - now sharing the technology with allies and friendly countries, so that they don't want to do their own independant nuclear research programs (and the Bomb), as for example Sweden did with its up to 100 nuclear warhead-goal -secret program. http://solarwindpronet.blogspot.fi/2012/10/the-secret-swedish-nuclear-arms-program.html 

Now when nuclear power is not economically competative any more with gas and renewables and the obvious risks and dangers have become reality after Harrisburg, Chernobyl and Fukushima, there is a strong trend to abandon nuclear power generation in Europe, Japan and also in the USA. Remarkable is also that China suspended its ambious nuclear program for months and leading Chinese nuclear experts were concerned about the safety of Chinese nuclear plants. There have been also wide demonstrations against Indian nuclear power stations. People begin to be tired of lies of nuclear industrys safety worldwide. At the same time renewable energy offers safe and solid stream of energy and working places for the new industry and the examples of Germany, Denmark and all the other countries that have heavily invested - politically and economically - to renewables shows that they are doing just well. Renewables is the main stream in the future and new technologies are being developed rapidly into commercial phase.

This could be a time for world wide nuclear disarmament: new generation of leaders is taking the responsibility of their nation in China, as did in the USA. In a few years in Russia too. India could follow the example if others would take the first step.

Now, who is the leader with enough courage to tell the truth to his own nation: nuclear power is only needed in the world because of nuclear weapons production. Let's change that. Let's get rid of nuclear weapons with international agreement. The decomissioning of nuclear weapons should be organized by UN and also the atomic energy watch-dog IAEA should be reorganized so that it would not promote nuclear power generation any more but watch over the decomissioning nuclear warheads and nuclear power plants and safe disposal of nuclear waste.

As long as the leading countries of the world are trying to secretly develop hegemony in military power or remain their hegemony we'll never see nuclear arms or nuclear power totally disappearing from this planet.
But we all should have that as main task to secure our grandchildren's future not to be facing nuclear nightmares - in the form of thermo-nuclear war or NPP -accidents.

This subject should be discussed openly on international leaders summits. It should be discussed in headquarters of Republicans and Democrats, it should be discussed in Chinese Communist Party. It should be discussed in Moscow and among political leaders in India. It should be discussed among economists, politicians and military leaders. It should be discussed in the internet  and on newspapers among citizens of the nations of the world.

The subject is now discussed with 'read between the lines' articles as this on which John Hamre the president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington (CSIS) states that Japan's getting out of nuclear age would be a threat to US interests as well as to Japan.
LINK - JAPANTIMES: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20121103d1.html

But when you watch this video where Hamre analyzes the state of US nuclear industry and show slides of global nuclear industry trends, you can quite easily read between the lines the worry of the strategic power (military and economical)  to be quickly accumulating (with nuclear power) to China, India and Russia.
LINK - CSIS-VIDEO:  http://vimeo.com/41417681

We all should be concerned of this. But the means to fight this phenomen should be totally different. Instead of promoting nuclear power and giving keys for atomic weapons for countries like Iran, Saudi-Arabia, The Arab-Emirates, Egypt, Vietnam, Syria etc. we should be fighting to get all countries of the world with joint agreement to abandon nuclear power generation and nuclear arms. We now need more brave politicians like Naoto Kan in Japan or Angela Merkel in Germany. The world is waiting for the next ones!



JPS

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Leaking Waste Water of Talvivaara Mine Includes Uranium 100-200 Bq/l

According to STUK - Finnish Radiation Protection Authority - leaking water from Talvivaara mine has uranium more than expected, 100 - 200 Bequerels per litre. In Finnish natural water there is normally uranium about 1 Bq/l , so the amount of this radioactive poisonous substance is hundreds of times the natural background value.

Finnish officials fear that the escape of uranium and heavy metal acid water to downriver waters cannot be prevented. The company has found the leaking spot at the waste water pond, but contaminated water is still leaking out.

LINKS (Finnish) - KAUPPALEHTI:


http://www.kauppalehti.fi/etusivu/talvivaaran+vuotovedessa+isot+uraaniarvot/201211299157

http://www.kauppalehti.fi/etusivu/niinisto+suivaantui+talvivaaraan+nyt+riittaa/201211299209

JPS

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Red Light Shown For Fennovoima NPP Project By Many Analysts

Increasing amount of analysts are seeing the Fennovoima nuclear power plant project in Pyhäjoki as a dying plan.

Now also Businessweek sees it quite possible that the project will fail. The Finnish government should update their energy plan because nuclear power has become uneconomical, too risky and too slow compared to renewable wind, biomass and solar. The Finnish government does not include Solar PV energy in their former plans, but the example of Germany and Denmark shows clearly that it is possible to generate yearly at least the amount of solar power eqvivalent to a single nuclear reactor also in Finland.

LINK - BUSINESSWEEK : http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-01/eon-exit-from-finnish-nuclear-reactor-may-trigger-failure


                                                       (Photo: Jukka Seppälä/Creator's Fingerprints)
JPS